DEEP PURPLE – “Woman From Tokyo” (Originally 1973, 1998 Warner Japan CD reissue)
The 2:56 single edit of Deep Purple’s “Woman From Tokyo” is somewhat of a rarity on CD. It’s not on the Singles A’s and B’s. You could get it on a Japanese box set called Purple Chronicle.
The original song was almost six minutes, so half of the tune was chopped out for single release. The intro is mangled. The middle section is missing, and cut in such an amateurish way. The guitar solo is missing. Rule of thumb: never cut the friggin’ guitar solo from a Deep Purple song, of all bands! This is a butcher job of a single edit. Probably why it never made the cut to Singles A’s and B’s.
The B-side “Super Trouper” is also 2:56, but unedited. That’s just how the song goes, one of Purple’s shortest. No, it’s not an Abba cover, but both songs were named after Super Trouper stage lights. Some of Ian Gillan’s lyrics can be interpreted to be about his impending departure from Deep Purple. “I wanna be like I was before, but this time I’m gonna know the score.” A lot of looking in the rear view mirror in this song. A lot of past-tense.
Because of the butcher job on the “Woman From Tokyo” edit, the B-side here outshines the A-side. The single at least has lyrics. For collectors and analysts only!
RECORD STORE TALES #985: Do You Know How Quickly a Pair of Glasses Melt in a Fire?
The trip up to the lake was blissful. I picked up my dad, loaded the car, and hit the road to short-sleeve weather and zero traffic. You could see for kilometers ahead with no cars in sight. Blissful. With 2 terabytes of music on the hard drive, I selected a folder called “Tee Bone Tunes” by Tee Bone Erickson. Songs my dad knew from the show. But it was just background noise as we discussed every subject under the sun for a solid two hours. After the Tee Bone songs, I played John Williams’ soundtrack to Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, which was awesome and brought back lots of good memories.
“The pen, Henry! The pen is mightier than the sword!” I quoted, in my best Denholm Elliott impression.
We discussed Indiana Jones and Back to the Future. “Only the first and third movies,” we said of both series.
We spotted a wild turkey on the way and noticed a few new businesses. Every year is different, I reminded myself. You never knew what new things you would see, or how the beach would change from year to year.
This year, the beach is covered with stones.
“Good,” says my dad. “It’ll keep the Sooners away.” Hopefully, anyway.
We opened up the cottage in record time. No snags, no hitches. Got the water going, the hot water tank a-boiling, and the cable and internet were both running perfectly. I installed four new phones to replace the dying ones that should have been replaced last year. Four new phones…there used to be no phones! Phones used to be considered a hindrance to the relaxation at the cottage. Now you wouldn’t be without one. Landline, cell phone, and laptop computer are now the norm.
After getting the barbecue out of the shed and setting up it, the next step was to burn all the brush that had fallen over the winter. It was a windy winter and this was evident by the amount of fallen branches, needles and bark. My dad got out the leaf blower while I swept. The plan was to burn up all the scrub, so I got out some cardboard and started a fire.
The fire grew large and hot very quickly, gobbling up the now-dry wood and needles.
I can see the next moments in slow motion.
To preface, I will admit that my glasses, which I need to drive and do basically anything, have grown loose. I kept putting off getting them adjusted. “I could live with it for now,” I would reason to myself as an excuse to not go to the mall.
Well I no longer have to live with it. In one smooth, liquid motion, my glasses fell off just as I was throwing an armful of brush into the fire.
I searched the ground frantically, hoping they just hit the dirt. My dad joined me, both sweeping and searching. Giving up hope, I began to dig through the fire. I found nothing there either. I searched the ground again, still nothing. I can’t drive without my glasses. Hell I can’t watch TV without my glasses. I can barely use the computer without them.
We kept looking. I called Jen to see if she could find my spare pair at home. I knew a couple places to look. No luck. I dug through the ashes of the fire, spreading them out on the patio stones. Nothing! And then I saw it. A thin stick that was too undamaged to be wood. I reached down to find one remaining scorched arm to my glasses. The lenses and assorted plastic had melted away. That was all I could find in the detritus of what had been up to this point an awesome day.
I went to go sulk on the couch a while, tired from the search and miserable that I would have to spend the next day or two unable to see clearly. Then I thought, “You know, I haven’t looked inside the glove box in a long time. I don’t remember what’s in there.”
I went out to the car and emptied the glove box, and there it was: an old hardshell glasses case. Joy! I couldn’t even remember my old glasses. But there they were, and they would do for now. I could see!
But I was severely rattled by this near miss, and had to chill out. My dad and I went into town to have lunch and see what was open. I realized that I had not been in downtown Kincardine for two and a half years. In fact there were many things I did this weekend that I have not done in two and a half years.
It was my first time inside a Boston Pizza and the old Fincher’s Leisure World since before the pandemic. I missed Leisure World. For decades it was our main spot for model kits, art supplies, toys, games, books and magazines. On this occasion I bought a Lego Star Wars Dagobah diorama for my sister as a surprise gift. She’s recovering from a severe concussion and I thought she’d enjoy it. Which she did!
