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Classic Rock magazine rehashes the story we’ve heard a million times by now — how Smoke came to being. This includes an undated quote from Blackmore (that was at some point subjected to a rather poor OCR, and had to be corrected by us): I was jamming with Ian Paice at a soundcheck, because we […]
Read more »Our recent foray into the trainspotting territory prompted another trip down the memory lane. Better Call Saul is a prequel/offshoot of the hit TV drama series Breaking Bad, and it has run between 2015 and 2020. Somebody in the writers’ pen of the show was obviously a fan.
Read more »During a May 2, 2026, 2. Budesliga football match between Dynamo Dresden and 1. FC Kaiserslautern fans started a chant that suspiciously sounds like The Riff. The game is posted to youtube, but we’re told that it is not available in many countries, so here’s an audio snippet
Read more »Classically trained pianist Alexandra Kuznetsova, known under nom de guerre Gamazda, performs piano covers of rock compositions to the effect that her YouTube channel has amassed almost a million subscribers. Check out her performance of Smoke in an Amsterdam church from earlier this month.
Read more »The Guardian has a piece on the casino burning down and associated shenanigans as a part of their How we made series. With input from Roger Glover and Ian Paice. RG: There’s a great photograph of singer Ian Gillan with his notebook open and the first two verses written. I’m sat opposite him listening to […]
Read more »Couple of items found in the mail to our slightly neglected trainspotting department. Another Netflix series made use of a Purple track. This time it’s Smoke incorporated into the trailer of The Waterfront, premiered in June
Read more »Smoke on the Water was featured and dissected on the recent episode of BBC Radio 4 show Add to playlist that was on the air on May 30, 2025. The premise of the show is to introduce several pieces of music and find links between them. Composer Gavin Higgins and soprano Claire Booth take us […]
Read more »The band Primus did a series on YouTube where they auditioned new drummers for the band. There were a couple of DP family references and I have edited them together for your pleasure.
Read more »Couple of letters from the trainspotting desk of our Department of Silly Little Things. Deep Purple got a mention on BBC Radio 4 show The Unbelievable Truth. The premise of the show is guest comedians trying to smuggle truths past their opponents. The opponents have to spot the truth among the lies. In series 31 […]
Read more »A couple of items from the desk of our trainspotting department. British TV series SAS Rogue Heroes is a WW2 action/adventure drama based on “mostly true” events. What it lacks in historical accuracy, it makes up in the entertainment value. And a very anachronistic soundtrack. Season 2, episode 5 features a convoy of said rogue […]
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Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing