![[hand]](/hs-pics/portraits/hands/gillan8.jpg)
![[face]](/hs-pics/portraits/faces/paice2.jpg)
Clenching and unclenching
Louder Sound presents a lengthy and very well put together feature on the current Deep Purple lineup, arrival of Simon McBride, the new album, and tour. With input from Ian Gillan, Roger Glover, and Simon McBride. The article also sheds some new light on the circumstances of Steve Morse’s departure from the band.
Except Morse himself is no longer a member of Deep Purple. The reason is complicated and emotive, and while his former bandmates are respectful and sensitive about the circumstances, they’re honest too. According to Glover, Morse had never been happy with Purple’s touring schedule.
“Steve really wanted to end the band around the Infinity album: ‘We’re back on top, we’re doing something great, let’s end now with a bang,’” says the bassist. “That didn’t go down too well with me or anybody else, really. First of all, I don’t want to stop. Second of all, going out with a bang is not the way this band does things. [Adopts hokey showman’s voice] ‘The last, final gig of Deep Purple – where’s it gonna be?’”
On July 31, 2022, it was announced that Steve Morse was leaving Deep Purple to concentrate on caring for his wife, who was suffering from stage four cancer. Today, Glover admits that it was the band’s decision to part ways with him.
“It was really tough,” he says. “We talked about it, we discussed it back and forth: ‘What are we going to do?’ We couldn’t take no action, something had to happen. He got [the news that he was being let go] from the management, but I called him and we talked. He was not happy, either. It was hard and it was sad, and after twenty-eight years of making some great music with Steve, it was… for me it was a tough decision. But that’s life sometimes.”
Glover says he’s talked to Morse since he left the band. “I’ve spoken to Steve several times. He was my choice in the band in the first place. There’s a connection between us that the others don’t have. So yeah, it’s difficult. But we talk, and we laugh. He’s a survivor.”
Has [McBride] spoken to Morse about it?
“Only over email. He was lovely at the start – whatever I needed, gear-wise, he said to use his. I spoke to him recently over email when his wife passed away [Janine Morse died in February 2024]. I get on fine with Steve. There’s no sour grapes there. It just is what it is.”
Has he had any grief from the more dug-in factions of Purple’s fan base?
“Steve got grief, Satriani got grief, Tommy Bolin got grief,” he says. “But strangely, when I joined it was more positive than anything. I could see people slagging me off, but the management were going: ‘It’s very minimal – it’s ninety-nine per cent positive.’ You’re always going to get the hard-core Ritchie fans who stopped listening to Deep Purple after he left. But Ritchie hasn’t been in the band for thirty-odd years. Times move on.”
Go read the whole thing. Seriously. There’s a lot more to dig in.
Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing
I always thought it was the band that wanted to move on from Steve and Roger confirms this. It must have been brutal after 28 years to get a call from management telling you you’re done. Their only playing one Steve Morse song on this tour and at the very least they should be playing a couple. At this point it’s almost as if Steve didn’t exist. Don’t get me wrong I’m glad there still doing it and lucky enough to get to 2 shows on this tour but man that is sad. See them again on Monday, the last show in the USA.
September 6th, 2024 at 23:15Jon Lord said one of the reasons he left Deep Purple was because “the singer never wants to go home.” DP tours far less now than before, but for decades it seemed they were on the road for eight or nine months of the year. Yet, Gillan was among those who said in 1973 that one of the prime reasons he was leaving the band was because of the constant touring. There’s nothing wrong with having the traveling bone. That’s just the nature of his personality – and the rest of the band’s, quite frankly. Obviously, the whole situation was tricky: you have a great, super-friendly guitarist in Steve Morse whose wife is dying. You want to be respectful, but time is ticking away when you’re in your late 70s, at least for cranking out live music for 90 minutes night after night. The pandemic was taking place. Are you going to take, perhaps, a two- or three year hiatus when you may only have six or seven years left in the tank? Sometimes, situations just evolve the way they do and nobody’s in the wrong. Everyone still has the good memories and music on the platter, “Just a Touch Away.”
September 7th, 2024 at 01:20Sorry, meant to say the last show in the US on Sunday not Monday.
September 7th, 2024 at 01:33This obviously answers a lot of questions! Steve’s made his mark (no pun intended) with Purple but I totally get the bands decision. He was in a very difficult place in his life and the band had to make an extremely tough call. Thank you Steve Morse for your 28 years of Purple and good luck, please be happy! I’m also glad DP didn’t call it quits they seem reborn and were awesome when we saw them 2 weeks ago!! Thank you RG for the truth!
September 7th, 2024 at 10:33I agree with the other George M. I felt there was more to this decision, and now we know there was.
Happy that the band made a new LP, but as much as I want to like it, I now listen to just a handful of tracks: The much maligned Show Me, the three video singles, and I’ll Catch You, which belongs in the pantheon of great Purple songs. As Obama once said of Hillary, the album is “likable enough.” But I prefer all of the Morse albums over =1. No knock on Simon. He fits in well.
I think Steve, like Jon before him, would have preferred that they’d spend more time making albums and tour far less frequently, and I would have preferred that they’d taken that path.
September 7th, 2024 at 13:02Been this blog follower since 00’s but haven’t actively engaged in discussion by early 2010’s, I feel I should share my take on this.
Cheers to Purple fans here, I am a late Purple fan from the late 90’s. Make no mistake, I was first attached to Mark 2 music first. My first love was 30: Very Best of Deep Purple, spinning it very often, irritated my dormitory mates (until I purchased headset). So that was my introduction to Steve Morse era, through 2 last songs.
But I embraced Mark 2, 3, (and 4!!) so much for years until mid 2000’s where I got the Abandon Australia and RAH DVD, and then later Abandon + Bananas albums. Steve’s guitar playing blew me away, the riff-medley was one of my favorite plus later Well-Dressed Guitar. And he made many Mark 2 songs his own (this is really his strength) . Then I became more of Mark 7 and 8 fan as years went by, purchased all their studio albums. Still remember 2 years ago I quickly grabbed Turning to Crime CD from the shop’s shelf.
Now regarding this case, I must admit I am really disappointed. I am always big big fan of ‘family’ bands, where the members respected and even close friends’ to each other. I always see my favorite band as a life’s reflection to me.
Def Leppard are perfect example. The drummer’s accident story is legendary, but the they waited around 2 years for Steve Clark to recover from his alcoholic problems. And that was after the huge success of Hysteria, which logically should be quickly followed as the momentum was high. Who else would do that?
So, why couldn’t they wait around 6 months for Steve to clear his mind to decide? This is about his wife who was very sick (or dying, to be frank). Not about drug/alcohol or conflict issue.
Or even if their machine were too hot to break, why can’t one or two of them go visit Steve and tell their decision right-to-the-face? Which is also a friendly-act, visiting your friend’s sick wife.
I was little surprised they were not really great friends, but even if it’s not (most bands I realized are like that), then why not talk like growing men to a working partner more than 20 years?
It’s Rod and Nick story again, ‘getting helps’ from management to tell your bandmates they got fired! Guess my favorite band here are not a ‘family-band’ like I expect it to be.
Damn, even the bad-guy band, Jagger and Richards paid visit to Brian Jones home to tell him the truth. As hurt as Brian was, he heard it right in the 1st place from his bandmates
This affected me so much that I stopped listening to Deep Purple almost completely from 2022-2023 (didn’t notice Mark IX ever played Time for Bedlam or Throw my Bones). When they visited my country I didn’t even bother to come.
