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The band was only about seven months old at the time of recording.
They had already had a huge chart hit with “Hush” and were preparing to go on tour for “The Book of Taliesyn.”
Tetragrammaton worked hard to get them a US tour even though they were barely getting gigs in the UK at this point.
Tetragrammaton was looking for a British band along the lines of Hendrix or Cream to push in America and that’s why they latched on to Deep Purple.
They had headlining dates as well as this gig opening for Cream who were in the midst of a farewell tour and not getting along very well.
The tour was a nineteen city farewell tour starting on October 4th, 1968.
An article in Disc reveals Deep Purple will receive £80,000 pounds to perform with Cream on their upcoming farewell tour in the US for the twenty shows
Plans were then changed so that Deep Purple could finish their album The Book of Taliesyn. Most of it had been completed but ther was at least one song that wasn’t recorded until the beginning of October.
They arrived in Los Angeles on October 15, 1968. Jon Lord, in an interview with Chris Charlesworth: “It was a warm evening and there were palm trees everywhere. It seemed like paradise to us coming from our bedsits in cold England.”
Prior to the gig, on the 17th, The band had a famous performance on The Dating Game where Jon Lord was later a contestant.
Recorded at The Forum or The “Fabulous” Forum in front of 16,000.
Performance was on October 18, 1968. Opening for Cream as part of their farewell tour.
Someone at the Tetragrammaton decided to try out this new recording device during the show to record Deep Purple.
The show was set to be recorded by Deep Purple’s US record label, Tetragrammaton Records. They recorded a video from the audience with a Sony ½ inch reel-to-reel video and audio recorder with an open aire microphone. The video quality ended up being very low but the audio sounded very good. When Warner Bros. Records took over Tetragrammaton the original video was thrown away. Many years later it was recovered and The Deep Purple Appreciation Society transferred the audio portion for a CD release.
This video technology was cutting edge and was not really done properly.
There is so little live recording of Mark 1 that this is a rare glimpse into their live act. The only other real known recordings are are some of the BBC sessions and only one other full show from 1969.
This is likely the be the earliest recorded show by Mark 1 and likely the only video of a full show.
At this point Deep Purple had performed fewer than 30 live shows. If my calculations are correct this would have been their 27th live performance.
Simon Robinson points out in the liner notes that at this point Ritchie didn’t have a lot of experience being in a band being mostly a studio guy and playing some shows with other acts. It can be noted that Jon Lord tends to take more solos than Blackmore at this point.
Japenese tour poster sent in by Jeff Breis.
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Setlist:
Hush
River Deep, Mountain High
Mandrake Root
Hey Joe
Wring That Neck
Kentucky Woman
Rod announces that Kentucky woman was released on “Saturday” which would have been October 12th.
Help
Reviews:
Reviewers seemed to be surprised by the band though the referred to “gimmicky reworking of known songs” and deemed them not quite ready to be superstars.
The rumor is that Deep Purple was kicked off the bill after these first few shows because someone in Cream’s management was afraid of being upstaged.
Derek Lawson, being interviewed again by Chris Charlesworth, stated: “Ritchie was the first guitarist to play some light novelty thing in the middle of a hard rock number just for a laugh. Cream didn’t think it was funny but the audience loved it and what with ‘Hush’ being a hit single they wend down very well, probably too well.”
Rumor is that Cream may also have been upset by Hendrix coming to an after show party with Deep Purple and not with Cream.
Cream went on to finish the tour without Deep Purple and ended at The Royal Albert Hall on November 26th at The Royal Albert Hall.
Deep Purple would perform there less than ten months later when they performed Jon Lord’s Concerto For Group and Orchestra for the first time.
A cassette version of this show made it out on bootleg in Japan but the official CD issue didn’t come out until 2002.
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Hall of Famer Norman Weischlebaum writes in to shed some light on a new Blackmore side project.
…changed his business?
(Found at Bangkok airport)
Best
Norman
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Listener Email
Not sure if this is random or on purpose but it dawned on me recently that the Battle Rages On album has two song titles that are the same exact names of two of the most iconic Bond girls during Roger Moore’s reign, Solitaire (Live and Let Die) and Anya (The Spy Who Loved Me).
Take care
Ron
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Check out our website to find other like-minded shows taking deep dives into individual songs, bands, and albums.
DC in Metal Hammer UK, “In His Own Words” article: “”This is definitely written for a live set and it is a song about the lady who is featured in the video. The same lady who appears in the ‘Is This Love’ video.”
Is This Love
DC in Metal Hammer UK, “In His Own Words” article: “The concept of that was originally for Tina Turner, but the lyric got pretty personal so I kept it. I didn’t write it especially for her, the actual structure of the song was based loosely around a song called ‘Time And Again’ from Northwinds and when I started getting more into the lyric of it it became a very personal statement and | decided not to present it to the lady. Maybe one day, but it seems to be kicking substantial arse, as they say. It’s at number two at the moment and another reason that I’m all over the place, apart from trying to give up smoking, is that I’m waiting too on the news to find out whether we’ve got the number one spot. If we can plant the flag on the top of the mountain after climbing so high, it would be a double treat. The people I work with are confident that this album will be in the top five for the next four or five months… It’s doing incredibly well.”
Children of the Night
DC in Metal Hammer UK, “In His Own Words” article: “This is another anthem job. Some of these are arranged purely and simply for live per-formance, but the sentiments are strong. Over here I’II be opening the show with ‘Bad Boys’ going into ‘Children Of The Night’ and reprising with ‘Bad Boys’ again. So that there are fireworks right at the start. If you listen to the album it is arranged purely and simply as a kind of studio-concert record. It’s got all the ball breakers and then the pause for. breath and then the ball breakers again.”
