I will single-handedly dissolve this forum ...

[uwe]

Ah, just like Whitesnake you mean? They even got two branches in that tree. 

Whitesnake, in its early incarnation, was a collaborative band and a real unit. I prefer(red) them to Rainbow most of the time. No Rainbow drummer ever stood a chance against Ian Paice.

[nofi]

i saw the feeble attempt at smoke on the water as well. sad, really. if they had played anything else...

[uwe]

That song is both a blessing and a millstone for them.



A leisurely version, but well-performed (people tend to have the Made in Japan version in their ears which was a little on the frantic side). Of course, with Morse's Yank groove (I don't mean that negatively), the riff is never gonna sound as persistent, clipped and staccato as it did with Blackmore's stiffer, more Transylvanian original riffing.

Steve has hand issues again, look at the glove of his picking hand, he still rehearses too much.

Of course, Ian Gillan just had to make a mention of a stripper in family TV! 

They could have confounded everyone with this version here:

[Basvarken]

It's not only the way he plays the riff. I think Morse's sound has (way) too much gain. Blackmore's sound is much cleaner and has better tone.

[drbassman]

 Was flipping channels and I saw them on Today.  Pretty respectable rendition, I thought.

[Highlander]

Ah... minutiae...

Only four Maybe seven vocalists, live and six in the studio, three at least five lead guitarists, live, three at least four bassists, live, two keyboarders and one drummer so far!!!

Chas Hodges depped for sick Glover once, iirc...
California depped for a sick RB for one gig in '72, notable for the first live performance of When A Blind Man Cries... possible a transient as it was just a single gig...
Satriani played for a tour and was offered the gig, pre Morse...
I could quibble over vocalists as Glover depped for a sick Gillan once, and both Hughes and Bolin had their own moments...

[uwe]

I knew someone was gonna nitpick!!!

[uwe]

It's not only the way he plays the riff. I think Morse's sound has (way) too much gain. Blackmore's sound is much cleaner and has better tone.

I know!    Morse has that highly processed and compressed Guitar Institute of Technology "modern" sound. By contrast, Blackmore was a stoneage purist: amp, treble booster and his Revox as echo, a litte wah-wah, some phasing/flanging on ballad type stuff (an octaver would creep in later Rainbow years or something that sounded a lot like it). And of course Morse plays a Gibson scale EB MM Signature model which never in a million years is gonna sound like a Strat. But I grant Morse the right not to have to ape Blackmore's sound - if Purple had wanted that, they could have gone for Yngwie who was sleeping with the window open (and a white Strat at his side) at night to hear/heed the call that never came from the Purple camp when Blackmore left in 93. Let's face it: Morse can play circles around Blackmore (and most other guitarists) and is versatile as hell; Blackmore is not exactly a one-trick-pony, but a multi-trick stallion, yet far from true versatility (not so much because of his fingers, but because of his mind and determination).

Bolin's style of playing was nothing like Blackmore's either. He had much more distortion, played Gibsons often enough, was experiments-happy in a naive-endearing way plus that whole army of effects. Add his own idiosyncratic groove and phrasing, just listen here at 10:41:



That is not Smoke on the Water as we know it, but I liked the Boulder kid's more playful groove nonetheless. Ritchie always sounded (and incidentally looked) like Professor Snape when he played it. 




Purple never ever replaced anyone of their departing members with someone who sounded remotely like his predecessor - it's one of those things I like about them, they never even tried to emulate, but did something different, relying on their "overloud Hammond"-driven sonic behemoth core sound as a foundation and building things from there.

[Basvarken]

I know!    Morse has that highly processed and compressed Guitar Institute of Technology "modern" sound.

I can see why you put it between accolades. His sound is very eighties. Sounds hopelessly outdated to my ears.
By no means as timeless as Blackmore's sound.