Would I be a big Purple fan again like from 2000 – 2021? I did not know, but I guess I won’t stop listening to them even just sometimes. Of course including their new album also, although I admit my reaction to it is relegated from just a music-fan perspective, not from a big fan anymore. I think Simon’s playing is great from what I’ve heard, not a virtuoso like Ritchie or Steve, but he will put his mark.
I respect Roger’s big heart, try to connect with Steve. He’ll always be one of my favorite human being along with beloved Jon.
Well that’s my take, can’t afford not to mix it with my Purple history. Sorry if it is too long but I can’t hide myself. Cheers
September 7th, 2024 at 14:06Sometimes you have to look around and feel the present
Sometimes you have to look back and appreciate how you got here
Sometimes you have to see the humanity of it all and sacrifice self interests
Sometimes you have to say thank you we are here for you in such troubling times
Sometimes I feel like screaming
September 7th, 2024 at 14:39Close my eyes
It’s times like this
My head goes down
@6 Who said they weren’t friends? They are still friends; they wouldn’t have kept Steve in the band for nearly three decades if they didn’t get along great with him. But it came down to a business decision: Purple wanted to keep going, not take an indefinite leave of absence while pushing the age of 80. As for the guy who said “Why couldn’t they wait six months for Steve to clear his head?”, that is silly. First of all, the health situation with Steve’s wife went on for a few years, not six months. And it wasn’t about Steve “clearing his head”: he wasn’t going to tour with the band until his wife passed away, and no one knew when that would be. That’s the bottom line. It wasn’t the uncertainty over how long Steve would be on leave. DP had no definite answer on that; what if Steve’s wife lived for several more years? Shannen Doherty lived with breast cancer for 14 years.
September 7th, 2024 at 15:53@5 I think the events took the course they did because Big Ian is effectively running the band these days. I have a sense that he regrets all the opportunities he had missed earlier in his career and all the money he had not earned. Now he tries to compensate for that with touring, because it brings the money and recording doesn’t. Plus, like it’s been said multiple times, he loves being on the road and messing around with colorful characters.
If that’s not been the case, and the touring hadn’t been so exhausting, we might have seen a different picture. The British part of the band would be happy doing gardening, recording another album once in a while, and playing an odd show at the Rainbow or Marquee. And Steve, being American would be doing multiple projects and working till he dropped dead.
September 7th, 2024 at 16:36let’s be honest. outside the fan base and the sensational fans of the most banal music magazines… there are people who think that the singer should return home at a certain time. and they’re not necessarily all die-hard Blackmore fans.
September 7th, 2024 at 16:52be clear. I love the great Ian.
This band always head 2 big problem.
this group has always had two problems. album covers and personal relationships.
they clearly can’t resolve either.
For me Purple stopped in 2022.
Well, I guess they couldn’t invite SMcB in and then let him go when SM was ready to go with them again, they seem to be very decent people ☺️
September 7th, 2024 at 18:31I loved SM way of playing but SMcB is certainly very very good too 🥳
So the band fired Steve when he needed to care care of his gravely ill wife.
Their decision to make, obviously.
But now they rub salt in the wound by blabbing to the world that oh no, he didn’t quit, we fired him? Not too classy.
Blackmore seems to have been the most reprehensible ever member of the group, with his dangerous pranks that could have left someone dead.
But as Andre @6 says, Purple have never been a “family” band. It seems to have usually prioritised: business first, music second, friendship last.
Can’t argue with their success. Still, one wonders if they would have achieved Zeppelin-level status had they demonstrated similar loyalty to one another.
September 7th, 2024 at 18:34@9 Didn’t know the Rainbow or the Marquee were still going concerns… 😉
September 7th, 2024 at 18:41@6 Andre
Well said. That concept of growing up with Purple as a family band and being part your individual fabric is so true. For me it started at the age of 15 (1972) hearing the power of Highway Star coming through my stereo speakers.
You would think a bunch of almost 80 year olds would have some sort of life perspective or emotional empathy under these circumstances regarding a fellow band member’s pain and difficulties – a member who breathed new life into the band. Ironically, this same band member also gave them the opportunity to turn around and have him fired by management. This concept of =1 should really be =4 (5-1)
I can hear Marlon Brando: “ Steve it’s business nothing personal”. At least the Godfather had the courtesy to say it to his face before he shot him.
Beyond disappointing. Incredibly callous and disrespectful. Mind blowing at this stage of their lives and musical career.
Shame on them.
As someone said reminiscent of Rod Evans and Nicky Simper but at least you can attest that to youthful immaturity.
Glover / Paice/ Gillan/ Airey said we had no choice. There are always choices and you live with the consequences of your choices. Morse is EXTREMELY well respected as a musician and probably more so as a person in the music business. Firing a person like Steve Morse second hand through management at a time of personal tragedy for Morse is almost unforgivable.
How Morse got treated by the other members of DP will not go unnoticed and that will include the likes of Ritchie Blackmore. Satriani must be saying – ‘Thank God’. One thing Morse brought back to Deep Purple was gravitas and respectability along with his musical connections expanding Purple’s inclusion into the world of other fellow musicians. I’m afraid that has taken a big hit.
To paraphrase Glover ‘They said they wanted to move on , this is not the end. We don’t know how it’s going to end but it’s not going to end this way’.
It’s interesting that Steve Morse encouraged the band to go out on a high note after Infinite. According to Glover that didn’t go down well – ‘that’s not how we do things’ despite teasing fans with the deceitful marketing of the Long Goodbye tour and playing Purple’s 1st ever recorded song ‘And the Address’ as the last song on Whoosh at the behest of Bob Ezrin ( very Lennon-like / Beatleish – “Paul is dead” – don’t you think🙄). I didn’t realize there was a blueprint on this, but it certainly was clear that ‘We’ didn’t include Morse or his perspective. Interestingly, in a post Infinite group interview, Gillan said this band would continue until one of “us” calls it a day. I guess having a band member’s wife suffering from stage 4 cancer and eventual death wasn’t enough for them to call it a day. But then I realized Morse was the only one missing from that interview.
For them it’s not the end. Good for them. They can go on and produce another Highway Star (they won’t) and I won’t blink an eye (some things are more important to me at this stage of my life) and it can be written on their tombstones that they persevered through tough and troubling times but they kept touring and continued to produce great music.
Up until now it’s been interesting and fun. After all these years some things transcend just another album or another tour. Purple has been more than just a machine or a song for me – it’s been a cultural relationship. Too bad it’s over. At least we have a catalogue of great music
September 7th, 2024 at 19:21Deep Purple are left in 3, Gillan, Paice & Glover, when one of them is gone the band will end.
They themselves will never admit it, but in their heads their only true guitarist remains Ritchie Blackmore.
I think that even without Don the band would still go on.
Deep Purple are a live band, their dimension is the stage, it was no longer Steve’s dimension (for understandable reasons), and for me it was right that they went on without him.
they made the best choice, then I just hope it wasn’t a cold and ugly dismissal by management, and that it was an amicable separation anyway.
This is the first interview where something leaks out, I hope it was not reported accurately.
However, we will never fully know the dynamics within the MK VIII in the last few years
September 7th, 2024 at 22:44I have been a Deep Purple fan since 1969 when I got my hands on their 3rd self titled album. Still in my books one of my favourites and a hidden gem of a great album.
