Before the smoke hit the water
Roger Glover and Ian Paice are unboxing the super deluxe edition of the Machine Head remix:
Thanks to Uwe Hornung for the heads-up.
![[hand]](/hs-pics/portraits/hands/gillan9.jpg)
![[face]](/hs-pics/portraits/faces/airey3.jpg)
Roger Glover and Ian Paice are unboxing the super deluxe edition of the Machine Head remix:
Thanks to Uwe Hornung for the heads-up.
Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing
Wonderful & thank you for that little insight into what looks grand indeed. Very nice & a few images there that are different, Gillan the flower power man, well it was still the 60’s in a way wasn’t it? The devil is in the detail & the curiosity of what it will sound like on disc & playing on a decent sound system, stereo preferably. Cheers.
March 8th, 2024 at 22:01Of course, Herr Gillan could not be arsed into participating. 😂
Related:
https://youtu.be/Q32EFk6GKf8?si=JqUU61AQoFRm9aXf
Tasmanian, we were both wrong. It’s neither “tuner” nor “machine head”, but – and this sounds a bit like a term from an adult site, our more fragile readers may deem it offensive – “adjustment knob(s)”. So now we know.
Twiddle-dee-dum!
March 8th, 2024 at 22:15Being 5 years old, learning how to ride my small bicycle, landing in a pile of constructionsand because I did not know to use the brakes, I wasnt aware what would become one of my biggest lifechangers.
Landed on my head on the street as well, maybe thats why I became this weird fellow with the messed up brain , a broken nose(Repaired when I was 13)and a odd looking front.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_kvI1gVkCU&ab_channel=Sids60sSounds
March 9th, 2024 at 00:18@ 2- ha ha ha, yes I did read a few other names for them but not that one. Tuner pegs or poles were two I do recall. Of course that would be for more traditional acoustic instruments. A little bit on it’s ‘inventor’ that I found. Cheers.
The invention of the modern tuning machine head (aka machine head, tuning machine, tuning head, tuner, etc.) is credited to Viennese-born Johann Georg Stauffer, an Austrian luthier who presented the world with the first worm-gear driven tuner in 1825. Incidentally, German-born Christian Frederick Martin moved to Vienna at the young age of 15 where he apprenticed with Stauffer, remaining in Vienna for 16 years. Martin later moved to the United States where he founded C. F. Martin & Company.
March 9th, 2024 at 01:35Gillan not participating in selling the new super deluxe edition of Machine Head.. Well..Gillan never was much of a businessman..was he..Just when the big big money started pouring in and Purple was about to kick Led Zep from their throne he choose to leave. And the money he had after Purple he spent on not so good projects..and when he returned to music he formed a band that played some kind of weird fusion jazz music that nobody would listen to and as a result..poor record sales..
March 9th, 2024 at 09:34and the time in Sabbath…well..maybe not a failure..but more..embarrassing.. But the lad can sing like no other..and that goes a long way!
Cheers!!
True, Wiktor, Ian’s business acumen has never been stellar though the Kingsway Recorders Studio (formerly De Lane Lea)
https://www.philsbook.com/kingsway-de-lane-lea
did well for a time when pretty much none of his other enterprises (hotel, motorbike brand and even music) did. Didn’t he write in his bio something akin to “… and Ian Paice went as usual window shopping with banks, in hindsight I should have known sometimes gone with him”?
Ironically, his alcohol-induced Sabbath tenure was commercially one of his better moves, he was paid very well and bore no risk or responsibility (other than showing up to sing), probably a relief for him after having to finance IGB and Gillan all these years. Contrary to what some Gillan ex-members believe, I do not think that Gillan (the band) ever earned real money, they were too much a ‘UK only’ phenomenon for that. Neither IGB nor Gillan ever filled larger halls in Germany (as regards audience capacities IGB even did better than Gillan, people were starved to see him after his long hiatus). For Germany, a traditional Deep Purple happy hunting ground, that is saying something and it is noteworthy that David Coverdale, in a similar situation, yet starting from a worse position than Ian, achieved so much more with Whitesnake than his predecessor did with either IGB or Gillan.
