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One thing led to another
Nic Simper has published the next chapter of his memoir, dealing with the immediate aftermath of his dismissal from Deep Purple and consequent stint with Marsha Hunt.
I had a visit from the Deep Purple road crew, Ian Hansford and Mick Angus, who had come to collect the Jaguar. It was good to see them again and to hear the story of what they had witnessed. According to Ian and Mick, it was decided before the end of the second US tour that a new singer was needed. I knew that the band would have kept this from me as they knew that I would have insisted on Rod being told, as had happened with Bobby Woodman.
It seems that at the time there was no intention of getting rid of me as well. Mick Underwood reinforced this story, saying when Blackmore approached him in a quest to find a new singer, there had been no mention of a bass player. With Episode Six on the verge of collapse, Mick did not hesitate to recommend Gillan. Obviously, he was now very interested, in contrast to the time when I had offered him the job! Mick and Ian continued with the story of how Gillan was to be brought to the recording studio to learn the song, hence my being told not to return until evening when, according to the roadies, I was to be informed that Ian was joining the band.
Continue reading on Nick’s website.
On a slightly related note, borderline on trainspotting, here is an interview with Andy Scott of Sweet fame that keeps weaving in and out of the Purple jungle. Ian Gillan, Roger Glover, Nick Simper, Ronnie James Dio, and Graham Bonnet all get a mention. Worth checking out even if you’re not a Sweet fan, as Andy is a fabulous storyteller.
Thanks to Arch on both counts.
Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing
Interesting story. Marsha Hunt and her band used The Who’s Hiwatt amps at the Isle of Wight, and even Moon’s Premier drumkit!!!!
September 24th, 2025 at 00:52Nick sure has a good memory for all these places, situations, people and names, I wonder if he kept a diary of sorts. This stuff happened 55 years ago!
Wainwright’s Gentlemen with – audibly – Ian Gillan and Mick Tucker:
https://youtu.be/27UzddgRyOo
September 24th, 2025 at 05:51Saw the new version of Sweet at the Sellersville Theatre in Pa two months ago very good band and time. Love is Oxygen long version.
September 24th, 2025 at 11:48Marsha with Nick at Bilzen 1969:
https://youtu.be/0IivZbTtJas
Going out without a dedicated drummer and just percussion was a brave move, but I’m not sure it worked, Osibisa this certainly wasn’t (and Osibisa always had a dedicated drummer + percussion!).
https://youtu.be/FgBX203c9tk
https://youtu.be/keSn0GhKqfc
Yup, Osibisa is another eclectic choice of “Heavy Metal Uwe”, I really like ‘em, probably a leftover from my Kinshasa days.
Marsha sure had something, I can understand that ole Lothario Mick!
https://ultimateclassicrock.com/mick-jagger-secret-love-letters-auctioned-300k/
Ooops!
https://kolorblindmagazine.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/mick-jagger-holding-karis-jagger-as-a-baby.jpg?w=634
Family reunion:
https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTpTIaNdedgdgpFmkakHG-k3aTrQvHL2kjzlw&s
So now we know who to thank for this gem:
https://youtu.be/3B0Y3LUqr1Q
Aren’t wimmin at the heart of all things?
September 24th, 2025 at 12:36That long version of Love Is Like Oxygen with the Mike Oldfield’ish middle part was a work of art!
https://youtu.be/oc1sgCT7X2c
It was around the time Sweet decided to no longer attempt to be like a working man’s DP, but rather give emulating 10cc a try. 😎 Whether bubblegum, glam, hard rock power pop or 10cc – Sweet always had identity issues. 🤗
September 24th, 2025 at 12:47I have just bought the new version of ROTD, well I don’t note all this difference with the first version. I find that tje difference is so thin…
September 24th, 2025 at 15:59I thought it could be more brilliant… 🤷
There was a book about Osibisa, in which one seems to recall Teddy Osei saying that Mick Jagger first met Bianca backstage at one of their gigs.
The London music scene of the late 1960s-early 70s must have been pretty cosy.
Osibisa were great, especially the first three records with the original lineup.
Their contribution to that Uriah Heep record “Look At Yourself” was also fun. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vlveN5WI0qA&list=RDvlveN5WI0qA&start_radio=1
September 24th, 2025 at 20:12Hush, don‘t say that, AndreA! This place is full of wannabe Princes
https://thumbs.dreamstime.com/b/fantasy-prince-horse-white-near-fairytale-castle-44051126.jpg
believing to have witnessed their “Cinderella epiphany”
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/4c/7d/94/4c7d948425898ea854b6fef2f265a8ae.gif
with Capture Of The Sheep
https://media0.giphy.com/media/v1.Y2lkPTZjMDliOTUyN3N0eXI0d2Nmajd4MTZxaHBsM3AwOTl0OWExb3RuMGc2ajBvczlqbSZlcD12MV9naWZzX3NlYXJjaCZjdD1n/4v9uaJND6qgTRINmg6/200w.gif
or however that album is called!
Me, I still think she’s an aspirational servant girl! The new, improved ROTD is sonically a substantial improvement (and should have been released like that from the start), but still no Sgt. Pepper.