September 7th, 2024 at 23:17I have often wished with age all the still living members could occasionally do the odd guest appearance with each other.
Almost like a a roundabout.
Imagine if Blackmore would join DP on stage occasionally … or Coverdale showed up at a Blackmore’s Night concert …Ian Paice stops by to join Glenn Hughes etc etc …Glover joins Satch
I know just wishful thinking but this drawn out animosity is really needless as we all get closer to that final curtain ..
Morsecode, I agree with you 100%!! Yes, how Morse got treated by the band will not go unnoticed!! They are my favorite band of all time, but I am hugely disappointed by their treatment of Morse. I am not surprised though. Look at how they treated Evans and Simper in 1969, Glover in 1973 and Turner in 1992. Blackmore is my favorite guitarist of all time but, with Steve, who was BIG in the area I live in with the Dregs, they produced albums that, in my opinion, are up there with anything they made with Blackmore IMHO (if anyone doesn’t like my opinion, too bad!!) Glover’s statement that there’s a connection between him and Steve that the other’s don’t have says a lot!! Of course, the way they treated Coverdale and Hughes at the RNR HOF says a lot so Steve shouldn’t be surprised!! Yes, I’m bringing this up again!! They could have opened with Coverdale/Hughes opening with Burn, Glover and Gillan doing Hush, then all of them doing Smoke (with Steve doing a little bit of Getting Tighter before going into Smoke. Oh, well, they got a new guitar player and made the album they wanted to make, =1, which IMHO, sucks!! Will I buy any new album they make. Yes. Why? Because Simon is an excellent Guitar Player and I don’t want to take my bad feelings about the band out of him. He, just like Morse, seems to be a nice guy.
September 8th, 2024 at 00:01I wrote about this interview here a couple of weeks ago, it had been published in Classic Rock, even quoted Roger Glover verbatim, there was absolutely no reaction to it then, now everybody is distraught, go figure.
What happened to Steve is what would have happened to him at any job if he had said “I can’t do the work anymore, I need to care for my wife.” DP’s work is touring, that is where the money is, they only record for fun, to reassure themselves of their continuing relevance and to promote another tour. What Steve did was noble, what DP did without alternative if they want to tour until one of them drops dead.
Admittedly, he deserved to hear it from a band member, but Purple as an organization have never had a good dismissal culture. I’m not aware that anybody, not Rod nor Nicky, not Roger, not Tommy and Glenn, not Big Ian after Nobody’s Perfect, not JLT and now not Steve, ever got his papers other than via the management. Big Ian in 1973, Ritchie twice and Jon after the Millennium initiated their own departures, Jon, Little Ian and DC dissolved the band in 1976 without telling either Glenn or Tommy. Both heard it from the management months later.
September 8th, 2024 at 00:414/5=1
Life comes down to what you want to do and how you go about making that decision and put that decision into action.
Two men can decide that an individual needs to be executed, however, one wants to do it as painlessly as possible while the other wants the person to be drawn and quartered. Two very distinct ways to proceed and a window into the soul of each.
Gillan et al. had an integral member of their band of the last 28 years running into a personal struggle/ tragedy that was interfering with their typical way of business, of touring etc.
There were 4 choices:
1. Put the band on hiatus and support the band member for an allotted period of time
2. Try to create a tour that would suit and meet the needs of all members
3. Call an end to Deep Purple
4. Find a new guitarist and march on.
This entails deciding what to do and how to go about doing the what.
All these choices are not easy and painful in different ways. What is most important is how to go about making these decisions as painful and difficult as they are.
At the very least it should entail basic communication and discussion amongst all 5 band members. In this time of FaceTime there is no excuse to not have that discussion.
Roger Glover stated that WE discussed every which way and in the end a decision was made to have management let Steve Morse know he was being fired. It turns out the WE was 4/5th of the band.
Nobody is going to tell me that they didn’t think of getting rid of Steve Morse before this. Probably after Infinite when Morse spoke of closure etc their radar was up. They already knew they had at their disposal a very good guitarist who was willing and more importantly available. This made their decision easy. No calling around, no auditions. A safe easy choice. (If a safe easy choice wasn’t available the decision may have been different).
In the end 4 of the 5 members of Deep Purple had a discussion, that excluded Steve Morse, which led to the decision to replace him officially with Simon McBride. They also made the decision for management to communicate to Steve Morse that he was fired from the band.
A class act
That will forever be part of their legacy
September 8th, 2024 at 00:57@17 Get a life. All this whining about how Steve was treated is laughable. I’m sure he would say the same, in retrospect. The band is pushing 80. They want to continue to perform while they still have the energy. No one knew how long Janine would hang on; was Purple supposed to sit around for five or 10 years waiting for Steve’s situation to resolve itself? It would have been different if Steve had said, “Look, can I take a six- or eight-month break?” But he didn’t because he didn’t know how long Janine had. Deep Purple did what it had to do. And the album with McBride rocks.
September 8th, 2024 at 01:13As this particular topic has come into full bloom with the publication of Purple’s latest interview in Louder Sound, I am reposting something I wrote a couple of months ago…..
……It seems to me that Steve must now be feeling somewhat the same way Gillan himself felt at times when he was no longer part of the band. Here’s a quote from Gillan in a 2006 interview on KNAC.com, in relation to the Mark III vocalists (ie: Coverdale & Hughes)…..
“””But I wouldn’t classify them as friends because I didn’t develop any relationship with them because I was doing different things when they were in Deep Purple. And to be honest, that was a weird period anyway, because I take these things extremely personally and I get quite emotional about things. When I left the band I didn’t pay much attention to what Purple was doing—it’s like watching your ex-Missus making love to some other guy. That doesn’t turn me on.”””
September 8th, 2024 at 01:20Only a matter of time before Gillan gets the call from management. His current performances are painful to watch. The next Mark could take Purple forward for some years to come, the instrumental sections of the band remain at the top of their game. Just need to identify a suitable replacement vocalist.
September 8th, 2024 at 09:01@6 You describe exactly my feelings when Gillan und Glover left or were fired in 1973. One music magazin quoted Jon Lord: “We always wanted to have to singers.” (I don’t know if it was a true quote.) I immediatly stopped listening to Deep Purple, stopped buying their records and didn’t to it until 1993. And only in the late 90ies I bought the MK3 und 4 albums and began to learn about the true history of the band, It’s sad what happened to Steve (all good whishes to him), but nowadays I got used to things like that. And I am glad that Deep Purple is still around. Now with Steve McBride.
September 8th, 2024 at 10:02I agree with you Graham about the Third album!! Easily one of my favorite DP albums!!
September 8th, 2024 at 11:21Obviously emotions are running high here after reading the truth about Steve’s dismissal from DP. I totally get that being a “Yank” as I’ve been called here I am a huge fan of Steve. How he was let go was a business decision plain and simple, could it have been handled better especially with what he was going through – YES! The quote from Glover that says it all is “Steve wanted to end the band around the Infinity album”. That’s when it became a ‘band decision’ sad for sure but the guys didn’t agree obviously. Still my favorite band ALWAYS will be! Life isn’t always fair.
September 8th, 2024 at 12:27I bet if, for some reason, it just comes down to Gillan being the only one left in the band, they will still keep going.
And if for some reason Simon ever gets sacked, they will be saying the exact same things they said about Steve. “It was lovely working with him, but we’re glad he’s gone”, or whatever.