Straight for the Heart
DC in Metal Hammer UK, “In His Own Words” article improperly titled “Straight To The Heart”: “”This is another related song, it s a cousin of ‘Guilty Of Love’ and this is one track that I was a little disappointed with, but I’m hearing more and more positive reports about it. I felt it was the weakest, but a lot of the press said that ‘Children Of The Night’ was the weakest, but I don’t think so. It could have been better. It has come out well though.
Don’t Turn Away
DC in Metal Hammer UK, “In His Own Words” article: “”It’s to do with the separation between my beautiful ex and me. It’s double edged, it’s like her talking to me and me talking to her.”
Some great finds from the collection of Jeff Breis!
Reviews:
Darker Than Blue
“Like Gary Moore’s band, or Blizzard Of Oz, Whitesnake are now a replaceable backing band, but this album was written while they were still a proper group. While I think It’s probably my favourite by them to date, it still contains too many fillers. “Still Of The Night” is the best track, even If it does rip off Zeppelin’s Rock’n Roll. It’s a new direction for them and a much more adventurous effort than many. I was it surprised it did so well as a single too as it’s so long, and unlike normal fodder. “Bad Boys” is a rabble rouser. “Give Me All Your Love” is a real filler, it could be off any of their albums. “Looking For Love” is great. Slow, with mournful lyrics, it’s got a great vocal. On side two we get the redone “Crying In The Rain”. I prefer the original on Saints ‘n Sinners, this lacks atmosphere. “Is This Love”strikes me as being soppy rather than emotional. The remainder of the album is rarely above average, “Straight From The Heart” sounds recycled, only “Don’t Turn Away” comes out of it well.
On the singles, “Here I Go Again : 87” is very like the original, I don’t really see why they bothered. “Your Gonna Break My Heart Again” on the 12″ is rather better than some of the album tracks in my opinion. In all, some tracks are among the best that he’s done, but too many are substandard. I would appreciate some variation in subject matter, most of it being to do with horizontal pursuits as ever. However it has prompted me to get back into the albums again, though the chance of him ever doing that definitive LP seen to disappearing.” Michael Kearns
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Their last show prior to “Whitesnake” being released was Rock in Rio on January 19, 1985 which they played with the stripped down lineup of Coverdale, Sykes, Murray, and Powell, Powell’s last show with the band. People were calling them “the European answer to Van Halen.”
The Whitesnake album was released in March in the US.
They didn’t play live again until June 20, 1987.
Year-by-Year:
1977- White Snake
1978 – Northwinds
1978 – Trouble
1979 – Lovehunter
1980 – Ready an’ Willing
1981 – Come an’ Get It
1982 – Saints & Sinners (November)
1984 – Slide It In (January)
There were numerous issues including David having sinus surgery with a long recovery.
About the time between live shows and albums David Coverdale told UCR in a 2017 interview: “I thought I was done. I thought it was over. I thought it was “Stick a fork in me, I’m done.” I was very substantially in debt due to not working for two or three years, and there had been terrible advantages taken while I was recovering from [sinus] surgery and unable really to function in a professional environment. And people who I trusted, I found out I couldn’t trust. So the album became extraordinarily expensive — the most expensive Whitesnake album ever. And it was minimal to do with me. [Laughs] So that was the primary reason — for me, in a relationship, if you can’t trust your partner or partners — it’s time to move on. I had flown home from a very sad Christmas holiday with my daughter in Munich and she was kind of punishing me, understandably, because I’d left her mom. So I flew home from Munich to L.A., pretty depressed about it and very sad.”
In Metal Hammer UK in 1987 Coverdale says: “There was illness in the studio and it took ages. There were problems with attitudes and mentalities, and some wonderful egos. It stopped being fun. I wanted to throw it down the toilet, not because of the music but because of the problems that went with it.”
“During the recording, I developed a sinus infection, which was absolutely not drug related. I had a deviated septum which caused me a great deal of intense pain and made me sing off-key. I went to a specialist who checked me over and told me he was surprised he could even talk in my condition. He said I’d need surgery, but we were already months overdue so I asked if there was anything I could do that would enable me to finish the album first. He gave me a course of anti-biotics and told me to take three weeks off. However, when I went back into the studio and started singing again it had all started once more, I chucked it in.”
After the surgery he had to have six months of silence which added to the delays in the album.
John Sykes also had an issue with his tonsils so they broke before Christmas of 1985 with the intention of starting back up in January.
It was then that Phil Lynott died and Sykes had to return to England to attend the funeral.
This was all being done in Vancouver. Sykes then wento to Toronto and all his amps were broken. Coverdale said it was “like a world tour of recording studios!”
After finishing the album Coverdale said it was “only nine months recording time. A true pregnancy! Fortunately the baby’s been born with no defects, and the feedback I’ve been getting is quite exceptional.”
On the departure of Mel Galley. Coverdale says the band pressured him into letting Galley go and referred to the remaining members as the “glamour boys.” Coverdale: “I love Mel’s voice and songwriting, but the only way I could keep him involved was to offer a situation where we could writ together and he was still a member of Whitesnake but it was peripheral. Unfortunately I broke his heart. I know he blames me but it wasn’t my fault. I tried to get him the gig with Bad C. but I don’t think he was fat enough.”
Jon Sutherland asked DC how he was protecting his voice while touring after all the trouble he had DC responded: “Lots of smoking and alcohol. I keep it coated with some type of film.”
In an interview with Metal Rendezvous when asked about the surgery Coverdale again stated that it was not drug related: “Not drug related! I am not doing spoon fulls of the devil’s dandruff!”
It’s further stated in the Metal Rendezvous article that he couldn’t hold a note and had no power. IT ended up taking eight months off his career and he didn’t know if he’d even be able to sing again.
Other than his first two Glover-produced solo albums this was his first time not working with Martin Birch.
