A new Hughes project ...

[uwe]

The other one: Gary Ferguson.

[Pekka]

The other one: Gary Ferguson.

Gary Mallaber played also on the album. Tommy Aldridge played on tour but also they used the excellent and now sadly deceased Mark Craney who played with Jethro Tull ("A"), Gino Vanelli and Jean Luc-Ponty amongst others.


Would love to hear the G-Force demos. Glenn also slapped on one of the extra tracks on a "Play Me Out" reissue cd (either RPM or Purple Records edition), sounded like a Fender Jazz.

[LoEndMaestro]

Hughes is my guy. I've been waving his freak flag since I was a scruffy lad all of 15 years of age. He always gets blasted (unfairly I think) for the DP Mk3 & 4 years. Obviously his penchant for Peruvian marching powder was a problem, but I still say Stormbringer & CTTB are among the finest Purple records. I think he still sounds great....much better than most of his contemporaries. I'm sure the decade+ break he took form live performing helped preserve his pipes.

I too would love to hear him return to the blue eyed soul of Play Me Out, or even You Are The Music-era Trapeze. Sometime I feel he just goes after the quick buck, or aligns himself with the wrong musicians. Though I thought he was on a strong run beginning with Soul Mover for the next coupla records. I did enjoy BCC, but they really could have made one solid record out of all three of those. Plus Bonamassa is not really a band kinda guy.

I've met Glenn several times (both before and after he was sober) and he has always been extremely gracious and accommodating. And he always puts on a good show, even if there are adverse factors weighing in. (The 2001 Tommy Bolin Fest comes to mind. I will say that all 12 of us in the audience quite enjoyed our evening in Clear Lake Iowa.)

I certainly hope that the rest of California Breed is stronger than this lead off track (and a pretty weak moniker to be honest) but as always, I will buy the overpriced import on release date & anxiously await another one of his empty promises of a US tour!

Glenn is my god.

[Pekka]

but I still say Stormbringer & CTTB are among the finest Purple records.

Those are my favs too. "Hold On" is such an underrated track with a great solo by Blackmore (even if he didn't like the song at all) and "Love Don't Mean A Thing" has a very tasty bassline by Glenn. Tasty is also a word for both Hughes' and Coverdale's vocals on those albums, too bad that went pretty much out the door when performing live.

[LoEndMaestro]

Those are my favs too. "Hold On" is such an underrated track with a great solo by Blackmore (even if he didn't like the song at all) and "Love Don't Mean A Thing" has a very tasty bassline by Glenn. Tasty is also a word for both Hughes' and Coverdale's vocals on those albums, too bad that went pretty much out the door when performing live.

Oh, those are two of my all time favorite songs. Yes, any hints of subtlety seemed to go out the window during the great cocaine volume wars of the mid 70s. I've never been a big Coverdale fan though, they played off each other nicely in the studio but mostly I just think he got in the way. (ducks)

[Highlander]

Not seen him play since the last DP London show, but I rarely see anyone these days... CCTB is still a fave and is presently on my ipod, as is HT...

[uwe]

We can start an Mk 3 and 4 fan club here then! I think Stormbringer is underrated and while it doesn't have the instrumental brawn of Burn, it has in parts the more refined songwriting. And Come Taste the Band is just brilliant - I liked the way Bolin "Americanized" the whole groove of the band.

Glenn's pipes are great (as is his edgy bass playing) and they've held up well, I just - like Blackmore in fact - never felt that his voice had the bluesy hard rock authority, warmth and volume a young David Coverdale had. When their twin lead vocals did not work as well live that was more often than not Glenn's fault whose cocaine consumption led him to be off pitch by singing a little too high. In his bio he says that that was an effect of cocaine, he did not hear in his head that he was off key.

[LoEndMaestro]

I heart you Uwe! I'd love to join your Mk3/4 club.

I know this is blasphemy, but while some of Purple's finest moments are contained in the grooves of the Burn LP, there are some real clunkers on the record too!

