DEEP PURPLE DIGEST #44

In this issue:

Snow on the Water
J.Geils in DP? 
Fighting Man 
IG Bio and cockroaches... 
Nugent and Argent 
Guitarist quiz (kinda off-topic, but we're light for this issue...) 
Heikki reviews a buncha platters 
Another review scheme 
Snow on the Water, part 2
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From Dean Webb: dplist(at-a-domain-named)geocities.com

Snow on the Water

Kids are wonderful. I have three. In addition to the newborn, there's
Calvin, my 4-year old, and Raina, my 10-year old (well, 10 in 2 months...)
The following exchange is pretty much what I overheard this morning...

CALVIN: Duh-duh-duuh, Duh-duh-DA-DUUUUH!, Du-duh-duh, Da-duuuuh... (This is
the air guitar tablature for "Smoke on the Water", as we all know.)

RAINA joins in on duh-duh-duh'ing

CALVIN: Snoooow on the water

RAINA: No! It's not snow! It's smoke!

CALVIN: Snooooow on the water

RAINA: No! SMOKE!

CALVIN! No! It's SNOW! SNOOOOOW on the WAAAATER!

RAINA: *SM*OOOOO*KE* on the WAAAAATER!

CALVIN: SNOW! Duh-duh-duuh, Duh-duh-DA-DUUUUH!, Du-duh-duh, Da-duuuuh...

I go into the kitchen at this point and tell Raina not to bother... don't
argue with 4-year olds. To him, it's snow that's on the water. She agrees
and backs down.

I go back to getting ready for work, feeling proud that, 1) My boy picked a
DP song to sing, instead of a Barney or Kidsongs thing, even if he got the
words a bit mixed up, and 2) Daddy's little girl felt sufficiently
motivated to try to set the boy straight about the lyrics and was almost
ready to pop him one for messing them up. Just to ice this little mental
cake, Raina comes in and asks if she can have the CD with SOTW on it to
take to school (they're going to do this "Enterprise City" thing at her
school and each kid runs a business... the kid that is the DJ has to play
one song from each kid in the class...). I think about it and figure that
even though it risks a very treasured CD of mine, I'll allow it. Yes, I
trust my daughter that much that I'd let her borrow a DP CD.

Then I got to thinking... Why just SOTW? Everyone else in her class was
going to bring a bunch of N'Synch and Back Street Boys... SOTW would only
be a 6-minute-and-change rock and roll relief effort... So I ask her,
"Would you like to have the *longest* song played?" I had "Space Truckin'"
from Made in Japan in mind... hehehehehe! Visions of everyone else with
puzzled looks on their faces as the boys in DP start wailing away on the
"Mandrake Root" portion of the song... She just wanted to stick with SOTW,
though, because it's her favorite. Cool by me. Daddy's little girl can have
what she wants, as long as it rocks!

And then I started thinking some more as I wrote this bit... what would be
some other DP songs that would, uh, *broaden* the musical horizons of
today's preteen youth?

"Hard Lovin' Man" came to mind. Certianly no more suggestive that that
Spice Girls fluff, and a whole lot better sounding. Calvin heard it playing
on a tape the other day and said he liked the song a lot. (He loves running
around and acting like he's in a hard rock band. That's my boy!)

"Burn" (Live Version). Play it very loud and it will, guaranteed, wake up
the rocker in anyone that has a rocker inside them. They can still like
other stuff, but this one separates the minerals from the balloons, if you
catch my meaning.

"Cascades" Oh yeah. This one doth rock. It has one of the best air guitar
parts of any song I've ever heard.

Those of you with children, raise them well. Teach them that it's better to
rock out with a few good friends than to pop it up with a bunch of shallow
acquaintances. Teach them it's OK to turn it up. Teach them.

Most importantly, sit them down and let them know it's SMOKE, not SNOW. :-)
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-----Original Message-----
From: Heikki Heino 
To: Deep Purple Digest 
Date: Wednesday, February 03, 1999 7:00 AM
Subject: Re: Deep Purple Digest #42


>So help me out here... who played guitar, was from the US (preferably LA
area) *DIDN'T SING* and was around in 1975 to have been picked up by DP if
Bolin wasn't suggested or interested?

