Fire in the bassement
The infamously apocryphical mark of Deep Purple performs Fire in the Basement somewhere behind the freshly fallen Iron Curtain (JLT says it’s Budapest, but the hazy memory says it was the Ostrava show that was filmed for TV).
![[hand]](/hs-pics/portraits/hands/morse1.jpg)
![[face]](/hs-pics/portraits/faces/morse.jpg)
The infamously apocryphical mark of Deep Purple performs Fire in the Basement somewhere behind the freshly fallen Iron Curtain (JLT says it’s Budapest, but the hazy memory says it was the Ostrava show that was filmed for TV).
Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing
Did Joe really simulate masturbation on the “give this boy a helping hand” bit?
What a wanker…
October 13th, 2025 at 22:06The Radio City Music Hall Show was filmed.
October 13th, 2025 at 23:30(shakes head
You guys, I beg you …
Comrade Joe, a man with undiluted sympathies and even in-depth personal ties to the countries of the former Warsaw Pact does very well know the difference between The Czech Republic and Hungary, how can you doubt him! Does perhaps only Nick in tried and trusted Czarist Empire school of (shuddering) thought judge all these former “satellite states” as one and the same? (I mean Soviet tanks were deployed in both at one time or another, one can get confused … 😈)
Joe wore a different outfit in Ostrava, Roger a hat and not a French beret and the vid quality was much worse as was the stage lighting:
https://youtu.be/hr31fFofaY8
If this wasn’t DP with all the Ian Gillan baggage attached but some other band, say Bad Company, everyone here would be saying what a fine group and performance this is. That track swings like hell and Joe’s voice is great on it. I have only pleasant memories from the one time I saw Mark V.
And that Steinberger bass actually sounded quite good!
It’s a shame that no official live release of Mk V is available. Can we send some tanks to the record company to properly address the issue please?
https://www.tresbohemes.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Prague_1968_19_Tres_Bohemes.jpg
October 14th, 2025 at 00:30Well, the band sound very good…..
The vocalist however, not so much 😄
He does not have the strength in his voice as the master himself has (Uwe, yes, I’m of course referring to Ian ☺️)
October 14th, 2025 at 04:39When DP collides with Rainbow 👏👏👏 you get a merger made in Heaven or Hell. It depends on your taste.
October 14th, 2025 at 04:42I personally love it.
Peace ✌️
i
October 14th, 2025 at 08:08I agree this isn’t classic deep purple but slaves and master is a great album. I still enjoy listening. Beautiful keyboard playing from the one and only Jon Lord . Fire in the basement…truth hurts …. cut runs deep….great songs.
One of the worst songs to ever be composed, released and performed by a band called Deep Purple. Yeeeeeks.
October 14th, 2025 at 08:10Hello.
It´s of course Budapest, Hungary, where this is from. Just look at the bassdrum head of Little Ian´s.
S&M record is quite good, you can call it Deep Rainbow if you want, but there´s plenty of decent songs there. King of Dreams really has a simple, but great guitar riff. Fortuneteller, The Cut Runs Deep (the sound of Ritchie´s guitar is marvellous)….and this particular song, Fire in the Basement, for example. A little bit of Lazy there, don´t you think?
Lyrics? Who listens to them? : )
And just like Uwe, I also have positive memories from March 1991 in Helsinki Icehall.
The opener of the set? BURN ! Never heard that one live before or after. By DP, that is.
…and talking about that song…reminds me what really was a bit confusing was the recent gig of Mr. Hughes here in Finland. It´s really a shame that they never got back together just for a gig or two as Mk. III, when Jon Lord was alive and kicking. Sometime years ago I asked about this from Mr. Paice, but that´s another story.
All the best to all of You.
Kippis!
October 14th, 2025 at 08:58Radio City was filmed?!
Budapest was filmed as well, not just opening night….
it’s a shame there’s no official live document of MkV. The band was on top form, and regardless of what people think of Joe in Purple, he delivered every night
October 14th, 2025 at 09:38Sounds really good!! wish there was footage of the entire show to hear how JLT sounds on the classics
October 14th, 2025 at 10:20There are certainly DP line-ups I love more, but neither the album (though hardly cutting edge, but neither was Perfect Strangers, another very safe record) nor the tour were horrible. Ritchie actually seemed content – a rare state of mind with him – and the band chugged along nicely on the new material.
