Intermission was Dio’s live EP, bridging the gap between Sacred Heart and Dream Evil. At the time it came out, Dio was very busy with the Hear N’ Aid project as well as replacing Vivian Campbell on guitar. Maybe that’s why he opted for just a Dio EP to tide fans over. For a long time this unavailable on CD; it has recently been reissued in its completion as bonus tracks on the deluxe edition of Sacred Heart. Good news, I’m sure, for those fans without the equipment to play vinyl.
The band was in a transitional period. They had recorded the five live tracks with Vivian, but replaced him with Craig Goldy in the middle of the tour. For years, fans were wondering who played on Intermission. Goldy’s picture is on the back, but the solos are clearly Vivian. There were no credits either, but today we know that Vivian is indeed the guitar player on the live tracks. And so is Craig! They overdubbed Goldy over Campbell on the live rhythm guitar parts! Why he decided to do this, aside from spite, I have no idea, but I strongly dislike tampering with live recordings. (Yes, that makes me a hypocrite since I rated Kiss Alive! a 6/5!)
Goldy plays all guitars on the soul newbie, “Time To Burn”. This new studio cut was a really excellent one; a mid-tempo burner (no pun intended). He co-wrote it, probably contributing that cool riff. The song has melody to spare and is definitely a diamond among Dio’s early solo material. It sounds similar to the Sacred Heart era, but with a higher level of songwriting quality.
As far as I’m concerned, they may call it an EP, but this is essentially an album, clocking in at 32 minutes. That makes it slightly longer than Van Halen’s Diver Down. It may only have six tracks, but one is a 10 minute medley of Dio and Rainbow classics. “Man on the Silver Mountain” sounds incredible; Ronnie was singing powerfully on this tour, and despite the tampering the band does sound great.
The Dio songs sampled here include obvious choices like “We Rock” and “Rainbow in the Dark”, but the two biggest hits (“Holy Diver” and “Last in Line”) are absent. Diligent fans already had live versions of those two on the last Dio single B-sides. The more puzzling inclusion is “King of Rock and Roll” which was already released live on the last album! Ultimately though I’m satisfied with the songs selected on this EP. The vinyl used to be frequently played around these parts, though it has no been collecting dust since the reissue of the songs on the deluxe Sacred Heart. It remains a great sounding mini-album, if you will!
RECORD STORE TALES MkII: Getting More Tale #365: SuperShadow
“Legendary Iconic SuperShadow Ultra Infinite Mega Genius”
“As you would expect, all information about the world famous and legendary SuperShadow (SS) is above top secret (classified at the highest level).”
“Heralded by fans as the most important, influential and ingenious Star Wars expert in history, SuperShadow completely revolutionized the way Star Wars movies are created. SuperShadow.com played a crucial and pivotal role in the development of the Star Wars prequel trilogy. Man fan ideas submitted at SS.com were integrated by George Lucas into the final scripts and screenplays of The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones, and Revenge of the Sith….Lucas has acknowledged many times in public that SuperShadow is the best thing to ever happen to Star Wars.”
Beginning around the time of Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, a new online “source” began “leaking” plot information for future Star Wars movies. When he started out in 1998/1999, a lot of the rumours he was posting were legit leaks based in reality, albeit copied from other sites. By Episode II, he went completely crazy with ludicrous “leaks” that were obviously fabrications. This “source” went by the online name SuperShadow and he claimed to be close, personal friends with George Lucas. He wrote that he had cameos in the movies, which he also claimed to co-write. As if Star Wars alone wasn’t enough, Shadow also said that he was going to persuade his buddy George to include new music from Guns N’ Roses in Episode III!
Star Wars and Guns N’ Roses – two of the most secretive brands in the world, and apparently SuperShadow has inside scoops to both! I’m sure Axl wasn’t even aware of this guy’s existence. I’m not sure which is the more absurd of the two claims: that he was friends with George Lucas, or that he could get Axl Rose to release new music!
Online sleuths traced his website, supershadow.com, to a person named “Mickey Suttle” in North Carolina. Nobody knows if that’s a real name or an alias. SuperShadow quickly built up both a legion of followers, and a much larger number of haters. He posted a picture of himself with chiseled looks in a white T-shirt, and also a picture of a mystery nameless “girlfriend”. Every day, SuperShadow would tell his fans how much he “scores”. (Apparently, 24/7.)
SuperShadow infuriated many fans with his wild claims and “quotes” from his friend George Lucas. Shadow eventually caught the attention of Lucasfilm, who were quick to put out official statements clarifying that Shadow had “absolutely no relationship with Lucasfilm or George Lucas.” They also had to issue cease and desist orders when SuperShadow started soliciting fans for money, to access special “spoilers” and plot outlines for future movies. Today, supershadow.com no longer exists.
I read the SuperShadow drama with amusement, and wondered how a guy like that had convinced thousands of fans that he was indeed an insider with intimate knowledge of the inner workings of George Lucas’ mind. It seemed like a massive, obvious piss-take to me. I thought he had to be a joke, and everybody was falling for it. In fact I couldn’t see how anybody could view the SuperShadow website as anything but one huge prank, up until he started asking for money. It was either a gigantic joke that nobody got, or the guy was just an obsessed, lonely megafan. But nobody had ever succeeded in unveiling the real SuperShadow/Mickey Suttle, so I wondered if I could try to draw him out myself.
Setting my plan in motion, I set up a fake MySpace page for SuperShadow. It was the first; there were no others, official or fake.