But I don’t think commercial disinterest kept Ian from joining the other two for the promotion of the 50th anniv. MH ditty, he simply doesn’t care for remasters and remixes, the loveless treatment of his back catalog outside of DP shows that, those Caramba! re-releases were perfunctory at best. Insightful comments on his past work have remained few and far between.
That said, Little Ian’s and Roger’s promotion attempts seem somewhat labored and coaxed to me as well, Roger gives an especially bemused appearance. But it’s infinitely better than DC’s faux excitement verging on the glib at his own unboxing rituals.
March 9th, 2024 at 14:25@5 I told Ian several years ago that I didn’t care for a lot of that early solo band’s jazzy music, and he agreed, believe it or not. His vocals were always great, though, and there some melodic live versions of ‘Child in Time’ from that era. Gillan’s problem has always been that, when things aren’t going his way, he has no intestinal fortitude to ride things out. He takes his marbles and goes home like an immature brat. It’s why I’m not friends with him anymore; why he left DP at the height of its success; why he took decades to bury the hatchet with Blackmore even though Ritchie kept extending olive branches. And then, even after Blackmore and he exchanged kind words about each other through the press a few years ago, Gillan turned around and slagged him, saying stuff like: “I hear he’s not playing very well.” Blackmore evolved from a sometimes-childish dude into a mostly mature, wise old man. Gillan remains stuck in his marbles mentality.
March 9th, 2024 at 16:05I’m in a minority of one here for really digging IGB’s jazz-funk-rock excursions. Combined with Ian’s one-of-a-kind voice, that band was really eclectic. I know, it went over the heads of most punters, but it sure struck a chord with me. Like listening to Return to Forever/Weather Report and DP’s Made in Japan at the same time! 😂
Ian can be unforgiving, that is my impression too.
March 9th, 2024 at 18:39Wonder if they were instructed not to mention RB?
March 9th, 2024 at 20:01LOL !
Some music is made-for-the-moment & works fine, & other music ends-up more enduring, & stands-the-test-of-time, for often unknown reasons…
I’m sure IG is happy with the 50th anniversary release, but has had a life-time of enduring the filthy-press, & was happy to pass-the-ball to RG & IP respectively.
On that basis, he’s likely preparing the onslaught of the filthy-press with the NEW ALBUM to be released soon, & all the bollox that goes with that.
Happy Birthday MH, but bring-on the NEW ALBUM, or at least complete the LONG OVERDUE 3 x missing DP (overseas) Live Series releases…Now that would be something to really talk about & get into yo !
Peace !
March 9th, 2024 at 23:04Hey James,
I don’t think Ian really misses your friendship, not that there was one to begin with. As far as marbles you seem to have very few upstairs. Peace!
March 10th, 2024 at 08:51I have no idea what the background is (if there is one though it feels like it), but I think name-calling like this between members in a forum like ours is unfortunate. It’s ok to disagree and poke fun at each other, but insults make me uncomfortable.
March 10th, 2024 at 15:41@8 A minority of 2 Uwe. I went to see them in the national stadium in Dublin.
March 10th, 2024 at 21:09They were very good and I really did like their music. I never did like Whitesnake.
@12:
i’m partially to be blamed here. svante’s on vacations and my moderation-fu is a bit rusty.
that being said, i think an apology would be a right thing to do for sidroman.
March 10th, 2024 at 21:14The IGB music is actually the most ‘musical’ for want of a better description journey that he has ever ventured on to my hearing. I did listen to a lot of it a while ago, (I HAD to, Uwe was giving me a hard time he he he) & it was rather progressive & avant-garde in many ways. Stellar musicians they all are & I vaguely remembered trying to listen to it back in the 70’s & possibly 80’s & not getting into it at all. Sure the Gillan bands material is more accessible listening in a heavier rock style but the IGB music has much more depth to it in so many ways. His voice & singing doesn’t suit all of it, however one does have to get used to it & it is quite good overall. I have to admit to being a little out of touch with a few of Gillan’s solos albums, although I have tried at times to listen to some of them online. The jury is still out on those. Cheers.