Some of the most remarkable DP albums do not feature the complete Mk II line-up, Burn, CTTB, Slaves & Masters, Purpendicular … I don’t subscribe to the state religion that either Ritchie or Big Ian have to grace a DP release for it to be a worthwhile one.
October 14th, 2025 at 10:40I note Ian’s bass drum is painted in Hungarian colours.
I only saw Joe perform twice, once in an old sports hall that was bent out of shape and once singing for Yngwie, where the odd Rainbow track was a blessing. The boy may be able to noodle, but he cannot write songs.
White Marshall’s should be left to the ‘Quo. Though some of theirs were actually Vox AC30s
October 14th, 2025 at 10:57Budapest was also professionally filmed.
October 14th, 2025 at 11:25@12 Don’t care for Yngwie’s noodling, but I like his pop metal songs on Trilogy and Odyssey. Ironic, how the perception may differ.
October 14th, 2025 at 12:31Don’t give poor Nick such a hard time, he’s been living far away from Europe for a long time now and really, given that
– in 1991 Czechoslovakia still existed (if only barely …) and that
– Slovakia was a under Hungarian rule for a 1.000 years and
– Czechia similarly under Austrian rule and – catching breath – that
– Austria-Hungary formed a joint empire for 51 years until 1918,
all he meant to say was “here JLT performs in 1991 in some human settlement or other in the expanses of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire“.
Cut the guy some slack, he was only off by a scant 73 years or so, you nitpickers!
Do not thank me, Nick, I felt honor-bound to put your – historically not wholly inaccurate – geographical observations in a benevolent perspective. Once a lawyer …
https://www.google.com/search?q=ostrava+budapest+distance&rlz=1C1GCEA_enDE1133DE1178&oq=ostrava+budapest+distance&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOTIICAEQABgWGB4yCAgCEAAYFhgeMg0IAxAAGIYDGIAEGIoFMg0IBBAAGIYDGIAEGIoFMg0IBRAAGIYDGIAEGIoFMg0IBhAAGIYDGIAEGIoFMg0IBxAAGIYDGIAEGIoFMgoICBAAGIAEGKIEMgcICRAAGO8F0gEJOTY0NmowajE1qAIIsAIB8QXOB_UPBC9PuQ&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
October 14th, 2025 at 13:30Having clarified the initially somewhat murky geographical aspects, what exactly did Nick mean with writing “Fire in the Bassement” in this thread’s heading? “Bassement” is French for “lacking higher qualities, or being immoral and cowardly” as in “base and vulgar behavior”. Was he heaping linguistically veiled criticism on JLT’s nether region lyrics?
We can only speculate. As always with Nick’s messages, what he doesn’t write is as important as what he choses to communicate to us. A hermeneutic experience, no less.
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgW3XMG_mWMEphw_po8DYSy2v2eeFIMV47XuQBTwcYASjCGyb0zff2OGfyvSSu9HZFEjo6JUO1MIItrg7JqY5jxqjVrcPZjyChI_OVyeD8CZdP5JFtWrq6AfqPVAidOf3NocmYINwiUF_ai/s320/Sean.jpg
October 14th, 2025 at 13:50Great song and great band..this is not Ostrava
October 14th, 2025 at 15:49Surprisingly good performance from the band and JLT considering how quickly they dispensed with his services.
October 14th, 2025 at 16:05https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3oRWsz7lJiU here the best South American show from 1991!
October 14th, 2025 at 16:08SM for the worst Purple album ever. This is not Purple at all for my taste.
October 14th, 2025 at 16:32To this day I regret that I didn’t break my legs and arms on the way to a concert in Tel Aviv in 1991, so that I wouldn’t even have the opportunity to crawl to that disgrace.
watched the video and it is “cringe worthy” to say the least from the Wigman
October 14th, 2025 at 16:33Amo a Jon Lord no puedo soportar a Turner en DP lo aborrrezco…recuerdo un reportaje a Lord donde recordaba esta época como horrible y hasta medio se burlaba de Turner él cual dijo después q Lord lo había decepcionado con estas declaraciones..prefiero mil veces a Evans q a Turner en DP
October 14th, 2025 at 21:06This is Budapest.