By the time my fake SuperShadow began making his first posts, fandom had already found him. He received “friend requests” daily from “believers” and “non-believers” alike. I could hardly fathom that people were buying this. All I did was put up the same picture from the official SuperShadow site and some fake information and posts. “SuperShadow” made waves on the Star Wars message boards, and Shadow’s fans and haters announced that they had “discovered” his MySpace account.
I wanted to try an experiment on the internet. I decided to spread a false rumour to see if fandom would pick up on it, and they did. I told one guy who had been sending me questions that “SuperShadow” was in fact several people who set up the site as a big spoof. Sure enough, within a few dayss I found information on various wiki-type sites that “Supershadow” could be a collective made up of several people who had pulled a massive prank on the internet.
It was funny for a few months, but then two more fake SuperShadow MySpace accounts showed up. One was “Supershadows” and the other was “SSupershadow”. Having lost interest myself, I told the guy who had been interrogating me earlier that I was just goofing and had nothing to do with SuperShadow. I was surprised when he asked me if he could take over the account! He wanted to see if he could suss him out, himself. So I gave him the password, and passed the fake account on to a new nerd, who continued with the fake posts and pictures. I lost interest then. It was amusing while it lasted, and I saw how quickly rumours spready on the web.
I never succeeded in drawing out the “real” SuperShadow, or finding out if it was just a massive joke that went way too far. I can however finally confess: I, LeBrain, was the REAL fake SuperShadow!
Below: a sample of SuperShadow’s Q&A-style posts.
Q:SS, this site is like a fine wine, gets better with time. (SuperShadow: Excellent analogy.) Anyway I have a question: 1) How did you and George Lucas become close friends? (SuperShadow: In early 1994, Lucas watched one of my brilliant extra-terrestrial documentaries on the A&E TV cable channel. Lucas contacted me to congratulate me on the best documentary of its kind ever produced. He completely agreed with my position that the Citix Black Ops project had secretly implanted microscopic alien life forms into the minds of the world’s population. Lucas wanted to learn more so I told him all about the mysterious truth about extra-terrestrials. I told Lucas that I was sort of a Star Wars fan kinda. He invited me to Skywalker Ranch and we discussed the prequel trilogy. I spent several weeks at Skywalker Ranch in 1994 hashing ideas with Lucas that would be integrated into the prequel-trilogy plot line. We have been close friends ever since.)
Thanks for joining me this week for Purple Week at mikeladano.com. Today is Part 5 and the last album for now. But don’t worry, I don’t think we’ve seen the last of Deep Purple around these parts…
DEEP PURPLE – In Concert with the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Paul Mann (1999 Eagle Records)
The original Concerto for Group and Orchestra (1969) was Jon Lord’s baby. The rest of the band didn’t care too much for it, and it had only ever been performed twice. The Albert Hall recording became a successful live album, and it was performed once more in Los Angeles. Soon after, the original score was lost, permanently. Even if Deep Purple wanted to (and let’s face it, if Blackmore were in the band he’d probably say no), it could never be performed again without the sheet music.
I’ll let Jon Lord take it from here. From the liner notes to the CD:
“Marco de Goeij, a young Dutch composer…had decided to re-create it by listening to the recording and watching the video. Over and over and over again. A task of mind-bending complexity, dexterity and musicality, which then only left me the far simpler job of filling in what he had been unable to decipher, re-creating what I could remember of my original orchestration, and in part, as those who know the work will hear, re-composing where I felt it needed it.”
Conductor Paul Mann had independently been searching for the original lost manuscript. When Jon informed him of the re-created one, Mann was on board with the London Symphony to do it once more. Deep Purple now had a new guitar player, Steve Morse, who undoubtedly would have to bring his own slant to the guitar solos. For Jon and the fans, it’s the stuff of wishes come true.
Since the Concerto was really Lord’s project, it seems like a fair compromise for each of the members of Deep Purple to also get a moment or two to showcase their solo work. In fact many musicians from those solo works are welcomed to the stage, including the Steve Morse Band, Ronnie James Dio, Mickey Lee Soule (ex-Rainbow and ex-Gillan), Sam Brown, and more. Deep Purple fans are generally open to different styles of music, and this album showcases those styles in a professional, classy format.
Once again at the Albert Hall, the set commences with a disc highlighting the solo careers. Lord’s “Pictured Within” (with Miller Anderson) and “Wait a While” (with Sam Brown) begin the proceedings with a quiet, powerful pair of songs backed by Jon’s piano and dramatic strings. These versions are, dare-I-say-it, superior to the original studio versions.
From there, Roger Glover’s solo career gets a looksee, with “Sitting in a Dream” and the irresistibly bouncy “Love is All”, my favourite. Ronnie James Dio reprises his vocals from the original Butterfly Ball versions, sounding as great as he did nearly 30 years prior! It really is impossible not to like “Love is All”, which of the two is especially fun.
In 1988, Ian Gillan and Roger Glover did a project together called Accidentally on Purpose, a quirky tropical pop rock album. “Via Miami” is one of the more upbeat tracks from that album. Ian’s “That’s Why God is Singing the Blues” features his solo band’s guitarist Steve Morris (not Morse!) Both it and “Via Miami” spark and roll along joyfully.
Steve Morse (not Morris!) is up next with the Dixie Dregs’ “Take it Off The Top”. It’s the Steve Morse Band and the Kick Horns. It’s always a pleasure to listen to Dave LaRue, Van Romaine, and Steve Morse playing together, but to hear them at the Albert Hall? That’s a venue suitable to the genius they wrench from strings and wood. Graham Preskett joins on violin to dual Morse with string acrobatics.