March 10th, 2024 at 21:35Uwe @12 and Nick @14. I concur with you both.
And yes Mr. sidroman….I am aware that there was indeed a friendship between James and IG for a number of years back in time.
March 10th, 2024 at 21:37“I went to see them in the national stadium in Dublin. They were very good and I really did like their music.”
Jealousy is devouring me! I’ve seen Gillan (the band) and Ian solo (Naked Thunder, Tool Box and Rock Meets Classic), but I never saw IGB. Those Budokan recordings show how they could replicate their intricate music and arrangements live.
March 10th, 2024 at 22:41Would have been nice if somebody had actually put out a full length book for the anniversary to go with it, eh?
March 10th, 2024 at 22:47@11 You’re all class. And wrong, of course.
March 11th, 2024 at 00:21@12 There is no “background,” Uwe, between me and this “Sidroman” character. His remark was just a childish, classless comment from someone hiding behind their keyboard. I new Gillan for years, and most anyone on this website knows it. https://clyp.it/holefsoj
March 11th, 2024 at 01:00Maybe Gillan is just fed up with re issues / remixes for 50+ year old material?
March 11th, 2024 at 06:36I don’t appreciate all these re-mixes and re-packages. Why? The album has to sound exactly how it sounded then. Just make 1:1 transfer from the master tape and that’s it. All these “improvements” are like repainting Mona Lisa because there are some cracks on a canvas and faded colours, or re-writing of War and Peace because nobody remembers 19-th century….
March 11th, 2024 at 14:48Rascal, given the sound “quality” of some Gillan (the band) recordings, I’m not sure he ever gave a damn how something sounded! Future Shock sounded like a garage band demo, I was appalled when I first heard it.
The sterile sound of Naked Thunder wasn’t a revelation either, the production has aged badly (Tool Box was ok in it’s grittiness). And why he discarded the original Rockfield Studios mix of Clear Air Turbulence (more vibrant than the end mix though that wasn’t bad either) and failed to see the brilliance of the Born Again “hazy doom & gloom”-mix is beyond me as well.
Let’s put it this way, Big Ian has many talents and is an ingenious wordsmith, but I wouldn’t make him editor-in-chief of an audiophile magazine or have him remaster albums. 😂
March 11th, 2024 at 18:51“The IGB music is actually the most ‘musical’ for want of a better description journey that he has ever ventured on to my hearing. I did listen to a lot of it a while ago, (I HAD to, Uwe was giving me a hard time he he he) & it was rather progressive & avant-garde in many ways. Stellar musicians they all are & I vaguely remembered trying to listen to it back in the 70’s & possibly 80’s & not getting into it at all. Sure the Gillan bands material is more accessible listening in a heavier rock style but the IGB music has much more depth to it in so many ways.”
You’ve written that sooo beautifully, Herr MacGregor! 💖💕
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/d2/fd/ae/d2fdae7e7db314d465ea095d37b47f58.gif
March 11th, 2024 at 19:20Bernini said:
“Wonder if they were instructed not to mention RB?”
😁
He who may not be … 😎
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/3f/0c/d6/3f0cd6642f1892d75f3fb2adb93f9f27.gif
March 11th, 2024 at 19:26Solaic asked…
qt.”1. I don’t appreciate all these re-mixes and re-packages. Why ?
2. The album has to sound exactly how it sounded then. Just make 1:1 transfer from the master tape and that’s it.
3. All these “improvements” are like repainting Mona Lisa because there are some cracks on a canvas and faded colours, or re-writing of War and Peace because nobody remembers 19-th century”….
LOL !
R1. “Money,money, money…It’s so funny…In the rich-man’s world”….This is the big-all-round answer, since it actually costs so much to engineer, produce, distribute & promote a 50-year old recording…But the fact that its 52, & still sells well, also warrants celebration & fanfare. By sales at least, it “is” DP’s crowning album into mega-stardom, though equalled or bettered by Made in Japan.