October 14th, 2025 at 22:57Jon’s and Roger’s solos rather put Ritchie’s to shame on this one. Does anyone else think that Jon’s later background improvisation suggests the great Rosa’s Cantina?
October 15th, 2025 at 01:32Vanity speaking, this looks like the era where Jon tied back his mane. I do remember when purchasing the Come Hell or High Water vhs and here was this greying pony tailed man playing the keyboards. Of course the first thought was ‘who in the name of hell is this”? At least he let the ‘natural’ grey shine through then. Old grandpa he was. Doing a Willie Nelson. Cheers.
October 15th, 2025 at 07:52At the beginning of this video he says “good evening Budapest”
PS
October 15th, 2025 at 10:10Anyway
I bought that lp with him but few days after I sold it…
The refrain of this song remember me Drinking With The Devil..
October 15th, 2025 at 10:19Could the flag on the bass drum be a clue?
October 15th, 2025 at 11:57@ 27- well said AndreA , that Rainbow song indeed. Very sub standard from JLT there. Cheers.
October 15th, 2025 at 16:35Andrew @24: I do! And even Roger toys with the bass run he would later play on that song.
I once read in an interview with him that Jon found it “extremely liberating” when he decided to no longer dye his hair blond and settle for the grey and the ponytail once he turned 50. I liked that look. There was enough fake hair to go round already in Mk V and remember only Joe had a good excuse for it! 😎
October 15th, 2025 at 16:50#3 Uwe:
competition on swing and Joe’s great performance, but we know well that he is a great singer with an excellent technique and a naturally melodious voice (typical of AoR singers).
I don’t agree about Roger’s Steinberger, I never liked the sound or the 80’s style of that bass….when Roger in TBRO took up the Rick 4001 again (interspersed with an Aria Pro or a Tune bass on tour with Satriani)
October 15th, 2025 at 22:34It always amazes me to hear Paice’s sleepy performance on S&M and then watch the live footage from the tour, he’s got the devil in him!….I always wonder if on S&M he broke his arm or played a drum machine because the drum lines were so banal…
October 15th, 2025 at 22:42Ah, such equal treatment vibes emanating from Oceania here! When Ritchie recycles and carbon-copies a riff from Stranded to Anya we all stand in hushed silence and marvel at the innate brilliance, when Joe does it, the merciless judgement is “very substandard from him there”. Quod licet Iovi, non licet bovi …, who knew they teach – and live by – Latin proverbs Downunder? 🧐
October 16th, 2025 at 05:50There is a huge dislike of JLT which I think it’s unfair. They guy did a lot of writing with Rainbow and came up with classic songs in Thier catalogue. Now it’s not his fault that he was asked to join DP and he accepted the offer.
October 16th, 2025 at 06:16He has done a great job but he is not Ian Gillan so please stop comparing pears and apples
Peace ✌️
@ 33 – we were talking about the vocal delivery, NOT the guitar. There have been plenty of comments over the decades in regard to musicians replicating or repeating or even reusing certain things in their repertoire, including Blackmore, Iommi etc etc. All musicians do it after a while, vocalists included, no matter who they are and it is a human trait. Regarding JLT and his co songwriting, he has helped co write a few good Rainbow tunes, but also a few poor ones too. Has anyone noticed the strongest JLT Rainbow album is the first, Difficult to Cure and according to the credits Joe wrote or I should say co wrote only two songs. Slaves & Masters suffers the same co songwriting malaise. Glover, Lord and Plaice must have been really thrilled to venture down that road, NOT. We can hear it on the album and the only reason I clicked on this link was because I was hoping for a little more zest. Alas, the song itself and all that nonsense in the middle , well I killed it as soon as that commenced. A low point in Purple’s history, just not the right chemical reaction or balance between the musicians. It happens with many other acts too, it is life. Ritchie oh Ritchie, what have you done? Of course in hindsight that should be ‘what did you do’ or ‘why did you do that’? It was a shame that the first singer they approached couldn’t do the job, at least it would have been new, not retreading the same boards of before. Cheers.