September 8th, 2024 at 13:09@8 Firing your working partner for 20 years + through third party (management) while he’s caring for his beloved family member is never a friendly act, let alone an act by real friends. It is an insult
@14 Well said
The bottom line is, Steve Morse is too nice, a wonderful human being, that he was willing to took the high road. No public complaints, no outcry, like in many other bands. Otherwise we would not see the end of it until today.
You must already know Joe Lynn Turner words in an interview after his firing from the band, “Deep Purple can go to hell! ”
I don’t know what others think, but the words by Steve after his exit “They were upset for … seconds, then moved on” and “it was bizarre..”, raised some suspicion in my head, that it might not as peaceful as we thought. Also “Simon is better fit for them. They’re now churning more gigs.”
The following farewell messages from 4 members kinda neutralized me for a while. But then more indications came to surface. The WTF moment for me was when Gillan said “Simon is the best thing happened to the band” in satisfaction. That rings the bell..
Earlier, I’m not on Coverdale and Hughes side, who strangely several years after RRHoF, still looked bitter, some strong words about the remaining Mark 2 members (Dave praised Don and Morse if I’m not mistaken). I was like, what happened to you guys?
But now I could step on their shoes and see from where they’re coming. Maybe they’re right..
Now if they were really close, why there is no invitation so far for Morse to guest on Purple show in USA, or even at least just met them backstage?? Esp. since the exit was abrupt
There are parallel stories from other bands similar to this:
1. Ace Frehley (ex-KISS) fired his longtime guitarist Ritchie Scarlet over the phone, while he was still caring for his dying wife in 2018. Ritchie hanged up. Ace felt really bad about it. And when Ritchie’s wife died, Ace quickly contacted Ritchie, offering some cash to help, and even attended the funeral. While weren’t as close as before, at least they’re not become enemies or got estranged. I think they reunited once or several times on stage in the following years.
2. The recent exit of Kiko, Megadeth former lead guitarist due to family reason replaced by Teemu. While asked by media, Dave Mustaine told he never really asked the details of Kiko’s family situation but he granted the exit anyway. Dave always explaining in sort of “My friend Kiko left because…” while praising the new guitarist.
What I could understand now, Steve Morse was fired from Deep Purple.
It’s not a group of friends do a band meeting (could even be through video), decide to part ways with one, followed by warm handshakes or gestures and saying good luck to each other. No.
Nothing wrong with choosing to move on with new member in the situation like that. But you know there are better ways to communicate it than what has happened. I guess personal relationship is this band’s weakness.
September 8th, 2024 at 15:04IMHO Purpendicular sits along side Machine Head and In Rock and the other 70s stuff. I think that since Steve was the new boy Jon Lord stepped up in the song writing and came up with stuff like Rosa’s Cantina. After Purpendicular Jon allowed the others to do the song writing.
September 8th, 2024 at 17:05There are some harsh judgments here. I see the decision as reflecting an acute awareness of mortality–which doesn’t necessarily justify the decision as right, but does make it easier to forgive. As one gets older, the years fly by incredibly fast, and while another ten years may seem like an age to someone in their forties or fifties, it doesn’t when you’re in your seventies, or even sixties. Gillan, Glover, and Paice could very easily become incapacitated or die in the next three years, and I bet they think about it a lot. It makes just one year very precious indeed.
We should also distinguish between the decision to let someone go and the way you tell them. I entirely understand feeling enormous reluctance to have a face-to-face conversation. But sometimes we have to turn to face the source of pain and then walk toward it.
September 8th, 2024 at 18:58One thing worth bearing in mind:
Generally speaking, musicians are often not very well-adjusted people.
September 8th, 2024 at 22:09The Obvious
As we have all reiterated, it was quite apparent when Deep Purple management announced on the morning of July 23, 2022 that Steve Morse would be officially leaving the band there was more to the story.
Knowing now that Gillan et al. decided to terminate Morse while he was taking a mutually agreed upon hiatus from touring (to care for his wife after coming out of remission for stage 4 ovarian cancer) you can easily piece together how events unfolded.
In July of 2022, DP was winding down a short European tour with Simon McBride as Steve Morse’s replacement. Another tour was scheduled to begin in September with Morse planning to return for that tour. He was taking the hiatus to make sure his wife was stable, cared for and preparing both of them for the September tour.
Gillan et al as a foursome had other plans.
Everything was going quite smoothly with McBride who was a very good guitarist and didn’t have the unfortunate emotional baggage that Steve Morse was carrying.
Despite the agreed upon hiatus and return of Steve Morse to the subsequent tour, a decision, without any discussion with Steve Morse, was reached by Gillan/Glover/Paice/Airey to fire Steve Morse and make McBride the official replacement. As McBride said, something was up while sitting in a bar with Airey and asked are we celebrating something? The next day while the band was “knocking down some beers” Ian Gillan turned to McBride and asked: “Are you in the band or what?” Word had just came down from management that it was official – Steve Morse was fired and would be officially announced the next morning. McBride said yes and as he said there was quite a celebration.
Meanwhile no celebration for Steve Morse. No contact no support from his band mates just management. 28 years of dedication over in a sterile minute.
As Glover said “that’s life”
I get that Gillan and co. didn’t want to deal with Morse’s personal baggage and future uncertainty regarding Morse’s availability if things again turned for the worse for his wife.
What I don’t get is the lack of humanity shown towards a band member of 28 years who helped revive a rudderless Deep Purple.
Wish them all the best.
September 8th, 2024 at 22:53Like sands through the hour glass, so are the days of our lives………………………..
September 8th, 2024 at 23:11@ 22- while I agree with Gillan struggling etc, it is an age related thing that happens to most. I don’t agree with him being replaced at all. An original singer & writer of a bands known & classic material is irreplaceable. Tribute lead vocalist they are, look at tother classic era bands that decide for whatever reason to march on, someone paying tribute to the original master of prose, timing, elegant vocal delivery & nuance etc etc.
The original vocalist is connected to the music like no other. The replacement vocalist is mimicking in a sad way. One of those bands is supporting DP currently. As Oscar Wilde said, “‘Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery that mediocrity can pay to greatness”. Cheers.
#22 Andrew
Gillan will be the last singer of Deep Purple, just as Paice will be the last drummer and Glover the last bassist.
September 8th, 2024 at 23:14When one of them disappears, MK II will stop to exist, and with it Deep Purple as a band.
this is their current life until the end.
Steve wasn’t “fired”, he made a unilateral move to have DP’s cooperation agreement, which he signed up for, changed: indefinite gardening leave for him to care for Janine/suspension of his obligation to play live internationally OR, alternatively, termination of the band as a touring entity.
Does really anybody believe that this could have been acceptable to the others, that Steve gets to decide with which line-up DP tours internationally, but gets to switch back whenever DP play within driving distance of his farm at the local watering hole, OR how long Airey’s, Gillian’s, Glover’s and Paice’s professional careers as touring musicians are to continue?
DP wasn’t the Steve Morse Band lest you have forgotten.
And it’s not like they jumped at the chance to sever ties with him, there was a substantial period of grace for Steve to return to live playing, but he couldn’t commit. Understandably so, but DP is not an insurance company to enable home care for and by family members.
