Posted on by Nathan Beaudry

Episode 310 – Deep Purple – Gemini Suite

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Our Episode on Jon Lord’s Studio Album of “Gemini Suite”:

Lead up to the Album:

  • Performed and recorded on September 17, 1970 at 
  • Jon Lord had been obsessed with performing rock music with an orchestra starting in the mid 60s in his previous band, The Artwoods.
  • The Artwoods had almost used the New Jazz Orchestra on their 1966 debut album then later planned on working with a German conductor but neither materialized, the latter falling apart as The Artwoods broke up before it could happen.
  • On “The Book of Taliesyn” Deep Purple brought in a string section for the song “Anthem.”
  • In 1969 on their self-titled album Jon Lord got as close to his goal as he had yet gotten when they composed “April.”  But “April” was broken up into band and string quartet parts, the two were not combined.
  • In June of 1969 it was decided that they would book The Royal Albert Hall that September and put on a Concerto with the Royal Philharmonic.  The only thing needed at that point was for Jon Lord to actually write it.
  • As discussed on previous episodes the rest of the band were not 100% on board for this project but the performance went over very well.
  • Lord: “It got us labelled as a group who’d jumped on the classical/rock bandwagon. It drew attention to us at a time when we needed it, but we weren’t expecting to be labelled as a group that plays with an orchestra.  It caused a rift in the group. What they were afraid of, and what I hadn’t seen was happening, was that people weren’t sure what we were all about. They got frightened we’d get railroaded into playing hundred of Concertos. They thought I didn’t want to play rock & roll.
  • At this point Jon Lord was largely seen as the leader of Deep Purple and this caused some resentment.
  • This almost lead to Lord leaving the band but in the end management smoothed things out and Lord assured the others he was committed to Deep Purple.
  • After the Concerto they did have to fulfill one last Concerto date in America at The Hollywood Bowl where the score was lost.
  • Lord was also commissioned to write another rock and orchestral collaboration.  The band reluctantly agreed but only if it was downplayed and that it would be the last time they would do any such thing.
  • Lord got to work writing what would have a piece dedicated to each of the five members of Deep Purple, each focusing on the abilities of the individuals.
  • The writing process happened very quickly while on tour with The Faces in America.
  • They performed it once on September 17, 1970 with the Orchestra of the Light Music Society conducted by Malcolm Arnold.
  • This time they were in a much better position than a year before with “Deep Purple In Rock” gaining traction and “Black Night” having some chart success.
  • There was no publicity for this performance.  The show was reviewed by two music magazines and it aired on British and Danish Radio shortly after the performance.
  • The feeling by Lord was that this had taken The Concerto to the next level, bridging the gap a little more seamlessly than he’d done the previous year.
  • The recording was shelved and not released until 1993.  We’ll review that on a future episode.
  • Jon Lord did say in interviews following the concert, that he would like to record it but for now was focused on Deep Purple.  Sometime was only six months later.
  • In Ian Gillan’s Biography “Child in Time” he describes Blackmore as going “berzerk” when he saw promotional posters for the concert. Blackmore said that the Concerto had become a “millstone around their necks.”

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The Venue:

Setlist

  1. The First Movement: Guitar, Organ
    • Simon Robinson:
      1. “Blackmore’s movement came first. According to people at the show, he turned his volume control down, bowed his head and got on with business. On one of the last live recordings to feature his Gibson [ES-]335, he proceeded to put together guitar passages of stunning beauty, echoed by quiet and sympathetic orchestral backing. With a natural ear for these things, Jon had recalled some of the quieter moments which actually accompanied the ending of “Child In Time” on stage and written these into the movement.”
      2. “Next up was Ian Gillan. Both he and Blackmore had been the most vocal in their opposition to this kind of work, yet like Blackmore, Gillan turned in a breathtaking performance. The story is that he was still writing the words backstage during the preceding performance (the Orchestra did Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue).”
      3. Vincent Budd writes that the first movement appears to pay homage to the opening of “Galliard of the Sons of the Morning” from “Job” by Vaughn Williams.
        1. Job: Scene VIII: Galliard of the Sons of Morning. Altar Dance and Heavenly Pavane
  2. The Second Movement: Voice, Bass
    • Simon Robinson:
      1. “Ian Paice’s movement turned into something of a drum battle between the orchestra’s percussion players, and proved popular with the crowd. In contrast, Lord’s own solo lost its way in places, maybe through nerves, though elsewhere he was in fine form. Glover too adopted a rather casual approach for his break, though maybe his idea was to inject a little humour into the proceedings.
      2. Vincent Budd writes that this section brings in bits of “The Miraculous Mandarin” as well as some of the worlds of Virgil Williams. This podcast host is not familiar enough with either to say what they are.
      3. Vincent Budd compares the vocal movement to be reminiscent of Elgar’s “Sospiri for Strings.”
        1. Edward Elgar – Sospiri, for cello, harp and strings | Amsterdam Sinfonietta
  3. Third Movement: Drums, Finale
    • Simon Robinson:
      1. Budd compares Ian’s drumming in this section to that of Gene Krupa.

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Bustin’ Out The Spreadsheet

Reception and Charts:

  • The Jon Lord album would not be released until the following year.  See our episode on that album here: Episode #112 – Jon Lord – Gemini Suite
  • There was no rush to release the recording. Jon Lord, when questioned about it, said that he would like to record it at some point. He would go on to do that with the studio version that was released the following year.

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