October 16th, 2025 at 07:44@34
it’s not a question of hate but of taste.
October 16th, 2025 at 08:00SM for the worst Purple album ever.
No, it’s not, Rost, The Battle Rages On is (because it has no heart, the band just knuckling down). Slaves & Masters is a good AOR album played by DP. It’s like something Legs Diamond could have recorded.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BelyYknTzOY
And I have always dug Legs Diamond who sometimes have been referred to as “the American Deep Purple”.
I understand how Roger, Little Ian and Jon would miss (I did too!) Big Ian’s smart lyrics, unconventional vocal melodies and the way he represented the band live, but the other side of the coin is that Blackmore’s and JLT’s rapport is tangible on SM. I’m not saying that it is a GREAT DP album, it isn’t, but it was an interesting detour. King of Dreams, The Cut Runs Deep, Fire in the Basement, Truth Hurts, Fortuneteller, Wicked Ways and even the ballad Love Conquers All (where Jon hated Joe’s vocal meldody and lyrics) are all songs that don’t have to hide on any AOR/Melodic Rock album.
I went to see Mk V at the second Hammersmith night unsure what to expect, but – ignoring Joe’s winceful stage raps which sometimes reminded me of Paul Stanley –
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Vsx7VX1paY
they convinced me that night. No, it wasn’t exciting and frenzied like an Mk II gig in 1971 or an Mk III one in 1974, but it was very tasteful and musical. DP goes Dire Straits. Wouldn’t want to miss having seen that gig.
October 16th, 2025 at 09:07Deep Purple were and in some cases still are a hard rock band, with attitude, angst and plenty of fire. When these elements are missing, which Salves & Master is a fine example of, it isn’t Deep Purple is it? Uwe mentions Dire Straits, well that sort of says it all. Too slick, too smooth etc. Melodic, yes it is, but that is about it. Where is the rock with some gusto? TBRO has plenty of that and some, that is DP, not AOR retreading early 80’s Rainbow. In fact I think that Rainbow probably sounded heavier and with more attitude at that time. We can hear that Messrs Lord, Glover and Paice are not really firing on all cylinders. Getting the band to the 25 anniversary wasn’t it, that someone in the band said was the most important thing at that stage. A filler album, a necessity instead of the band imploding and not existing anymore. Enough said there. Cheers.
October 16th, 2025 at 10:52I saw Mark V in Zagreb. The third concert of the tour. Full hall, good music and satisfied people after the concert. Well, those are my memories of Mark V.
October 16th, 2025 at 12:21Legs Diamond … I never listened to them before. And I won’t do so again I’m afraid. American DP? Have mercy. But you’re right, there are certain passages that remind the innocent listener of Slaves and Masters. And that is proof said record IS the worst DP album ever.
Granted it ain’t a bad AOR album. But is that what we want from DP? Nope. Survivor, Foreigner, FM and you name it were around already.
Each to their own but my recollection of those shows in 91 are totally different to yours. I remember my friends and me looking at each other in disbelieve (we had seen Mark II reunion shows before) and discussed leaving before the end. Or, as someone put it: “Jolene is just peinlich.”
October 16th, 2025 at 13:23A very good performance. JLT gets a lot of flak but I think he did a fine job with Rainbow with Bent Out of Shape being my favorite, and also on Slaves and Masters. I only wish there was an official live release from the S&M Tour. I have 3 bootlegs of that tour but they leave something to be desired. As for S&M being the worst DP album, not at all! I’d give that title to the craptacular =1.
October 16th, 2025 at 16:22Legs Diamond – is that a David Lee Roth’s nickname in some circles?
October 16th, 2025 at 20:46#40 Max:
for me S&M is the ideal continuation of that masterpiece that is Perfect Strangers, the songs on S&M are well written, the sound is right for an album from the late 80s, if Gillan had been there and Paice had sounded less “sleepy-commercial” we would have in front of us an album linked to sweet memories in our minds.
In any case, I consider S&M better than anything Purple did with Morse after Bananas.
October 16th, 2025 at 20:53@41
“As for S&M being the worst DP album, not at all! I’d give that title to the craptacular =1.”
