Come Taste This Band (Deep Purple in general)

Member Name: ordy

Product:	Deep Purple in general
Date:	23/03/02 (440 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Diverse music, Great tunes

Disadvantages: Classic Line Up now disbanded

Before I complete this I must issue a caveat - I have just returned from seeing DP in concert in St Petersburg in Russia and had the most amazing weekend. I drove my car into Russia driving through the night, getting a car into Russia is a nightmare. When I arrived in St Petes it took me 2 hours to find the hotel, nobody spoke English and there were no signs. The omens were bad.

Anyway, next day I find out that, by chance I was staying at the same hotel as DP - things started to look up. Anyway, the concert was incredible. It was the first time I had ever seen DP in concert (why I have never bothered to see them in the UK remains a mystery!!). I have heard many of their tracks live on various albums and knew that, in their day in the early 70s they put on the most incredible performances. 20-minute versions of their better songs were not uncommon, as the band would go off into long solos jamming together, often spontaneously. I guess I expected them to perhaps modernise their act as I was unsure how popular such a performance would be in modern times. I should not have worried, they were exactly the same, but it still sounded fresh and exciting. I managed to fight my way to the very front of the crowd (an achievement in Russia) it was quite violent down there!) and then got thrown a drumstick by Ian Paice (the drummer - surprise surprise!!)

Anyway ? to cut a long story short, I am currently on a DP High and so this review is going to be blatantly biased. But then I guess if you are reading this you are unlikely to be a Spice Girls fan, unless you are seriously lost in the Dooyoo pages!

Enough of my rantings ? what about the band??

DP are considered by many to be the Classic Hard Rock band ? screaming vocals, crunching bass guitar and drums and intricate lead guitar riffs. To me this does not do them justice. Sure they could produce some great rock songs ? most people will be familiar with the classic Smoke on the Water ? but they
could equally well turn their hand to the blues (When a blind man cries is a wonderfully slow blues number) and even country and western (Anyone?s Daughter). Musically they were innovative and eccentric ? lyrically their songs could be interesting and humerous. Dismiss them as a Heavy Rock band at your peril!!

DP formed in 1968 and have had more line up changes than I have had girlfriends (actually, that statistic is not strictly true, but girlfriends sounds better than hot dinners!!). Of the line ups most people regard the second line up (know as DP Mark 2) as the classic line up, but I will mention all the line ups some in more detail than others : -


Deep Purple Mark 1 March 1968 - June 1969

Lord/Organ Paice/Drums Blackmore/Guitar Simper/Bass Evans/Vocals

It was a minor miracle that Deep Purple ever got off the ground in the first place, especially when you consider that the guy whose idea it was never had anything to do with the band that finally emerged.

Chris Curtis had been a drummer in the Searchers, a popular sixties pop band, and fancied the idea of being singer/front man of a band of his own called Roundabout, with the reasoning being that the musicians in it could get on and off it as they pleased. He intended the core of the band to be himself and flatmate Jon Lord on keyboards. Curtis knew of Ritchie Blackmore, who was a legend on the "B-band" circuit and idle in Germany, and invited him over for an audition. Blackmore, not one to suffer fools gladly, took an instant dislike to the eccentric Curtis, turned down the idea and flew back to Germany.

Curtis himself lost interest after this and moved out, without paying Lord his share of the rent! Edwards and Lord got on well however, and Lord took over the task of forming the band. He persuaded Blackmore to have another look and this time Blackmore agreed. After several more abortive auditions, Lord finally recruited his friend Nick Simp
er on bass guitar, and from THE MAZE headhunted singer Rod Evans and drummer Ian Paice. After a short maiden tour of Scandinavia as ROUNDABOUT, they changed the name to DEEP PURPLE on Blackmore's suggestion, after an old pop song.

The first album, Shades Of Deep Purple, was ignored in the UK but a smash in the U.S., a pattern repeated with all the mk1 albums. It contained a memorable version of the old Joe South blues number Hush. Flushed with success, they released a second album The Book Of Taliesyn (Taliesyn was King Arthur's minstrel) in the same year (though not released in the UK until 1969, six months later).

In 1969, they released their most artistically ambitious offering to date, the eponymous Deep Purple, with everything from a ballad (Lalena) to driving rock (The Painter, Why Didn't Rosemary.

Unfortunately, in that year their U.S. record company went bust. Whilst the band's management were frantically trying to find another deal, Blackmore persuaded Lord and Paice that they needed a heavier sound, and a new singer and bassist to deliver it. Without telling Simper and Evans what was going on, they headhunted singer Ian Gillan and bass player Roger Glover from the long-running but small-time EPISODE SIX. The last to know about the new members were Simper and Evans, who out of the blue were duly informed by the band's management that they were fired. Simper especially never forgave this betrayal by his erstwhile friend Jon Lord.