R2. Oh, they’ve done that already with the 1st CD editions from the 1980’s, which claim a direct master-tape to CD transfer, & on the back of the CD, you find the letters / symbols stating this in groups of 3, typically ADD or AAD…This means Analogue recording, Digitally / Analogue remastered, & Digitally stored on disc. The EMI versions are the warmer & fatter sounding discs, that “are” original transfers, with the Warner Brothers US-of-A discs sounding the same, but without the bass-envelope-filter enhancement. I have both, & both sound great, & one will play better than the other depending on the equipment used, & how its natural bias is…eg, Some stereos are naturally “voiced” with a lot of bass, so the WB editions sound better on them. These are the ones to get imo, but the WB US-of-A CD’s have some crazy editing & song swaps from the other editions.
R3. The modern world has most people listening through or upgrading into the Digital World…This means 2.1, 5.1, 7.1 & all sorts of Digital Amplification & speaker set-ups that are so remarkably good & crystal-clear sounding, that some older ADD or AAD recordings reveal the old technologies limitations. Often a remix will help blend the old sounds to work better with the modern equipment, whilst also allowing improvements to enhance the “surround sound” experience…
So it’s more like making the novel “War & Peace”, or the “Mona Lisa” available for viewing / reading on your computer screen, rather than inpaperback or travelling to a museum to view.
Peace !
March 11th, 2024 at 22:30@ 9 – I don’t know about that, Jon Lord was only mentioned by Paice in regards to the Hammond setup in a photo. It is just how the ‘unboxing’ of the new setup came out on a short cameo on video I would think. @ 26 – Yes the old AAD Machine Head from WB is mine & moving my stereo into the much smaller & better acoustically sounding bedroom & getting rid of excess speakers has MH sounding very good indeed. Both those original 80’s discs EMI & WB are popular when reading forums of late about this new Atmos mix. Many people still like the truer sound of stereo for conventional rock music & not surround mixes. Some like the Roger Glover remixes, a few like the later two remixes 2011 & 2014 weren’t they. And some have Atmos setups & have differing opinions on the Smoke online release from a few weeks ago. One chap has a Atmos system & really digs it for everything he has listened to, but he is appalled at the Smoke mix, even querying Dweezil & his ‘experience’ in dealing with that sort of thing. A few people actually said that about Dweezil, suggesting other more tailored sound gurus should or could have been doing it instead. There is no doubt about it MH & Come Taste The Band are the two best sounding original records & Cd’s from the 70’s era DP. And for me they don’t need too much touching up at all if anything. But I would say that wouldn’t I. Two comments I took great satisfaction from said that Paice’s drums sounded like cardboard boxes on this Atmos remix. Hooray, there are others out there also that are appalled at Ian’s drums being messed with. Cheers.
March 12th, 2024 at 04:22Sorry my mistake, MH is EMI & it is Warner Brothers for Made in Japan for my cd’s. Talking of limited Blackmore & even more so Ian Paice on the original album photos. Sheesh, there are more photos of Gillan with a Strat than the only one of Blackmore. Only two ‘portrait’ or ‘mug shot’ photos of Paice? Four of Ritchie???? Plenty of Jon Lord all though it seems to be the Glover & Gillan show. Hmmmmmmmm, some sort of take over, a mutiny perhaps? I have just about had enough of no images of Ian Paice playing the drums. From that to Dweezil’s cardboard boxes, it is to much to comprehend. Cheers.
March 12th, 2024 at 05:35Uwe – whether Gillan was overly bothered with the quality of recordings is s separate issue.
Numerous re-issues & re-mixes with reworked artwork with a few photos thrown might be considered unnecessary.
Maybe Gillan cant be arsed.
March 12th, 2024 at 06:37’17
March 12th, 2024 at 12:17Uwe you’re way ahead of me. I saw DP on their very infrequent trips to Ireland and I.G.B. in the stadium in Dublin and I.G. with Sabbath in Dalymount park in Dublin. I’m the jealous one. Unfortunately they don’t come to Ireland often enough.
As for the reissue: can anyone even play them on all the different formats. I’ll buy it but all I have is a stereo player.
To Gregster
Yes I know all this…. I have a Dutch AAD which sounded warmer and better than famous Nimbus edition (I checked 5 or 6 early versions). Roger Glover remixes sound over-compressed and unnatural to me. It is a digitized Mona Liza where you can see the squares….