It’s good to know that I’m not the only one here who was underwhelmed by =1. Although S&M is no prize either.
JLT was alright for Rainbow.. like this one for instance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DEViDZlp5lI
But he wasn’t a very good fit for Purple. Musically S&M is good enough especially when played live, like in the clip of FITB above. It’s the lyrics that turn me off.
My favorite JLT is a boot that I have of him singing Rainbow with the New Japan Philharmonic Orchestra.
Horses for courses as our friend from “Down Under” often says…
October 16th, 2025 at 22:20JLT was peinlich alright, I’ve erased that from my mind. I merely judged his singing – he has a very good control of his voice. Today, he reminds me of an extra in the The Sopranos TV series.
https://youtu.be/KMx4iFcozK0
Yes, SM was AOR and that is not what we want to hear from an old British beast like DP, but again I’m only judging the album, not what it conceptually stands for. His experiences with Rainbow should have no doubt taught Blackmore that he is not the man to write and perform AOR successfully, he lacks the necessary discipline and the will to commercially compromise. Rainbow’s venturing in AOR was always halfhearted, one step forward, two steps back.
October 16th, 2025 at 23:07Fla76 I get your points. And the sound of S&M ist actually very good to my ears, better than Perfect Strangers. But, as you said yourself, Ian Paice is very weak on it and I think the whole album is just too AOR. Average stuff. While I like Kin of Dreams and Fire in the Basement those are not exactly songs to write home about.
October 17th, 2025 at 07:35#42 The answer to the great question is David Lee Roth = Diamond Dave
October 17th, 2025 at 10:53I consider King of Dreams a Purple classic, I really do. It has incredible atmosphere and this dreamlike quality. I never get enough of it and Blackmore’s subdued/tortured noodling is great. Not a song Rainbow could have done either, it needed Jon‘s and Litte Ian‘s input for that ghostly groove.
It does owe a small debt to this here though (but the chorus of KoD is stronger) …
https://youtu.be/Wp6UBRv9rug
But then Ritchie was never above nicking other people’s good ideas! 🤗
October 17th, 2025 at 20:04#36 when you say “taste” you mean opinion, everyone has one
October 17th, 2025 at 20:40@46
You hit the nail right on the head… S&M is too just AOR. If (almost) anyone else would have made that record it would be considered a good, solid album. But we expect more than that from our guys…
October 18th, 2025 at 02:04#48 Uwe:
KoD fits in a Purple best of,
October 18th, 2025 at 13:39yes the rhythm is almost the same as Bad Company’s, but fortunately the vocal line and the general groove are totally different, the roughest piece by BC seems almost banal compared to the nocturnal elegance of King of Dream
Granted, Uwe. And I had never noticed the similarity of KoD and RnR Fantasy…though I like them both. But it’s there, no doubt.
Btw: Annoyed by the silly drum sound of that Bad Co number? There are nice live versions avaialble.
Russ 775…exactly, we expect more from them. I mean hey… they are Deep f*cking Purple!
October 18th, 2025 at 15:56JLT is undoubtedly a very strong singer, perhaps the most technically proficient DP ever had.
Not sure a British group was ever going to get away with having an American vocalist, though. It changed the whole sound and feel of the band a little too much.
From the footage above, it seems like the lineup rocked out live more than they did on their record. Which contained some bland tunes and suffered in spots from Paice’s phoned in-sounding drum parts.
But “King of Dreams” was a bona fide gem. A strong song and record.
Since the lineup with JLT wasn’t a big hit, guess it’s unlikely that we’ll ever see a release the sessions the band did with him for the follow-up which eventually became “The Battle Rages On”.
October 18th, 2025 at 22:05@53
October 19th, 2025 at 10:48I agree.. By the way, King of dreams was accompanied by a very provocative and exciting video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0LWL0Vc9p8&list=RDe0LWL0Vc9p8&start_radio=1
#53 Skippy:
you’re right.
Technically Jolene was the best singer of Deep Purple, she didn’t have the range of Gillan and Hughes, she didn’t have the warmth of Coverdale, but she had an innate melody and a perfect control of her voice and a care of her vocal instrument.
Gillan and Coverdale didn’t have the care he had.