It was nice to see Boston Pizza still there, and Fincher’s as reliable as ever. My dad and I had a great lunch and an enjoyable afternoon out. We headed back to the lake to meet up with Dr. Kathryn and my mom who arrived separately.
After a little more organising and relaxing, my dad and I headed back home. We decided to go home a slightly different way, and we saw one of the weirdest sights we’d ever seen in cottage country. And we’ve seen gaggles of wild turkeys. On a stretch of road in the middle of farmtown, we saw a castle. A brand new castle, with two turrets and a full-on stone rampart. The imposing wall of rock could have housed a dozen archers! Somebody had obviously decided to build their home in the shape of a castle and I daresay, they did it. They really did it. The windows may be glass and the driveway may be asphalt, but that there be a castle. I’ll have to stop and take a picture next time.
The drive home was accompanied by the music of Jon Lord, with his Concerto for Group and Orchestra, featuring Bruce Dickinson singing the second movement. That was some cool, lively music. I was dead tired at this point but the music and conversation kept us going. After this, I selected Johnny Cash’s American III: Solitary Man. Another great album, this one with the outstanding Neil Diamond title track, and a cool rendition of “I Won’t Back Down” with Tom Petty.
We made it home safe and sound, and we celebrated with some Chinese food. New glasses this week. I wonder what they’ll look like? We’ll see soon enough — pun intended!
Black Sabbath appeared on my radar before Deep Purple did. Perhaps the first true “heavy metal” album I ever heard was Born Again. Best friend Bob owned it; he raved about a song called “Zero the Hero”. He was on to something. Even though his cassette copy was murky and muddy, the chorus rose above.
What you gonna be what you gonna be brother – Zero the Hero, Don’t you wanna be don’t you wanna be brother – Zero the Hero, When you gonna be when you gonna be brother – Zero the Hero, Impossibility, impissibolity mother – really a hero.
It was the first Black Sabbath I ever heard. I didn’t know they had any other singers until one day I was sitting in the basement, recording videos off next door neighbour George. One that I had selected to record was called “Neon Nights” by Black Sabbath. By then, I knew enough to know that Black Sabbath had a “moustache guy” on guitar. I was surprised to see a doppelganger on bass, but the singer kinda looked familiar.
I casually asked George, “Did Black Sabbath ever have anything to do with Ronnie James Dio?”
“Yeah, he was their singer!” he told me. My world expanded that day. It would be longer still before I had the chance to hear any original Sabbath with Ozzy.
I was picking up so much musical information from the neighbour kids. I was intrigued by bands like Kiss, who had many lineups and sounds to go with it. Clearly, Black Sabbath was one of those bands too. “Neon Nights” didn’t sound much like “Zero the Hero”.
Q:What do Ozzy Osbourne, Ronnie James Dio, and the lead singer from Deep Purple have in common?
A:They were all in Black Sabbath.
There are two things amusing about that. 1) I didn’t even know his name, and 2) “the” lead singer of Deep Purple! Hah! Finding out about David Coverdale? That was a whole other story!
I made sure I learned his name quickly. Ian Gillan was recognisable because of his long black hair often obscuring his face. But I wasn’t ready to delve into Deep Purple yet. The easiest (and cheapest) way for me to discover new music was by watching the Pepsi Power Hour on MuchMusic: two hours a week of all kinds of hard rock. But Purple didn’t get much play. Much didn’t have any clips of them in the 1970s, and in fact only had two Purple videos to run: “Perfect Strangers” and “Knocking at Your Back Door“. They weren’t exactly frequent flyers, so my exposure to Deep Purple took a lot of time to unfold.
Black Sabbath may have been my gateway to Deep Purple, but Purple eventually became an obsession that surpassed them. In fact I used to go by the online name “Purpendicular”, named for one of their best albums. I was known as “Purp” for so long that it became a bit of a phenomenon online in Canada and the UK when “Purp Ate My Balls” T-shirts were actually made for sale. Most were in the UK. This is an actual, true story! A handful of people still call me “Purp”.
“Purp Ate My Balls”
When people know you as “Purpendicular”, you better be a serious fan. And I am. I love Deep Purple. I don’t think anyone can touch them for sheer integrity.
I floated through highschool without hearing a lot of Purple. Much acquired a few more videos: “Bad Attitude” and “Hush”. They did not get played often. I only caught “Bad Attitude” once or twice. There was little interest in the band, it seemed. Magazines announced that Ian Gillan had quit at the time of the Nobody’s Perfect album. About a year later came the news that they hired on former Rainbow singer Joe Lynn Turner.
It took some time, but eventually Purple returned with new music. I happened to have the radio on one afternoon in late 1990 when Q-107 debuted a brand new song called “The Cut Runs Deep”.
“At first it doesn’t sound like Purple,” said the DJ, “but then Jon Lord comes in with that Hammond organ!”
I hit “record” on the tape deck.