March 12th, 2024 at 14:13Davedp, now you’re really pouring on the hurt! 😂 The two live experiences I miss most – besides not having seen DP in the 70ies (any line-up) – are IGB and Gillabbath. And you’ve seen them both!
Rascal, no one has to buy new remasters and remixes. If you like how your copy of MH sounds (regardless of format), then more power to you! I don’t give a rat’s ass about Purple multi-channel mixes either, I don’t listen to music over my home movie set up, that is where I watch Dune or something (Dune 2, which I saw in the cinema last week, is even better than Dune 1 by the way, not just as a blockbuster, but actually for the depth it has). Like MacGregor, I’m a stereo guy, but even on a midprice stereo you can tell differences between different remasters and remixes, Davedp.
As you guys have probably all noticed by now, I’m an anally retentive collector and completist + I often also listen to music very analytically. To me a new remaster or remix is always something I look forward too. Not always in the sense of better or worse, it’s more like lighting a museum piece picture you know well in different areas to discover new detail. I never discard the prior remasters and remixes and continue to listen to them.
The most curious remasters I own are actually the US 1990 Metal Blade reissues remastered by Eddy Schreyer at Future Disc
https://www.discogs.com/de/artist/255243-Eddy-Schreyer
of Stormbringer,
https://images.45worlds.com/f/cd/deep-purple-metal-blade-3-cd.jpg
Come Taste The Band
https://images.45worlds.com/f/cd/deep-purple-come-taste-the-band-21-cd.jpg
plus Made In Europe
https://images.45worlds.com/f/cd/deep-purple-made-in-europe-12-cd.jpg
(apparently, WB only licensed those final three 70ies Purple albums to Metal Blade for a short while, the earlier stuff they released themselves on CD at the time). They sound like nothing else I own on CD from Purple. I don’t know what Herr Schreyer did, but he smoothened the sound of these recordings to the point of them sounding velvety-warm and slightly hazy, a West Coast’ish/Led Zep’ish, slightly diffuse production touch even. Weird (I prefer my Purple crisper), but interesting. Anybody else here got them too? They are by now regarded as rare/collectible and people love or hate them. In the early 90ies, the dawn of Purple being transferred to digital, they were the only way to get those albums on CD as US releases.
Of course, if you compare them to the current generation of available Stormbringer/Come Taste The Band remasters/remixes the difference is night and day.
March 12th, 2024 at 14:20Very sorry Uwe. didn’t mean to upset you. Just bitching ’cause I don’t see my all time favorite band(DP) or singer (IG) nearly often enough.
March 12th, 2024 at 19:33I could never get into CTTB album.
@ 24 – The Ian Gillan Band live at The Rainbow 1977 online is a cracker of a concert, even if it is only an edited 30 minutes or so. A good version of Woman From Tokyo on that as well as Child in Time. The Smoke version is always a winner for the audience all hyped up just like Mr Gillan himself. That is filmed really well & the sound is great cranked through the stereo. I wonder why it is only a snippet of the concert? A shame there isn’t anymore of the original material being performed live on film. According to the late Ray Fenwick’s site the Japanese dates are the ones to get hold of, Budokan of course and that 2001 release of the Hiroshima concert apparently has extra tracks on it. They also briefly toured Oz in 1978 apparently. I wasn’t aware of that at all. Cheers.
March 12th, 2024 at 20:05@31…
I prefer the original CD transfers too, even with the subtle bass-envelope-filter, as it’s the original sound that we’ve all listened to for decades, & worked best on AM radio, as that’s why it was added. The WB’s US-of-A versions were for FM radio, & didn’t need that enhancement, which is now the common working frequency. Pixilated indeed !
@32…
I’ve posted this before, but I went searching for “Made in Europe” on CD circa 2008 via official music-shops, ( not the net ), & Friday Music had only just released what they claimed to be the first CD version remixed & remastered of this album, along with “Stormbringer” too. It has similar qualities to what you describe with Metal Blade when compared to the LP version that I’d listened to for years, though I remain really impressed with what I have.
