Deep + Good News for Modern Man!

[uwe]

Easy!!!


    Mk I: Blackmore, Evans, Lord, Simper, Paice

Mk IIa: (minus Evans & Simper), + Gillan & Glover

Mk  III: (minus Gillan & Glover), + Coverdale & Hughes

  Mk IV: (minus Blackmore), + Bolin —> line-up splits completely

Mk IIb: as Mk IIa (first Mk II reunion)

   Mk V: as Mk IIa/b, but minus Gillan and + Turner

Mk IIc: Turner departs, Gillan returns = as Mk IIa/b (second Mk II reunion)

  Mk VI: Blackmore departs, Satriani steps in, otherwise as Mk IIa/b/c

Mk VII: Satriani departs, the Morse era begins, otherwise as Mk IIa/b/c

Mk VIII: Lord retires from the road, Airey joins, otherwise as Mk VII

  Mk IX: Morse retires ending his era, McBride joins, otherwise as Mk VIII, current line up: Paice (since Mk I),
            Gillan & Glover (since Mk II), Airey (since Mk VIII) + McBride (new kid)

[Alanko]

For Alan: Old Women In Rock! 

This is much more engaging than the new David Gilmour song (Piper something...). I like that the guitar tone is a bit more open and organic than Morse's processed distortion but...

Like a few of these oldies bands, the vocals are too up front in the mix and therefore too detailed. The tempo is a bit polite and the instrument separation too great. With Mk2 Deep Purple, especially live, the distortion blends across the instruments and meets in the middle. This mixing has very distinct organ, bass and guitar with clear pockets in the mix for each. A PRS guitar on a Purple song also feels a little blasphemous, even if it sounds good.

[uwe]

Good comments! Airey's Hammond sound never gelled as much with the lead guitar as Jon Lord's who prided himself in having invented the Gorgan, Purple's trademark sonic mix of organ and guitar.

Ezrin has certainly made the vocals more prominent. Martin Birch, Purple's 70ies producer, always kept the vocals subdued in the mix (in line with Ritchies helpful comment to Ian Gillan when the latter wanted his voice louder in the mix: "Who do you think you are, f***ing Tom Jones?!"). When my wife hears me listening to old DP recordings, she generally says two things: "I can't believe you can still listen to that stuff, you must have heard it a million times!" and "Why aren't the vocals louder?". 

"A PRS guitar on a Purple song also feels a little blasphemous, even if it sounds good." You wouldn't believe how many Purple diehards want him to switch to a Strat and, preferably, a Marshall stack!  I say: Let the kid from Belfast play what he wants. His sound certainly has more Brit (for the sake of argument I will view Northern Ireland as part of Britain here ...) grit to it than Morse's extremely processed and over-compressed soundscapes.

[Pilgrim]

Easy!!!


    Mk I: Blackmore, Evans, Lord, Simper, Paice

Mk IIa: (minus Evans & Simper), + Gillan & Glover

Mk  III: (minus Gillan & Glover), + Coverdale & Hughes

  Mk IV: (minus Blackmore), + Bolin —> line-up splits completely

Mk IIb: as Mk IIa (first Mk II reunion)

   Mk V: as Mk IIa/b, but minus Gillan and + Turner

Mk IIc: Turner departs, Gillan returns = as Mk IIa/b (second Mk II reunion)

  Mk VI: Blackmore departs, Satriani steps in, otherwise as Mk IIa/b/c

Mk VII: Satriani departs, the Morse era begins, otherwise as Mk IIa/b/c

Mk VIII: Lord retires from the road, Airey joins, otherwise as Mk VII

  Mk IX: Morse retires ending his era, McBride joins, otherwise as Mk VIII, current line up: Paice (since Mk I),
            Gillan & Glover (since Mk II), Airey (since Mk VIII) + McBride (new kid)

We shall read the begats from the Book of Uwe.....

[Basvarken]

I like McBride better than Morse.

Is little Ian okay? Looks a bit stiff in the vid. Barely touching the skins of the drums

[TBird1958]

Easy!!!


    Mk I: Blackmore, Evans, Lord, Simper, Paice

Mk IIa: (minus Evans & Simper), + Gillan & Glover

Mk  III: (minus Gillan & Glover), + Coverdale & Hughes

  Mk IV: (minus Blackmore), + Bolin —> line-up splits completely

Mk IIb: as Mk IIa (first Mk II reunion)

   Mk V: as Mk IIa/b, but minus Gillan and + Turner

Mk IIc: Turner departs, Gillan returns = as Mk IIa/b (second Mk II reunion)

  Mk VI: Blackmore departs, Satriani steps in, otherwise as Mk IIa/b/c

Mk VII: Satriani departs, the Morse era begins, otherwise as Mk IIa/b/c

Mk VIII: Lord retires from the road, Airey joins, otherwise as Mk VII

  Mk IX: Morse retires ending his era, McBride joins, otherwise as Mk VIII, current line up: Paice (since Mk I),
            Gillan & Glover (since Mk II), Airey (since Mk VIII) + McBride (new kid)

Might be easier to list who hasn't played in Deep Purple 

[Alanko]

Geez, I finally had to go look at which "Mk" of Deep Purple it was that I saw back in '75 - Mk. III, with Glenn Hughes. I wanted to see Glover with his big floppy hat and Rickenbacker!

I think Glenn got a bit fond of the marching powder. At the Cal Jam gig he uses that high, creamy vocal style a fair bit, but it is controlled. I've heard a few Mk3 bootlegs where he really goes for it and is shrieking ad lib over everything.