Deep Purple Mark 2 June 1969 - June 1973, Apr 1984 - Dec 1989 ? 1993

Lord/Organ Paice/Drums Blackmore/Guitar Gillan/Vocals Glover/Bass

The new band began working on a new album straight away, but were distracted by being reluctantly roped in to Lord's ambitious Concerto For Group and Orchestra, and he, the band and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra performed at the Royal Albert Hall in September 1969, along with the band's own live set. The manag
ement backed the idea and saw it as much needed publicity for a band, which had to effectively start again and impress new record companies. Despite what was seen by the other members as an unwanted distraction and a mixed critical reaction, it got the band noticed!!

In 1970 the band finally released Deep Purple In Rock. This enduring classic with a striking cover design and containing the classic Child In Time was an enormous success. In 1971 they released Fireball. With another great cover, this album was more varied in tempo and contained the driving title-track and the popular Fools. This album is my personal favourite, due really to the diversity of the music and the humour within the lyrics ? most DP fans prefer the subsequent album?

?Machine Head ? released in 1972 and considered by most to be their most famous and successful album. After a disastrous start when the local casino was burned down, they moved their equipment to the Grand Hotel in Montreux, Switzerland, which was closed for an out of season refit, and recorded the album there instead. All this was immortalised in what became one of the greatest rock classics of all time, Smoke on the Water, a song that describes the problems they had recording the album. In a following tour of Japan, the equally famous Made In Japan was recorded, arguably one of the best live rock albums ever.

By the end of 1972, the band were at the highest pinnacle of their success, selling out stadiums and selling millions of albums, with a unique sound identified by the instantly recognisable sounds of Lord and Blackmore and the "scream" of Ian Gillan. Sadly, like many bands in a similar position, the cracks then started to appear in the band. Gillan, initially good friends with Blackmore, had gradually grown to resent Blackmore's dominance of the band, and became exasperated by his inability to have his own ideas considered. At the beginning of 1973, the band released Who Do We Thin
k We Are, containing the classic Woman From Tokyo. The relationship between Blackmore and Gillan had turned sour and the making of the album was an unhappy affair. Gillan had had enough and gave six month's notice. Blackmore saw this as an opportunity to expand the band's sound further and demanded the replacement of Glover with a bassist who could also sing, so that with the new vocalist they could sing harmonies.

Like Simper and Evans before him, Glover was informed by the management rather than the band that he was out, albeit with notice. Glover decided to accept the situation in a dignified manner and played out his notice without sulking or tantrums

This mark 2 line up recorded the classic DP trio ? In Rock, Fireball and Machine Head ? these have recently been re-released with remastered versions and old demo?s ? they are a fascinating insight to the band.

This line up also reformed in 1989 for 4 years recording Perfect Strangers and House of Blue Light ? 2 great albums that have to be described as DP greats.

The members of the mark2 line up had gone on to enjoy success in other bands on the back of the Heavy Metal boom of the period 1979-1983, but by 1984 all these outfits had either folded (Gillan), lost popularity (Rainbow) or were involved in other problems (Whitesnake). The situation made the idea of a reunion, long speculated over, more appealing.

At the initiative of Blackmore, the ex-members met, hit it off and decided to go for it. To the delight of Rock fans everywhere, the reunion was announced and a new album recorded. Perfect Strangers as of old, had a driving title track and a storming opener in Knocking At Your Back Door. The resulting tour was well received and all looked rosy.

However, distractions elsewhere and apathy in the band resulted in a long delay in producing any new product, and the same old clash between Gillan and Blackmore had begun to rear its head again. The next al
bum, The House of Blue Light, was not ready until 1987, and with Gillan and Blackmore hardly communicating, and their contributions were recorded separately. To cheer themselves up after a bad experience, Gillan and Glover subsequently recorded Accidentally On Purpose. The subsequent tour to promote The House Of Blue Light resulted in the live album Nobody's Perfect.

Gillan, again feeling his contribution was being squeezed out by Blackmore, decided to comfort himself by drinking heavily and behaving badly. He pushed his luck too far and the rest of the band decided he had become a liability. In the usual Deep Purple manner, the management informed him that he was fired.