The Earth moved. What a song. What power! And speed! Rewind, hit “play” and listen again. It was 5:42 of full-steam rock, with the kind of playing that makes the genre awesome. Purple were heavier than I expected. My ears were beginning to open.
I asked a friend at school named Andy about the new album. Turns out, his brother had it.
“Is it heavy?” I queried.
He chuckled in bemusement. “Heavier than Ian Gillan? No. No.”
I tried not to be crushed.
“It’s still good,” he added.
If it wasn’t for my sudden new interest in Led Zeppelin, that might have been the start of my Purple obsession. Instead, I spent a year or so discovering Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones and John Bonham. To make matters even more congested, I soon found Queen, and began buying up old Black Sabbath albums too.
Finally, in the mid 90s, it was time to focus. Once I had Deep Purple properly in the crosshairs, I commenced collecting.
My first doesn’t really count. It was Purple’s latest, Slaves and Masters, their only album with Joe Lynn Turner. It doesn’t count because it was just a taped copy. Back when you could still rent CDs, I borrowed a copy from a video store up in Kincardine Ontario. I put it in my boombox and began recording. I remember my dad listening in on the last track, the epic “Wicked Ways”. He asked who the band was.
“They are more of a musician’s band, aren’t they,” he remarked. Yes! Exactly. My dad wasn’t into rock music, but he could hear that quality musicianship. They were far and above the average rock band.
Slaves and Masters is a brilliant album, and although a full third of it is ballads, it’s hard not to like. There are a lot of good songs on there. So what if they are ballads? “The Cut Runs Deep” and “Wicked Ways” more than made up for the lighter material.
Then: two hits compilations. Knocking At Your Back Door (a new release of 80s material) and Deepest Purple (all 70s). This gave me plenty to absorb in a short period of time. The most important song from this pair was “Child in Time”. It appeared in live form on Knocking At Your Back Door and Ian Gillan was still in good enough vocal shape to do it. I loved both versions. When I played it in my bedroom, my sister could hear it through the door. I played it so often that she gave it a name. She called it the “Ahh Ahh Ahh” song.
Next: Perfect Strangers. A rewarding album in the long term. Took a few spins to get there.
By 1993, Deep Purple got Ian Gillan back for another kick at the can. The classic Mk II lineup was intact: Richie Blackmore, Ian Gillan, Ian Paice, Jon Lord, and Roger Glover. They did a so-so album called The Battle Rages On…, and it really did rage on. As I learned more about the band, I discovered that even though they were all intelligent, schooled musicians, they fought like children! This reunion was not built to last, though it was my next Deep Purple album.
I certainly didn’t expect Blackmore to quit. And I didn’t even know about it.
The mid 90s were a bit of a black hole for metal information. Few magazines were covering classic rock bands anymore. I didn’t know that Blackmore quit until their live album, Come Hell or High Water, was out. I found out from the liner notes!
The internet was in its infancy, but I did some digging and found out that Purple were playing live with a new guitar player. Could you believe it? Joe Satriani temped with them!, but he was already gone! They were on to a new guy. The review that I read said specifically that the new guy “looked a lot like Steve Morse”.
Well shit!
Steve Morse was a legend in his own time! I knew him by reputation only. And I was really intrigued by this news.
I had to special order the new Deep Purple with Morse from the US. It was 1995 and I was working at the Record Store. You couldn’t even get it in Canada yet. That’s how bad it was for rock bands in the 90s. But I did get it, paying $24.99 for the import. Purpendicular arrived one Tuesday afternoon. T-Rev was working when it came in. “I hope you don’t mind, but I played a little bit of your Deep Purple. It wasn’t sealed when it came. It sounds pretty good.”
He apologised for playing it but there was no need. I thought it was cool that he was interested. Turns out, he liked that album a lot and ended up buying a copy himself!
Indeed, Purpendicular is a special album. There is magic in those grooves. Maybe it was the freedom of working without the yoke of Blackmore. Perhaps it was the rejuvenation of Steve Morse. It was probably both and much more, but what happened with Purpendicular has never been repeated. No matter how many good albums they have done since (and there have been several, including four with Don Airey replacing the late Jon Lord), none have had the…I hate to use this cliche over again, but…none have had the magic that Purpendicular has. It’s impossible to put into words, but easy to hear for yourself.
I mean, I friggin’ named myself after that album! There are T-shirts with my face on them that say “Purp Ate My Balls”. That’s dedication, pal!
DEEP PURPLE – Purple Chronicle – The Best Selection of 25th Anniversary (1993 triple CD Warner Japan box set)
Here is something clearly designed for the archivist, not the casual listener. Purple Chronicle is a strange but in-depth collection of singles, album cuts, B-sides and rarities. With tracks spanning 1968 to 1976 (Deep Purple’s original run) there is much to cover. There are even two mono mixes that are still unavailable on CD anywhere else.