But then, if you ask Karin (and her Kraut pet parrot Max),
https://www.tiktok.com/@mariokamp/video/7332505586929601824
The Beatles are irrelevant in any case.
Now don’t let Ritchie hear that as he disagrees very strongly:
https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/ritchie-blackmore-explains-why-paul-mccartney-is-the-best-composer-of-the-last-100-years/
September 24th, 2025 at 20:26Nobody said them Beatles were irrelevant. Goes to show that PISA sh*t is true. Just reading properly is a rare feat these days.
Ritchie on the other hand is of course known for never ever being wrong, no matter what. His judgement is not to be doubted. I mean, just look at his sense of taste when it comes to …well almost everything…from those album covers (Shadow of the Moon anyone?) to the hats he wears ontop his wigs.
September 24th, 2025 at 22:30Skippy, you adorable sack-carrying jumper!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7serkwcCklE
Someone who knows Osibisa here! Je suis impressed (as I’m always of you – needless to say!). Yeah, the first three albums were PROG, after the departure of their politically very lefty, but still playing righty bassist, they became just an ethno-soul band, but I still liked them.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1Tbrf1xn3M
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0cIxgfANhzU
That mix of West African and Caribbean rhythms – the band was sort of half-half in their origins – was really something.
Flash thought: If Warhorse had talked Marsha Hunt (they could have called themselves Black Stallion or something …) into being their lead vocalist rather than the dubiously talented Ashley Holt with his operatic vocals, who knows they might have even gone somewhere. She had the pipes to front a rock band.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ss2OMa6oYrE
That Black Panther look was très hot!
https://images.ndr.de/image/4a15823b-6b1b-4516-a485-411ab4061586/AAABkXoS83A/AAABmKJZ-0g/16×9-big/davis152.webp?width=1920
(PS: Angela Davis was in 1972 acquitted by an all-white jury of all the charges in the FBI ‘wanted poster’ against her.)
September 24th, 2025 at 23:18Maybe this is ‘The Beatle’ that should be remembered, especially if talking classical influences etc. Cheers
https://theworld.org/stories/2016/03/09/how-sir-george-martins-classical-training-influenced-rock-n-roll
September 24th, 2025 at 23:51That’s a cracker live version of Look At Yourself you posted, Skip! Never one of my favorite UH tunes (and owing no small debt to DP’s Chasing Shadows me thinks), but this here really cooks!
September 25th, 2025 at 03:30@8
“But then, if you ask Karin (and her Kraut pet parrot Max),”
– how come I almost always wanna say ‘Mea Culpa’ whenever I read anything from you 🤓
What have I done now??
I NEVER said Beatles were irrelevant! And I don’t think Max said that either, but you better ask him yourself 😊
What I did say was: Purple would have happened even if the fab 4 never did. Because raw talent as we see in the fab 5 cannot be held down!
And I also said: Purple have more substance in their pinkies than Beatles had all together!
September 25th, 2025 at 06:04@ 5, 👍🏻
September 25th, 2025 at 11:506 AndreA
I’m waiting for the ROTD CD too!
As soon as it arrives I’ll do a CD vs CD comparison to hear the improvements without loss of quality!
September 25th, 2025 at 12:21@9
“to the hats he wears ontop his wigs.”
– WHAT?!
Max, you’re not suggesting that the man in black is wearing wigs??
I am in shock 😮
September 25th, 2025 at 12:47Well mostly because I thought he had hair plugs and was not wearing wigs 😄😄
Herr MacGregor, you Tasmanian voice of reason and thoughtful analysis: Yes, Sir George Martin was pivotal, but he had to work from something and The Beatles, though no virtuosos on their individual instruments, were fast musical learners.
Ritchie likes to change his mind more often than a woman. I distinctly remember him telling that he despised The Beatles in the early 60s initially for being “one of those silly vocal groups”, thinking he was something better due to his instrumental chops – he obviously came round.
************************
Goes to show that PISA sh*t is true. Just reading properly is a rare feat these days.
Alas!, what can I say, Max, hessisches Gesamtschulabitur … 🤗
September 25th, 2025 at 15:08Marsha Hunt as singer of Warhorse, that would have been interesting!
Also interesting that in this chapter of his story Nick mentions James Royal was their first choice of singer. Too bad that didn’t pan out. From the record they made together later as Dynamite, he was more tuneful than Holt.
September 25th, 2025 at 17:12@9
“Goes to show that PISA sh*t is true. Just reading properly is a rare feat these days.”
– 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Ohhh boy! You nailed that one, didn’t ya 😄
Well I have to comment on that: Uwe reads our posts in here like the dark one reads the Bible 😂😂 (you know: find only what fits him, and if nothing does, then he rearranges our words or completely misinterprets the thoughts.
