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Too many people at the $5 tier, I changed mine to $5.99 to separate myself from the unwashed 🙂 – Thinking maybe call it “The Nice Price” Tier? Whaddya say?
$5 “Money Lender” Tier
Greg Sealby
John Convery
Arthur Smith
German Heindl
Adrian Hernandez – Paypal
Kenny Wymore
$3 “Nobody’s Perfect” Tier
Peter Gardow
Ian Desrosiers
Mark Roback
Anton Glaving
Will Porter
$1 Made Up Name Tier
Ells Murders
Spacey Noodles
The “Abominable” Leaky Mausoleum
Michael Vader
Thanks to our Brothers at the Deep Dive Podcast Network:
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We talked in a previous episode about how Roger Glover had bumped into Ritchie in Munich when they were recording “Stargazer” and Ritchie had played the tracks for Roger. Glover said he was blown away and told Ritchie he thought it was a masterpiece.
The band sort of fell apart and Blackmore asked Glover to produce their next album. Glover joined and worked on writing songs and playing bass as a session player.
Glover: “Why have a grudge against someone who’s such a great artist? I gave him a pass and decided to let him get away with it.”
In Martin Popoff’s book “Sensitive to Light” he says that Glover says he started his production duties on the album before Dio left the band and that it was very clear that Dio and Blackmore weren’t on the same page. Glover acted as a go between the two.
Glover describes Dio sitting in the corner writing lyrics as the band played but not going to the mic to sing anything.
Just before Christmas of 1978 Ritchie Blackmore turned up at Ian Gillan’s house. They ended up drinking a lot of vodka and Blackmore invited Gillan to join Rainbow. Despite the vodka Gillan refused the offer.
They hired a bass player named Clive Chaman for a brief period. As well as Jack Green who had been with The Pretty Things. Pete Goalby, who’d been in Trapeze with Glenn Hughes, was also considered as a replacement for Dio.
They set up to record at Chateau Pelly de Cronfield in the south of France with the Maison Rouge mobile studio.
Bonnet’s vocals were recorded separately after the rest of the recoding was done at Kingdom Studios in Long Island. Bonnet said he didn’t want to record unless it was in an actual studio.
They were still in need of a singer and they thought Graham Bonnet would be perfect. They’d heard him in the band The Marbles who had a hit called “Only One Woman.”
He had just released solo album called “Bad Habits” in 1978,.
Don Airey claims Bonnet’s name came up when the band was playing “name that tune” and Cozy sang some of “Only One Woman.”
Bonnet says he got the interview to audition and had to go to the store to buy some Rainbow albums because he’d never heard of them. Ritchie told him to learn Mistreated which he did and used that for his audition.
By all accounts Bonnet hated being at the castle and just wanted to go home. Cozy wasn’t crazy about being there too. Both stating there was nothing to do there in the middle of the countryside.
Again there were pranks of Ritchie making ghostly sounds and hazing Bonnet and Airey.
Recorded at Château Pelly de Cornfeld, somewhere in France, 1979 with the Maison Rouge Mobile Studio and thanks to Bernie.
Comes with a full colour picture inner sleeve, an insert with pictures of the previous albums and a merchandise insert.
Album Tracks:
Side One:
All Night Long (Blackmore/Glover)
Reached number 5 in the UK singles chart.
Glover penned all lyrics with Dio gone.
It was released as the follow up single to “Since You Been Gone.”
This is the only song Bonnet felt like he might have deserved writing credit on. He says Ritchie had written it and Bonnet came up with the medley.
Ritchie reportedly contributed some lyrics to the song which was unusual for Blackmore. Ritchie says his idea was about playing a gig, catching the eye of a girl in the crowd, and spending the night with her.
Eyes of the World (Blackmore/Glover)
Classic ‘epic’ Rainbow style.
Keyboard intro a nod to Holst’s “Mars – The Bringer of War?”
No Time to Lose (Blackmore/Glover)
Makin’ Love (Blackmore/Glover)
Steve Pilkington says that the “Don’t Believe that I’m a liar” secions sounds reminiscent of Kiss.
Visit my website https://vinyl-records.nl for complete album information and thousands of album cover photos
Side Two:
Since You Been Gone (Russ Ballard)
Reached number 6 in the UK sing chart, and the peak of Rainbow’ commercial success
Very divisive song for the old school fans while gaining them lots of new ones
Cozy Powell reportedly strongly disliked this song and would only do one take
The band’s first cover since the debut album
Glover says Bruce Payne, Rainbow’s manager played the track for Glover and asked if it would be a hit. Glover said he thought so. Then he said he meant for Rainbow and Glover said Blackmore would never play the song. Payne told Glover that Ritchie really wanted to do the song and Glover was in disbelief.
Love’s No Friend (Blackmore/Glover)
Danger Zone (Blackmore/Glover)
Lost in Hollywood (Blackmore, Glover, Powell)
Visit my website https://vinyl-records.nl for complete album information and thousands of album cover photos
Reception and Review
Ritchie and Roger both claim that Bonnet wasn’t “up to” being in Rainbow. Glover says he couldn’t go the distance and Ritchie says that he wasn’t highly motivated. Ritchie said Graham needed a lot of coaching and didn’t really come up with ideas on his own.
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Webber said he’d seen Judy Garland in a movie called “I Could Go on Singing” which was also the title song. He said there was a line about “When the cows come home.” The director was Ronnie Neame, a friend of Webber’s Auntie Vi. He decided to play a song to the director that he thought was better. The music ended up becoming “I Don’t Know How To Love Him.”
This melody had been used before from a 1968 song by Webber/Rice called “Kansas Morning.” The song was never recorded.