There's one man who comes to mind: J. GEILS from The J. Geils Band. His
roots were in blues and soul, so his style would have had been suitable to
the new Purple. Unfortunately this line-up would have marked the end to The
J. Geils Band just after their great "Nightmares" (1974) album and just
before the even better "Hotline" album (1975).

BTW, about "Whatsername"... I think her name is Annie. See if you get this
one! She appeared on one hardrock album in 1969...

Heikki

{Dean Webb: I just thought of another guitarist that could have stepped in: Neal Schon. No vocal aspirations and a really good guy. Did some great stuff in Santana and Journey. Journey's later mushiness wasn't his doing, if I'm not mistaken. If I'm mistaken, then good thing he didn't sign on.}
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-----Original Message-----
From: Benny Holmstrom 
To: dplist 
Date: Wednesday, February 03, 1999 10:24 PM
Subject: Re: Deep Purple Digest #42 

JGibbes(at-a-domain-named)aol.com wrote:
>
><< Just a quickey to say that " Fighting Man " by Ian Gillan Band >>
>
>Fighting Man by Gillan.Don't believe the misprint on the Virgin re-released
>CD. 
True, but Colin Towns "had" this song already in Ian Gillan Band. :-) 
Take care
Benny Holmstrom
===========================
The House Of Blue Light
http://home7.swipnet.se/~w-74774/
Now with new rooms
Last update: 20-January-99
=========================== 

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-----Original Message-----
From: IluvGillan(at-a-domain-named)aol.com 
To: dplist(at-a-domain-named)geocities.com 
Date: Thursday, February 04, 1999 9:34 AM
Subject: Re: Deep Purple Digest #41 

Dear Dean,Hi DP fans,I recently picked up the IG autobiography...It certainly
was good for a laugh.What a book.I'm surprised at what went on back stage and
on stage,somethings were pretty disgusting.No wonder why my brother never let
me speak to anyone in his band.IG sounds like a real drunk with the story
about cockaroches going in and out of his mouth and not even remembering.I
think he was more then drunk.Well I would rate it a 5 good for a laugh.Well
better run, off to bigger and better things like,Sabbath hopefully Ozzy will
behave and not show us his ass . .That was pretty sick.Always in
Rock......................Sue Rose
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-----Original Message-----
From: Tom Hatheway-SSI 
To: 'dplist(at-a-domain-named)geocities.com' 
Date: Thursday, February 04, 1999 10:16 AM
Subject: Nugent / Argent 

It has been brought to my attention that 
my previous post of Ted Nugent working
with Rod Argent is in accurate. 
I don't know what I was thinking, maybe
it was a bad dream or something in the
water............ 
I want to thank Gary Smith for catching this,
as the dissemination of misinformation is 
something I want no part of. 
Sorry for the error. 
TomH
SunnyvaleCA

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-----Original Message-----
From: SUBRAMANIANCV 
To: 'Deep Purple Digest' 
Date: Friday, February 05, 1999 4:31 AM
Subject: Hola pals 