Since then, I also acquired all the 1970’s albums with the Warner Brothers boxed set ( the Concerto on CD being the drawcard, along with MiJ in std original trim & song-order, plus MiE ) in mini LP-sleeves, & though MiE sounds perfectly acceptable here, The Friday Music is easier-on-your-ears, with the rawness / harshness not present, & a deep bass that’s clear, yet not over-powerful. This means it sounds great at all volume levels.
And yet again, we must remember that we all have different ears, different stereo amps & speaker configurations etc etc. It’s important to realize that zero adjustment on your EQ, or bass & treble dials is necessary for true & accurate feedback. When you adjust these dials / parameters for best sound, its more revealing to the weaknesses of your ears & / or equipment, than production techniques.
Peace !
March 13th, 2024 at 01:03@8 @ 13
Clear Air Turbulence is an all time fave of mine and – along with the Budokan-set – gets many a spin, a lot more than the Gillan stuff that indeed does not sound too good in many cases. It has always been the more obscure stuff that drew me into the Purple world and I still play those albums: Clear Air Turbiulence, Play me out, White Snake, Northwinds, Malice in Wonderland, Elements, First of the big bands, Private Eyes, Butterfly Ball – those were the days creativity wise …
March 13th, 2024 at 13:08Talking about improving the quality of DEEP PURPLE stuff…..
I have not watched my DVD in years now and missed out on this.
What do you think? It seems well done.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6jom6qpB1c&ab_channel=Ledones
March 13th, 2024 at 22:50Davedp: I’ll carry the cross of my envy for you manfully!
Max: You, Sir, are an intrepid man, admitting to liking BOTH Clear Air Turbulence AND Play Me Out (plus all those other curios of the DP Family you listed that I have a penchant for too) among this congregation of, let’s call them what they are, heinously chanting Rainbow Rising devotees! 🤷♂️
https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gcT0Lf8QwqA/VM_gBoO6xQI/AAAAAAAAn0E/cISorEWFzYw/s1600/(((08062015%2B(2).gif
When you play something off Play Me Out to someone who (i) generally doesn’t even like Deep Purple or (ii) is only superficially familiar with them, they NEVER EVER guess where Glenn came from and are flabbergasted when you tell them. 😊
March 14th, 2024 at 00:42Ian Paice playing on the King Crimson reimagining In The Court of the Crimson King ‘tribute’ album. 21st Century Schizoid Man & also Joe Lynn Turner on Moonchild.
https://www.loudersound.com/news/listen-to-todd-rundgrens-version-of-king-crimsons-21st-century-schizoid-man
March 14th, 2024 at 22:46RV @37, that is impressive quality, both visually and sonically.
Somewhere in that audience sat a young John Deacon and was awestruck by the performance.
March 14th, 2024 at 23:58Some of you were talking about Ian Gillan’s solo bands which didn’t even release recordings in the USA. I was able to find those albums in the imported record section. I loved his band Gillan which is probably the heaviest metal band in the Purple family tree. But not so much for the ‘jazzy’ Ian Gillan Band. Surprisingly he reused the vocal melody from the IGB song Sarabus for his album with Sabbath which became Disturbing the Priest – one of my favorite songs. The new lyrics were inspired by the band getting noise complaints from the resident priests at a church near their rehearsal space.
March 15th, 2024 at 05:47Uwe, I did it! Play Play me out … at a new year’s party. And the reaction was like “I thought you listen to that metal music (which I never really did except you tag DP and Dio as metal) …and know you managed to come up with something even more disturbing …” And I thought the ladies would like it and you could dance to it …
But what really worked on many occasions was – and I forgot to mention it in the post above – Accidentally on Purpose. That always went down very well. And I stand guilty of convincing the better part of my pub-attending friends when it comes to early Whitesnake.
March 15th, 2024 at 10:54@37…
The Concerto may-well in 100-years-time be a showcase for music historians looking for samples of when orchestral music was in declining & rock music arriving, & see it as quite a definitive moment in music history. It’s remarkable, even genius that someone decided it was worth filming, yet alone recording.