In Metal Rendezvous he is asked about the “touchy” subject of sex in his writing. Coverdale responded: “It’s disgusting. I wanted to call the album ‘No Muff Too Tough!’ But to make such a ridiculous small statement just to stick it up these people’s noses, you’re only gonna gain bullshit.”
DC in Metal Hammer UK, “In His Own Words” article: “’Crying In The Rain’ is very important to me. It was very important to get the statement across as it should have been in the first place. A lot of my colleagues had their heads securely up their arses, but a percentage of that was my fault and I’ve always wanted a better recorded statement than that and I think we’ve achieved it on this. It features a stunning solo from John Sykes.”
Bad Boys
DC in Metal Hammer UK, “In His Own Words” article: “It’s a rock ‘n roller, it’s a rebel song. Whitesnake albums are always structured in a, similar way. Musically, tempos or whatever the songs are always related. ‘Bad Boys, is in the ‘Would I Lie To You’ vein and there’s still a bit of a rebel there. even at thirty-five!”
Still of the Night
DC in Metal Hammer UK, “In His Own Words” article: “It’s a ‘Lovehunter’ song, it’s a predator song. It’s a relative of ‘Slow ‘N Easy, ‘Victim Of Love’ and ‘Lovehunter’. It’s a kind of nightime’s-the-right-time kind of song, you can get away with much more in the dark! I think this is definitive Coverdale. It’s already proven to be excellent live and the band are playing it f***ing great. It was in essence arranged to walk straight of the disc into the concert hall and just expand a little on the atmospherics piece. I’m very pleased with it, it’s certainly gained more mileage than I could ever have wished for.”
Here I Go Again
DC in Metal Hammer UK, “In His Own Words” article: “
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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.
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Mike Kattan taking it from the $3 and joining Dr. Jill Breis at the £10 Tier!
The £1 Tier
Paul – NEW PATRON ALERT!!
No message as such – just a DP related recollection which may amuse you. I was at one of the 1993 Brixton Academy gigs (sadly not the one with the video on YouTube) where Richie leapt over a monitor to play his Highway Star solo and fell over. Of course, Gillan laughed. I still wonder whether that was why Richie was so pissed off when they got to the next venue – the infamous Birmingham NEC gig recorded for Come Hell or High Water. Which, of course, pretty much then led to his departure.
Really enjoying your podcast – came across it because I was trying to find out more about MkIV – and ended up listening to your excellent episode about Come Taste The Band. I’m playing catch up now – listened to the Burn episode this morning… (oh, and I cheated and skipped the Mk1 episodes). Still got a long way to go.
Roger Glover writes: “”IG started strumming a Bo Diddley sort of rhythm and I joined in, then Paice weighed in with a very odd, unconventional drum pattern, and finally Steve and Jon started playing, turning the jam into a throbbing, bubbling rhythm. What appeared was a stunning idea which we immediately put down on the 24 track. The sound as we listened to the take in the control room, was truly uplifting, rough as it was. Darren (Schneider) did a great job today.”
Ian Paice: “I was trying to amalgamate two different styles of drumming; to get a funky, rock ‘n roll back beat thing and incorporate a 1940s swing thing – trying to find a way of getting the two feels to sit together. The only time we did it I’d just about got it, it was a jam and we kept it, we couldn’t get it any better. The whole concept of doing those two things was so new to me it was very difficult to play, now it’s a doddle. The hard thing is coming up with it and then, once you’ve come up with it, to teach your body what your brain is telling you to do.”
A Castle Full of Rascals
Written on day 3 in the studio (January 18th).
Recorded on June 15th.
It was originally called “Spooky” while being written.
Steve Morse: “Actually, in a way, this was the first thing we wrote together; the very first time I ever played with the band, right after we came off stage in Mexico City in 1994 – we had just played Speed King and I liked the rock *n’ roll way it worked with the vocal line defining the time – I started playing this idea, lan Gillan started singing along and it sounded promising. That’s when I got my first glimpse of the possibilities of writing with this band. Later in the studio it grew some more. Roger game up with the middle riff and Ian sang a part over it that I wouldn’t have expected, and so it evolved.”
Jon Lord’s journal: “A number which lan (G) is calling “Spooky Wooky” has appeared today. Everyone for a beer at The Thirsty Whale after rehearsals.”
Steve Morse: “I don’t know what it’s about, it seems political and yet it doesn’t come down on any side, it’s just a description of human nature. It’s a great title. I’m the only guy in the band that heard it two beats different to the way it’s turned out, I guess I’ve seen life from both sides now, ha ha.”
A Touch Away
Song began same day as “Soon Forgotten” on February 14th.
Originally it was titled “Albert” until being changed to “A Touch Away.”
Song title wasn’t officially changed until August 16th.
Hey Cisco
Written on day 2 (January 17th) in the studio.
Ian Paice: “I was thinking that Fireball had such a nice feel, I wanted to try and do something very similar to it but instead of having it broken up by regular little rock and roll patterns I would just do the double bass drum thing all the way through it and try and make that the centrepoint of the rhythmic pulse. Keeping it up and not stopping was the tricky bit. I was just practicing getting the bass drums going and trying to play something within that when Steve joined in, then everyone else jumped onto the band wagon, and there went my practice session!”
Jon Lord’s Journal: “Today we worked on something which is at the moment going by the unquestionably accurate name of ‘Very Fast?. lan (G) thinks it could end up being a story about The Cisco Kid.”
Somebody Stole My Guitar
Recorded on June 29th under the working title “Pulse.”
Name officially changed on August 23rd.
The Purpendicular Waltz
On February 9th the band began working on a jam in ¾ which was recorded.
On February 10th the ¾ idea became “The Purpendicular Waltz.”
Finally recorded on June 7th.