But I guess that is what they teach you at law schools 🤓
I wonder, do you think this one has Beatles written all over:
https://youtu.be/ulthTnkVE1Y?si=lWAMNaXf_bjQDCbO
Because I think it really is a Beatles #2! But how far isn’t this from Purple? And I mean all Purple 🧐
September 25th, 2025 at 17:20@19
Comparing Oasis to The Beatles is like comparing… it’s like comparing… there are no words to describe… forget it, I give up.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1ZY75HgNZA
September 25th, 2025 at 21:32Re that Oasis track, yes, Beatlish, but also Sladish
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQ5itYUNu70
but then Noddy and his boys were as much Beatles buffs as the Gallaghers. Of course, Slade unlike Oasis had a basist who could play a melody.
The lyrics though, Karin, I’m aghast …
She’s got a sister
And God only knows how I’ve missed her
And on the palm of her hand is a blister
And I need more time
She’s got one in the oven (oven)
But it’s nothing to do with me
Did your mom raise you for this type of smut?
September 26th, 2025 at 00:13@19
“…then he rearranges our words or completely misinterprets the thoughts.”
No, you’ve got it backwards. It should be “he misinterprets the words and rearranges our thoughts”. 😇 😇 😇
September 26th, 2025 at 05:51@20
“forget it, I give up.”
– well 😂😂 you are way more clever than I took you for 👍🏼👍🏼
Russ it is very wise to give up when you are in the presence of such brilliant minds as Max and yours truly!
(Psst: I would have liked to include Uwe, but I’m afraid he is in a chronic state of being against all other (clever) people’s genius opinions 😃)
But don’t you worry, I haven’t given up on you yet – YET!
Listen to this fantastic tune and tell me if you can’t detect a little Beatles’ culture:
September 26th, 2025 at 07:38https://youtu.be/fpxGFlN6njc?si=JpFZ6Ma_l0UdEXJJ
I hear ‘I’m the walrus’ amongst other lovely Beatles songs 😄
@21
“Did your mom raise you for this type of smut?”
– well, have to be honest to you (I never lie, and especially not to a bloodthirsty lawyer as yourself):
Yes, Sir, yes she did 😔
I’m very sorry! But what she didn’t teach me, my brothers were not late to plant all kinds of naughty sentiments in my poor little head 🫣
I am here, in these halls of everything good, pure and lovely, to learn to be a proper woman with all kinds of virtues 😇😇😇
September 26th, 2025 at 07:44(Please don’t give up on me 🙏🏼)
@22
Russ, I would be VERY careful to call upon the wrath of Uwe the Mighty!
😄😄
Btw: here is another lovely tune from your new favourite band:
https://youtu.be/w7491BIpGZA?si=zNQRNrE29coS1CQ2
And I am of course thinking of your nearby otium 😄😄
September 26th, 2025 at 07:47@ 21- I would have thought that the blister would have been on his hand.
September 26th, 2025 at 08:15@26
MacGregor! This I hadn’t expected from you 😄😄
September 26th, 2025 at 11:16“@ 21- I would have thought that the blister would have been on his hand.”
Maybe he let his little brother lend a hand. It’s all in the family then.
September 26th, 2025 at 23:47@25
“I would be VERY careful to call upon the wrath of Uwe the Mighty!”
Uwe doesn’t scare me one iota… we’re too much alike. He will, of course, deny this… but it is the truth.
And if I had more free time my posts would be just as lengthy as his… chock-full of the same kind of fun facts, opinions, endless YouTube links and wisdom.
September 27th, 2025 at 05:08Why would I dare to be negative to Russ of all people, a man whose selfless determination sees him dedicated to the craft of chipping away at stones?
https://youtu.be/cZHJuM1tqgo
Great movie.
September 27th, 2025 at 13:45@29
Alright then!
https://youtu.be/KnIgXtE4K5U?si=sRovRfhFuZuh1Y7R
☺️☺️
September 27th, 2025 at 17:19@ 29 – ‘wisdom’ Russ, are you sure about that one? Cheers.
September 27th, 2025 at 21:36Hey, MacGregor, you worthless wombat!
https://i.gifer.com/IVVK.gif
September 28th, 2025 at 00:40@30
Dankeschön…
One of my all-time favorite movies… helps that they stayed true to the original story.
September 28th, 2025 at 04:53@ 31
Are implying that the guy who works 2 jobs and cares for his 92 year old mother is a slacker?
Tsk, tsk, tsk….
September 28th, 2025 at 04:56@32
“are you sure about that one?”
He has his moments…
September 28th, 2025 at 04:58@35
“Are implying that the guy who works 2 jobs and cares for his 92 year old mother is a slacker?”
– 😂😂
I certainly am not!
Sorry I found the wrong link – here’s the right one (I hope…)
https://youtu.be/rBJLoYd8xak?si=E_5u4QMhrFiaeSgc
(Thanks to Uwe I believe!)
Please notice the upbeat tempo 😄
September 28th, 2025 at 07:10In the 2nd cd of ROTD where there are the instrumentals of thecofficial song, the drum sounds much much better.
September 28th, 2025 at 18:32Why?!?!
#38 AndreA:
Andrea, share your review of the ROTD remix here for everyone:
https://www.thehighwaystar.com/news/2025/08/29/a-distinct-perspective/
September 29th, 2025 at 22:02@76 Fla
Oh, yes..
September 30th, 2025 at 08:07I go there
👍