The first two discs comprise a chronological look at the most key Deep Purple tracks. Five songs are earmarked to represent the Rod Evans era, including the big one “Hush” and Neil Diamond’s “Kentucky Woman”. It’s a mere brief glance at the three albums they did with Rod, but there are more rarities on Disc 3.
The classic Deep Purple Mk II era featuring Ian Gillan takes over on the next 11 tracks. From “Speed King” through to “Fireball” and “Strange Kind of Woman”, the big hits are here. Who Do We Think We Are from 1973 only has one track present (“Woman From Tokyo”). “Into the Fire” is pleasing to find here, as one of Deep Purple’s short and sweet heavy metal stomps.
Deep Purple Mk III and IV (featuring David Coverdale and Glenn Hughes behind the microphones) are given 12 tracks to stretch out. They don’t anything as long as Gillan’s “Child in Time” which exceeds 10 minutes, so this is still fairly proportional. The best songs, both rockers and ballads, are laid out from their three records. They include the unforgettable “Burn” and “Stormbringer”, the extended blues “Mistreated” and underappreciated gems such as “You Keep on Moving” and “Comin’ Home” with Tommy Bolin on guitar.
All of the songs on the first two discs would have been available on standard Deep Purple CDs at the time. The third disc has a bunch of tracks that were (and some that still are) harder to come by. It is dominated by B-sides, single edits and assorted rarities. “Black Night” appears for the first time, as a single edit and live B-side. Indeed there is a lot of repeat of Disc 3. “Speed King” for example is here twice more, with both of its extended intros (noise plus keyboards, or just keyboards). These weren’t on the typical CD release of Deep Purple In Rock at the time. There are single edits of “Woman From Tokyo”, “Highway Star”, “Lazy” and “Burn” (two edits!). And there are lots of rarities galore, culled from B-sides and Purple’s outtake album Power House. Some, such as Rod Evans’ “Emmeretta”, and Gillan’s “Painted Horse” and “Cry Free”, are true unsung Purple classics. “Coronarias Redig” is notable as the only instrumental of the Coverdale era.
The two tracks that are still true rarities today are the mono mixes of “Smoke on the Water” and its live counterpart. More versions of “Smoke”? Yes indeed, but unless you have heard them in mono before, you have not heard them all. These are not “fold down” mono mixes made by just converting the stereo track to mono. These are audibly different in subtle ways.
This is the kind of set that will be difficult and expensive to track down. If you spy it somewhere, be aware of the value to collectors. (I was fortunate that a copy in great condition just dropped in my lap for cheap.) Consider it if collecting Purple is your thing. Includes full booklet and poster with family tree.
19 years ago, Deep Purple released their final studio album with Jon Lord. We didn’t know that at the time of course. Jon’s departure happened a few years later, when touring wore him down. He capped it off properly with a Purple tour of live performances of the Concerto for Group and Orchestra. However, there is always a certain sense of…incompletion. Lord’s last studio album wasn’t the kind you want to go out on.
Purple had a huge comeback with the masterpiece Purpendicular in 1996. It was a beautiful, quirky and intelligent record. Its followup Abandon was an effort to “get heavy”, but with hindsight even the band admitted it missed the mark. Sure, it was heavier with more riffs, but Steve Morse isn’t particularly a riffy player. Abandon lacked the feeling, and the level of songwriting was not there.
Lead track “Any Fule Kno That” works on a heavy groove, and it’s one of the songs that does click. There are two particularly memorable songs on Abandon: “Any Fule Kno That” and the laid back “Fingers to the Bone”. “Fingers” is based on a celtic Steve Morse guitar lick, with a passionate Ian Gillan vocal on top. Almost up there with them is “Seventh Heaven”, which could be the heaviest Purple song ever. Paicey’s drums are relentless. You can also count “Bludsucker” among the best material, but it’s a re-recording of “Bloodsucker” from In Rock. Unfortunately this serves to underline how many years have passed, in regards to the vocal cords of Mr. Gillan.
All the other tunes have something to them of interest, but just not enough. “Almost Human” for example has a nice shuffle beat. “’69” has cool lyrics and a hell of a tempo. There is a killer slow blues called “Don’t Make Me Happy” that just needs a better chorus. The magic sauce just isn’t there. Few of these songs were played live, and when they were, they tended to have more life than the album.
One must wonder, if the lacklustre Abandon is the reason Deep Purple haven’t self produced an album since. Every record since then was either produced with Michael Bradford or Bob Ezrin. Every record since has been better overall. Something about Abandon just doesn’t hit the bar. Maybe it’s the oddly obtrusive double-tracked vocals. Whatever the cause, it’s hard to recommend Abandon when there are so many awesome Purple albums to enjoy ahead of it.
“I’ve been drunk from nine o’clock in the morning, ’til nine o’clock in the morning, because you’ve all been buying me drinks. You are sensational!” — Ian Gillan to the audience in Oslo
DEEP PURPLE – Nobody’s Perfect (originally 1988, 1999 Mercury 2 CD reissue)
Deep Purple are more than just a band, they are a legend. And as such we must judge them a little more stringently than the average band.