Ian Paice’s spotlight song is a horn-laden jazz version of Purple’s “Wring That Neck”. This is my kinda jazz, the kind with a rock beat you can swing to! The violin solo lends it a bluegrass feel, too. The first CD ends with a powerfully heavy “Pictures From Home”, originally from the immortal Machine Head record, performed by Deep Purple with the London Symphony. It’s a powerful, dramatic song on which for the full Deep Purple to enter.
Disc two features the entire Concerto from start to finish, all three movements, roughly 50 minutes in length. This truly was Lord’s baby, the piece that kept him up nights in 1968 and 1969 writing little black notes on white paper. It made Deep Purple a unique property when it was released on LP 1969, but had not been heard live in 30 years. Purple fans will be in seventh heaven with this de-extinction. Indeed, Morse’s guitar is different, but he hits the right notes at the right time while still playing within his style. Otherwise, I’ll be damned but I can’t tell the difference.
What can I say of the Concerto itself? I think it’s pretty cool, and I’ve always geeked out to stuff like this. Jon envisioned it as “rock band meets orchestra” — at first they say hello, and play around, then they start shouting at each other, and before long it’s all-out war! Speaking of shouting, my favourite is probably Movement II, which has Gillan’s all-too-brief but oh-so-perfect vocal.
The disc concludes with three more (three Morse?) of recent vintage. “Ted The Mechanic” and “Sometimes I Feel Like Screaming” are two of the best songs from Purpendicular, and “Watching The Sky” is probably the heaviest song from Abandon. I personally feel that all the Abandon material was better live than on album, and “Watching The Sky” maintains that. Unfortunately none of the Abandon songs were really that great.
Of course, “Smoke On The Water” ends the album with guests returning, including Ronnie James Dio who takes a verse. “What do you think Ronnie!” Then the Elf himself is up at the microphone singing “Smoke on the Water” with Blackmore’s old band Deep Purple. I shouldn’t need to tell you that this is one of my all-time favourite live versions of “Smoke”.
This album, which ended up being one of Lord’s last with Purple, was really a special gift to the fans. It is a beautifully crafted live performance containing some of the rarest of the rare gems in the extended Purple canon. An event like this will never happen again. There is a DVD of this show, but beware, it is only about 2/3 of the set. What a disappointment that DVD version was. You want every moment, but you won’t get it.
If you do hunger for more after this, then you can binge on The Soundboard Series 12 CD boxed set. It consists of 6 shows, two of which featured full live performances of the Concerto, with guests such as (yup!) Ronnie James Dio. There is also Live at the Rotterdam Ahoy which lacks the Concerto portion, but makes up for it with a more extensive set of classic rockers, including Dio’s own “Rainbow In The Dark” and “Fever Dreams”!…But that’s another review.
5/5 stars. For the true fan, and anybody who’s not afraid to expand their listening territory.
It’s Purple Week at mikeladano.com! It’s all Deep Purple and Deep Purple alumni, all week. This is Part 4…and once again we’re going Epic Review Time. It’s Deep Purple Mk III’s lead throat, David Coverdale & Whitesnake! This is almost a new release; it’s about four months old.
WHITESNAKE – Live in ’84 – Back to the Bone (2014 Frontiers Deluxe edition DVD/CD)
David Coverdale has been pretty good to the fans, in terms of giving them live archival releases from the periods they care about. In addition to cranking out studio and live releases with the current Whitesnake lineup, David has issued deluxe editions of certain albums along with the long awaited 3 disc set Live at Donnington 1990. Now it’s the 30th anniversary of the Slide It In album, so David has issued a live retrospective set from that period too. A CD and DVD set documenting the John Sykes years is almost a guaranteed slam dunk in itself, but how does it stack up when we break it down? Let us take a look at the DVD and CD portions in detail.
Super-Rock Japan ’84
The main program of the release is on the DVD, and the main focus of the DVD is Super-Rock Japan ’84. It is an 11 song set taken from Japanese television. This is the legendary four-piece lineup: David Coverdale, John Sykes, Cozy Powell, and Neil Murray. There is no doubt that even though the band had been trimmed down, they sounded powerful. I just really hate when an interview is inserted right between the first and second song. There’s no reason to ever interrupt a song on a live video, but editors do it all the time! It’s interesting seeing Whitesnake in a single-guitar lineup, but there is obviously a backstage keyboard player (Richard Bailey). The chops of John Sykes are such a welcome addition to the Whitesnake sound. He has a “chug” that few other guitar players have. Cozy Powell is as on-point as ever, but David Coverdale’s young lungs are remarkable. At peak power, David prowls the stage and humps the microphone in complete control.
The highlight of this portion of the set is “Crying in the Rain”, almost but not quite like it would be performed on Whitesnake 1987. I also enjoyed Sykes’ guitar solo. Sykes makes some of the best guitar faces in rock, and he resembles a young David St. Hubbins with his shaggy mane. “Soldier of Fortune” (an abridged version) was a pleasant surprise. On the other hand, Cozy’s looong overblown drum solo would be more appropriate to his time in E.L.P. (Emerson Lake & Powell). David must have been taking care of business backstage.
The video quality here is very good for an 80’s television broadcast. Sound quality, also good. David states in the liner notes that they weren’t able to find the master audio tapes, so this hasn’t been touched up too much. I’m satisfied; in 1984 we didn’t have 1080p TVs in widescreen.
Only three songs from this were included on the CD: “Love Ain’t No Stranger”, “Ready An’ Willing”, and “Slow An’ Easy”. That’s too bad. I would have paid a little more to get a 3 disc version with a full CD of this show. Just sayin’.