As previously covered Ian Paice had been a fan of using this title for some time.
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Reception and Charts:
They are said to have come out of the studio with over 20 songs.
In an update posted online Roger Glover says that they rarely come up with more material than needed for an album.
Release on February 5, 1996 in the UK.
The mixing of the album was completed on October 15th, 1995. In his final update Roger Glover writes: “I’ve rarely been this satisfied with an album (and I’m not easily pleased).”
During the mastering phase (attended by Roger Glover and Bruce Payne) two songs had to be dropped due to time constraints.
It was released later in the month in various countries and didn’t reach the US until April.
The album did not chart in the US but peaked at #58 in the UK. Highest chart position was #3 in Sweden.
US and Japanese version had bonus track “Don’t Hold Your Breath.”
In a couple of interviews following the release of Purpendicular Steve Morse admitted to have influenced Jon on his current organ sound:
I pushed Jon Lord to play the organ with more distortion the way he used to. We recorded it that way. I brought one of my guitar effects units and put it into his organ rig. That’s what he still uses now. I programmed some effects for him. ‘Cascades’, for example, has a heavy organ and guitar lines like in the old days when Ritchie and Jon played a lot of triplet lines together.
Ian Gillan: “ ‘The Stallion’ is written. IG: “Some songs have working titles until final lyrics are written but ‘The Stallion’ was always ‘The Stallion’, I don’t know why, it just felt right. Steve and Jon were playing the chord sequence that ended up being the intro and I started singing words that just floated into my head..I’m a little odd like that”
This song is one of a handful of “white whales” that has never seemed to have surfaced but it is said it was recorded during the Purpendicular sessions.
Assumption is that “Don’t Hold Your Breath” and “The Stallion” would have been the two songs dropped during the mastering phase.
Darker Than Blue Issue 48 January / February 1996
Reviews:
Darker Than Blue Issue 48 January / February 1996
I should’ve known better, I should’ve trusted them – but it’s not always easy. But whatever mistakes they may have made in the recent past, this new album isn’t one of them. Deep Purple have delivered a very grown-up album and in many ways – for me at any rate – pushed rock as practiced by older bands in a new direction. Not that anyone else could follow this, it’s a direction very much created by the personalities involved and so hard to actually pin down that I’m not sure others could take it on if they wanted to. For this reason it’s also a very hard album to actually review – so much is in the feel of it all. But what the hell, nothing ventured…
So we begin in some roadside neon cactus lit cafe listening to “Ted The Mechanic’s” tale of life, retold over a Glover / Paice lick, anchoring it all firmly to the floor. “Ready An’ Willing” I cried when I first heard it, but the similarities seemed to diminish with each subsequent play and what the hell, it just sounds so good. Morse chucks in a spaceward solo (he’s already opened the proceedings by splattering his hands across the frets) and then climbs down for a quieter organ rhythm passage topped by laid-back vocal harmonies. Vavavoom indeed. “Soon Forgotten” also had a brief live outing early in ’95. Chunks of heavy guitar, discordant Hammond, with Ian Gillan rising and falling with a sound that reminds me of his work on “Superstar”. Jon adds to the strange ambience with one of his weirdest solos ever and closes the proceedings by steaming the organ to a close like some ancient locomotive drawing up at platform twelve. Then cut.
I feared “Sometimes I Feel Like Screaming” might lose its way as it starts just like a Morse solo track might. Fear not, with a band to fire off, he’s soon getting into forward gear and the band are quickly at full pelt – organs thrashing, bass pounding – on a track that gives proper meaning to the word dynamics. The contrast between the soaring guitar breaks and the heavy section adds to the interest and as it all crashes forward Ian gets to add some truly sonic screams before a lengthy closing passage with Morse again left to doodle away. “Rosa’s Cantina” – The man tickling the ivories OWNS this track and instead of giving way to others, proceeds to lavish “Hush” style phrases throughout. A thundering bass joins him, Paicey kicks in and I’m in heaven. Morse contributes enough clipped guitar riffs to make for a cauldron of sound and Ian Gillan sways over the lot. Paicey swings into a slightly military beat for “Hey Cisco” before leading off a head melting jazz-rock riff that Billy Cobham would’ve been proud of. But whereas for many jazz rockers that would’ve been it, here things are properly Purpleyfied and the amalgam of styles is fascinating.
The real point of the album is that I’m never stood waiting for the solos. Nobody is dominating anything – it’s just a sheer group effort. When they do throw in a break, it never seems to dominate – just kind of feels as if it belongs there. Morse’s influences are fairly fundamental musically but again it feels natural. How much his arrival has inspired the others and therefore contributed to this new freedom is of course something only the band can say but they don’t half sound good on it. The nearest feeling I can get to describe it is “Fireball”. It’s not another “Fireball” – but what it does share with that record is a new way of looking at rock. Nobody had ever thought of doing what Purple did on that album and the band themselves didn’t realise what they’d achieved on it until it was too late. To me what “Purpendicular” at its best shares with it is that sense of innovation. Of taking the tried and trusted, mixing it with all sorts of musical ideas and influences and coming up with something different. Yes they’ve mellowed and it doesn’t often bite quite as hard and the guitar players long gone and “Fireball” is my desert island disc choice but, even for it to come to mind as I think about this new album is something of a surprise – albeit a very pleasant one.
Scream Magazine, issue 28, February/March 1996
Submitted by Øyvind Fjeldbu.