In 1988 Deep Purple were celebrating their 20th anniversary, but they were actually broken up for eight of those 20 years. And as it turns out, they celebrated their 20th by firing lead singer Ian Gillan! They also released this live album, which failed to excite the general public. Nobody’s Perfect is little more than a sub-Made in Japan.
It’s important to note, if you’re going to buy Nobody’s Perfect, there is no point in getting anything other than the 1999 2CD Mercury reissue. Originally, in order to get all the tracks, you had to buy the album on LP and cassette. The cassette had one exclusive track, “Dead or Alive”, a rarity from The House of Blue Light. The double LP had its own exclusive, “Bad Attitude”, another rarity from the same album. Meanwhile the single disc CD release was missing both these tracks and “Space Truckin'” as well. In other words, definitely do not buy the original single CD release which is the most incomplete of them all.
The big critique levelled at Nobody’s Perfect, then and now, is that the setlist was too safe and a repeat of stuff already released in live form. Ian Gillan himself was one who voiced that opinion. The cassette and LP bonus tracks go a long way to add value, since those songs were dropped after this tour. The only other place you can find live versions of “Bad Attitude” and “Dead or Alive” is the very expensive and out of print Bootleg Series 1984-2000. Otherwise, Nobody’s Perfect consists of all the same songs as Made in Japan minus “The Mule” and with a small handful of newer songs. The album is also sourced from many concerts around the world and completely lacks the flow that Made in Japan had (even though it was taken from three concerts itself).
The Deep Purple of 1987-1988 may have had the same members, but they still sounded very different from the Purple of 1972. Ian Gillan’s voice aged as all human voices do, and is the most notably different. Just as importantly though, Deep Purple had drastically cut down the soloing. That’s not a bad thing, but a lot of the shorter jams and solos sounded by rote in the 80s. One new highlight though is a bit of “Jesus Christ Superstar” in the middle of the “Strange Kind of Woman” solo section. Gillan was, of course, the original Jesus on the Jesus Christ Superstar album.
Whatever negatives may be applicable, when they rock they rock and when they roll they roll. “Dead Or Alive”, a new song, smokes the stage. “Child in Time” is probably the last decent version of the song released. “Perfect Strangers” and “Knocking at Your Back Door” were fresh and haven’t worn out their welcomes.
Finally there is a “Hush”, a re-recording of Deep Purple’s original 1968 single, captured live in a jam. This reimagining of the track has been dismissed as unnecessary but that is an unfair assessment. Ian Gillan and Roger Glover didn’t play on the original, so it’s actually cool to get a nice version with them. “Hush” in 1988 was a heavier track than “Hush” in 1968, but it’s still playful rock and roll.
As Purple approaches their 50th, Nobody’s Perfect has faded into the backdrop. As an official live album, it has its place in the discography. With so many superior official and semi-official live releases since, it is hardly an essential listen.
DEEP PURPLE – When We Rock, We Rock and When We Roll, We Roll (1978 Warner)
When Deep Purple broke up in 1976, their back catalog was ripe for exploitation for compilation by record labels. One by one, out trickled Deepest Purple, Singles A’s and B’s, and When We Rock, We Rock and When We Roll, We Roll. 1978’s When We Rock is the least necessary of them all.
The only thing that When We Rock really has going for it is that did feature all the Deep Purple singers to date. Ian Gillan sings the majority of tracks, Rod Evans has two (“Hush” and “Kentucky Woman”) and Coverdale/Hughes have one (“Burn”). The shoddy package had no involvement from any ex-members of the band, and even has an incorrect track listing on the back. “Woman From Tokyo” isn’t live, but “Smoke on the Water” is (from Made in Japan).
If music shoppers in 1978 were just looking for a handy-dandy single record set of all Purple’s radio hits, then When We Rock almost fits the bill. “Hard Road (Wring That Neck)” is conspicuous by its inclusion, being a semi-obscure instrumental from 1969’s The Book of Taliesyn. Swap that one out for “Strange King of Woman” and you could have had a serviceable hits set, even considering the live tracks. After all, Made in Japan helped establish the live album as a viable hitmaker.
The only reason to own When We Rock, We Rock and When We Roll, We Roll is the cover art, which admittedly is pretty nifty.
This is Part 2 of a double-sized Deep Purple deluxe InFinite box set review! For Part 1,click here.
DEEP PURPLE – InFinite(2017 Edel deluxe box set edition)
When we last met, we took a solid look at Deep Purple’s fine new album, InFinite. Because the year is 2017, InFinite is available in multiple editions. The most logical to buy is the deluxe box set. This includes:
InFinite on CD
From Here to InFinite – a full length documentary DVD
InFinite on a 2 LP set in its own double gatefold
The Now What?! Live Tapes, Vol. 2 – an exclusive live album included on three 10″ records
A T-shirt
A poster
Five lovely photo cards
A sticker
That’s a lot of goodies for a reasonable price, and it all comes housed in a sturdy box.