Jon Lord’s Final Whitesnake Performance
The passing of Jon Lord has been the biggest loss in rock, in recent memory. This truly is a treasure. From Swedish television and shot with multiple cameras, this looks even better than the Japan footage. Shame it’s only four songs. To have Jon there raises the bar several notches. It’s a five-piece lineup, although the cameras spend so little time on Jon that you’d wonder if the keyboardist is offstage again! (Jon’s wearing a white shirt in a black-topped band; he should be easy to spot but he’s not.) “Gambler” goes directly into “Guilty of Love”, and it’s so strange to hear it with only one guitar. With guys like Sykes and Powell in the band, they are very active on stage and the energy is plentiful. “Love Ain’t No Stranger” is so much better with Jon than without. You cannot understate how much difference that big bad Hammon organ makes. Then David tells the audience that they are “Ready An’ Willing” for some sweet satisfaction! From this brief four song set, I can at least conclude that Swedish television in the 80’s was better than Canadian television. Strangely, on the CD, it is included as one solid 16 minute track with no breaks.
Slide It In Slide Show
This is actually a cooler feature than you might think. These contain some snippets of writing demos for Slide It In. In some, David’s talking to someone, and there’s a single guitar. In others there is a full band, but the lyrics are not there yet. You can hear some of the classic riffs taking shape. The rest of the audio has vintage interviews with David and live music. Unfortunately at times the “slideshow” portion of this turns into little more than a lyric video, defeating the purpose of having a photo slideshow. The real treasure here is a live version of the B-side, “Need Your Love So Bad”, with just David and Jon. I am disappointed that it is not on the CD. Something that rare really should be.
Snakeskin Boots: The Best of the Bootlegs
The main feature on the CD consists of bootleg and soundboard tapes. I love bootleg recordings, and who can fault a band for beating the bootleggers and releasing the tapes officially? Tapes were cleaned up as much as possible to make them listenable (David suggests the car as a good setting). These songs were sort of arranged in the order of a live concert, so it still begins with “Gambler” and “Guilty of Love” like all the other sections. “Gambler” sounds pretty good, only slightly muffled but with a hard pulse. Sykes’ solo on “Guilty of Love” sends electric chills up the spine. It’s great to hear the band so young and ferocious!
Cheeky David tells the crowd that the Slide It In album title does not refer to a banana! “Love Ain’t No Stranger” is always a pleasure to hear, especially sung by a young David, and Sykes is shreddin’. Then another cheeky intro: “I’d like to give you a toast. If it’s in deep, and if it’s in long, and if it’s in hard…it’s indecent!” That has to mean “Slow An’ Easy” is up next. I will never tire of this excellent song. “Walking in the Shadow of the Blues” is a nice surprise, but “Ready An’ Willing” is overplayed.
Sykes is given a couple minutes on his own to introduce “Crying in the Rain” with some bluesy soloing. As great as this song is, this long version makes it clear why Whitesnake is a two guitar band. They sound very bare when John again takes a long solo in the middle, and Neil Murray is left to fill the space. David always wanted two guitar players, while John would have preferred not to share the spotlight. “Soldier of Fortune” closes this portion of the CD, a nice version of the old Deep Purple classic.
The rest of the CD is dedicated to the three tunes from Super-Rock Japan that they chose to include, and the four songs from Jon Lord’s final Whitesnake show. If you have a look at the tracklist you’ll notice that this means there’s a lot of repeat.
In closing
None of Coverdale’s archival releases or deluxe editions have been perfect. Live in ’84 – Back to the Bone is probably the best of them yet.
Deep Purple were the proverbial candle that was burned at both ends. Their first four studio albums (plus a friggin’ concerto!) were cranked out in a mere two years. Management and record labels pushed the band to stay on the road, only taking precious breaks to write and record new music. Sometimes the pressure worked (Machine Head) and sometimes it didn’t (Who Do We Think We Are). Ian Gillan’s resignation signaled the end of the celebrated Deep Purple Mk II lineup. Though the band successfully carried on with David Coverdale & Glenn Hughes, even those lineups imploded and by 1976, Deep Purple officially ceased to exist.
The absence of Purple created a void that was filled by greatest hits records, live albums, and well-known side projects such as Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow, Gillan, and Whitesnake. Still, there was such a demand for Deep Purple itself that original singer Rod Evans put together his own bogus “Deep Purple” and played several shows in 1980! In his band were a couple guys from Iron Butterfly, but no other former Purple alumni. Just Rod. The guy who didn’t sing “Highway Star”, “Smoke on the Water”, or “Lazy”. Needless to say, Rod Evans’ bogus “Deep Purple” did not last as soon as word got out. The lawyers for the other former Deep Purple members ensured that by running ads in the local papers. “The following members will not be appearing with the band called Deep Purple at [such and such a date and venue] : Ritchie Blackmore, Ian Gillan, Ian Paice, Jon Lord, Roger Glover, Glenn Hughes, David Coverdale.” A show in Montreal was particularly horrid, and reportedly the band’s stage act involved one of the members bringing out a chain saw to cut stuff up. They were hit with lawsuits galore and quickly packed it in, but not before recording two new songs for a projected new “Deep Purple” studio album. The two songs, “Blood Blister” and “Brum Doogie”, are thankfully lost. A video of “Smoke on the Water” live in Mexico remains, to remind us why this was not a good idea. [For more on the bogus “Deep Purple”, click here.]