DP did not for one minute consider slowing down touring to accommodate Jon when he said it was becoming too much for him, he accepted that and took the hard decision himself. But they are supposed to do it for Steve? Why is no one asking the question why Steve didn’t take the bull by the horns and say: “Look you guys, it was great while it lasted, but Janine is now my number one priority. I can’t say when and how I will be able to tour internationally with you again. But DP, of all bands, needs a permanent guitarist on stage every night. Go find someone new for good, you have my blessings, and I hope I have your understanding. I need to do this.”
September 9th, 2024 at 02:13hi
September 9th, 2024 at 11:08just have to say typical ewe standing up for everything the old purple members do…wether its right or wrong……im a huge steve morse fan and glad hes out of purple…he was much to good a musician and person to put up with them…..ive left purple music behind years ago bout time they now retired …gillan cant sing and paiceys drumming boring…sorry guys but the old stalwarts of these messages must stop ignorantly championing everything the old purple guys do ….now i await the flack!!!
One final thought and No Need to Shout
Skippy O’Nasica @12 brought this up.
Why did Glover feel the need after 2 years to reveal that the four of them fired Morse?
Up until that time, everyone including Glover including Morse spoke as if Morse resigned. Glover interview after interview told the same story – consistent and respectful. It appears everyone had some verbal or tacit understanding- call it saving face, or avoiding embarrassment/humiliation , or making sure the optics were good as the band transitioned to avoid controversy and bad press.
Why the sudden change in story 2 years later? Did he feel the band was on a more secure footing that he felt safe and compelled to tell ‘the truth’ to the public? Does anybody know what time it is? Does anybody really care?
So Glover now says no no no truth be told it wasn’t really like that – we fired him blah blah blah / yada yada yada
On the surface it comes across as ‘honest’ Roger.
For what and whose purpose did this serve or was it just some slightly arrogant self indulgent unfiltered thought?
Was it necessary to reveal ‘the real story’ 2-3 months after the death of Steve Morse’s wife?
You know I think we – or at least I do – give these guys too much credit or hold them to a higher standard than they are capable when in fact they aren’t all that bright and insightful particularly when it comes to personal relationships and in the end quite dysfunctional with a little arrogance and self importance thrown in despite what comes out of their mouths.
The more I think about it the the dynamics are very strange – but that’s Deep Purple
September 9th, 2024 at 12:27Terrible how they let Steve go. And Gillan needs to retire.
September 9th, 2024 at 13:58Without going into the particulars of the relationship (and end of it) between Morse and DP, I find it interesting that so many fans seem to have a romantic picture of their favorite bands being best buddies travelling the world together, laughing and rooming with each other, and living in the same village with their wives looking after each other’s kids when the guys are on tour. Maybe that is the experience people have from their little non-professional bands playing around the neighbourhoods. I find that most professional bands, especially if they have been around for a while, doesn’t always need to be “best friends” just because they are making music together. It’s a job, it’s a buiness, there are a lot of people working for the band outside of the musicians actually playing the music.
Some band’s members only meet when they are on stage and they communicate through their managers. Does that mean they hate each other? Not always. Does that make the music worse? Not always. Do you even know when you see the band on stage? Not always.
Fans are surprised when they realise some bands travel in separate cars or buses, or live in separate hotels. Fans are surprised to find out their favorite band wasn’t in the studio together when they recorded their last album. Fans are surprised the newest member doesn’t really become a “member”, just a sideman on a monthly salary.
September 9th, 2024 at 14:12So my tongue in cheek comment about Gillan getting fired wasn’t recognised as such. I was spoofing ablut the way DP tend to treat band members so ruthlessly and pretty disrespectfully to be honest.
I agree with many of the comments above. All I can say is I have met Gillan, didn’t like him as an individual, arrogant and self important. I have also met Morse. Likeable, respectful and friendly. Glover also very friendly and happy to share a casual conversation. I always admired Gillan for his vocals in DP and Gillan particularly and still do but the old adage about not meeting your heroes certainly rings true with him. Morse is better off out of it. The current line up will stumble on for a while pretending to be reborn but will inevitably and quickly lose credibility and their right to a respectable legacy.
September 9th, 2024 at 14:54What Svante says.
Playing with your best friends or your wife in one band can be heaven or it can be hell, it’s rarely in between. Playing in a band with people you just appreciates for what they bring to the band as musicians avoids these highs and lows —> better for the longevity of the band, believe me.
Believing that the best bands consist of best buddies is a romantic fan projection like believing that Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman had an off-set romantic affair because they played a longing couple in Casablanca. Nope, they didn’t. She didn’t even find him attractive (never mind, he had Lauren Bacall to get over that).
Anybody who thinks that DP are an example of especially bad intra-band climate hasn’t seen what bands with a really poisonous situation look like. DP is a holiday camp, but a holiday camp with rules, and one of those rules at the entrance door in broad view reads: “You have to like to play live and tour with us – a lot.” It has been the mantra of the band ever since its existence. When Ian lost Bron, there was no let-up in band activity, touring is likely therapy to him, different strokes for different folks.
And another thing: It wasn’t selling records that has made Steve Morse an economically at the very least comfortable to affluent man after decades of living on a shoestring from music. It was touring the world, playing live night after night and putting bums on seats. That is how he earned money the last thirty years. All the treatment affordable could sadly not save Janine because the world is a cruel shithole sometimes, but it was thankfully not for lack of financial resources. For a lot of other people in the US, a cancer affliction of a family member breaks the bank real soon. Steve did altogether very well with Purple (as did the band with him), the end could have been nicer, but neither party has to have regrets. It was a good and lengthy chapter.
September 9th, 2024 at 17:12It’s not about a romantic situation. Its about “almost human”.
September 9th, 2024 at 17:26when a guy takes your band and carries it for 28 years, constantly criticized by people who think he doesn’t know how to play smoke on the water… then he even suggests the producer you like so much now, even though he cuts all the guitar parts .. and he tells you “I don’t want to give up, I’m just taking a break for family reasons”..well.. because ok, Steve would have liked to close with a boom… but he would have conformed to the majority. would have brought the band to an end, one way or another.. in my opinion, those who don’t understand this have the belief that purples are 3 + 2. Partly true. but that’s not entirely true. if you like to think in business terms then I would like to see what would happen if tomorrow Ian Pace had a stomach ache and they left him at home and replaced him with a shift worker… would you still like the business? to what extent is a band a band? where does the machine begin? for me the one now is a machine, and I have chosen to prefer a band.. then let me say that I see people who only now discover that the highway star solo is made with two guitar parts and they are amazed.. and then they come to me say how good McBride is.. people who complain about mitzy dupree’s intro but then listen to that childish thing that is “if I where you”..
Alas!, Lord Andrew, that clamorous harbinger of blood and death, opines on the ultimate downfall of the House of Purple!
“Things bad begun make strong themselves by ill.”
https://www.ric.edu/sites/default/files/styles/width_860/public/2023-10/macbeth_5x8_cover.jpg?itok=tPUpSZSc
Can we have it a little less dramatic? Something involving ping pong balls perhaps?
September 9th, 2024 at 17:28@35/@39
You guys are spot on.
Just a final comment:
* There are two bookcases of guitarists: the first one is huge with beautiful wood and it’s called JAGG (Just Another Great Guitarist) where you can find Simon under M. The other one is a smaller beautiful gold leaf lined bookcase under lock and key called The Select Section where sits Steve Morse comfortably along with Ritchie Blackmore, Jan Akkerman, Jeff Beck, Ronnie Montrose, Jimmy Page just to name a few.