Hola Pals
Infact a Long time hibernation, as penance for last time's
obscurities, here's a collection of qs on that most testosterone-soaked
of all rock icons, the guitarist... 
this time's quiz comes courtesy mmaganti(at-a-domain-named)disol.com, an old and good
friend, and now a crazy drummer. his best work is available on the rare
limited edition 1994 release, "the candela sessions", recorded at a friend's
home studio and subsequently released on the "backwater brew" label. if
anyone in poona wants to sample his twisted rhythms and big box sound, i
have a copy you can listen to... 
Who are these guitarists?
1) His work with Marty Friedman in the band Cacophony is one of the
best
duets in rock guitar history(others may be Racer X, MVP, and Greg
Howe & Richie Kotzen). He was diagnosed with ALS when he was 20,and since
then has released an album,"Perspective". 
2) This guitarist is supposed to have had surgery performed on the
skin
between his fingers so he could cover more frets.Also a teacher to
other
guitar greats. 
3) He caught his right hand in a machine press and cut off the ends
of his
middle and ring fingers..Never stopped him,and nearly 30 years
later,he
continues to make new music,and is on tour currently. 
4) He was put in jail for breaking fire laws in Cincinnati when he
lit an
arrow,and shot it at a Saddam Hussein dummy during one of his
concerts.He will be retiring in the near future,according to sources at The
Bear, the rock station he works at while he isn't touring. 
5)On October 17th 1993 at around 3:30am while driving north on
highway 301 on his way to the Fourth Annual Livestock Festival held in
Zepherhills, Fl. just north of Tampa,an oncoming car crossed the median and
struck his 1982 Mazda RX7 head-on killing him instantly. 
and back to the guitarist as an icon... over the many years, as the
blues, and rock and roll, metamorposised to produce the offspring we know so
well today, the guitarist has always remained the centrepiece of any band,
especially since the 60s, and the birth of the distorted guitar sound... not
to mention, of course, that most self-indulgent of pastimes, the guitar
solo. like ritchie blackmore put it "if it wasn't for hendrix, we'd all
still be playing acoustic guitars". hendrix changed the way the game was
played, almost single-handedly, along with a score of other supergroups like
cream, led zeppelin and the who. 
the screaming guitar became the voice of rebellion, revolution...
witness the who's single "my generation". no 60s or 70s band would have been
complete without a guitarist... nor would any band today... witness the
grooves of ambient-techno-rock gearheads like the prodigy, or rage against
the machine, or the chemical brothers. somewhere in the midst of that mix,
is the heady sound of a heavily processed guitar. in rage against the
machine's more recent recordings, guitarist tom morello hasn't even bothered
outlining melodies... it's all sounds, pops, agonized screeches of
feedback... 
enough of my rambling.... work beckons!! 
Venki 
Stone free, do what i please,
Stone free, ride the breeze. - Jimi Hendrix, Stone Free 
{Dean Webb: I don't know how many times I looked at the photo on the back of Made in Japan and wished it was me in that glaring red spotlight, not Blackmore. Probably real close to the number of times I wished it was me with the hair and bongos in the photo on the front, not Ian Gillan...}
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-----Original Message-----
From: Heikki Heino 
To: Deep Purple Digest 
Date: Tuesday, February 09, 1999 4:08 AM
Subject: Re: Rob Richardson's ratings & reunion review 