Clearly, lots of profits were to made if the real Deep Purple were ever to reunite. They tried earlier on, but were hung up when Ian Gillan joined Black Sabbath. When Ian’s Sabbath commitments were finished a year later, it finally happened. Jon Lord had freed himself of Whitesnake, and Ritchie, Roger Glover and Ian Paice were all ready willing and able. The reunion was on, for real this time.
The band quickly agreed on creating new music (otherwise, what’s the point of it?), and decided that there had to be a level of quality that served the name Deep Purple. They retreated to the gorgeous Stowe, Vermont and found themselves to be in great spirits and full of ideas. Another wise decision was the use of bassist Glover to produce. After his first stint in Purple, he became quite successful as a producer. He recorded some of the best Nazareth albums, a Judas Priest record (Sin After Sin) , Rainbow, David Coverdale, and countless more. It only made sense to keep production of the new album within the band when you have a guy like Roger in the band!
The album that resulted, Perfect Strangers, was more modern but unmistakably Deep Purple. Taking advantage of modern recording studios resulted in an album with rich instrumental tones. As great as classic Deep Purple albums were sonically, Perfect Strangers has a new richness and clarity. Jon’s organ is deep and gorgeous, but Ian Paice’s drum sound is monstrous.
The opening track “Knocking at Your Back Door” (hah hah hah) commences with ominous keys from Jon, sounding at first like the pipes of doom. Then Roger begins a quick pulse, and Paice crashes that cymbal, and my God, Deep Purple is back! Ritchie and Ian join them for the first Deep Purple epic of the album — and on the first track, no less! “Knocking at Your Back Door” may be a joke lyrically, but it’s dead serious musically. It’s Deep Purple, but streamlined. Extraneous things have been discarded; others are sleeker. The only disappointment about the song is actually the guitar solo, which just slightly does not fit. Glover once said about this album that Ritchie struggles with solos in the studio more so than live. Something about when the red light goes on, he gets cold feet. There’s some incredible playing in this guitar solo, but parts of it feel out of place and overdone.
That one minor complaint is probably the only quibble you’ll read here about Perfect Strangers. The album continues to impress as it plays. “Under the Gun” is a song that would sound so great live today; shame that it hasn’t been played live in 30 years. I can’t imagine why. “Under the Gun” demonstrates the streamlined groove that Purple were going for in the 80’s. Listen to Paicey’s drums. They are relentless and powerful, but he’s also playing it simpler than he used to. This is intentional. When I say “streamlined”, that doesn’t mean there aren’t long solos, because Ritchie’s here is over a minute long (in a 4:34 song)!
“Nobody’s Home” gives Jon Lord a change to stretch out a bit on the synths, but it’s just a feint. This track re-writes “Black Night” for 1984, and ties it all up with a little bow in under four minutes. “Your lights are burnin’ bright, but nobody’s home!” sings Ian, for once not speaking of Blackmore! Jon takes the spotlight with a nice quick solo on the Hammond, a sound not often heard in ’84.
Side one was closed by the nasty little “Mean Streak”. It has one of those quirky Gillan lyrics that I like so much. “She came home last night, rockin’ rollin’ drunk. She talk no sense but she sound good so she thunk.” It’s a cool rock track with a chugging riff; always a deadly combination when wielded by Deep Purple. It boasts one of Ritchie’s coolest solos on the album.
I will never forget seeing this video on MuchMusic, introduced by Bruce Dickinson. Of Deep Purple he said, “Well, they’re very good. But not as good at football as they appear. No. They’re not.” The VJ (Erica Ehm) asked, “Why not?” Dickinson simply responded, “Because they’re not! What a silly question.”
Of all the songs on Perfect Strangers, only one has been consistently played live every tour: the title track. This epic, like its side one counterpart “Knocking at Your Back Door”, opens with Jon’s ominous keys. This time it’s the old trusty Hammond, and then the band crash in with the riff to kill all riffs. I think in some respects, this song has become Deep Purple’s “Kashmir”, especially when played in concert. It has evolved to become more exotic since it was first recorded, though it does contain those flavors here. The lyrics are ambiguously beautiful. Back in the Record Store days, I talked to a guy once who thought the lyrics were about God. I’ll leave it up to you. Blackmore called it his favourite Deep Purple song. It’s a tough call, but Top Five for sure. I cannot survive without this song in my life, period.
Then WHAM! “A Gypsy’s Kiss,” right in the kisser. If any doubters had thoughts that Purple had lost anything in the past decade, this song proved them dead wrong. Blazing pace, blazing Paice, the whole place is ablaze! Again, Ian’s lyrics are awesome, and I love the self-referencing. “Space truckers free and high, Teamsters get ya by and by.” I also really like this verse, because, hey. John Wayne, man.
John Wayne, the Alamo, Crazy Horse, Geronimo, I’ll smoke a piece with you. Mind, Body, Heart and Soul, We got Rock and Roll, And there’s nothing they can do.
A good Deep Purple album rarely has a slow blues buried deep within. “Wasted Sunsets” is the album’s heavy blues track, like “When a Blind Man Cries” was to Machine Head (though it was relegated to a mere B-side). Jon’s organ sets the mood stunningly, and Ritchie absolutely nails it. I get the feeling that Ian is baring his soul in the lyrics, although he doesn’t seem too regretful of all those one night stands.
For self referencing, no lyric on the album beats out “Hungry Daze”:
The mountain’s getting cold and lonely, The trees are bare, We all came out to Montreux, But that’s another song, you’ve heard it all before!