Joe wasn’t as flashy with his screams as Hughes, but he didn’t have the octave gap that Hughes had, Joe’s voice was much more linear.
Technically I prefer him even to Bonnet whose vocal timbre has always been his real limit for me (in reality I always thought he could have been a worthy singer for Van Halen!), while I believe that as far as vocal setting between Joe and Ronnie was concerned the level was very high for both of them.
Doogie White is also a technically impeccable singer, and he can sing well anything by the other singers of the Purple family, too bad he didn’t have much luck with Cornerstone.
October 19th, 2025 at 12:27That’s a great analysis of Joe’s voice, Fla76!
https://share.google/JqVXDd11k5pjpYk3Q
And Skippy is right too, being a descendant of tax dodging, harbor waters contaminating, indigenous culture misappropriating, insurrectionist riff raff
https://render.fineartamerica.com/images/images-profile-flow/400/images-medium-large/the-boston-tea-party-luis-arcas-brauner.jpg
doesn’t help matters if you’re to front a Limey band. 🤣
October 19th, 2025 at 19:28Gee, you guys saying Joelene is a ‘technical’ better singer than Saint Gillan is going to provoke someone here big time. Look out. Cheers.
October 19th, 2025 at 21:07Foreigner did ok with an American singer Skippy. sure they had a bassist and one keyboard player from over there too, but all things considered, Mick Jones, Ian McDonald and Dennis Elliot were British. Although they were starting out like that, not already a known article and then changing, so yes I know what you mean. JLT singing previous Deep Purple songs whilst in that very band, not a good thing to most people’s ears. Cheers.
October 19th, 2025 at 21:16Saying Foreigner was a British venture is ignoring the circumstances of their founding big time, you exiled penal colony boy!
Mick Jones had been living in America for years and the band members were handpicked by him to crack the American market specifically. Foreigner was to all intents and purposes an American band founded with a few Brits and a Brit-born mastermind to appeal to Americans and conquer American airwaves (which they dutifully did!).
What’s next, are you gonna denounce your own AC/DC and claim them to be Scottish because the Youngs and Bon Scott were born there? 🤣
Judas Priest with Tim “Ripper” Owens is another example where fans would not accept an American replacement. Ripper sang great (and sometimes more forceful than Halford being 17 years younger), but he had none of Halford’s frontman charm, ease, glint-in-eye and elegance.
https://youtu.be/AkDaaiAPdFc
https://youtu.be/_-DBe9lwF-c
October 20th, 2025 at 15:12@ 59 – The man who splits hairs. Foreigner became even more British when the bass guitarist was outed and Rick Wills replaced him. Four Brits to two Yanks. Can I join the splitting hairs group now Uwe. Come on, don’t be so resilient, you know you can do it. Cheers.
https://www.remindmagazine.com/article/20278/foreigner-mick-jones-lou-gramm-i-want-to-know-what-love-is-members-where-now-tour/
October 20th, 2025 at 20:53If you got to see them, count your blessings, even though they were not the best lineup. I had tickets to see them down in Irvine, CA, then they cancelled it a few days before. It would have been my first DP show. And, as things turned out, it would have been my only show with RB.
October 21st, 2025 at 01:16What makes you extremely likable and easy prey, Herr MacGregor, is your innate ability to deliver the arguments against you yourself. Are you ready, coffee mug empty?
“Four Brits to two Yanks.” = Foreigner = “a British band” according to our learned Tasmanian analyst and chief mathematician
Ok, let‘s see and apply our newly acquired wisdom immediately …
“Three Yanks to two Brits” = Rainbow (last two Turner incarnations with Rondinelli 0r Burgi, Rosenthal and Turner) = ??? 🤣
https://youtu.be/7AyNyLesZoE
Alas!, you’re always welcome to be the HMS Hood to my Bismarck, you cute little Swordfish! 😘😘😘
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f3/Sinking_of_HMS_Hood_%28cropped%29.jpg
Who needs to split hairs when you get offered 15 inch gun turrets and can do long distance plunge shots through thin upper deck armo(u)r! 😄
(Gloating note to self: Didn‘t I show that Tassie tiny terror just now?!!!)