Album Tracks:
LP 2
Side One:
The Last Supper
Gethsemane (I Only Want To Say)
First done as an orchestral B-side to the “Superstar Single.”
“Gethsemane” was among the last songs to be recorded. Lloyd-Webber says Gillan was wiped out after singing the song. This was also a highlight for Webber.
YouTube video promo?
The Arrest
Peter’s Denial
Pilate And Christ
King Herod’s Song (Try It And See)
This song was written prior to JCSS as the song “Try It and See” by Webber/Rice. It was going to be an entry into the 1969 Eurovision Song Contest to be sung by the artist Lulu. The plan was also to release it as a single sung by Rita Pavone. They had also used this song called “Those Saladin Days” in a show called “Come Back Richard Your country Needs You,” a musical project that never was completed.
Since it had been rejected for the Eurovision song Contest in these days it was published by Norrie Paramour. IN Lloyd Webber’s biography: “This led to a confusing credit in the booklet of the US album version . . . which in turn led a few people to mistakenly think Tim and I had not written one of its biggest moments.”
One of the last bits recorded was “King Herrod’s Song.” The decision to make it so upbeat was that it was in between Gethsemane and Judas’s death and they wanted to have something a little more upbeat to break things up.
In Lloyd-Webber’s biography he talks about the recording: “Alan and Bruce took things into their own hands and played syncopations that defied gravity. Afterwards I wrote them all out, but although I’ve got rock sections to replicate what they did, it never sounded quite the same.”
Webber says they finally did a perfect take with the orchestra when Alan O’Duffy said he hadn’t put tape into the machine. Webber lost it and they did another take that ended up being perfect as well.
When all the orchestra had left they listened back and found that it had accidentally been recorded twice.
Upon hearing the final single the folks at the record company were thrilled.
The last items to be recorded were the orchestra and choirs were overdubbed.
The mixing was extremely challenging with Alan O’Duffy having to commit a huge amount of complicated mixing moves to memory. There were imperfections but they left a lot of them in. Andrew Lloyd-Webber says if you listen right before the two big “Superstar” chords in the overture you can hear Alan Dogget counting “one, two, three four.”
Brian Brolly arranged a listening session for the British MCA/Universal executives at Advision Studios located in London. Lloyd-Webber says some of them were grumpy and asked how long it was and if there was a pee break. After the playback there was a long silence and someone said, “There’s not a lot here for Ruby Murray.” Ruby Murray was an Irish ballad singer who was popular in the fifties but whose last hit had been in 1959.
Brian Brolly loved it and suggested they add “Superstar” to the title as it was originally supposed to be called simply “Jesus Christ.”
They then had a meeting to discuss a contract problem due to some legal wording. The meeting luckily went off well and Lloyd-Webber got back the entire theater and film rights to the musical.
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Problems with Part 1 being banned from YouTube due to Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. We played a 20 second clip from an album that is 53 years old.
Part 2 also banned from YouTube for “I’m Gonna Make You Love Me” by Madeleine Belle.
The story for Jesus Christ Superstar is based on The Synoptic Gospels (The Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke) and “The Life of Christ” by Fulton J. Sheen. The idea was to calibrate the gospels but to put more of a focus on the interpersonal relationships between Jesus, Judas, and Mary.
Tim Rice also said that the song “With God On Our Side” by Bob Dylan was an inspiration.
The line: “Did Judas Iscariot have God on his side?
This was a fascinating subject for Rice to consider.
The premise of the musical is “Was Judas the rational disciple trying to preven tthe popular reaction to Jesus’s teaching from getting so out of hadn that the Romans would crush it?
Was Jesus beginning to believe what the people were saying, that he truly was the Messiah?
What if we dramatized the last days of Jesus’s life from Judas’s perspective?
By early 1969 there was an official 30 minute recording of the Joseph show giving them a sample of their work to try to get potential backers for their idea to turn JCSS into a broadway show.
Andrew had written to Sefton Myers with an idea of creating a museum of rock and roll memorabilia and slipped a copy of the Joseph 30 minute album.
Sefton got back to them and arranged a meeting where they presented a deal to Webber and Rice. Webber was eager to jump at it but Rice was more hesitant as he wasn’t sure if it was safe to leave his job. This lead to management being more aggressive and generous with their offers.
By summer of 1969 they were able to write and create and focus on their new project.
Their first attempt to create something was a musical based on King Richard the Lionheart. It only had one performance.
One release “Come Back Richard, Your Country Needs You” by Tim Rice and The Webber Group.
Tim Rice doesn’t speak of this very favorably. Andrew Lloyd-Webber even less so: “I cannot believe how we ever allowed such slapdash sorry stuff to appear in front of an audience.”
They decided to try something “heavier, more serious.”
Tim went to visit Mike Leander who was head of A&R at MCA records. Leander was the person who had arranged the song “She’s Leaving Home” for The Beatles. Mike asked Tim what became of his idea of making a musical about Jesus and Judas Iscariot. This is something Tim had been thinking about for a while but had never mentioned to Webber.
The idea was to put themselves into the minds of Judas and Pilate and how they would have acted under the circumstances, not knowing what would become of Jesus.
Rice went back and told Webber and told him it would be the store of Christ’s last week on Earth from the perspective of Judas.
The idea was that they could put a lot of words into Judas’s mouth without betraying what was in the Gospels.
This was shortly after the backlash about John Lennon’s comments about The Beatles being bigger than Jesus. So their backers were a little hesitant.
They wanted to write a stage production and thought that any recording would be a spinoff of that production. It ended up being the opposite.
The Kinks, Frank Sinatra, Nina Simone, The Grateful Dead, Neil Young, and many more. Those are just artists he worked with BEFORE Jesus Christ Superstar.
This is The 1st UK release of Jesus Christ Superstar Recorded At Olympic Sound Studios, Barnes, Advision Studios, Island Studios And Spot Productions Studios On 16-Track Tape.
This is the rare, earliest first pressing, of which only a few hundred copies were made. It has the unique fold-out star cover and the late-sixties style MCA labels with the orange/yellow swirl design.
The album’s official release date was 16th October 1970 by which time MCA had introduced the new ‘bow-tie’ label design.
Later pressings followed with different label.
The booklet is slightly different from later copies – it is printed on shiny paper and has rounded corners.
Sleeve printed and made in England by E. J. Day.
Inner sleeve: Blue Decca poly-lined inners. The date codes on these sleeves are 6/70 and 7/70 which precedes the official release date by several months.
Booklet: This is the original first press booklet which has much shinier paper than later issues and rounded corners.
Canada release:
On Front Cover Label:
RECORDED IN ENGLAND
Performing in “SUPERSTAR” are members (past and present) of DEEP PURPLE, JOE COCKER’S GREASE BAND, LORD SUTCH, AYNSLEY DUNBAR RETALIATION, THE BIG THREE, JUICY LUCY, QUATERMASS, MERSEYBEATS, GRACIOUS, PLASTIC PENNY, SPOOKY TOOTH, MANFRED MANN and NUCLEUS.
Also performing is an 85 piece orchestra and the strings of the City of London
Released in a Box Cover including a 28 page Libretto and a 4 page statement in french, by Rèv. Jéan Malo M.A.
Lp’s housed in white paper sleeves
Records are set up for record changers
Ian Gillan of Deep Purple appears by courtesy of EMI Records and Warner Bros. Seven Arts Records Inc. (USA)
Victor Brox appears by courtesy of Bam Bam Records (UK) and “with love” from Blue Thumb Records (USA)
John Gustafson appears by courtesy of EMI Records and by permission of “Quatermass” AIR (London) Ltd
Paul Davies appears by kind permission of Philips Records Ltd
Pat Arnold appears by kind permission of Polydor Records Ltd
Tony Ashton appears through the courtesy of Capitol Records Inc
Peter Barnfeather appears by courtesy of Sunny Records Ltd
Madeline Bell appears by courtesy of Philips Records (Holland)
Brian Bennett appears by courtesy of B&C Records Ltd
Lesley Duncan appears by courtesy of CBS Records Ltd
Neil Hubbard and Chris Mercer appear by courtesy of Vertigo Records (UK) and the Atlantic Record Corporation (USA)
Peter Robinson appears by permission of AIR (London) Ltd
Carl Jenkins, John Marshall and Jeff Clyne appear by courtesy of Philips Records Ltd
Chris Spedding appears by courtesy of EMI Records Ltd
The Theme Lloyd-Webber says he wrote on the back of a napkin at a restaurant called Carlo’s Place on Fulham Road
Heaven On Their Minds
What’s The Buzz / Strange Thing Mystifying
Everything’s Alright
This Jesus Must Die
Side Two:
Hosanna
Simon Zealotes / Poor Jerusalem
Pilate’s Dream
The Temple
Everything’s Alright
I Don’t Know How To Love Him
Webber said he’d seen Judy Garland in a movie called “I Could Go on Singing” which was also the title song. He said there was a line about “When the cows come home.” The director was Ronnie Neame, a friend of Webber’s Auntie Vi. He decided to play a song to the director that he thought was better. The music ended up becoming “I Don’t Know How To Love Him.”
This melody had been used before from a 1968 song by Webber/Rice called “Kansas Morning.” The song was never recorded.
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Amazon music just launched a podcast feature. You can follow us here.
Apple Podcasts Review:
ElectricEye87, 09/10/2020 – FIVE STARS
Let’s Go Space Talkin’
I rate this podcast 5 Ritchie Blackmore floppy hats. Never thought I’d enjoy listening to a podcast where guys talk over songs I love, but here I am. Extremely informative, a solid blend of humor and content, and the guys are very easy to listen to. When listening to Whoosh! for the first time, I even found myself thinking about what they might have to say about it when their review dropped. It’s perfect aside from the occasional swear word. I would expect that kind of language at Denny’s, but NOT HERE! Other than that, all I hear is burn.
They decided a good move would be to get a leading clergyman to endorse the single. They found Martin Sullivan at St. Paul’s Cathedral. He wrote, “There are some people who may be shocked by this record. I ask them to listen to it and think again. It is a desperate cry. Who are you, Jesus Christ? Is the urgent enquiry and a very proper one at that.”
Sullivan also offered up St. Paul’s Cathedral for the premiere if and when Jesus Christ Superstar was finished.
The single was released and they did a late night show, David Frost’s Saturday ITV.
The Daily Express had gotten quotes that they were looking to cast John Lennon as Jesus. This was untrue as they hadn’t even gotten a complete script to cast anyone yet.
The budget to record the album was £20,000/$25,580 (£318,000/$406,726 in today’s money).
Most of the melodies and themes were completed in January. Side 1 is dated February 21 with side four dated March 4.
In December of ‘69 there was a note that Mary Magdelne’s first song should be in 5/4.
They began to seek out vocalists. They wanted a well known name as Jesus.
Their first pick for Jesus was Colin Blunstone, the lead singer of the Zombies. Rod Argent, a member of the Zombies would be involved in the recording.
Andrew Lloyd-Webber had been invited to Royal Albert Hall to see Jon Lord’s Concerto for Group and Orchestra. Malcolm Arnold had been a friend of Lloyd-Webber’s father.
Lloyd-Webber says in his biography, after meeting Tony Edwards: “I found the music bland, so I droned on about how daring it was to fuse a rock group with an orchestra.” He found out that Deep Purple was taking a heavier direction moving forward and he mentioned something about Jesus Christ Superstar to Tony Edwards.
Lloyd-Webber says a few months later that he got a call saying Deep Purple had a new singer and asked if he and Tim would like to go listen to him. We know this is inaccurate as Gillan would have been the singer at the Concerto.
They played Gillan’s rough tapes and he heard Gilaln’s scream and thought that he had found his Jesus. He said after hearing Gillan he went back and rewrote the moment Jesus confronts the moneylenders.
When Murray and Gillan were cast Webber began working on solidifying the band. Since Joe Cocker was on a break he was able to get Alan Spenner an dBruce Rowland for bass and drums. He spoke to Clapton’s manager to get try to get Eric Clapton on lead guitar but was unable to secure him. Therefore he reverted to Henry McCulloguh from the Grease Band. Chris Mercer of Juicy Lucy as the sax and another guitarist, Neil Hubbard, also from Juicy Lucy.
Someone played Quatermass for Webber and he was keen to get Peter Robinson into the band as well. They also took John Gustafson from Quatermass in the role of Simon.
Most of the songs came about the first time around except “I Don’t Know How To Love Him.” Originally they’d had Annabel Leventon to play Mary. She had been in Hair with Murray Head. They recorded with her and said it was good but wasn’t quite what they were looking for.
There was a jazz singer performing at the Pheasantry in Chelsea who Don Norman, who was working as their manager, wanted to pitch as Pilate. While they weren’t sold on the singer there was another performer that night that caught their eye: Yvonne Elliman.
They wanted someone very theatrical to be Pilate and pitched it to Barry Dennen. Barry’s agent arranged a meeting and he agreed to record the album.
Tim was friends with Mike d’Abo who had recently become singer of Manred Mann. And with that, filling in with some MCA employed artists their casting was complete.
When they were looking for a singer for their single of “Superstar” Tim’s first thought was Murray Head. He was skeptical but having recently been dropped by EMI he gave it a chance but hadn’t yet committed to the full project. It was Murray who suggested the musicians that were the core of the group to play on the JCSS album.
She was discovered by Andrew Lloyd Webber when singing at The Phesantry night club in Chelsea. He walked up to her and said “I’ve Found My Mary.”
They struggled with “I Don’t KNow How to Love HIm” saying it wasn’t interesting. They found an early “positive” organ which had a flutey sound and got Peter Robinson into “Bach mode.” They’d heard Yvonne Ellimon sing simply playing an acoustic at the Pheasantry and decided to go with that sound along with the “snuffly organ.”
She would go on to join Eric Clapton’s live band before having a solo career.
She went on to sing on Jon Lord’s Gemini Suite.
Was one of the backup singers on Clapton’s “I Shot The Sheriff.”
Had her biggest hits in Disco including the #1 “If I Can’t Have You.”
UK progressive band. Formed in 1964 as “Satan’s Disciples” by Alan Cowderoy and Paul Davis. In 1968 renamed as Gracious or Gracious! Disbanded in ca. 1971 after Lipson’s and Kitcat’s departure. In these times they recorded 3 albums, including one unreleased in 1968 and one released two years after band’s split.
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Andrew Lloyd Webber met Tim Rice in 1965. Webber was 17 and trying to write for musical theater. Rice was 20 and trying to make it as a writer of pop songs.
On April 21, 1965 wrote a letter to Lloyd-Webber. He said that he’d heard through a Mr. Desmond Elliott of Arlington Books, that Webber had been looking for a “with it” writer of lyrics for his songs. Lloyd-Webber contacted him and they arranged a meeting.
In Lloyd-Webber’s autobiography he describes Tim Rice as a “six foot something, thin as a rake, blond bombshell of an adonis.” He also states that he learned Rice’s real ambition was to be a heartthrob rock star.
He also states that Rice was working on a lot of stuff and that he imagined that one day it “would be nice to say I had met him before he was world famous . . . “
The first collaborated on “The Likes of Us” a musical which was never able to get a backer and didn’t end up getting live production until 2005.
Alan Doggett, a family friend of the Lloyd Webbers who had worked with them on “The Likes of Us” commissioned them to write a “pop cantata” based on the Old Testament. Two previous “pop cantatas” existed. The first was “The Daniel Jazz” written by Herbert Chapell in 1963. The second was Jonah-Man Jazz written by Michael Hurd in 1966. Both had been published by Novello, a music publisher who would be producing this.
The result was NOT Jesus Christ Superstar, but Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. It got some recognition as a humorous retelling of the story of Joseph.
In 1969 they paired up again and wrote the song “Try it And See” for the Eurovision Song Contest for the artist Lulu. It did not make it as the UK entry for 1969 though Lulu did sing the song “Boom Bang-a-Bang.”
Superstar was the first song they recorded and released as a single written by Judas, questioning Jesus and his legacy from a 20th century perspective, the eventual follow up to “Heaven on Their Minds” which is the opening song by Judas questioning Jesus in his own time.
They wanted to get a successful single on the charts so they’d be given the green light to record the entire album that hadn’t yet been written. This would get them the ability to finally perform the sive show. They intentionally made this single radio friendly. It got a ton of release internationally and sold well.
They were given the budget for a full symphony orchestra by MCA and were allowed to produce it themselves. The catch was that MCA wanted to own the worldwide rights to future recordings.
They got a terrible deal for the royalties behind the “Superstar” single but they were in no position to turn it down.
Murray head recommended the Grease band and other musicians and they got to work recording.
The recordings took place at Olympic Studios in the Southwest suburb of Barnes. It was considered to be a top rock studio. It also had a large room that could fit an entire orchestra so that’s what they used to record the Superstar single.
The engineers suggested the band record with a metronome in their headphones. Lloyd-Webber and the band did not want to do this as they were afraid it would come across too mechanically. Keith Grant who was engineering was very worried about how they’d be able to overdub a symphony orchestra with no click track. Webber wanted to take the gamble so that they could have a great rhythm track.
The band and the soul singers were recorded first then the orchestra after under the direction of Alan O’Duffy.
Apparently the timekeeping issue did become extremely difficult for the orchestra.
The first day with the band on the studio was coming and Webber got the band together and had them jam for a half an hour then they’d record a short segment with the band. That’s how “What’s the Buzz” came together along with the moneylenders sequence.
Personnel
The musicians for Jesus Christ Superstar, the principle rock band at least, were largely recruited from UK rock bands at the time including The Grease Band, Juicy Lucy, and Wynder K Frog.
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Hughes had spent the most of the five years in heavy drug use, feeling uninspired, and still grieving the death of Tommy Bolin.
There was a brief Trapeze reunion. Hughes had also done vocals on 2 tracks on their 1975 self-titled album while still in Deep Purple.
There was a small tour with Hughes back in Trapeze but Hughes’s drug problem got in the way and the band had considered firing him before it completely fell apart. The trio recorded “L.A. Cut Off” and “Space High” during this reunion which were both eventually used on 1977’s “Play Me Out.”
Galley on Hughes: “[he] wasn’t in a good state of mind at the time”, suggesting that “if we could have carried the electricity of those shows on, we could have known no bounds”.
Tony Perry (Trapeze’s manager) on Hughes: “[had] major problems at the time and was very difficult to deal with”, adding that he and the other members of the band had discussed the possibility of firing and replacing him during the tour.
Hughes:
Hughes’s bio on the Hughes/Thrall site states this about his time after Play Me Out: “Shortly thereafter, Hughes settled in Los Angeles where he could write, relax and wait for the right moment to jump back in.”
“I had been bored to death for five years,” Hughes affirms today. “So, yes, thank God the formation of Hughes/Thrall came about.”
“When Tommy died it was difficult for me,” says the Cannock, Staffordshire-born Hughes. “I was still in my dark period. From March or April 1976 when Purple broke up, to August 1981 when Hughes/Thrall began to take shape, I was definitely just hanging out rather than working. That five-year period”¦ I hate to use the word hiatus, but that’s what it was. I wasn’t interested in doing very much at all.”
But then Hughes fell firmly off the radar. One of his first attempts at a comeback revolved around a supergroup comprising himself, fusion guitarist Ray Gomez and R&B/soul star Narada Michael Walden. The trio was supposed to sign with Atlantic Records but Gomez opted for a solo deal with Columbia instead. (Nevertheless, Hughes continued to work on and off with Gomez, while keeping his options open.)
“Besides the so-called “supergoup’ you mention, me and Gary Moore tried to do an album with [Elf, Thin Lizzy and Ian Gillan Band drummer] Mark Nauseef, called G-Force. But that was aborted in 1980 ““ for numerous reasons. Sharon [Osbourne] was managing us.”
That he once claimed to have fired himself from G-Force ““ on his birthday, no less ““ says a lot about Hughes’s state of mind at the time. Moore’s new outfit continued on without him, recording a single album for Jet Records, but with false starts aplenty it really did seem as if Glenn’s career was going nowhere fast.
Hughes: “At the beginning of the 80s I went to see Def Leppard open for Pat Travers at the Santa Monica Civic. It was Travers together with “Mars’ Cowling [bass], Tommy Aldridge [drums] and Pat Thrall. And I saw first-hand what Travers was talking about when he told me: “You’ve got to see my new guitar player, Pat Thrall.’ The two were sharing lead guitar duties. Immediately after the show I said to Pat Thrall: “Do you want to form a band with me?’ Because I just loved what he was doing.”
“I enjoy things that are totally out of the box ““ particularly after the experience of playing with Tommy [Bolin], which was total fusion in some respects. I’ve always wanted to work with people who’re a little on the edge, a little different. When we put Hughes/Thrall together we immediately had all these amazing signatures and this great sound. As a trio [drums being supplied by a varying cast including Gary Ferguson, Gary Mallaber, Peter Schless and Frankie Banali] we sounded huge. Pat had his synthesiser guitar back then, and we had this amazing depth to pull from. We wrote a lot of material. We were in pre-production for maybe six months before we went into the studio.”
Thrall:
“I was aware of Glenn from Purple, but the first time I really heard him was when I was hanging with Pat Travers and he put on the Play Me Out album. Travers plays on it; he was very proud to be a part of Glenn’s record. I was hugely impressed by Play Me Out. At that point I thought: “Great, I’m starting out with Travers now, but at some point I know I’m going to be playing with Glenn Hughes.'”
Thrall, however, remembers the events leading up to the formation of Hughes/Thrall a little differently: “After I left Travers’s band I got in touch with Glenn to see what he was doing and he said: “I’ve already got something going with Ray Gomez.’ So I went up to the San Francisco Bay Area, where my family is and where I grew up, and I started a band with my brother.