Regrets? Hell no. “Different girls, laughing girls, forever girls and it was loud!” Gillan has a talent for making cheeky lyrics like this work with serious music. “Hungry Daze” has that modern Purple groove with the same kind of chugging exotic riff that powers “Perfect Strangers” — but faster! There’s even backwards tapes (Jon’s organ), a sound unheard on a Deep Purple album since 1969, but back in style in 1984.
Lucky cassette and compact disc buyers got a bonus track: “Not Responsible”. When I first got the album (on cassette) I wondered, “Why is this song a bonus track? It’s one of the best songs!” Good question! (Perhaps because it’s the only song on which Gillan dropped an f-bomb.) I think it closes the album even better than “Hungry Daze” does. Lyrically it’s more drinking and debauchery. “So I’ll raise a glass to you, the foot is on the other shoe.” I consider “Not Responsible” to be of equal value to any of the better tracks on the album proper, so if you only own this on LP, consider getting this song (legally) to complete the picture.
Want more? There’s one more, but you’ll have to do a little research to get it in full. “Son of Aleric” is a killer slow groove 10 minute instrumental, with all the flavor of the album. It was released on the B-side of “Perfect Strangers”. If you bought the 7″ single, you got the 5:28 edit version. If you bought the 12″ single, you got the full Monty at 10:03. The full version was rarely issued on CD. I have it on a compilation CD with the cumbersome title of Knocking at Your Back Door: The Best of Deep Purple in the 80’s. But “Son of Aleric” is only on the UK version! (Other territories just got a live version of “Child in Time” from the live album Nobody’s Perfect. Bummer.) This is the kind of open Deep Purple jam that you just want to melt into. It’s magic.
If you like Deep Purple, but do not own Perfect Strangers, then I advise that you remedy that situation at your earliest convenience. I am no stranger to this album; I have played it hundreds of times, often more than once in the same day. I have never grown tired of it. For that reason, and many more, Perfect Strangers earns the coveted:
DEEP PURPLE – The Book of Taliesyn (1968 EMI, 2000 remaster)
I’m not a big fan of The Book of Taliesyn, and that’s not because I don’t like Deep Purple Mk I. I do like Deep Purple Mk I, or at least some of it. I think the third Purple album from ’69 is one of the band’s all-time best, and an underrated classic. The Book of only scratches the surface. The band had yet to find their sound, which would emerge fully formed a year later on Deep Purple In Rock. This album does represent significant growth, but not in the heavy metal direction that Purple would co-pioneer. Instead, Book of travels further down the orchestral roads with Jon Lord.
The Book of Taliesyn, like Shades of Deep Purple before it, is built with cover songs as its cornerstones. It contains one of my favourite Deep Purple Mk I tracks: their version of Neil Diamond’s “Kentucky Woman”. Energetic, ragged and rocking hard, “Kentucky Woman” is the absolute best track here. Ian Paice is the MVP, but singer Rod Evans is well suited to this kind of tune. Other standouts include “Wring That Neck”, the legendary instrumental (also called “Hard Road”) that the band continued to play through the decades even after Blackmore left the band in the 90’s. “The Shield” isn’t bad, as it features a long instrumental break featuring Jon and Ritchie. There is also the track “Anthem”, a Jon Lord helmed piece that delves into classical, forshadowing the “April” suite from the third album, as well as the Concerto for Group and Orchestra itself. So, the band was certainly stretching out here. There is a definite growth from the first album. Unfortunately, the album is bogged down by another slow, boring Beatles cover (“We Can Work It Out”, this time) and also “River Deep, Mountain High”, a whole 10 minutes thereof, which does nothing to help the band. The only notable thing about it is Jon’s “Thus Spoke Zarathustra” intro.
Like the other two albums in this series of remasters on Spitfire, there are five previously unreleased bonus tracks. All are valuable in their own way. Keep in mind that these tapes are old and may not sound as good as you’re used to. But, “Playground” is a bright instrumental from BBC tapes, and “Wring That Neck” is presented live. “Hey Bop a Re Bop” is buried treasure, an early version of what would become “Painter” on the next album. There are two more cool covers to boot. “Oh No No No” is a studio outtake, but I don’t recognize it. It’s a mid-tempo pop rocker with splashes of Jon’s organ that quench the thirst. Nicky Simper demonstrates some impressive bass chops, but he just wasn’t the right fit for the band. A BBC Top Gear session yielded a song called “It’s All Over”, a slow country blues ballad that Thin Lizzy could have done at the same time. This is a great tune, and it’s a shame that Purple never recorded it properly.
The colourful cover art is a quaint reminder that once upon a time, album covers were 12.375″ x 12.375″ and you could gaze upon the finer details for hours. CD just doesn’t cut it. This cover was so different for the band. Their name and the album title appear on it several times, and each band member is credited (first names only) on the front. The bizarre landscape foreshadows the Hieronymus Bosch painting on the next album.
2/5 stars. Not quite the band we know and love, but slowly getting there.
It’s a late start, but welcome to Purple Week! It’s going to be all Deep Purple and Deep Purple alumni all week to Saturday, with at least two Epic Reviews lined up. Let’s go!
DEEP PURPLE – Shades of (1968 EMI, 2000 remaster)
I’m not a big fan of Shades of Deep Purple, and that’s not because I don’t like Deep Purple Mk I. I do like Deep Purple Mk I, or at least some of it. I think the third Purple album from ’69 is one of the band’s all-time best, and an underrated classic. Shades of only scratches the surface. In 1968, these five guys didn’t have the road experience together yet to really gel as a unit. They had just formed and almost immediately began recording demos that landed them a record deal. Ritchie Blackmore, a session player, had yet to emerge as the confident axeman that he is, still shyly putting together his solos while Jon Lord takes the forefront more often than not.