This line up then reformed in 1993 to record Slaves and Masters in time for the DP 25th anniversary tour. The band really did not get on well during this period ? the album received mixed acclaim and is not one of the classics. During the tour the cracks really began to show, with Blackmore in particular being unpredictable on stage and was at times insufferable, behaving particularly badly at the videoed Birmingham gig, coming onstage only for his parts and throwing cups of water at cameramen, one of which missed and landed on Gillan's wife!! In late 1993 Blackmore finally quit the band ? apparently the remaining band members have never seen him since!!

It is almost certain now that the Mark 2 line up will never be seen again (sob!!!)



Deep Purple Mark 3 August 1973 - April 1975

Lord/Organ Paice/Drums Blackmore/Guitar Coverdale/Vocals Hughes/Bass

The David Coverdale days ? Coverdale is of course famed for forming Whitesnake after leaving DP and has an amazing bluesy voice. They did 2 albums ?Burn and Stormbringer ? both good, but not in the same mould as the Mark 2 albums. Personally I never listen to them any more ? say no more!!

Anyway, Blackmore did not like the more bluesy style of the band and joined up with Ronn
ie Dio to form Rainbow. Replaced by Tommy Bolin the band progressed to the Mark 4 line up?

Deep Purple Mark 4 July 1975 - July 1976

Don Airey/Organ Paice/Drums Bolin/Guitar Coverdale/Vocals Hughes/Bass

Only 1 album here ? Come Taste the Band ? very much a continuation of the blues theme of the previous 2 Coverdale albums, but certainly not a classic. Many fans did not warm to Bolin for no other reason than he was no Blackmore!!! Strange!!!The band developed some bad drug problems, which resulted in the band virtually running out of steam and folding in 1976. Within a year Tommy Bolin died of a Heroin overdose.


Deep Purple Mark 5 1990 - 1992
Lord/Organ Paice/Drums Blackmore/Guitar Turner/Vocals Glover/Bass

This band toured and then recorded an album which was rejected by DP?s record label ? they did not like Joe Lynn Turners vocal style. Gillan rejoined again to complete this album (Slaves and Masters) for the final period of the Mark 2 line up (see above)


Deep Purple Mark 6 1993 - 1994
Lord/Organ Paice/Drums Satriani/Guitar Gillan/Vocals Glover/Bass

Satriani stepped in to replace Blackmore who quit mid-tour. This line-up didn't record, but the band remain grateful to Satriani for helping them ?cross the bridge?. Satriani was tied to another record label and contractually could only play live with the band ? he was unable to record any studio music, so the awesome Steve Morse was recruited?

Deep Purple Mark 7 1994 - 2002
Lord/Organ Paice/Drums Morse/Guitar Gillan/Vocals Glover/Bass


Morse settled quickly into the band and the new line up recorded the critically acclaimed Purpendicular (released 1996), containing the popular Ted The Mechanic, The Aviator and Sometimes I Feel Like Screaming. After seriously considering calling it a day after the end of the 25th anniversary tour, their experience with Satriani had convinced them that they had a viable futur
e without Blackmore, and the enthusiasm came through on the album and tours that followed, resulting in the live album Live At The Olympia. In 1998, the band released Abandon (a pun of "A Band On"). More "down the line" than Purpendicular, it nevertheless contains the crowd-pleasing opening track Any Fule Know That.

Further tours supporting this album resulted in Total Abandon- Live In Australia live album and video and Live At The Rotterdam Ahoy. In December 1999, on the 30th anniversary of its original performance, the band reprised the Concerto along with a full live set and guest appearances, and immortalised it on CD and video, this time with enthusiasm!

Though lacking the genius of Blackmore, this line up was also free of his destabilising influence, and produce quality studio music and live performances. However in early 2002 fans were shocked to hear of the departure of Jon Lord, considered by many to be one of (if not the) finest keyboardists in the rock world. He had been suffering with bad knees and, reading between the lines, ws struggling with the pace of the bands touring. I think fans have been shocked by JL?s departure because through the years, he was a stabilising factor and, with drummer Ian Paice was longest serving memebr of DP. He will be very much missed

Deep Purple Mark 8 2002 - Present
Lord/Organ Paice/Drums Morse/Guitar Gillan/Vocals Glover/Bass

However missed JL will be, he has been replaced by someone of great talent, Don Airey. No studio recordings have been made of course, but judging by his recent Russian performance he is more than capable of winning the fans over and his style is very similar to that of JL. I was very very impressed!!!

Anyway ? this has turned from a history of the band to something of a rant so I had better stop before my keyboard collapses. If you like rock music, give DP a chance ? maybe start with a compilation like Deepest Purple, often to be
found in CD sales for less than a tenner. If you like that, move to the classic trio of Mark 2 line up?s albums, and if you like those the you had better have deep pockets because DP have a very large collection of albums.

Enjoy ? I do!!!

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