It brought two-groups of peoples together, that normally wouldn’t be together at the same place successfully…Great stuff !
I play the CD at least a couple-of-times-a-year. It works quite well when you need to unwind & de-stress.
Peace !
March 15th, 2024 at 23:37I’ve been there, Max, Glenn’s funk magnus opus Play Me Out does not elicit any Marvin Gaye/Commodores-type come-hither reactions from the fairer sex, lamentably so 😪 , but is regularly met with puzzlement. I think Glenn’s funk is too bare-bones and jazzy, it lacks that Motown/Stax honey dew so many people find appealing with soul music (I’m no exception). Glenn is not a poppy rock writer and he isn’t a poppy funk/soul writer either – look at his audience, unlike Coverdale’s it’s overwhelmingly male.
And you’re right, songs like “Clouds & Rain” and “She Took My Breath Away” go down well (I’m using the term in all innocence!) with the ladies. Accidentally On Purpose (with not just those two songs but also the brilliant “Via Miami” and “Telephone Box”) constitutes together with Clear Air Turbulence and Born Again Big Ian’s best work outside of Purple (and proves just how stylistically varied, yet still unmistakably himself he can be).
March 16th, 2024 at 14:51@ 41 – you are not wrong with Gillan & the Disturbing the Priest song. And also the noise complaint story. We would think that Ian Gillan would have known better after the Montreux experience of noise complaints. He should have pulled the Sabbs into line there. Oh hang on, that was never going to happen. Those three amigos, Iommi, Butler & Gillan should have known better regarding looking out for Bill Ward. He was a recovering alcoholic at that time & when they all carried on the way they did he was left by himself at the Manor & eventually decided to crack open a bottle of wine or something that he found & then………..! Hedonism & irresponsibility go hand in hand. Ward did eventually get away from all that a few years later but not before falling into despair again. He went tea total after 1985 & still is, good on him. Cheers.
March 16th, 2024 at 21:51All that poor priest wanted was to rehearse with his choir, but Sabbath were too damned loud for that! 😂 So he asked them to turn down, not knowing who they were or their occult image, which Sabbath had an unfortunate habit of playing down or up depending on their commercial needs. I always found that kind of naff, playing with all the Satanist imagery, but then saying meekly “oh, we’re all Christians of course”. I mean choose a side, either say, “yeah, Satanism is a good thing” (discuss!), or be like Stryper (or Neal Morse!) and preach Christianity or do it like Ghost and say “look, this is Grand Guignol Vaudeville, we just like to dress up and don’t care either way”. Sabbath tried to pander to sort of everyone, those (gullible souls) who took it seriously, those not caring and those taken aback by it.
No matter, Disturbing The Priest is a smart, perceptive lyric, proving once again that in the hard & heavy world there is no one who can match Ian as a lyricist – a man who observes the profane to banal and can turn it into something insightful on paper.
March 17th, 2024 at 14:22In regards to the ‘for or against’ christianity thing, there are some very good lyrics on the Sabbath Tv Crimes song, off the Dehumanizer album. However we also can hark back to the early 70’s & Geezer wrote some rather apt lyrics also at times. Being raised in that so called ‘light’ myself I can dig all the lyrics on those different Sabbath lineups, including on the Tony Martin era albums. There are a couple of good lyric songs along those lines there. Cheers.
March 18th, 2024 at 01:15I always thought Sabbath’s (mostly Geezer’s) lyrics better than what Percy did with Zep. And Ozzy had the gift of singing the most nonsensical stuff, yet still give it meaning without being ponderous.
Never cared much for the Dio fantasy lyrics with any band (but I liked his lyrics with Elf!) and to be honest I’ve never given Tony Martin’s lyrics a good listen, maybe I should. I only really remember Headless Cross, which was Hammer Horror Film nonsense. The lyrics on Seventh Star were kinda naff too, were those Iommi’s or Glenn’s do?
Born Again was of course filled with brilliant witticisms courtesy of you know who. To me, that is a great part of the enduring charm of that album. Gillan managed to sound both threatening and amusing, no mean feat.