I feel that DCs range is very limited, and let's not forget how young and inexperienced he was at that time. A relative unknown thrust on the largest of world stages. I think his one trick pony of a voice, up there sparring with the dynamo that is Hughes (admittedly with some chemical enhancement), coupled with the ridiculous, ridiculous volumes that they were playing at....poor DC didn't really stand much of a chance.
But yes, as much of a fan boy I am of GH & DP, there are times that I just cringe at some of those live recordings. Herr Blackmore occasionally goes off the deep end too.

Though I in no way claim to be in the same league as you, they are my all time favorite band. And also because I'm such a Hughes toadie, the 73-75 years hold a special place in my heart.

[uwe]

Glenn and an unknown singer (former school teacher and current airline pilot or something, obsessed with numerology 666 and a best friend named Eddie with severe skin issues ...) tributing Mk 3 (Burn) and Mk 4 (You Keep On Moving & This Time Around) material at the Jon Lord Memorial Concert at Royal Albert Hall last Friday (I was there). Other luminaries in the band are Rick Wakeman, Don Airey, Micky Moody and Ian Paice.



Glenn being Glenn, he split the audience right down the middle between those who loved his flamboyance and those who thought he overplayed and oversang. Overplaying and oversinging?! Who, Glenn?! That is what the man has been doing ever since he joined Les Purps in 1973, so no news there. 

More importantly, I believe Jon Lord would have approved of the musicianship and coupled it with a wry smile on Glenn's antics, "he just never changes".



"I know this is blasphemy, but while some of Purple's finest moments are contained in the grooves of the Burn LP, there are some real clunkers on the record too!"

Not blasphemy, but an accurate and perceptive observation! The incredibly strong songs on Burn are the title track, Might Just Take Your Life, Sail Away (best song on album) followed by Mistreated (live versions of it were better, it was still a little underdeveloped on Burn) and the at least interesting, if not quite successful Cream pastiche You Fool No One. A 200, What's Going On Here and Lay Down, Stay Down (except for the marvellous piano solo) are a bit fillerish, I agree. It's just that the real good stuff is so strong, it elevates the whole album in my ears. But overall the songwriting is more consistent and refined on Stormbringer.

[gweimer]

Burn and Fireball have always been my favorite two Deep Purple albums.

[uwe]

Fireball is the "proggie one" in the Purple canon. And Gillan's favorite. Where In Rock was basically a one trick pony played with great aplomb and conviction - a bold statement in a newly found sound without the undecisiveness that had plagued the Mk 1 line up -  and Machine Head already a well-honed, shiny delivery by pros at the top of their game, Fireball saw them stretching out (or ambling around for lack of enough written songs due to constant touring and an ill Ritchie not being fit enough to come up with his trademark killer riffs!).

Not their greatest seller nor the home of a hit (the US version had Strange Kind of Woman on it, that wasn't the case in Europe, SKOW was a separate prior single there, Fireball, the song, otoh never charted), it sure has its diehard fans, you are in good company!



The following one is very nice here, relaxed and jammy, for all those - wherever they might be lurking - who believe that Purple was just this stadium conquering hard rock juggernaut:



Oh man, back then they still all liked each other! 

[uwe]

Another song from the new project, this time more Trapeze'ish:

[Highlander]

I heard California Breed earlier today on Planet Rock... good tune...

I enjoyed #4 live but the audience at Wembley just were not receptive to Bolin, which was a real shame ... admittedly, noodling around on an echoplex for a stand-alone solo did not endear him to the RB brigade...
I remember exactly where I was when the news of his death came over the radio ... rip

www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqAqWuo66YU

This one, I remember first hearing on the radio on my way home from Scotland, way back when... still love this version...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXyjp-h0OQE

[uwe]

Glenn at his loudmouth overselling best, but his pipes are still in good order:



Black Country Reunion/Communion are to record a fourth album too amd maybe - just maybe, don't hold your breath! - Hughes Thrall II might get finished, it's only been half-finished in the can for a couple of decades so let's not rush things.

Oh, and Glenn has friends with famous daughters too and lends them a hand (together with Bryan Adams) on new songs (for the non-Cyrusses among you, Glenn is most audible from 3:30 onwards), he supposedly also plays bass on the track:

[uwe]

Glenn and Joe, having overcome differences (for now), are playing with each other again ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNFmtxlLU4w&list=RDKNFmtxlLU4w#t=216