I saw your request on Facebook where you asked for contemporary reviews of Purpendicular, and I actually found one from the Norwegian hard rock/metal magazine Scream Magazine, issue 28, February/March 1996. The reviews are attached here. Because they are in Norwegian, I have translated them for you below. I just want to say that the staff in Scream Magazine used to choose certain albums that everyone reviewed. Purpendicular was one of these albums, and that’s why there are 8 short reviews for this album, the first one being the main review. 6 (VI) was the highest possible score for an album, 1 (I) the lowest. Here’s the translation (sorry if my English isn’t completely correct all the time):
V: I was incredibly excited about what Deep Purple could do without Ritchie Blackmore, but I was positively surprised. Many people will probably hate this album because they are prejudiced, but my words are these: Give this album a chance. Steve Morse does a fine job as Ritchie’s replacement. The man is probably a more typical hard rock guitar player than Ritchie, but that does not matter. Just listen to the beautiful “Sometimes I Feel Like Screaming”. The album is characterized by Steve’s more hard rock/heavy metal-oriented guitar playing, but accompanied by Ian Gillan’s voice and Jon Lord’s always incredible organ playing, this still sounds like Deep Purple. This is an album that should satisfy Purple fans unless they are completely addicted to Ritchie. I believe that very few who still appreciate good old hard rock will question Deep Purple’s future without Blackmore. (Jan Dahle – reviewer)
1: The dinosaurs died millions of years ago. Deep Purple vanished with them. I don’t understand the point of hyping an album like this in 1996. (Anders Oddsberg – reviewer)
5: It did not matter at all that Ritchie Blackmore went to his Rainbow. With Steve Morse on guitar Deep Purple deliver their most convincing album in many years. This is really a great CD! (Bjørn Nørsterud – reviewer)
2: I have never been enthusiastic for any release from Deep Purple. I do not lose my control over this album either. Deep Purple will probably never be my thing. (Kenneth Hjorth – reviewer)
2: If you want to buy a Deep Purple record, then watch out so it does not say “Purpendicular” on the cover. Walk to the nice price shelf where the good old classic albums are. (Sem Hadland – reviewer)
3: I have not really decided if I like this album or not. Sometimes it sounds good, but overall it sounds a bit weak. It does not rock as much as my Purple favourites. (Frode Øien – reviewer)
3: Purple now without Blackmore. It is a scandal that they are still active. With every album they release they lose more and more of their glory. There are, however, some playful moments on “Purpendicular”, and it sounds like the boys are having fun. (Håkon Moslet – reviewer)
5: Now I am going to “curse in church” and say that Deep Purple really needed a new guitar player. A lot of goodies/great stuff for guitar freaks here. And Gillan is more spirited/lively. I have to admit that I don’t know the old classics that well, but this one sounds good. (Asgeir Mickelson – reviewer).
A language thing: “curse in church” is a Norwegian expression and I do not know if you have the same one in the States. I guess it is self-explanatory, but it is synonymous to “blasphemous”.
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Jeff Breis sends over articles, reviews, and the Dick Pimple Turtle Island EP!
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After a run of three secret gigs in Mexico and Texas Morse was officially given the job as Deep Purple’s new guitarist in late 1994.
The band decided to set up in Greg Rike Studios in Florida. The band was very comfortable there. They’d recorded Slaves and MAsters there and it was close to Steve Morse’s home.
At the end of day 1 (January 16th, 1995) they had their first song started. It was tentatively titled “Vavoom” but was not the song that became “Vavoom: Ted The Mechanic.”
According to Jon Lord’s diary at the time: “We worked on a number which appears for the moment to be called ‘Vavoom”, then we all had dinner together in a fairly awful Mexican restaurant which had fairly good Margueritas. Dinner TOGETHER! The WHOLE BAND! Yes indeed.
Ian Gillan: “The word Purpendicular had been around for a few years, and was actually an album title I suggested at the time of The Battle Rages On, but it didn’t seem to fit the occasion then. We knew we wanted to call the song a something-or-other Waltz and Roger and I were sitting in the studio throwing suggestions at each other, mostly idiotic ones, when the word Purpendicular was uttered and we both leapt up and just knew it was right. It felt good.”
On July 21st Bruce Payne and a PR consultant, Peter Bird Meet. Peter insists that the name for the project has to be decided immediately. Ian Gillan suggests Purpendicular and it’s decided upon being the only suggestion.
On August 26th Bruce Payne and Peter Bird reconvene in Orlando to discuss the album’s artwork. Peter shows his idea for the broken match and everyone approves it.
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Album Tracks:
All songs written and performed by Deep Purple.
Vavoom: Ted the Mechanic
This song had gotten out early as they played it live. Bootlegs of the recording from Korea and Florida were often mistitled “Ken the Mechanic.”
This song was written early on on January 26th . It was initially called “Ted The Mechanic” but later had “Vavoom” added to the title. More on that later.
Steve Morse: “One of the best things about writing with this band is how everyone nurtures an idea, instead of just rejecting it. I felt this right from the start, it was great. You know, when you first play an idea you don’t know how people will react, but when everyone starts jamming along and Roger turns on his DAT recorder and especially when lan Gillan starts dancing and singing to himself, you know it could definitely be a song.”
Loosen My Strings
Written on the fourth day in the studio (January 19th).
Recorded on June 16th.
From Roger Glover’s Journal: “So to work and yet another magic day happened. I was tuning up and started doodling on the bass, Steve joined in and made it sound really good. Everyone joined in and it wasn’t long before the semblance of a structure emerged. Within an hour it had turned into a very promising song. I was amazed by the ability of Steve to enhance what he heard. The atmosphere around the writing sessions is perfect; relaxed, calm, exciting, happy. The music is flowing from all of us like it hasn’t done since Machine head, though to me is more reminiscent of Hanwell in ’69. Steve is always deferential and modest, but it really feels like he is totally assimilated into the band. We ended the day feeling exhilarated.”
One of two ideas that began on February 14th. The other being “A Touch Away.”