The included DVD is a very intimate look at the creation of InFinite from writing to overdubs. Narrated by Rick Wakeman (you read that correctly), it also looks at the moments that Steve Morse and Don Airey joined the band. Much attention is given to the shocking departure of Ritchie Blackmore in 1993, and the acquisition of Joe Satriani (who is interviewed for the DVD). However, Joe had commitments and couldn’t stay long. Deep Purple couldn’t wait for him, so they had to look for someone else. They had a list, and the first name on it was Steve Morse. Almost instantly they found themselves rediscovering the joy of music. The atmosphere and attitude of the band did a complete 180. When Jon Lord’s passing is discussed, there are a few teary eyes and sincere words. Moving on to InFinite, it is remarkable to watch the band pluck ideas from the air and mold them into songs. Bob Ezrin is a huge part of the process, with his own ideas and preferences. His reputation as a taskmaster is reinforced by the band, but it seems like a very easy collaboration. They have the same goals and desires, and trust each other’s musical instincts. There is also a shockingly frank discussion with Steve Morse, about the osteoarthritis in his picking hand. His technique has, over the years, worn out his wrist to the point that there is bone-on-bone contact. The pain has grown so severe that playing the guitar required him to completely change his picking technique, while wearing a wrist brace. Meanwhile Don Airey gets 20 “Cool Points” for wearing both a Rival Sons T-shirt, and a Winnipeg Jets sweater. Canucks will also be pleased to know that Ian Gillan recorded his vocals at Bob Ezrin’s studio in Toronto.
The DVD can be had in a CD/DVD set, so the real reason for fans to choose this box set is The Now What?! Live Tapes, Vol. 2. Vol. 1 was included on the “gold” reissue of their last album Now What?! Vol. 2 is, as it states on the sleeve, “100% live! 100% unreleased!” There are some obscure tracks on here, making this live album very enticing indeed. You don’t have to sit through more versions of “Smoke on the Water” or “Black Night”. Even better, or perhaps best of all to the vinyl nerds, are the lovely records that comprise The Now What?! Live Tapes, Vol. 2. Three 10″ records, each in their own coloured sleeve, and each on coloured vinyl! White, clear, and clear blue.
“Après Vous” (from London) commences the proceedings. This newby from Now What?! has a lot of life on stage, and the long instrumental section sounds kinda like the old days. Then an oldie: “Into the Fire” (Milan) from 1970’s Deep Purple In Rock. Ian really strains his voice on this one, but somehow pulls it off with style. Back to London for “The Mule”, a song featuring Ian Paice’s busiest drum work. No problems from Paicey. Indeed, on the DVD Paicey says he hasn’t experienced much physical difficulty in continuing to play the way he wants to.
The second record starts with Purple’s recent “Green Onions”/”Hush” medley (Gaevle, Sweden), a cool way to inject new life into one of Purple’s earliest singles. The interplay between the four musicians during the jam section is remarkable. Even though most of the originals are long gone, it sounds sorta like Purple circa 1969. Another medley showcasing Steve Morse (“The captain of the skies, the Aviator”, says Gillan) occupies side two. “Contact Lost” (London) is Morse’s short instrumental tribute to the crew of STS-107, known to most as the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster. This merges into Purple’s majestic song for Jon Lord, “Uncommon Man” and finally Steve’s instrumental “The Well-Dressed Guitar”.
One more record to go. The excellent single “All the Time in the World” from Now What?! comes from Aalborg, Denmark. It’s a slick and laid back jazzy rock groove. Purple always seem to find a great groove, and “All the Time in the World” is unlike previous ones. “Highway Star” (London) is like a polar opposite. Though you know they will hold it all together, “Highway Star” still sounds so fast that it could come off the tracks at any time. 1971’s “Strange Kind of Woman” (Aalborg) is a long-time favourite with fun vocal-guitar interplay. Back to London for the last track, “Space Truckin'”. What can you say about “Space Truckin'”? Not much except that Ian Paice still kicks it, and hard!
Purple fanatics who still love what the band is doing today will need this box set. It will be indispensable to them. Wear your T-shirts with pride! For the casual Purple fan who just wants to check out the CD and DVD, that edition will suffice.
To InFinite and beyond!
4/5 stars
Further reading on more Deep Purple InFinite related releases:
DEEP PURPLE – In Rock (1970, 1995 EMI anniversary edition)
Deep Purple In Rock: The title speaks mountains about the music. They didn’t want there to be any question regarding what kind of band Deep Purple were. The first version of the band, Deep Purple Mk I, made three psychedelic but still clearly rock and roll albums. Wanting to rock harder, they ditched singer Rod Evans and bassist Nick Simper, and brought aboard Ian Gillan and Roger Glover. However the first album released by Deep Purple Mk II was…Concerto for Group and Orchestra? There was also a wishy-washy gospel rock single called “Hallelujah” that went nowhere. Indeed, there was some confusion in terms of public perception. In Rock was designed from the start to reaffirm.