[gearHed289]

Yeah, the Purple forums are full of gleeful anticipation re that.  I find it a bit childish, I wouldn't mind seeing Yes (with whatever remnant members they have) at a Purple gig and I don't question Howe's legitimacy of continuing with the name. So many 70ies bands are by now down to one original member (Uriah Heep and Status Quo for instance, Purple too, if you see Mk I as the original DP, but most people only start counting Mk II as real DP of which there are still three members in the current - wait for it  - Mk IX line-up).

I don't mind these "elephant pairings" that DP does mostly on their North American tours to get butts on seats. They've done it in the past with Lynyrd Skynyrd (that combination even made it to Europe), the Scorpions and Judas Priest (what a dream combo for me!). I'd take a look at modern day Yes just to see what they are like now, that Glasshammer guy isn't a bad singer. I've seen Yes without Anderson before (with David Benoit) and I've seen Anderson with Rabin and Wakeman, both gigs were fine. Both Squire and Wakeman were in their respective own way limelight-grabbing charismasaurs 🦕🦖 on stage, highly entertaining.

I last saw Yes in 2014 when Chris was still alive. The new Jon has the range, but he lacks the depth of Anderson. I actually liked Benoit better, but he couldn't keep up the pace in that range. I saw Anderson/Rabin/Wakeman twice, and more recently, Anderson with the Band Geeks, and he is still untouchable. I really have very little interest in the current Yes. It's like the Beatles without Lennon and McCartney. To me, the heart of the Yes sound was Anderson and Squire singing together. The Davison/Sherwood team doesn't do it for me as singers or writers. Their latest record is the best they've done with Davison, but I still kind of drift off at some point.

On the topic of prog bands with just the guitarist as an original member, I just saw Kansas, and they were outstanding. They've got a really strong lineup with my old friend Ronnie Platt on vocals and extra keys (10 years now), and the recently added Joe Deninzon, who is also a friend, on violin, vocals, and guitar. Their current keyboardist is Tom Brislin, who toured with Yes in the early 2000s. He is amazing and can sing too.

[uwe]

I like McBride better than Morse.

Is little Ian okay? Looks a bit stiff in the vid. Barely touching the skins of the drums

Little Ian meanwhile does what his last name says: He's pacing himself for the rigors of the road. There is no drum solo anymore and he himself says that luckily his technique allows him to play loudly without requiring too much strength, otherwise he'd run into issues today he says. He keeps fit via playing drums with Purple tribute bands whenever he can (and Purple are not on tour).

[uwe]

They're playing it live already.



Made in Japan 1972 it is not, but for a bunch of geezers born '45 (2x) and '48 (2x) as well as a nascent musician born '79, it ain't bad. 

[ilan]

I soooo want to overdub the bass part with a Ric at full clank, 1972 Glover style. 

[uwe]

I hear you, but the reality is that Roger never really wanted that sound, it was a product of circumstance and the absence of overdrive-free amplification, he always looked for something cleaner thinking that Blackmore's and Lord's respective signals were already distorted/overdriven enough. These days he's simply a devout active bass player hence the Vigiers which he prefers in live settings. He also records with his Stingray and even Bob Ezrin's sacred P-Bass which was already employed during the recording of Pink Floyd's The Wall and reputedly hasn't seen a string change since because Ezrin fears it might lose its trademark sound.

But that Ric sound Roger had on Machine Head, Made In Japan and Who Do We Think We Are was indeed great  and the reason why I prefer these albums sonically over In Rock (Fender P) and Fireball (Fender Mustang).

[gearHed289]

But that Ric sound Roger had on Machine Head, Made In Japan and Who Do We Think We Are was indeed great  and the reason why I prefer these albums sonically over In Rock (Fender P) and Fireball (Fender Mustang).

Indeed!

[uwe]

He only found his voice and place in the mix within DP with the Ric.

Curiously, when Glenn (a committed Fender player with Trapeze) recorded Burn at the recommendation of Ritchie (who liked Roger's Ric and played it frequently for fun) that didn't work at all. For lack of significant mids, Glenn's bass playing on Burn is sonically hard to catch (and no remix could correct that so far), it has sub-lows (more than Roger actually) and zingy presence, but no mids to speak of and less overdrive (though Glenn by nature digs in harder when playing than Roger and these days even prefers a very overdriven to already distorted sound). People always lament "Burn needs more bass in the mix!", but, no, it doesn't, it needs more mids in the bass signal.

It might have something to do with Glenn playing Hiwatts while Roger played Marshall guitar amps (and Martin Birch's engineering methods were to Glenn as new as Glenn's bass playing was to Martin, + the bass probably sounded great and mighty over the studio monitors of the Rolling Stones Mobile Unit too).The Ric didn't last long with Glenn, already halfway on the Burn tour he started playing Fender P again and both Stormbringer and Come Taste The Band are devoid of Rickenbacker playing. So is Made In Europe (the pics on the cover are from previous tours before he ditched the 4001).

For a while, Roger would dig out his 4001 in the Morse era of DP for encores or when playing "dun-dun-duuuhhhn", but he stopped doing that as well a while ago. He still has it though (after re-purchase).

[TBird1958]

They're playing it live already.



Made in Japan 1972 it is not, but for a bunch of geezers born '45 (2x) and '48 (2x) as well as a nascent musician born '79, it ain't bad. 

Even Paice gets more camera time than Glover!

It's good, I like it, like the live sound too.