October 21st, 2025 at 14:37Where did I say Foreigner were a British band Uwe? Listen, learn, read on. “Foreigner did ok with an American singer’ There you go Uwe, just for the record. Splitting hairs again, when you look up Foreigner, the rock band, they are usually listed as a British/American band. If you think they are an American band, well leave that to Grand Funk Railroad. They did name one of their albums that, didn’t they? Seriously though Uwe, we know that several British band merged into half British half American, in the 1980’s in particular. Black Sabbath and King Crimson are two that spring to mind. Yes there is a significant change to their songs understandably, as to be expected. I have never been against the merging of the two, it has produced some of my favourite music. Rainbow were more an American band at the start as we know. Were they labelled a British band? Let’s have a look. It looks like the Brits did conquer the ship with the Down to Earth lineup, but that is the only one that is all British. They seem to be referred to as a British/American band overall though. Cheers.
October 21st, 2025 at 21:44Whitesnake of course eventually went from a British only band (excepting Adrian Vandenburg’s cameo) to a mostly American band excepting ole Coverdale. They are still listed as a British band. What about Fleetwood Mac, from British to Anglo American, as we see them. The big inaugural band was The Jimi Hendrix Experience. Formed in England with other English musicians and manager. A English band some list them as, others a British/American band which sounds truer than anything else. Formed and began their journey in England. Anyway, those hairs have been split so much they are now looking a little frayed at the edges. It is all rock ‘n roll. Cheers.
October 22nd, 2025 at 06:47To me, Rainbow – all incarnations – is a Brit band with some occasional American players in whatever numbers, yet Foreigner an American creation with a Brit mastermind and an American voice.
But it’s a difficult terrain: Everyone called Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young (arch-)American, but they consisted of a Brit (Nash), a Canuck (Young), a Yank expat from Latin America (Stills) and only one truly homebred Yank (Crosby).
Yet Come Taste The Band – due to Tommy’s pivotal influence – is DP’s “American album” to me. more American in fact to my ears than even Slaves & Masters.
I haven’t yet made my mind up whether I consider Mk VII + VIII another American era of DP. Steve, for all his classical influences, sounded pretty darn American to me in guitar style and general mindset.
October 22nd, 2025 at 07:25The Tommy Bolin writing and guitar playing was evident on CTTB, in good way too. Although it dragged it into another realm, straying from what people like myself thought DP should or could be. All good though. Slaves and Masters was too much like Straight Between the Eyes and Bent Out of Shape to my ears. And JLT as the lead vocalist with that American AOR vocal, it is much more from that side of the pond to my ears. I also did think of CSN & Y when thinking about that transatlantic crossing of sorts. Although Young wasn’t really there for very long so I was more of the CS & N and the country folky sound and style. It fired in over there very well indeed. Steve morse has always sounded From where he is from, that country skin picking, blue grass and fusion influence, sound and style is very American. His minor forays into classical and even Celtic and the bagpipe thing wasn’t enough to drag him across the pond. And not enough in the songwriting department to influence Gillan and Glover too much, so those versions of DP still do sound rather British. DP is a British institution after all. As for us poor no man’s land desperados all the way out here in Oz, well, we did have this to allay any patriotic fears that we may have developed. Cheers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TjDAiq2-xeU&t=16s
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Redback_on_the_Toilet_Seat
October 22nd, 2025 at 21:38That should be chicken pickin’ guitar playing in regard to Steve Morse. I was too worried about that red back spider when hitting the send button. Don’t laugh Karin, every country has its ‘home’ tune to remind everyone where they are from. Cheers
October 22nd, 2025 at 21:43At least Uwe should be impressed by the lyrics, they are real at least, not fantasy.
There was a redback on the toilet seat,
When I was there last night.
I didn’t see him in the dark,
But boy I felt his bite.
I jumped up high into the air,
And when I hit the ground.
That crafty redback spider,
Wasn’t nowhere to be found.
I rushed into the mrs,
Told her just where I’d been bit.
And she grabbed my cutthroat razor,
And I nearly took a fit.
I said ‘Forget what’s on your mind,
And call a doctor please.
For I’ve got a feeling that your cure,
Is worse than the disease.’