[uwe]

Lukather, Morse, Van Halen, Petrucci, Satriani, Vai ... they are all guilty in that respect (everyone of them a formidable player though). And it's no coincidence that they are all yanks - Blackmore's sound is "British School" as was Rory Gallagher's or is David Gilmour's or Mark Knopfler's. In my ears, Blackmore's sound bears more in common with Mark Knopfler's Hank Marvinisms than, say, with Eddie van Halen's (himself a great Blackmore fan).

As a bassist, that overtly processed sound so many guitarists strive for would drive me nuts. Plus their dependency on it - they are all addicts with their "But I really need my amp!!!"-whining. Despicable.  That is why I consider the bass the more "honest" and "pure" instrument. In the rehearsal room I now have three rigs (Ampeg SVT with 8x10" and 1x18", Orange Little Terror with 4x12" (double cones) and Markbass with 1x15 and 2x10, I switch between them wantonly) and though they all sound vastly different, I caught myself yesterday (with my back to the amps) in believing I was playing the Ampeg or the Orange when I was in fact playing the Markbass. I smiled to myself and thought "that is a good thing".

[Iome]

Great, i love DP, what line up do they play with, MK MMCMVII or MMCMVIII? 

[uwe]

I believe we're at Mk VIII!

Mk I - Evans/Simper line up, it's 1968, Deep Purple are a band manufactured by three business men, hand-picked players with an excellent gigging reputation, but so far no commercial success

Mk II - the other three decide that Evans and Simper are not cutting it, Rod Stewart is not considered good enough to be their Robert Plant, Glover/Gillan line up, the golden era ...

Mk III - Gillan has had enough, Blackmore wants a new, more aggressive bass player (a decision he will regret), Paul Rodgers refuses an offer, John Lawton misses an audition, Hughes/Coverdale line up

Mk IV - Blackers hands in his notice to go over the Rainbow, Bolin blinds everyone at an audition he really doesn't want to go to and introduces DP to the fallacies of heroin addiction, Purple eventually split in early 1976

- Mk II reunion in 1984 (Mark 2.2) -

Mk V - Gillan decides he cannot compare to Joelene who, alora!, comes from over the Rainbow New Joisie after DP's first choice - Survivor's Jimi Jamison - isn't allowed to join by his (Italian) management ...

Mk VI - Gillan is begged to return by everyone except Blackmore, technically it's Mk II again (or Mark 2.3), but Blackers throws a tantrum before the planned Japan tour, Satriani - another Italian - helps out, recommended by Mr Udo, their Japanese promoter ...

Mk VII - Satriani returns to his solo career, Morse's devoted vegetarian question whether he will have to wear leather on stage is answered in the negative, after a few test gigs in Mexico and South Korea he joins

Mk VIII - Lord is tired of touring and wants to devote time to other music, but the band doesn't want to slow down, Don Airey gets a call ...

[4stringer77]

Lukather, Morse, Van Halen, Petrucci, Satriani, Vai ... they are all guilty in that respect (everyone of them a formidable player though). And it's no coincidence that they are all yanks - Blackmore's sound is "British School" as was Rory Gallagher's or is David Gilmour's or Mark Knopfler's. In my ears, Blackmore's sound bears more in common with Mark Knopfler's Hank Marvinisms than, say, with Eddie van Halen's (himself a great Blackmore fan).

I think this is one yank that gets the Blackmore approach.

[uwe]

Bonamassa has a Blackmore influence, no doubt about it. And I have always preferred Brad Whitford's terse style to Joe Perry's - Joe is just better-looking and more of a showman, but a lot of his solos are played with an afterthought attittude.

The Metallica version of When a Blind Man Cries on that tribute is excellent too and Kirk Hammett is a very un-American sounding guitarist as well - I always consider him underrated, I know there are a lot of people here who can't stand Hetfield's voice, but I think his plaintive whine/wail goes well with the song, bum notes on the unplugged version and all:

[Highlander]

I knew someone was gonna nitpick!!!