Steve Morse had it right: go out on a high note – for you and the fans – it doesn’t have to be a circus as Glover likes to parody – but as professionals, as a celebration of your career and for your fans. The latter being the most important.
From an interview with Steve Morse in 2017 ( Interestingly at that time Purpendicular and Infinite were his favorite albums and he lauded Bob Ezrin)
Ritchie Blackmore has mentioned his interest in playing one last show with the band. How do you feel about that?
MORSE: Well, he’s one of the founding members of Deep Purple. Fans would love it. It would be nice, I think, to see closure with everybody involved, and the bad feelings put aside. I think they’d all get a kick out of it if they could get past the psychological barriers. I am a fan of music, I’m a musician. I am not a politician.
Now, a lot of people would feel intimidated, to have somebody come who’s likely to play over them, standing in front of them and stealing the spotlight or whatever. But I thought, a lot of people would love to see this.
…. at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, I (some) thought Ritchie Blackmore was going to show up. He could’ve played three songs, but I ended up doing them, because he didn’t (show up). That was up in the air.
There have been a lot of bad things said and done amongst the guys, and anyhow, it is like the ice has to be broken. I think that once that’s done, they’d all have a great time. But I don’t know how to go about doing that. Anyway, as far as I am concerned, all members, past and present and future (laughs) of Deep Purple, are welcome.
The irony of that last sentence.
Steve Morse is a unicorn in the world of Rock.
September 9th, 2024 at 19:07Uwe you rascal! I couldn’t have said it better myself!
September 9th, 2024 at 19:24QCHR @41: But DP have performed with someone from the holy trinity calling in sick – when Roger has his knees done, Nick Fyffe deputized, I saw one of the gigs. Same with the gigs in India Don could not attend with the young Wakeman stepping in. That’s perfectly ok to do to save a commitment and not disappoint fans.
Should Purple dissolve when one of the Ians or Roger calls it a day or if Don or Simon drop out? Frankly, I’d leave that decision up to the then remaining band members and at least initially give any replacement the benefit of doubt. It’s not really a resolution for us to make. The Stones continue without Charlie who was essential for their groove. The band sounds different with the new guy, yes, but has it lost all musical merit because of it?
September 9th, 2024 at 20:25@ 39 – I knew what you meant @ 22 because that has already occurred before & look at the results, S & M. But good on you for highlighting it because there are a lot of ‘fans’ of many things in this life, that do stick through & through with a ‘brand’ rather than a band, if you know what I mean. Cheers.
September 9th, 2024 at 21:41if I have to think of deep friendships in Purple I would say Gillan & Glover for all the years they shared even from the beginning in episode six, and then Lord & Paice who were also married to the sisters Vickie & Jacky were more intimate with each other.
I think Little Ian doesn’t have the same relationship that Big Ian & Roger have with each other.
I also believe that if “the Maestro” was still alive, we would have seen a reunion with the Man in Black, the time would have been ripe, and some very esteemed words from Gillan towards Blackmore in recent interviews, make me think of this.
the reality is that Don will never be 100% in the group but is simply the best possible replacement for John on the face of the planet.
we really don’t know how much life the guys still have ahead of them, only they know, and I fear that the decision to continue to set all the stages of the world on fire is a Carpe Diem, and could hide some bad news.
If they fired Steve badly, I feel sorry for the golden boy, but in my opinion it will have been a separation as adults, a shock for all of them anyway.
#43 Morsecode:
Steve was very kind to say that he would have liked Ritchie to go to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, but it’s easy to say that when you know he wasn’t going!
someone who wrote above that Gillan can’t sing and Paice can’t play should go to the ENT doctor and have his ears cleaned…
September 9th, 2024 at 22:53I’m not surprised. Gillan’s thriving megalomania makes it unacceptable that this “king” doesn’t like it. Life has shown that they really should have stopped after Infinity. Instead, they kept releasing albums, one worse than the other, and eventually hired a cover-band-level guitarist who, having found himself in such stellar company, would meekly endure all the king’s whims. This is not even business, this is the egoism of an individual, multiplied by age-related changes. It’s a shame it has come to this. History knows many examples when band members suspended their activities if one of them had to solve family problems. But these are families, and Deep Purple, obviously, has never been a family. It was a hypocritical act.
September 10th, 2024 at 08:21Uwe Hornung says:
… The band sounds different with the new guy, yes, but has it lost all musical merit because of it?
Yes. Band without guitarist is not rock band.
September 10th, 2024 at 08:24I don’t think that the Morse comment, which is a good one & deserves being repeated again, was in relation to the Hall induction, I could be wrong though. I thought it was probably for a get together anywhere & at everyones convenience. I wasn’t at all surprised by Morse saying that and applauded from far away. As he says, he isn’t a politician, he is a musician. It is easier for him to say that though as he isn’t connected in any way to the past baggage of the band Deep Purple.
September 10th, 2024 at 08:39I would imagine he would have cringed silently at the beginning of & throughout his tenure with DP, if there were certain negative things said about Ritchie. Maybe he never heard anything negative, who can tell. There was so much animosity at that time, especially around the 1994 era. So good on Morse for saying that, class he is & it would have been nice to see if that ever did happen back then sometime. However it IS all sand through the hourglass nowadays. Cheers.
@ 40 – “Believing that the best bands consist of best buddies is a romantic fan projection like believing that Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman had an off-set romantic affair because they played a longing couple in Casablanca. Nope, they didn’t. She didn’t even find him attractive (never mind, he had Lauren Bacall to get over that).” Come on Uwe, is that the best you can do (just joking)? What about Fleetwood Mac in the mid 1970’s. The perfect Love fest scenario band, major success with popular music & concerts & the ultimate lovey dovey band relationships. Christine & John McVie & also Nicks & Buckingham, the ideal rock ‘n roll love couples & also Nicks then allegedly with Fleetwood wasn’t it? Perfecto, touring the world & everything at their feet, the world truly was their oyster, what could possibly go wrong???????????? Cheers.
September 10th, 2024 at 09:20Buckingham/Nicks era Fleetwood Mac is a prime example of what wonderful music you can create as you hate and try to hurt each other. 😎
Dima, @49, errm … I was speaking about how the Stones sound different without Charlie Watts drumming (they also changed in sound when Bill Wyman no longer played bass for them).
Simon, “a cover-band-level guitarist”? Let’s agree to disagree. I’ve seen the man play intricate fusion pieces from Colosseum II in the Don Airey Band which would have frankly been beyond the technical grasp of either Ritchie or Tommy (I’m assuming that those two are not regarded as “cover-band-level” by you!):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gm7TKrV7OuU
You might not like that type of music but it is expertly (and energetically) played and way above “cover-band-level”.
September 10th, 2024 at 17:36Hi dima. After listening to their latest album, I would agree, YES, they have lost all musical merit.
September 10th, 2024 at 17:51Fremdom of thought und speech can be a tasking affair, sigh!
And intellectual accuracy isn’t the strong point of sweeping arguments.
September 10th, 2024 at 20:42What sets apart the elite guitarists from the rest of the pack is their musicality and ability to create. There are thousands of guitarists that can copy and shred – just go to YouTube.
September 10th, 2024 at 22:09So Ewe – what you’re saying is that McBride is a great technician and does a great cover/imitation of Gary Moore something Tommy Bolin or Ritchie Blackmore couldn’t do. I can possibly buy that but maybe not Bolin. I would refer you to Quadrant Billy Cobham/ Mind Transplant Alphonse Mouzon – oh wait that’s ORIGINAL creative guitar work – never mind. I’m sure McBride can handle it though.
September 10th, 2024 at 23:14Hi Uwe.
September 11th, 2024 at 11:38The Don Airey Band, with all due respect, is not an outstanding project. As was rightly noted above, there are many capable imitators in the world. McBright’s performance on stage with Deep Purple showed his very mediocre level both in improvisations (where he sometimes played regular scales forward and backwards or simply held one note for a long time) and in classical parts, which he performed in a technically simplified manner (although similar to the original in sound). This is not a personality for such a legendary group, this is an ordinary no-name imitator without the ability to improvise, which any Deep Purple guitarist should have by default.
Purple waren von Beginn an ein Kunstprodukt. Jon und Ritchie bauten das Projekt und Coletta u.a. sponsorten es.
September 11th, 2024 at 14:06Unabhängig davon hatte jeder Musiker zu seiner Zeit, die Berechtigung in Band zuspielen. Ritchie ging, Tommy trug seinen Teil zur Auflösung bei, Ritchie ging erneut und Steve kam, Jon ging und dann ging Steve.
Davids Projekt Whitesnake läuft gut, Rainbow und BN liefen/laufen gut, Jon’s Solokarriere lief gut und Steve’s Karriere wird weitergehen. Big Ian, wird immer nur an seiner Arbeit mit Purple gemessen werden und das ist gut so.
Ian Gillan Band 2.0 seit Bananas.
Whoa, look at this. Previously we have had the feuds between the fans of Blackmore and Bolin, Blackmore and Morse, and now Morse and McBride. Boys bring it on! Let the fur fly! This is rock’n’roll!
September 11th, 2024 at 14:10I bought Spectrum in 1976 because of Tommy’s playing and liked it from the start (it was my first Jazz Rock album unless you count Blood, Sweat & Tears of which I had three albums of as Jazz Rock), when did you get your copy, Mörsiecödie? 😘
Bolin was a natural with a highly individual style and original ideas, one of my favorite DP members, but technically he was neither a Ritchie nor a Joe nor a Steve nor a Simon. That doesn’t take away anything of his greatness and singularity, but he couldn’t replicate one Joe Walsh solo while in James Gang nor one Blackmore solo while in DP – that just wasn’t in him. But he was a wonderful Tommy Bolin with charm galore, I miss him.
Why not give a few Simon McBride solo albums a listen before dismissing him as devoid of any originality? When I hear =1, I hear him neither aping Ritchie nor Steve. I hear someone who, oh yes, obviously heard Gary Moore a lot (NOT one of my favorite guitarists for many reasons) and has a grasp of what his predecessors in DP did (as he should) plus a member of a new generation of post EvH Eruption guitarists. He has eclectic influences, what’s wrong with that? He’s not Adrian Belew in originality and the defying of convention, but then DP isn’t King Crimson either.
September 11th, 2024 at 16:22#56 Morsecode:
however keep in mind that nowadays any instrument a musician can play, the styles have already been defined by previous musicians (in no particular order Ritchie, Hendrix, Van Halen, Gary Moore, Steve Ray Vaughan, Jonny Winter, Chuck Berry, Al di Meola, Santana, Neal Schon, Lindsey Buckingham, Paco de Lucia, John Petrucci, Satriani, Steve Vai, Greg Howe, Eric Clapton, Mark Knopfler, and then those from Iron Maiden, all the thrash guitarists, the list is endless and there’s Steve Morse in it too of course).
but for a young or middle-aged guitarist there is nothing new to invent, there is only to make the paths of others your own, and create good music.
exactly what Simon does so well
September 11th, 2024 at 19:52I don’t want to turn this into a McBride bashing thread because he doesn’t deserve it and he seems like a nice guy, a victim of circumstances and a very good and nice sounding guitarist. Uwe I said I have his solo and Don Airey albums. His solo stuff is pretty much run of the mill blues rock – nothing special or imaginative. For comparison, I refer people to give Gary Hoey a listen who does it better and with more creativity in his playing. Plus he could easily cover the Deep Purple music with his eyes closed and yes he can shred (who doesn’t these days?) just in case people are wondering. “People came from miles around and said man who’s he”.
Some of the greatest guitarists are not the most technically gifted as UWE rightly points out with Tommy Bolin (even Jimi Hendrix) but rather it’s the whole package as a musician/artist. Uwe no need to be snarky about when either of else fell into Bolin. If it’s important I’ve been following Bolin since the early 70s and saw him live just before he died.
What Gillan wanted (and got) is a young buck who can tolerate the rigors of touring and play the live stuff very well. Someone without any emotional baggage to distract or drain him and his machine, someone who could carry them a little further towards the finish line so his baby Deep Purple and Roger can simply fade away (they are on that path) and rock ‘til they drop (unfortunately coming soon) making management and their egos very happy. No big bang or celebration – “we’ll know it when we see it” – no nod to or closure for fans (do we need it / want it?) – just over. “Thank you Simon for coming, but before you go can you grab my cane?”
“That’s how we do things” – Do I have that right Roger?i
September 11th, 2024 at 22:07Yo,
@61 said…
qt.”However, keep in mind that nowadays, any instrument a musician can play, the styles have already been defined by previous musicians…For a young or middle-aged guitarist, there is nothing new to invent, there is only to make the paths of others your own, and create good music”…
***I completely disagree. Are 2 x snowflakes the same ???…One’s inspiration may come from others, but the opportunity to create & deliver something new remains in the hands of the person writing / creating a new tune.
It will always be sadly, that people who may listen to “your” stuff, shall always compare you to someone else, & say “hey, this sounds like”…
Peace !
September 11th, 2024 at 23:52Much as I don’t like the =1 album, I am looking forward to next DP album. I have a feeling Simon, after a lengthy tour, just might surprise everyone. We shall see! I agree Morsecode, we shouldn’t turn this into a McBride bashing thread.
September 12th, 2024 at 07:17“Uwe no need to be snarky about when either of else fell into Bolin. If it’s important I’ve been following Bolin since the early 70s and saw him live just before he died.”
Agreed, that was a cheap shot from me. 😔 You saw him with the Tommy Bolin Band then? I’m devoured by jealousy. Which line-up (drummer and bassist)? How was it, SPEAK UP!!!
I just (re)listened to the Spectrum remaster today, this thread thankfully made me do it. Timeless music!
September 12th, 2024 at 07:30Well am I late to the party….
Wow. I *knew* there was bad blood between Steve and the band – and now I know why.
I understand that the band had to go on without him – Roger is correct, that’s life.
Steve wanting the be DP’s final guitarist and end things on a high note, was ultimately selfish I think, as was the band deciding to go on without him. He didn’t get to call the shots, and, he should have been included in discussions about the band’s future.
At the same time, firing Steve from the band after 28 years via management while Janine was dying was cruel, and lacked respect and humanity. They kicked him while he was down, and conspired against him behind his back in having secret talks without him present about a replacement. Roger tried to do the right thing by calling and explaining, and I respect him for that. It’s still not enough, I feel.
My issue with this whole thing – and others are right, it’s par for the course as far as firings from Purple go – is the lack of integrity and transparency and respect for Steve as the longest serving guitarist who saved the band from utter collapse.