“About four months later I got a call from Foreigner’s manager, Bud Prager. He said he was concerned because it wasn’t working out with Glenn and Gomez. Apparently Prager had invested a lot of his own money into the project and it wasn’t going anywhere. Prager knew Glenn had expressed an interest in working with me, but I thought his [Prager’s] approach was kind of disrespectful. He wanted me to haul my ass down to LA, and spend a lot of my own money on rehearsal studios, demos and suchlike. Prager implied that, in the unlikely event of things working out between me and Glenn, if I was lucky he might take us on.
“But all I cared about was playing with Glenn, so I moved to LA and we began working together regardless. Eventually Prager came into town, and when he heard what we were doing he flipped out and wanted to sign us. But I wasn’t so sure because of his attitude, and because of the way he’d approached me initially. So Glenn and I decided not to get involved with Prager, although obviously he did play a role in bringing us together.”
Pat Thrall got his start in a band called Go with Steve Winwood. There’s a connection there to Spencer Davis Group. This band also included Michael Shrieve and the two of them formed another project called Automatic Man.
Thrall did a lot of studio work and eventually this got him the job with the Pat Travers band. With Travers he did three albums: Heat In The Street, Go For What You Know and Crash And Burn. The last album had the hit song “Snortin’ Whiskey and Drinkin’ Cocaine” co-written by Thrall and Travers.
The work with Pat Travers band earned him the “Best New Talent” award in 1980 by Guitar Player Magazine.
All this attention got him noticed by Hughes and they formed the band in 1981.
Did work for Stevie Wonder, Toto, and Van Halen’s 1984 album.
Promo Photos
Nevertheless, the promo photos that accompanied the release of Hughes/Thrall in 1982 showed the duo not as raddled rockers, but as remarkably healthy and fresh-faced individuals ““ even though they also looked like cheesy extras out of the soap opera, Dynasty.
Thrall laughs: “Those pictures were very much of their time. I guess we were trying to look as good as we could, but believe me we were not living a very healthy lifestyle.”
Hughes: “I was really healthy when we started the Hughes/Thrall project and I lost a lot of weight; I was very California-looking. But unfortunately it didn’t last”¦”
Thrall on album cover:
“It’s one of the worst in the history of rock,” he laughs again. “They gave us two choices. The other choice was a scantily clad woman riding on the back of a dinosaur. They said: “Which do you want, the masks or the dinosaur?’ We said: “I guess we’re going have to go with the stoopid masks.’ If you ever saw the video for The Look In Your Eye ““ ha-ha! ““ the director had everyone holding up those damn masks. It’s awful.”
Technical:
United Western Studios, Hollywood, California, USA & Shangri-La Studios, Malibu, California, USA
Worked with Bob Dylan, The Rolling Stones, The Band, Eric Clapton, Keith Richards, The Beach Boys, and Bonnie Raitt.
The producer on Hughes/Thrall was initially Rob Fraboni. But it didn’t work out.
Thrall: “Rob worked on Hughes/Thrall in the evening and into the night, but during the day he was producing Bonnie Raitt’s album Green Light. He’s more oriented toward that kind of music. We’d done probably four songs with Rob when we realised we needed to get a bigger sound. So we brought in Andy Johns, because of Led Zeppelin and all the stuff he’d done. You can definitely hear that bigger sound ““ particularly with the drums ““ on tracks such as Muscle & Blood and I Got Your Number. So that’s why we made the change. It was an education working with Andy because of his history ““ he’s a star in his own right, basically.”
Hughes expands: “I really wanted Andy because of the work he’d done with Free, The Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin, of course. Andy’s a wild card, a six-foot-four Brit in California. He wears a cowboy hat, has been known to carry guns from time to time, and he was larger than life. He still is. He was massive character in the studio. He was great at fixing the stew”¦ although he’d probably call it making the sauce!
“Andy was very good at combining Pat and me’s vibe together. The groove was very important to Andy, that great groove that carries on through the record, from Muscle & Blood to Beg Borrow Or Steal, to First Step Of Love. All those songs have got great grooves to them. That still survives today.”
There was no great falling-out when Fraboni was replaced by Johns, as Thrall explains: “No, not at all. It was exciting and the whole thing needed to be invigorated anyway, because Rob and us weren’t quite the perfect match, production-wise. I’ve worked with Rob since ““ I played on a Phoebe Snow album that he produced ““ but his approach wasn’t fitting in with what Glenn and I envisioned Hughes/Thrall to be. So when Andy came in it was a shot in the arm for us ““ and you can certainly hear it on the record.
“We did overdubs with Andy on the tracks we did with Rob [which included Coast To Coast and First Step Of Love]. And then of course Andy mixed the whole record. Although I have to say it’s a little bit small and reverb-y for my tastes in this day and age. I’d give anything to be able to remix it, but unfortunately the master tapes were stored at the studio in Los Angeles [United Western Studios]. The ownership of the studio changed hands and any tape in the library that hadn’t been claimed was erased and used for bulk tape. That’s what happened to Hughes/Thrall. It’s horrible. We don’t have the multi-track masters any more. Glenn and I were pretty devastated when we found out.”
Mastered by Bob Carbonne at A&M Recording Studios, Hollywood, California, USA
Worked with Joe Jackson and UB40.
Album Tracks:
All songs written by Hughes/Thrall except “Coast to Coast” written by Hughes.
Side one:
I Got Your Number
The Look In Your Eye
Track #2 invariably appears as: “Look In Your Eye” in listings, but the Epic release cites: “The Look In Your Eye” on LP.
Beg, Borrow Or Steal
Where Did The Time Go
Muscle And Blood
Side two:
Hold Out Your Life
Who Will you Run To
Coast To Coast (Hughes)
Hughes: “I wanted to give it another stab ““ it’s such a great song. We thought Hughes/Thrall were going to have a lot of success Stateside and I wanted Coast To Coast to get some airplay over there. Most people don’t know it was a Trapeze song; most think of it as a Hughes/Thrall track.”