Hi all! 
On DPD #42 Rob reminded us about how to rate albums. I must agree with him -
there's no sense in giving every album a good rating. That way it gets
really difficult to know which albums are really the greatest ones. Of
course my heart is bleeding when I see one of my personal favourites get a
poor rating. Here's what I've tried to say with my ratings: 
9-10: Purple at their best, an album every Purple fan should own. Probably
an album other people might like, too.
8: An album worth listening. Good but not quite a classic.
6-7: Average. One probably finds there are some familiar tracks on them, but
the "fillers" outnumber the good ones.
4-5: These kind of albums are lacking something. There might be something
interesting on them, but an average fan doesn't need them.
0-3: Horrible albums that should never have been made. At least by Deep Purple. 
So, as an example I've reviewed the reunion albums made with Ritchie: 
PERFECT STRANGERS - 7½
A good album, but far from perfect. There are some great songs like the
title track and "Wasted Sunsets", and occasional magical moments like the
backwards piano on "Hungry Daze", but the overall impression is "no risks".
KNEBWORTH 85: IN THE ABSENCE OF PINK - 6
So far the only official album from Perfect Strangers tour. No more 20+
minute instrumental jams, but more songs in their set than in the 1970s.
Pretty much a kind of set everybody was expecting at the time - mostly Mark
2 hits and some tracks from Perfect Strangers.
HOUSE OF BLUE LIGHT - 6
This album is more experimental than PS. Unfortunately they couldn't make it
another Fireball, but a collection of mainly indifferent songs. Anyway, Deep
Purple have always known how to begin an album. "Bad Attitude" is great -
had they done it in the 1970s we'd consider it a classic. The only other
song worth mentioning is "Mitzi Dupree". For some reason Roger Glover played
some keyboards on this album.
NOBODY'S PERFECT - 2
Some like it not. Why didn't they just take one gig and release it?! Thanks
to the editing this doesn't even sound live. And where are all the new songs
that they had in their set? It's a shame that a Purple live album is this
poor. Must be their worst. If they ever have to release something as bad as
this again I hope they have the guts to name it "Contractual Obligation
Album". The last DP album released through PolyGram.
SLAVES AND MASTERS - 5
I know many dislike this album because Turner sings on it, not Gillan. I
wonder if an unknown singer had been easier to accept by the DP fans. This
album is certainly a giant step away from the Mark 2 style, but there are
still many Purple elements. "Fortuneteller" is close to the Mark 3 style,
while "Love Conquers All" with its violins sounds a bit like Mark 1.
"Fortuneteller" would fit perfectly between "The Gypsy" and "Soldier Of
Fortune" on Stormbringer. And the similarities to Mark 4? They certainly
tried to make the change in line-up work for them. Many say it sounds more
like Rainbow, but I think Rainbow could never have done an album like this.
I just wonder whose idea it was to record "Too Much Is Not Enough", the
worst song ever recorded by Purple... 
THE BATTLE RAGES ON... - 8
This album sounds amazing. If co-producer Thom Panunzio was responsible for
the overall sound, then DP should ask him to work with them again! Last time
Blackmore's guitar was this hard was on Long Live Rock'n'Roll. Sadly this
was Purple's last studio album with Ritchie. Not quite as good as the best
albums like Machine Head or In Rock, but a strong album anyway.
COME HELL OR HIGH WATER - 7
I think this album was made only because Ritchie was leaving. Some might
think that there are already enough Purple live albums, but this is good. I
only wish they had made it a double cd. 
So these albums are no classics, at least IMO. But, (as we the Purple fans
have said so many times before,) even the worst DP album is probably better
than 90% of the other albums around. 
Heikki


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From Dean Webb: dplist(at-a-domain-named)geocities.com 
Reviewing the DP releases 
I set up my review scale a different way: I gave Machine Head and Made in Japan perfect 10's, as I felt each one to be *the* definitive DP release (studio/live). Anything *as good as* those records would also get a ten. Anything *almost* as good as would have to settle for a 9. 
Once I established the upper end, I picked a record I hadn't listened to in a long time and reviewed it. Come Taste the Band was the one I picked as a first review. I kinda expected to give it a 3 or 4 before I listened to it again, but after a good listen, decided on a solid 6. After that, I graded each DP release in relation to those points. Better than CTTB, but no Machine Head? Give it a 7-9. Worse than CTTB? 5 or less. 
This is why I keep going back to CTTB: it's my frame of reference. I don't mean to use it as a point of abuse or praise to Mk4, it's just my personal little stake in the ground to compare other releases to. 
I figure that as long as each reveiwer gets a system and then sticks with it, it's all OK.
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From Dean Webb: dplist(at-a-domain-named)geocities.com 
Snow on the Water, Part Two 
So I'm teaching my son the words to SOTW, using the track off Come Hell or High Water. He's getting it straight about how it's Smoke, not Snow what is on the water. Then we get to the audience participation part where Big Ian is trading with the crowd. We sing with the crowd and have a little fun. 
After I turn it off, Calvin wants to sing it some more. OK by me. The 4-year-old asks me to "do the quiet part", though. I figure he wants me to whisper real loud, so as to sound like the crowd. I whisper loudly, "Smoke on the Water... the fire in the sky..." and he yells back, "I Can't hear you!" I repeat and he hollers *just like Ian G* "LOUDER!" I was cracking up, but kept going. My son was pumping the crowd! 
That's my boy! I'm such a proud father... :-)
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