Deep Purple opened their very first vinyl with an instrumental. “And the Address” is remarkably recognizable as Deep Purple, particularly because of Ian Paice and Jon Lord.
“Hush” was and is still an extraordinary version, and my preferred take over the 1988 Ian Gillan version. “I’m So Glad” isn’t bad, but “Mandrake Root” is not what it would later become live. “Help” has been slowed down to a crawl (reportedly, the way the Beatles wanted to do it) but it doesn’t rock. “Love Help Me” is 60’s pop rock goodness, as is “One More Rainy Day”, but “Hey Joe” is another one that would come across better live. It doesn’t help that Shades of Deep Purple doesn’t really sound that great.
The five bonus tracks are all valuable, as these are some of Purple’s earliest live performances. Something like “Hey Joe” live (from the BBC) begins to show what the band would make of it. There’s also the rare track “Shadows” which is better than some of the tracks on the album itself. This outtake probably could have used a little additional polishing, but it is what it is, and it’s worth checking out if only for Ritchie’s solo. The audio fidelity on these tracks is sketchy, be forewarned. That shouldn’t be unexpected for demos of this age.
2/5 stars. Hold tight, rock fans — a year later, the best of Mk I was yet to come!
RECORD STORE TALES MkII: Getting More Tale #364: Greatest Hits
Love ‘em or hate ‘em, greatest hits records have been around for as long as rock and roll has. Elvis’ Golden Records, one of the most famous early greatest hits albums from 1958, has sold over 6 million copies. Some believe it to be the very first greatest hits album, ever. Elvis only had four albums out at that point, one of them a Christmas record. It was a selection of Elvis’ single A’s and B’s, and its success meant that it would be followed by many sequels. (Interestingly, five hits on it were composed by the duo of Lieber and Stoller!)
A couple decades later, the Eagles released their best selling album of all time. Their Greatest Hits (1971–1975) has sold over 42 million copies to date, and is the third highest selling album in history. Not long after, Aerosmith released their first Greatest Hits, a collection of single edits and radio versions of their best songs, and one non-album track (“Come Together”, from Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band soundtrack). It has sold over 11 million copies.
These releases, and many more, have made greatest hits discs a lucrative cash cow for record labels. On it on it goes; you’re not a success until you’ve released your first greatest hits disc. Some bands have always resisted releasing collections of pre-existing music, others have not put such value in their integrity. Hits albums are usually looked at with disdain by the die-hards and “purists”, but make an easy gateway purchase for people not (yet) interested in the discography.
Why do die-hard fans look down on hits albums so much?
1. A more recent practice from the 1980’s and 1990’s was to include two or three new songs, forcing fans to buy old songs over again just to get the new ones. It’s such a common practice now that it’s expected, but we still resent it.
2. Live versions. Even if we choose to buy or listen to a greatest hits album, a lot of the time the familiar original versions are replaced with inferior live ones. Casual music listeners don’t usually seek live versions, and die hard fans usually already have the live albums. It just serves to make the listening experience less than it should be.
3. While it is certainly not a rule, for the kind of music we listen to, a studio album is often a self contained work, not just a collection of songs. There is usually a direction and purpose for the songs. Listening to songs out of their intended context doesn’t always work, but nine times out of ten, they are best appreciated on the original album.
4. Who else but a die-hard fan would be a better self-proclaimed expert to criticize the song selections on a “greatest hits”?
5. Artistic non-involvement. Few hits albums have any input from the artists themselves. Without the artist contributing, a greatest hits becomes just another product assembled by record company suits, most of the time.
6. Cash grab. Many greatest hits album stink of the whiff of “record company cash-grab”, usually at opportune times.
7. Snob attitude. “Don’t buy the greatest hits! Just buy all the albums!”
MOMOIRO CLOVER Z vs KISS – “Yume no Ukiyo ni Saitemina” / “Samurai Son” (2015 King Records Japan CD singles, sold separately)
Here they are, the new singles featuring the Kiss vs Momoiro Clover Z collaboration. “Samurai Son” appeared on the current Best of Kiss 40 CD, billed there as the “U.S. Mix”. That meant there are other versions out there, so I ordered the singles (two separate releases) from Japan. Even if I did not like the other versions of the song, the single covers were cool enough to keep as collectibles. As it turns out they are printed on high quality textured parchment style paper, and have stunning inner and outer art. They also come with transparent outer shells with shiny embossed symbols and writing. For packaging, it’s 5/5 stars for these singles.
Between the two singles, there are four different mixes from the “U.S. Mix” of “Samurai Son”. All feature Kiss, to a certain degree. Here’s how the versions break down, from “Least Kiss” to “Most Kiss”:
5. “Yume no Ukiyo ni Saitemina”. This is the full-on Japanese version with the spotlight primarily on Momoiro Clover Z. They take the lead vocals and their elements of the song and style and brought up in the mix. It’s funny to hear Kiss singing background vocals in English, underneath the Japanese lead vocals! Who know if the words actually go together in any way.
4. “Yume no Ukiyo ni Saitemina” (instrumental version). Kiss are the backing band on this track and you can clearly hear Tommy soloing, but the Kiss and J-pop elements are mixed fairly equally here. These first two renditions of the song are on both versions of the single.
3. “Samurai Son” (instrumental version). From the CD with the artwork emphasizing Kiss. This instrumental is based on the Kiss rather than the Momoclo version of the song. Tommy is in the spotlight a bit more on this version, as the instrumental mix leaves more room for his guitar licks to take the spotlight.