Thrall: “Glenn had cut a version when he was with Ray Gomez and that’s what I had been listening to. Gomez is a fantastic guitar player; he’s one of my favourites. The solo I take on Coast To Coast is note-for-note what Gomez’s solo was on the demo with Glenn. It’s actually more of a melody than a solo. I thought: “I’m just going to pay homage to Ray on this.’ So I was more familiar with the Gomez version than the original Trapeze one. But then, of course, Glenn and me did our own thing as well ““ all the arpeggiated guitars and the rhythmic colours”¦ all that stuff. But Gomez’s solo was perfect ““ how are you going to beat perfection?”
First Step Of Love
Reception and Review
Interestingly all this versatility resulted in a pretty safe, AOR-sounding release.
The album received a lot of praise from critics but did not do well with sales. Hughes blamed this on the fact that both he and Thrall were both battling pretty serious drug addictions during this time and couldn’t do a full tour. They played in support of Santana with Tommy Aldridge on drums but could only play a few shows. Jesse Harms was on keyboard. He had previously been part of Sammy Hagar’s backing band.
Hughes admits that he and Pat were to blame for the album not really taking off.
“If Pat and I had been really on the money I’ve no doubt we’d’ve gone on to huge success with Hughes/Thrall. If we’d’ve been teetotalers ““ as I am now, and have been for many years ““ with no drinking, no drugging, no anything, it would’ve been different.”
It’s speculated that having worked with someone with the versatility of Bolin inspired him to search for a similar experience with Thrall.
Hughes/Thrall was released on the little-known Boulevard Records, a subsidiary of Epic.
Hughes: “We were one of the first artists to sign for Boulevard ““ we may have been the only artist, in fact. We could have gone with Atlantic, we had three or four offers, but we chose this company.”
Thrall elaborates: “The reason we went with them [Boulevard was run by Dennis Lavinthal and Lenny Beer] was that they were two of the biggest independent record promoters in the US at the time. The labels would pay these guys upwards of $100,000 to get radio play. So Epic said: “Since we’re paying this much to you guys to do that, we’ll give you a couple of hundred thousand more and you can go sign some new acts.’
Hughes has since described Thrall as “the best guitarist I’ve worked with in my entire career”.
“That’s a huge compliment considering all the guys he’s played with ““ that’s wonderful,” Thrall says. “But Glenn and I have a natural chemistry. When we get into a room and start playing, we just click. That’s the bizarre thing. So it’s really easy for us to make music together. You can’t force that to happen, it’s either there or it’s not, and Glenn and I just have that thing.”
Hughes agrees: “When we strap on our guitars and stand toe-to-toe in the studio there’s an instant vibe. It’s just there. It’s wonderful. We’re like a force of nature.” A Hurricane/Tornado, if you like”¦
“I think our soul is what separates us from a lot of bands. Pat, for instance, is one of the warmest guitarists I’ve ever heard…Right now, we’re looking forward to going out there and destroying audiences”, said Glenn at the time. “Now you’ve really got to be on the ball to make it – you have to be a good musician. We may not be newcomers to rock & roll, but we’re as energetic and hungry as any new band”.
Thrall said of this project: “This is the first time I’ve had the chance to totally express myself musically. The music on the album takes a lot of twists and turns because Glenn and I like to weave a variety of textures. The idea was to diversify the music as much as we could without getting esoteric. Most of all, we wanted to keep everything on the edge.”
Hughes remarks; “I have lost count of the many people (and musicians!) who have put this LP at the top of their playlist. I am very proud of this project. There is a definite vibe on this gem”.
Hughes: “Claude was in the band when we started to make demos for the second record. But we never really completed them; we were sort of falling apart. We were also working with Tommy Bolin’s old drummer, Mark Craney. He passed away from diabetes and kidney failure, poor fella. But I like Claude, he’s sort of a Jon Lord type of character.”
These days, Glenn Hughes is philosophical about what might have been: “Hughes/Thrall had a short life span. It was extremely short! But I’m glad that we’re embracing the record again now,” he says enthusiastically.
Photography by Jim Kennedy captured live at Rissmiller’s (“Country Club“) in Reseda, California on Friday, November 19th, 1982.
Hughes/Thrall would cross paths a number of times after this album, recording a song for the film “Dragnet” as well as Thrall appearing on Hughes’s solo albums and Hughes using some of the unused songs from their abandoned follow up project.
In 2006 a follow up album was announced but it never materialized. In 2009 Hughes was quoted as saying: “”I have put the Hughes/Thrall 2 project behind me… We started the album in 1997 and Pat Thrall wanted to produce it by himself. Ten years to produce an album? I usually take no more than six months. Let’s move on with our lives.””
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Immediately after Deep Purple Mark 4 imploded Tommy Bolin formed The Tommy bolin Band. Deep Purple ceased in mid March of 1976 and by June he was in the studio with his band recording Private Eyes.
Tommy had recorded demos of several of the tracks at Glen Holly Studio in Hollywood Hills.
Recording Session began at Cherokee Studios on June 8, 1976.
Bobby Berge reports that the recording dates at Cherokee Studios in Hollywood included:
June 8: “Shake the Devil” and “Post Toastee”
June 9: “You Told Me That You Loved Me” and “Gypsy Soul”
June 10: “Hello Again”
June 11: “Someday Will Bring Our Love Home” (Carmine Appice filled in on drums.)