Steve Morse: “| really got into that demonic, heavy feel, that huge juggernaut effect. lan Gillan started playing this idea on an acoustic and no one understood it at first but eventually it worked. It was the kind of thing that invited dramatic chord changes, to break up the E to F pattern, and it was fun finding out how many unrelated majors could be introduced.”
Ian Paice: “Couldn’t understand it at all total confusion for me – not a great deal of love either at first but lan persisted and I eventually gave in and gave it a shot, and I’m very pleased I did.
Jon Lord. “It took me a while to understand the idea but once ‘d settled into an organ riff over the F diminished 5th thing, it clicked. When Steve started what can only be described as a churning guitar figure, a smiling Roger started exploring the bass possibilities, Paicie found one of his indefinable feels’, and IG started dancing and singing, it all fell into place.
On February 17th the lyrics were written.
Ian Gillan: “It’s great working with Rog but there are some songs on this album that I really felt needed to be expressed in a very personal way. Sometimes you just have to do that, it can only be done without compromise. This was one of those.”
Soon Forgotten was the first song mixed for the album on September 17th.
Sometimes I Feel Like Screaming
On June 1st a jam occurs where they start to map out a new song. By the end of the day they put down the first recording mostly so they can remember the arrangement The working title of the song is “Chicken.” The story goes that two people had asked two questions at the same time: 1.) What is the working title of the song? And 2.) someone asking about dinner options.
The title was changed to “’Missing You” just so the title wouldn’t be quite as ridiculous. Later it would be changed to the final title of “Sometimes I Feel Like Screaming.
Title wouldn’t be officially changed to the album title until August 18th.
Steve Morse: “Some ideas come more easily than others, this one came easy. I was trying to play something where every note was an artificial harmonic, I had a lot of distortion on the amplifier so by necessity I was picking out a melody that was sparse – when Jon started playing it all made sense.”
The next day the demo jam they recorded is kept as the master recording after Steve says, “Wouldn’t it be neat if the first song we record for the album is a first take?”
Ian Gillan: “It was one of those sentimental greeting cards, there was one sitting right in front of me, and all it said was missing you’ but the words seemed to sum up the mood of the song, at least the first part of it. I couldn’t get it out of my head. Roger and I had a memorable conversation a while back and we were talking about writing lyrics; we agreed that the only way to deliver what might possibly be seen a corny line is to really mean it – why should certain things be not acceptable just because they sound corny?”
Roger’s journal: “Struggled with the theme for a while, then suddenly it came to us at exactly the same instant- one of those indefinable moments when we seem to be thinking with one mind. Sometimes I Feel Like Screaming. We were both uplifted by that.”
In the Purpendicular Yearbook it’s written on October 3rd: “3rd The final mix of ‘Sometimes I Feel Like Screaming’. The OJ Simpson verdict is reached. No coincidence.”
Cascades: I’m Not Your Lover
Written on February 6th.
Recorded on June 19th.
In a review on The Highway Star Trond J. Strøm writes:
“Cascades: I’m Not My Lover” is the first typical Deep Purple fast paced rocker on this album. Even containing a organ/guitar twin solo a la “Gypsy’s Kiss/Dead or Alive”, the lyrics make me wonder if it’s the sequel to “Smooth Dancer”. * If it is, it’s surely not hateful, just resigned. Powerful stuff musically.
Roger Glover responds: “Nothing is about RB, not that it didn’t cross our minds that that it precisely what people would think!”
Jon Lord Writes: “..something we’re calling ‘Cascades’, which has a nice bit of arpeggiated tomfoolery between Steve and me. Sort of ‘Highway Star’ tempo.”
Steve Morse: “Years ago I had a reel to reel tape player and I don’t know which Deep Purple album I was listening to but they were the first band I ever heard do tunes that had organ and guitar playing triplets together, and playing them faster than any other rock band at that time. To me it’s a characteristic of the band and I wanted to continue that tradition without copying the past. It’s a little hard to play but a neat way to push the song along.”
SM: “| love some of the lyrics, especially the line, ‘You really must be going now, my god is that the time?’
The Aviator
An early title from bootleg recordings refer to this one as “The Highland” which was the working title for this song.
It was written on January 30th.
Recorded on June 26th where it is still being called by its working title.
Steve Morse: “I didn’t exactly make it up on the spur of the moment, it was a tune I’d had hanging around for a few years. You know those movies where each character has its own theme tune, like Peter and the Wolf? Well this was the tune that I used to play when my son Kevin was crawling around on the floor.
He’d laugh and respond to it so it became his theme. just played it one day in the studio and everyone liked it. I had no idea what the band wanted of me when it came to writing and I told them to let me know if they didn’t like any of my ideas, or if they weren’t right for the band, but I was amazed to see that they really wanted to be different and they just kept on encouraging me.”
Ian Paice:IP: “I love that. I loved it from the first time that I heard it even though at first I didn’t think it was anything we could use. It didn’t sound like Deep Purple to me. Now we’ve done it however, I’m really happy with it. It’s just got a mind and a groove of its own and regardless of whether anybody likes it or not it’s a great four of five minutes of music with a wonderful build at the end.”
On July 11th Steve Morse transferred some acoustic guitar parts he recorded at his home studio onto the master tape.
It’s mentioned that Roger Glover and Ian Paice had a drum loop idea they worked on to put over the top of the track in mid July.
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In 1983 The Dixie Dregs (who had renamed themselves The Dregs) dissolved and Morse formed a new band called Morse Code. They later changed their name to The Steve Morse Band.
Shortly after forming Morse also went on a word tour as a solo acoustic act opening for Al DiMeola, John McLaughlin, and Paco DeLucia.
He also had a project called Biff Baby’s All-Stars which was put together specifically to promote Music Man guitars. They would perform shows from 1983 through at least 1991. It was a loose group of top guitar players including Steve Morse, Eddie Van Halen, Steve Lukather, and Albert Lee.