2. “Samurai Son”. From the same CD as the above track, this is a Kiss-heavy version similar to the “U.S. Mix” on Best of Kiss 40…but not quite the same. It follows the same blueprint of Kiss being up front and the Momoclo girls audible in the background and on the chorus. It has vocal, guitar and J-pop parts that are not as apparent in the “U.S. Mix”. Gene’s vocals also sound higher in the mix. It’s audibly mastered way, way louder than Kiss 40, as you can see from the Audacity waveform below. Track 3 from the CD is on top, the “U.S. Mix” from Kiss 40 is beneath.
1. “Samurai Son” (U.S. Mix). The Kiss 40 version; the mix that is geared to appeal mostly to Kiss fans. Logically, it sounds the most like Kiss. It’s only on Kiss 40; neither of these two singles have this mix which makes it a little more special for Kiss fans.
There are more tracks, but I’ll be frank — I didn’t even rip them to the computer. These tracks are vocals and instrumental covers by Momoiro Clover Z of “Rock and Roll all Nite”. I listened to it; it’s cute. If you want to try and get your little niece into rock music, this might be the way to do it. It has some guitars but it’s very cutesy. (Probably still better than Poison’s version though, Mr. Rockett.)
Finally there is the Blu-ray containing the music video, that I cannot play due to region restrictions. That’s why they invented Youtube, I think….
I give Kiss credit for doing something different like this and making it accessible to different audiences. My favourite version is the one on Kiss 40, but that one was custom built for people like me. These two singles are fun additions to the collection. It’s one of those conversation pieces you can show that one guy you know who says he has “all” the Kiss CDs.
For more reading of this nature, I recommend the1001 Albums in 10 Yearssite, by Geoff. He is always posting interesting musical nerdiness like this so cheers to Geoff and his excellent site.
RECORD STORE TALES MkII: Getting More Tale #363: The Art of the Mix CD
We have come a long way from the mix tape. If you’re of a certain age, you probably made many mix tapes. I know I did. Dozens upon dozens, spending hours doing so. We had to make the tapes in real time. I would meticulously cue up the tapes so there wouldn’t be excessive gaps between songs, or awkward edits. I couldn’t have a song getting clipped at the start or finish. Mix tapes were a matter of pride and I sank a lot of time into making them, from the recording to the J-card. Sometimes the tapes were for me, but most often they were for someone else (usually a girl I was trying to woo).
Making a mix CD is much easier than making a mix tape. Still, for my level of perfectionism, it requires a lot of work and attention to detail. I have certain “rules” that I always adhere to, when making a mix CD. In the past, I have burned and then thrown away many CD copies that did not meet my exacting standards. I would not settle for a mix CD with an annoying flaw in it! My friends deserve better!
Here are my rules:
1. All songs must be more or less equal in volume.
Nothing worse than diving for the volume knob when a song that was mastered waaaay too loudly comes on! Nero has a built-in “normalize” function that analyzes and automatically equalizes the volume on all tracks. However it doesn’t always work well. It can create volume swells within an actual track that weren’t there before. I do not use this feature any longer. Now, I use Audacity to raise or lower a track’s volume manually, before adding it to my mix. Painstaking, but you get better results.
2. All live songs must have fade-ins and fade-outs.
I cannot stand the sound of crowd noise starting and stopping abrubtly. I add my own fade-ins and fade-outs. Sometimes this is tricky, because certain live albums may have the song breaks in odd locations. There may not be enough room at the start or end of a track. So, sometimes I have to manually add in enough crowd noise to enable a fadeout, a time consuming fix. I also enjoy doing the occasional cross-fade between songs, which used to be very hard on Nero but is easy as pie with Audacity.
3. CD must have a start, middle and ending.
All tracks are carefully selected for each one of my mix CDs, but usually there are several contenders for opening and closing songs. I try to create a flow, with slow parts and heavy parts, through the disc, with a dramatic climax. I don’t always succeed but my goal is to create a mix CD that works like an album. It has to have a direction.
4. Throw on a rare track.
It doesn’t matter who I’m making a mix CD for, I want an obscure song or two on there. I don’t want to make a mix CD entirely of songs you already know. I want to surprise you with something I know you’ve never heard before, but will probably like.
5. All songs must be properly labelled.
Don’t you hate getting a CD from somebody without having a clue what’s on it? Every CD I make for a friend comes with a computer generated cover, including full and accurate track list, down to every punctuation mark and detail. Sometimes I’ll even throw some pictures or logos on the cover for fun, if there is room. Nero also encodes the song and artist names onto the CD. So I have to make sure the file names are all done correctly too, because when you pop my mix CD into certain players (like my car deck) you’re going to see the titles come up automatically. This must always be done correctly. No spelling mistakes, or I’d junk it, and make a new one.
And finally, there is the optional not-rule:
6. Optional – Include short, funny bits between songs to surprise the listener.
This only applies in certain circumstances. The “Integrity Mix” CD shown here, with G.O.B. and Franklin Bluth on the cover, has such bits at strategic points. One is the song “Big Yellow Joint” from the show Arrested Development, and the other is the appearance of the “Hot Cops” busting George Michael from the same episode. You can see I wanted to keep those bits a surprise for whoever ends up with a copy, because I didn’t number the tracks and didn’t list the bits. So in a sense they are “hidden” until the listener stumbles upon them.
Are you as picky as I am, or is your quality control as extreme as mine? What are you own techniques in the art of the mix CD?
DIO – Intermission (1986 Warner EP)
mikeladano.com 