June 14: “Gotta Dance,” “Sweet Burgundy” and “Bustin’ Out for Rosie” (Bobby back on drums)
June 15: Tommy did a number of overdubs
June 16: Tommy did a number of overdub
They talk of using a drum booth to record trying to mimic the sound the Beatles got at Abbey Road. It’s also mentioned that in some cases they plugged the guitar direct into the mixing board instead of micing a cab.
Tommy opened up for CACTUS in one of his bands. I always thought he was a great guitarist. I helped him get into DEEP PURPLE and we were always friends. He loved drinking and taking drugs – too bad he was great!!!
What do you mean by “I helped him get into DEEP PURPLE”?
I knew Tommy and I knew he was a great player. The guys in DEEP PURPLE asked me about him, what I thought of Tommy. I told them he was a great player and a nice guy – next thing I know he was in PURPLE…
Did Ritchie Blackmore ever asked you to play with him?
Yes, he asked me to join RAINBOW as the original drummer. I couldn’t do it, at the time I had a group with Mike Bloomfield called KGB and I was signed to MCA Records and they wouldn’t let me out of my contract. So, I couldn’t do it. So he then asked Cozy. I used to have a joke with Cozy about him being my professional replacement – first with Jeff Beck and then with Ritchie Blackmore.
Private Eyes was my first proper job as a full engineer at Trident. I wasn’t involved with the recording. That was done in the States. At this time, Tommy had been playing with the touring line-up of Deep Purple, and I remember the atmosphere and entourage were quite rock and roll, with lots of partying and outrageous behaviour.
But we had a wonderful time when it was just us in the mix room. There was great music and sounds blaring out of the massive studio monitors, along with very silly humor. We all wore hats. Sometimes all of us were wearing berets. We took several photos of the four of us swapping seats, but with the hats staying in the same position. We spent much of the time in hysterics, but the work did get done.
It was an incredible experience for me to be a part of this amazing-sounding record. Fond memories. On the last night of working on the album after Tommy had gone back to his hotel, Dennis said “I don’t think we will see Tommy again,” which felt very strange at the time. A couple of months after that we heard the tragic news that Tommy had died from an accidental overdose while on tour.
Worked on artwork for Grand Funk Railroad, Bruce Springsteen, Steppenwolf.
Bolin 2
Album Tracks:
Bolin 3
Side one:
Bustin’ Out For Rosey (Bolin)
Sweet Burgundy (Cook, Bolin)
Post Toastee (Bolin)
Bolin 4
Side two:
Shake the Devil (Cook, Bolin)
Gypsy Soul (Cook, Bolin)
Someday Will Bring Our Love Home (Tesar, Bolin)
Drums by Carmine Appice?
Hello, Again (Cook, Bolin)
Bolin plays piano on this track
You Told Me That You Loved Me (Bolin)
Reception and Review
As soon as the recording was complete the band was back on the road opening the tour in Albuquerque, New Mexico on July 16.
On the tour they played material from Teaser and Private Eyes.
There was a break in the tour and on August 29 they continued with Johnnie Bolin on drums and Jimmy Haslip on bass after Berge and McBride left the band.
Comments about the show? Things you’d like us to cover? We’d love to hear from you. Send us an email at info@deeppurplepodcast.com or @ us on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.
Disclaimer: The video used on YouTube is a byproduct of producing our audio podcast. We post it merely as a convenience to those who prefer the YouTube format. Please subscribe using one of the links below if you’d prefer a superior audio experience.
Comments about the show? Things you’d like us to cover? We’d love to hear from you. Send us an email at info@deeppurplepodcast.com or @ us on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.
Disclaimer: The video used on YouTube is a byproduct of producing our audio podcast. We post it merely as a convenience to those who prefer the YouTube format. Please subscribe using one of the links below if you’d prefer a superior audio experience.
The newly formed Whitesnake was supposed to play their first gig at The Sky Bird Club in Nottingham on February 23, 1978. Neil Murray confirms in Martin Popoff’s book “Sail Away” that this never happened.
5-6 April 1978 London rehearsals
Recorded April 7th – 13th 1978 Central Recorders to record Snakebite EP
Bernie Marsden explains that “the record company wouldn’t commit to an album.”
They apparently had a friend — Robbie Dennis — at EMI who was a bit fan of the band but his boss wouldn’t let him sign them. Bernie Marsden credits Dennis in having a huge part of the Whitesnake story.
Martin Popoff says they used this song as an audition piece for the “revolving door of players they were trying to bring into the band.”
Marsden says that to this day people still think Whitesnake wrote this song.
Come On
Written by Coverdale, Marsden
This one would become a live staple. This was the first song Marsden and Coverdale wrote together in a flat in London.
Reception and Review
Marsden says there was a fifth song for this EP called “The First Time” but it was lost and has never resurfaced.
Murray says there wasn’t much difference between the EP and the album Trouble because they went into the studio to do the full album just a few months later.
For North America this was combined with four tracks from Northwinds and sold as an LP.
The first 15,000 copies were pressed on white vinyl. The second edition was pressed as black vinyl but a much smaller number.
Murray says this was the turning point where it shifted from Coverdale solo to the band Whitesnake.
On May 1, 1978 the band filmed a promo video for Snakebite at Shepperton Studios.
20th June 1978 London, UK: Recording backing for Bloody Mary for Top Of The Pops. 21st June 1978 London, UK: Filming for Top Of The Pops. Aired 22nd June.
Snakebite video:
0:00 Come On
3:30 – Aint’ No Love in the Heart of the City
8:05 – Bloody Mary
11:07 – Steal Away (fade out)
The Snakebite video was shown in the UK as support feature to the Bilitis soft porn movie by David Hamilton and premiered on June 22. David got some offers to appear in movies afterwards
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