There was a redback on the toilet seat,
When I was there last night.
I didn’t see him in the dark,
But boy I felt his bite.
And now I’m here in hospital,
A sad and sorry plight.
And I curse the redback spider,
On the toilet seat last night.
I can’t lie down, I cant’ sit up I don’t know what to do.
The nurses think it’s funny but that’s not my point of view.
I tell you it’s embarrassing and that’s to say the least,
For I’m too sick to eat a bite,
While the spider had a feast.
And when I get back home again, I’ll tell you what I’ll do.
I’ll make that Redback suffer for the pain I’m going through.
I’ve had so many needles, I’m looking like a siv.
I promise you that redback hasn’t very long to live.
There was a redback on the toilet seat,
October 22nd, 2025 at 21:54When I was there last night.
I didn’t see him in the dark,
But boy I felt his bite.
And now I’m here in hospital,
A sad and sorry plight.
And I curse the redback spider,
On the toilet seat last night.
Always remember those Aussies are fearsome people …
https://youtu.be/Hpgv4dybYfg
https://youtu.be/mRM0Egw8cxM
Nicholas Cage is responsible for some of the best acting ever. And some of the worst.
October 22nd, 2025 at 22:18@67
Ohh but MacGregor, you confuse me with our in-house lawyer!
I never laugh at serious matters like this 😃
And it’s certainly a very, ahem, interesting song.
In Denmark, our song might be this one:
https://youtu.be/hrIM73XyYqM?si=D6R8caOWdSXsm_9Y
It’s Kim Larsen, the late former vocalist for the wonderful Gasolin.
The song is in Danish, it’s a salute to Greenland and a mocking of politicians 😄
And this one of course, it’s about courting in Denmark 🥰
October 23rd, 2025 at 05:05https://youtu.be/gbQHHH9bSLU?si=GO_eG0FiJ-BXHx8x
Nicholas Cage has to be the most woeful actor, has he ever been in a decent film. Is that Surfer movie supposed to be in Australia? He has filmed here a few times from what I have heard. Not a follower of his films at all. I am also not fan of the Hollywood attempt at the Americanisation of Australia in films. Not to worry, it must be cheaper to film out here or something. Does Cage own a mansion out here somewhere. Many do, from that Hollywood scene. There has to be a better representation of Aussie colloquialism in film, surely. I haven’t watched that many Aussie films over the decades, one or two here or there. I seek out Europe in films and music etc. Cheers.
October 23rd, 2025 at 07:48@ 67
“every country has its ‘home’ tune to remind everyone where they are from.”
Not really sure which song would apply to the good ol’ USA; but I’m sure it was written by Tom Waits. 😎
October 23rd, 2025 at 08:19MacGregor, you darn naysayer!
https://youtu.be/ji9C_R6HLvg
Cage is my favorite male actor.
October 23rd, 2025 at 22:11it’s a shame current Deep Purple management do not value live concert releases at all. There was a whole bunch of MK V concerts pro shot at the time, would love one of them on Bluray.
October 25th, 2025 at 03:01I’m with you Uwe… While he’s not my favorite actor, he is in my top 10. Yes, he’s done more than a few crappy movies; but he has also done plenty of top-notch work.
October 25th, 2025 at 05:35Cage has done an incredible amount of crap, he says himself he never turns any work down, no matter how shoddy the script is. But like you say, he’s also done – and continues to do – excellent work.
October 25th, 2025 at 18:16@ 76
he was up to his eyeball in debt with all his indulgences and out of whack lifestyle (isn’t that the cliche for the Hollywood pricks?) he has said recently that he is not taking any B movies projects anymore and wants to be back with quality (and it shows in the last 2-3 years). It is hit or miss with Nicolas Cage acting “method “.
I know this is old fan website, but boy can someone come up with a better format and update it a little bit? like to have a chance to edit the messages and replies?
October 30th, 2025 at 15:42Al @77:
we had a forum running here that had all those bells and whistles — nobody used it. so after a year of laying dormant, it was gone during the site upgrade.
that being said, i’m thinking of setting up a new forum, seeing how the comments facility has been overtaken by all sorts of chit-chat. but that depends on my spare time availability.
October 30th, 2025 at 22:05