All of these combined projects are what really started to earn Steve some serious name recognition among guitar players and he soon started coming in as a top pick on many reader polls in various magazines.
Steve Morse would win the Best Guitarist in Guitar Player’s reader poll for five consecutive years.
It was after this time that it’s said Steve Morse became disillusioned with the music business and became a commercial airline pilot. This gig lasted from late 1987 through early 1988.
Despite being out of the business he still had time for sessions and some live performances with other acts.
In 1988 The Dixie Dregs reformed with their original lineup.
In 1989 Morse formed a new lineup of the Steve Morse Band this time featuring Dave La Rue on bass who would go on to join Dixie Dreg from 1989 through 2017 before original bassist Andy West would rejoin.
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I’m writing from beautiful West Warwick RI, haha! I grew up in Smithfield and Burrillville, still have some family in Smithfield (Dube cousins, an uncle), though I am long out of touch with them.
I found your podcast (specifically episode #055 from 2020) after seeing the Dio documentary and I was looking for more Dio love and appreciation! That definitely came through with you guys, and when I realized you are/were from RI I got even more excited, haha!
I’ve liked Purple, Sabbath, Rainbow, Dio, etc for as long as I can remember, but I never had much initiative in purchasing and collecting records, and I never dug too deeply into band histories, members and lineup changes, etc. I don’t really know why! Then I went through a kind of personal “Dark Ages” in the late 80s right thru to the 2000s where I wasn’t really listening to much music at all … and I missed out on so much from that time period. Seeing the Dio doc really lit the fire under my butt to seek out what I never did in the past, so now I have a lot to catch up on! I’m really grateful to have stumbled across your podcast, and I’m looking forward to learning more about Purple and all the other great stuff around them. I’m psyched!
I’ve been recommending you guys to some friends and I gave a little shout-out on Reddit as well, so I’m trying to get the word out. (Hah, I’m even super late to the podcast thing, but that is just typical of me I guess!)
Anyway, thank you for doing what you do! I’ll be around.
Second half of show covered on this episode (Episode 198):
Anya
The Battle Rages On
When A Blind Man Cries
Lazy
Satch Boogie
Space Truckin’
Woman From Tokyo
Paint It Black
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Hush
Speed King
Smoke On The Water
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Hank the Tank
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Blackmore’s Tights
John Miceli
Listener Mail/Comments
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Old friends chatting about the greatest band in the world
Found this podcast while wondering if there was a Deep Purple Podcast. Turns out there is and it’s called The Deep Purple Podcast, how did it take so long to find this! It’s taken me nearly a year and a half to almost get up to date (only 20 behind now). It’s so addictive. I feel like I’m eaves dropping on 2 old friends who just so happen to like all the same music I do. The only thing is, they can’t see me and they can’t hear me Tutting loudly at some the opinions they have (Saints and Sinners is Whitesnakes worst ranked album??? Tut, Tut and Tut!) They claim not to be but listening through all the shows they are slowly becoming experts. Look forward to listening to many more episodes to come and learning new things about the band I thought I knew everything about. Grab the flexatone and enjoy the well deserved 5 stars! Blackmores Tights x
When asked in Young Guitar magazine which solo on the album he liked the best, Ritchie answered, “Too Late For Tears sounds very interesting. All the studio versions are played slowly, although I have a habit of playing everything as fast as possible, but in the studio you usually have to take care of the clarity of the sound to the detriment of the live sound, but in Too Late For Tears I played very naturally. “Ariel” also came out naturally. The first take sounded like I was drunk, so I had to re-do it, but the second I was able to play better.”
On this song having a similar riff to “Can’t Happen Here” Finnish Radiostation Metalliliitto – September 27, 1995: ”Right. Music goes round and round. Sometimes I play something and I don’t even understand that I have already recorded it. Or sometimes I understand, but I like it so much that I decide to use this idea again, to approach it from a different angle. As for this song, I understood that it was similar to “Can’t Happen Here”, but I like this tune so much that I thought it was a good idea. If I thought this song was just a copy of “Can’t Happen Here”, I wouldn’t record it. But I thought it was worth it. This is just a small part of the song. When we were composing it, I said, “A bit like Can’t Happen Here.” Someone from the group asked: “So what are you going to do? Will you sue yourself? ” I said, “Well, yes, that’s right.””
Black Masquerade (Blackmore, Paul Morris, White, Night)
On the new album you picked up a classic piece by Grieg with ‘Hall Of The Mountain King’, which you played together with the “Lancasters” at the beginning of the 60s, at the time when you were still was working as a session guitarist. Back then, the piece was called ‘Satan’s Holiday’…
How did you find that out? It’s almost not true anymore! I think that was in 1964, long before Deep Purple. Yes, I played a few sessions at that time – with the Outlaws, produced by Joe Meek, then with “Heinz” (Heinz Burt, another signing of the then indie pope Joe Meek – Ed.), with Burr Bailey (& The Six-Shooters, a title called ‘Like A Bird Without Feathers’ – Ed.) and also pure sessions, just for fun, with Nicky Hopkins, Chas Hodges and Mikki Dallon. I think I really got nice around.
From Young Guitar interview: “Edvard Grieg is a Norwegian composer, I am attracted by his personality, he was a weirdo. I read books about him, he was a hermit. His music is filled with depression. It seems to convey what is happening in my head. This is a wonderful melody. I am fascinated by such majestic and melancholic melodies. I first saw the fourth act of “Peer Gynt” on TV at the age of nine, I heard “In The Hall Of The Mountain King”, and this music just mesmerized me. I immediately had clear images of caves, witches with long nails. Mom couldn’t understand why it interested me so much (laughs). By the way, I already wrote it down once, in one session in 64. Then it was an instrumental.”