March 18th, 2024 at 16:10Speaking of the fairer sex and solo efforts of Purple people … My granny did like Roger’s Elements. She would listen and smile and say “this sounds like it’s from another world.” Anyone else in the family would rate anything I listened to as Gekreische.
March 19th, 2024 at 10:03“Gekreische” – LOL!
I remember my dad (born 1931) sitting down beside me while I was listening to Child in Time in the living room – it was where initially the only record player in the house was though my parents always heard cassette tapes or radio. So he sits down, Gillan does his screaming bits, then Ritchie his guitar solo tour-de-force and I’m wondering all the time “Shall I turn it down? When will he finally says something?” The song finishes (i.e. the album side of my Hör Zu!-edition of In Rock did) and he picks up his stack of reading materials he has been studying all the while and says “Die können zur Abwechslung ja mal was.” which translates as “For a change, these guys can actually play.” My dad was otherwise more the Johnny Cash/Neil Diamond type (nothing wrong with either of them), he didn’t even like The Beatles (unlike my mom, born 1930, who loved them) – I don’t believe that DP ever received a higher validation! 😂
Elements would by today’s standards be ‘New Age~Ambience~Yoga~show-off-your-Kim-Kardashian-style-buttocks’ music! 🥝🧘♀️🌾
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkQ_xwacmXA
It was seriously ahead of its time and it is – along with Sarabande and Clear Air Turbulence – one of the few DP Family albums I would actually like to here an Dolby Atmos multichannel mix of, it would make sense with that record.
But to divulge to everyone a professional secret here, the ultimate seduction song from the DP family is of course this here …
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LdwgP9lBWXQ
If this doesn’t work, well … then you have to face it: You’re just not attractive … 😂
March 19th, 2024 at 17:32Ah…Time and Again…another all time fave. And yes, it can do the job. As Soldier of Fortune can, speaking from experience here. Although it makes you wonder if it’s more about THAT voice than your charming self …
Actuellay, Uwe, my father said something to that effect too. I had played Wild Dogs from Last Concert in Japan to him. Maybe our old men were just trying to be friendly …after all I rate some hip hop a bit better than I would if my younger boy wouldn’t play it to me.
March 21st, 2024 at 08:05I got to know Eminem via my son (born 94). For a year or two, he heard it day in, day out – it drove me nuts – and we had regular school visits because half bis ass was hanging out due to bis pants being (on a good day) slightly above his knees … :mrgreen;
But(t) what can I say? After a while I began to listen to the lyrics und realized that they were high (street) poetry compared to what Coverdale does. I noticed the intricate speech rhythms Eminem uses. And these days, I’m happy when I hear this, it’s a great piece of music:
https://youtu.be/_Yhyp-_hX2s
March 21st, 2024 at 22:43Well we’re not talking Eminem here, Uwe … 😀 There was a time the junior listened to …errrr… thankfully the names escaped me. Eminem – though not my cup of tea – sure has something for him. These days my boy plays Kanye West to me and apart from all the nonsense on social media that man is to be held responsible for his music is quite interesting in places. As is the music of Kendrick Lamar and others of course. And guess what happend just the other day? There comes my pride and joy and askes me if I had ever heard Always on my Mind by a certain Willie Nelson? Or Let it be Me by Elvis? The neighbours must have thought we had another tenant under our roof … My eldest one is right on track anyway and introduces me to classic stuff even I had not heard before. Lucky man I am.
Don’t be too harsh when it comes to Coverdale’s lyrics. He’s a blues man at heart. And if you dig real deep for a few decades you realise you can find in them … well whatever you put in actually. 😀 I just discoverd (sic!) – by the way have you seen Discoverdale? – there was a video to Come On from 1978 and watching it I realised you could read this as an answer to the punk-or-disco-challenge of that time: Come on…come on…and give your man some rock’n’roll … and get yourself some sweet rock’n’roll … After all it was the first song of the first EP and could be seen as a kind of war cry …followed by the trueblue rock’n’roll and boogie thing Bloody Mary. Or maybe I am stretching things a bit too much here. Anyway I always could relate to the simple blues metaphores DC uses.
March 22nd, 2024 at 12:04