With In Rock, producer Martin Birch commenced a long and fruitful relationship with Deep Purple. The single was a track called “Black Night” which, oddly enough, wasn’t on the album. It was a response to a record label request for a single, so the band nicked the bassline from Gershwin and wrote a simple rock track with nonsensical lyrics. It was an immediate hit. Appropriately, the original single version of “Black Night” is included on this 25th anniversary edition of In Rock.
The B-side to “Black Night” was an edited version of opening album track, “Speed King”. The full length version was even edited down for some releases of the In Rock album, except in the UK. Almost a minute of noisy instrumental freakout explosively starts the full enchilada. This leads to a calming, light Jon Lord organ, misleading you into thinking the onslaught is over. Think again.
“Speed King” is a quintessential Deep Purple track, cementing their instrumental prowess and lyrical credentials. The sheer velocity of the track alone packs a whallop, but the sonics are just as powerful. “Speed King” has a deep, gut-punching heaviness. There is also a long instrumental section, custom built for the jam-loving audiences of the era. The words are cut and pasted from classic rock and roll hits in one stream of consciousness. The best word for “Speed King” is “exhausting”. Listening through feels like you just finished a sprint. The band were trying to capture the same vibe as Jimi Hendrix’s “Fire”, but overdid it just a smidge!
And what of that new singer? Ian Gillan didn’t get to do much screaming in his previous band (with Glover), Episode Six. In Deep Purple, his unmistakable wail sets world records for pitch and volume. Without Ian Gillan, there would be no Bruce Dickinson, and therefore Iron Maiden could never have existed as we know it today. In Rock features Ian at his peak powers. Nobody can touch In Rock, not even Bruce in his prime.
“Bloodsucker” is a vintage, grinding organ-based groove. In Rock has a very bass-heavy mix, but clear and defined. This helps the low growling Hammond combine with Roger Glover’s pulsing bass to form a wave of sound. Ride that wave on “Bloodsucker”, with a cool double-tracked Gillan vocal that keeps the thing slightly off-balance. Drummer Ian Paice can never be underappreciated, and in 1970 he was one of the hardest hitters on the field. “Bloodsucker” leaves massive Yeti footprints because of that beat.
One of the most important songs in the Deep Purple canon is “Child in Time”, a 10 minute composition of light and shade that transforms as you listen. As it begins gently, Ian Gillan gets to utilize the soothing side of his voice. “Child in Time” is almost a lullaby…until it is not. Wait for the ricochet. This album is called Deep Purple In Rock after all. Not Deep Purple In Bed or Deep Purple At Church.
In 1970, this would have been the moment you get up and flip the record. To do that, you would have to peel yourself from the floor.
The second side of In Rock features lesser played tracks, but no less impressive. “Flight of the Rat” takes off amidst a Blackmore guitar rocket riff. Though fast, it is a step off the pedal from “Speed King” and with enough vocal melody to keep one hanging on. Lord and Blackmore both solo, fighting to be champion but with no clear winner. All the while, Glover and Paice keep the pulse going through the time changes. Then it is “Into the Fire”, a rarely played unsung classic that the band resurrected on tour in 2000 and 2014. Bopping heavily along, “Into the Fire” will burn if you let it. Then the drums of “Living Wreck” fade in, with a incredibly deep natural echo that you feel in the bones. The snare sound rings sharp. “Living Wreck” was actually one of the first tracks taped, and just listen to Ritchie Blackmore’s tone on the lead solo! This is truly a triumph of studio recordings.
Finally “Hard Loving Man” closes In Rock with one of the heaviest Purple riffs in their history. Deep Purple invented the heavy metal chug on “Hard Loving Man”. Meanwhile Jon Lord contributes to the sludge by hitting as many keys simultaneously as he seemingly can! What a track, and much like “Speed King” at the start, it leaves you beaten and out of breath.
No Deep Purple album has come close to In Rock for brute strength. The band and Martin Birch truly captured something special in the studio, back when that meant finding the right amp for the right instrument in the right room. It’s much like alchemy, only real. In Rock is an artifact of the way they used to do it, and evidence of why it can’t seem to be repeated. The monument on the album cover was an apt indicator of what the new Deep Purple sounded like.
The 25th anniversary edition contains a wealth of bonus material, interspersed with amusing studio chat, such as:
Jon Lord (singing): “I smashed the microphooooone.”
Martin Birch: “Are you going to hit it again?”
Jon Lord: “I don’t think so.”
In addition to the original single “Black Night”, there is a fascinating alternate take of “Speed King”. The band were toying with a version featuring piano instead of organ, which completely changed its character. This version was recorded and accidentally released on a single instead of the proper one. Here it is as a bonus track, showing you a work in progress and what could have been.
Then we have a Roger Glover remix of “Cry Free”, one of the earliest songs recorded (30 takes total) but ultimately rejected. It was first released on the 1977 posthumous Deep Purple album Power House, one of many releases that EMI put out during the period the band were broken up. Glover oversaw remixes of many of Deep Purple’s reissues beginning here. The differences are subtle but not unnoticeable. Glover also remixed “Black Night” (more on that later), “Flight of the Rat” and “Speed King” (including intro) for these bonus tracks. They might be described as “fuller sounding”. “Black Night” was expanded to include a previously unheard outro. Then there is “Jam Stew”, an instrumental with a chicken-pickin’ lick that has been all but forgotten. It was played for the BBC once with improvised vocals; that version can be found on BBC Sessions 1968-1970. Ritchie used the riff later in 1970 for a side project album called Green Bullfrog.
With these bonus tracks, the In Rock anniversary edition is expanded from 43 to 78 minutes. For fans that needed every last morsel, there was still one more release to be found. To coincide with the anniversary edition in 1995, EMI released a limited and numbered CD single of “Black Night”. (How many made? I don’t know, but I have #2908.) This three track single has two versions not on the In Rock CD: a single edit of the “Black Night” Glover remix, and a “matching mix” by Glover of “Speed King”. This “matching mix” seems to be an edited remix without the noisy intro. They’re not essential except to the collector.
To date, this 1995 anniversary edition is still the only expanded edition of In Rock. With the rare photos and expansive Simon Robinson essay inside, it is the obvious definitive edition, 22 years reigning strong. They even tried to get Ritchie Blackmore involved with the reissue. He offered one quote for the booklet: “This is my favourite LP along with Machine Head.” Be very careful if seeking out a mint condition copy of this CD. The jewel case itself is very special. The autographs and notes on the front cover are not on the front cover. They are etched into the plastic of the jewel case. Mine is safely enclosed in a scratch proof plastic sleeve, but finding an original jewel case intact will not be an easy task on the second hand market.
DEEP PURPLE – Hard Road: The Mark I Studio Recordings 1968-69(2014 Parlophone)
It’s fantastic that old mono recordings are getting the CD treatment. The original mono mixes of the old Beatles albums were a revelation to those who had never heard them before. The original mono versions of Deep Purple’s Shades Of and Book of Taliesynare less surprising, but still a welcome addition for completists who want to hear it “as it was” in 1968. Comparisons are difficult, but both albums sound like they were meant to be in stereo. Unlike the Beatles pop rock compositions, Deep Purple’s featured a lot of solo work and even full-blown orchestral movements. The stereo separation makes that easier to appreciate. Only Purple’s third album, 1969’s self-titled Deep Purple, did not receive a mono mix. It is presented here in stereo only.
Now, these three Purple albums all received the deluxe edition treatment (single discs) in the year 2000. Those versions on Spitfire (links in above paragraph) are still excellent ways to get this early Deep Purple music. They are fairly common, have great liner notes and pictures, and feature the stereo versions plus 14 bonus tracks combined between them. There is also a compilation CD called The Early Years featuring more bonus tracks, including 2003 remixes and live takes. Where Hard Road fails is in replacing these previous four CDs completely. One would hope you would get all the associated bonus tracks from this period in one handy-dandy box. Sadly this box is not quite so dandy. Here is a list of tracks missing from Hard Road that were on the remastered single discs:
“Kentucky Woman” (alternate take on The Early Years)
“Hard Road” (BBC session on The Early Years and The Book of Taliesyn remaster)
“Hush” (live from US TV)
“Hey Joe” (live BBC recording from the remastered Shades Of).
“It’s All Over” and “Hey Bop-a-Rebop” (unreleased songs, live BBC sessions from The Book of Taliesyn)
The live BBC songs above can also be found on the double CD BBC Sessions…except for “Hard Road”.
Of course there is plenty of material on Hard Road that is not on those earlier discs, making things that much murkier. In addition to the original mono versions, these include:
“Kentucky Woman” remixed in 2003
“Playground” in a non-remixed version
“River Deep, Mountain High” and “The Bird Has Flown” (single edits)
A fresh 2012 stereo mix of “Emmaretta”
The isolated single B-side version of “April (Part 1)”
An early instrumental version of “Why Didn’t Rosemary”
Irritating, yes. But only to completists. For just about anyone else, Hard Road will satisfy their need for pretty much all the Deep Purple Mark I they can handle. It’s not as complete as the title would let on, what with that live “Hush” and alternate take of “Kentucky Woman” missing in action. Instead you will receive a large booklet with plenty of notes and a new 2013 interview with producer Derek Lawrence. He was on board early, before they were in Deep Purple. He describes an early version of the band called “Roundabout” (with Bobby Woodman on drums and Chris Curtis on bass) as “bland”. When Ian Paice and Nick Simper joined, they sounded better, but to Lawrence clearly Ritchie Blackmore and Ian Paice were the stars.
Each disc comes in its own LP-style sleeve. It’s a gorgeous set. It sounds fantastic, and was assembled with the usual care that goes into a Deep Purple album. A few niggling missing tracks aside, this is highly recommended to those looking add the first three Purple to their collection.
DEEP PURPLE – “Woman From Tokyo” (Originally 1973, 1998 Warner Japan CD reissue)
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