Ritchie from Finnish Radiostation Metalliliitto – September 27, 1995 :”This is probably my favorite song on the album. It is great. It’s easy to play, but the music doesn’t always have to be difficult to be interesting.”
The song originally appeared on “Having a Rave Up with the Yardbirds” in 1965.
When asked by “Young Guitar” about why he included this song and closed an album with it again: “We played it at rehearsals, the musicians said it sounded great. I already played it at concerts with vocals, it was not very interesting to me, but the guys asked it very much. When people from the record company found out about this, they insisted that we should record it. I was tired of it, so I just couldn’t bring myself to properly start recording. Of course, it would take only an hour to record, but after five minutes I got tired and said: “That’s it, I won’t play any more.” The fact that it is last does not mean anything. At first it was supposed to be a bonus track. Anyway, “Still I’m Sad” makes me sad all the time… (laughs).”
Bonus Track (Japanese Edition)
Emotional Crime (Blackmore, White, Regan)
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Bustin’ Out The Spreadsheet
Reception and Charts:
Rtichie on slide playing on “Stranger In Us All” from Robert Haagsma, Aardschok Magazine – October 1995: “”That’s right. I really like slide guitar, but I have never found myself in the way it is usually played: under the neck with the bottleneck around the little finger. The glissando is much smoother when I hold it in my whole hand and move overhead, like a steel guitar player, because the movement comes from your wrist and not from your little finger. It took me some time to master that technique. It produces a traditional feeling in a number of songs that appeals to me. I notice that as the years go by I am more fond of good melodies, also in my solos. When I was seventeen I preferred to stuff as many notes as possible into one solo. That was the challenge at the time. In recent years, emotion and melody has become more important.”
When asked if he was satisfied with this lineup of the group by Finnish Radiostation Metalliliitto – September 27, 1995 Ritchie responded: “This week, yes.”
Reviews:
Darker Than Blue Issue 48 January / February 1996
Rainbow’s comeback CD follows very much the pattern, direction and sound heard on Straight Between The Eyes and Bent Out Of Shape. Indeed you’d hardly guess that twelve years separated the latter from this new offering. Sadly, for those of us hoping the blistering guitar work he exhibited on that last ill-fated Purple tour in 1993 was the prelude to an equally devastating move forward in the studio, this CD fails to deliver anything like the goods necessary to enable Blackmore to recover some of the standing lost during the final Purple debacle in 1993.
WOLF TO THE MOON sets the scene, a standard medium paced Rainbow rocker. On first hearing Dougie White sounds almost identical in style and approach to Joe Lynn Turner. A little bit coarser round the edges perhaps, but it’s clear Blackmore wants this formularised rock voice whoever supplies it. The track itself is a very one dimensional and inauspicious beginning to the CD.
HUNTING HUMANS is a real plodding effort, almost as if they’d slowed the whole track down, leaving it struggling against a loose puddingy bass sound which sucks everything in. There’s an instrumental classic here for the taking had Blackmore wanted. The singer manages to rhyme “mirrorball” with “inexcusable” – amazing.
ARIEL (after a Zeppelin style drum walloping opener) is GATES OF BABYLON 2. The band are trying to at feast sound a little more grown-up here. The vocals ride in and kill it dead, with lyrics so banal they defy description. To make matters worse, we get a spine-tingling pay-off. A gorgeous closing section where a female voice breathes the song title and Blackmore strolls over the top to knock you dead. There’s enough here to inspire a rock symphony. Within 60 seconds it’s gone.
BLACK MASQUERADE rolls out and this is getting beyond a joke. Been there, heard that, nicked it. Frighteningly ordinary, with an incongruous few bars of flamenco work thrown in plus speeded up harpsichord a la Rat Bat Blue. Ritchie tries to regain the balance with some smooth runs but by then the whole number has outstayed its welcome. He comes over with the goods on the final few seconds but this gets faded out..
SILENCE. If only. The high pitched wash of reedy synth and histrionic vocals bring the horrors of latter-day Rainbow back to life. Or maybe not, it’s not even that honest. The guitar again gets lively at the end but by then the cumulative effect of the track’s mundane meanderings render it HALL OF THE MOUNTAIN KING is reasonable fun for the most part, some nifty guitar breaks, bit of orchestra. Except that Dougie then starts singing about “Tales of mystic days of old” in a frankly risible manner, making his previous lyrical offerings seem almost REM-like in comparison, and rolling his r’s like some ham actor. That aside there is at least a bit of fun and excitement here musically, which contrasts sharply with all that has gone before. The drummer has got to grips with matters, and the production has improved, but then we come to the speeded up ending which is pure music hall.
What is he trying to say? There’s no shame in looking to other people to bring in a bit of creativity once in a while, and there can’t be any shortage of people who could provide Blackmore with 1001 stonking ideas. I’ve followed this guy’s work now for 25 years. It’s the worst thing he’s ever done. From the unbelievable heights he scaled with his playing in ’93 to this in just two years. Frightening. There will never be a moment in my life when a voice says – dig out Stranger In Us All and have a listen to that one good track. It’s an utterly depressing feeling.
The tape had an extra track, EMOTIONAL CRIME, “Can’t get thru in the midnite hour” – more mould breaking lyrics and a tune to match. Blackmore threatens to get tough in the solo but it doesn’t last long. It’ll probably end up as a bonus for buyers of the Jap import . The LP was produced incidentally by Pat Regan who did the last couple of Purple albums. BMG supplied an “electronic press kit” for the CD, basically the usual biog with an 8 minute video taped interview with Blackmore. A single of Ariel is supposed to be out in Germany (incidentally Ritchie’s lady Candice Night was wheeled on to do backing vocals for this on the tour) backed with a live Temple Of The King from the tour.
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