Considering there would be no DP today without Steve Morse, he deserved far better treatment from the band whose careers he pretty much saved. Instead of honesty and transparency, he
got fired, second hand. If I were him, I’d feel betrayed by people I thought were my friends, and used.
This is not how you treat people, period. If it isn’t working out, honest and open conversations need to be had with everyone present. Transparency is key, as is integrity – I can understand making mistakes when you’re younger, but the guys are at the age where they know better.
This kind of behaviour doesn’t fly or sit well with many of us in the fanbase. We love and respect Steve – far more than the band did, apparently.
Am I surprised? Actually yeah, I am. I thought the band would have grown up and let go of disrespectful and dishonest behaviour by now, but I guess I was wrong, unfortunately.
I view this as a betrayal, honestly, and I feel totally disgusted at the band’s behavior and I’ve lost respect for them as a fan and am incredibly disappointed in this dishonest treatment of Steve.
Will I forgive them and move on, as a fan? Eventually, but right now I’m totally disgusted. Steve deserves far better, both as a band member and as a human being.
Simply put, this is not how you treat people, where I’m from. This is wrong.
To the band I say this: do better, your fans are watching, and a lot of us don’t like how you treated Steve.
To Steve Morse I say: I am so sorry you got stabbed in the back like that, you deserved far better treatment. Move on, and I hope one day you are at peace with it all. Thank you for everything – your fans love you for the wonderful man and musician you are, myself included. May you heal, and may you be happy.
September 12th, 2024 at 11:48@ 66
Not sure about that. It’s business after all. And I don’t know if there would have been no DP without Steve Morse. They could have found another one in 94 for sure. I mean…they are Deep Purple. A huge career step. And it was one for Steve Morse as well who had a great reputation but wasn’t selling truckloads of albums or filling football stadiums. I think DP made for a good living so sure it had his benefits for him. Let’s face it: It was never the music he dreamt of. He was always more of a hired hand, even if it may have been one of the best available. And he always acted professional and played top notch. Though not the way this band needed it IMHO. He is without a doubt a really nice guy and a fantastic musician – but it’s not about being buddies here, it’s about business and a big machine that needs to be kept on the rails. And I prefer to listen to him on his solo stuff.
September 12th, 2024 at 14:05well said Mike. I feel the same way and couldn’t have said it any better!!
September 12th, 2024 at 14:36Mike @66 perfectly put. Max @67, it’s not a machine a business by default- it’s a choice by band members. Gillan and Glover talk out both sides of their ass when they say we are free to do whatever they want but when it comes to firing Steve Morse it’s business. Even Morse said it was management that soured on the idea of going out on a high note. Glover/Gillan are a bit delusional/ sort of conceited arrogance self importance when they play pretend saying they call the shots but in reality it’s management.
What they did to Morse is unforgivable / no one will ever convince me otherwise. That’s just the way I feel. You don’t do that to someone who breathed new life into a dying band for 28 years. It has Gillan written all over it. You are now a burden and not worth my time anymore.
September 12th, 2024 at 15:19Unless you have a sadist streak, most people avoid a dismissal discussion at all costs. I had to force myself every time and kept procrastinating about it. I’ve seen grown men cry (and women take it like a man), you feel like a piece of shit delivering the news.
“Stabbed in the back” is an overstatement though I understand Steve’s hurt and wounded ego. BUT: He was the one to leave the table first by saying he would not be able to tour (or record) with them internationally for an indefinite time. Once you do that – for whatever valid and honorable personal reasons – you have to view your termination as at least a forced option to the other side.
All that said: If someone from the band would have called or visited him to bring the bad news first (leaving the fine print to the management notification), that would have been vastly preferable.
September 12th, 2024 at 15:22UWE: saw the Tommy Bolin Band in 1976 just after the release of Private Eyes in a small club out in Long Island, NY. Absolutely great show. I was so into his music and was devastated by his death. To this day Come Taste the Band is a top 5 DP album for me.
Tommy Bolin Band:
Tommy Bolin: vocals,guitar
Mark Stein: keyboards,vocals. One of my favorite vocalists (Vanilla Fudge) and underrated Hammond player
Norma Jean Bell – sax
Bobby Berge – drums (I believe)
He was a distinct treasure
September 12th, 2024 at 15:36https://m.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_l8kCaCYJMRIFoptIVhOIIJTOAaknYrwr0
This is possibly the show I went to. He did two shows that night or on two consecutive days (can’t rmember) but I’m not sure if this was the one that I attended. I got the drummer wrong. Great band
September 12th, 2024 at 17:27Uwe I’m not sure of what exactly were Steve Morse’s intentions. From what I read Morse had to abruptly leave in Feb/March ‘22. Simon McBride replaced him to complete the European tour through July. Morse’s intention as discussed with Purple was to return in September to begin another tour. Before the tour was ended with McBride Purple sans Morse and management made the decision to move on from Morse.
Management called Morse. You’re out McBride is in. Really not that complicated.
September 12th, 2024 at 20:40“I got the drummer wrong. Great band …”
Yes. Michael Narada Walden. But what is getting the name of a percussionist wrong – they’re a paradiddle a dozen – to NOT mentioning a bassist at all, Morsecode, I cry?! REGGIE McBRIDE for chrissakes – ex-Rare Earth and brilliant player on all of Private Eyes!!! Your blatant dereliction of duty sets my progress via therapeutic counseling as an unseen bassist smack-dab back a couple of years! 😂
That first (and best) incarnation of the Tommy Bolin Band was 50% black, quite unusual for the time (or even still today) for a band around a guy from the Midwest.
https://i.ytimg.com/vi/jm-XYjQPYpQ/hq720.jpg?sqp=-oaymwE7CK4FEIIDSFryq4qpAy0IARUAAAAAGAElAADIQj0AgKJD8AEB-AHGB4AC0AWKAgwIABABGH8gKygkMA8=&rs=AOn4CLCuerZVGc6QfLf_MvQjqsf89eljYw
Thanks for digging it all out. What a gig that must have been!
Both Reggie and Narada would hand in their papers not too much later. They couldn’t stand watching what Tommy was doing to himself.
September 12th, 2024 at 22:47Darn, my bad math. 60% black actually. 😎
September 12th, 2024 at 22:53Uwe:
Yes Steve left the table first – and he was under the impression that he’d be returning to the band. The problem is the band went back on their word that he was still part of the band.
.
If the band found this impractical, then they should have had some difficult discussions with him over the phone/face time and should have let him go to his face, not just deliver the news in person.
While these discussions are difficult to have, they still need to happen – how the band handled this was dishonest and lacked integrity and deeply hurt Steve and probably broke his trust in the band.
Steve was under the impression that he was a full member of the band for 28 years and expected to be treated as such. If he wasn’t a full member, and more of a hired gun, as others here have suggested, then that needed to be made clear to him from the get go in ’94.
If the band has been dishonest with him in terms of how they view him (as expendible, which is how they treated him during the firing) for 28 years and leaving him with the wrong impression regarding his role in the band, then that is really egregious in terms of ethics imo, and makes the situation worse.
Steve behaved, though selfishly, as if he were a full time band member and friend – the band behaved as if he were a hired gun, totally expendible and replaceable.
Ask yourself this, if they viewed him as a full band member and friend, would they have held meetings without him that he was not party to?
To me, it seems the lack of transparency and honest communication regarding Steve’s role in the band is the issue that caused the behaviors on the part of all parties. If the band has been honest with Steve and themselves that he was more of a hired gun (they appear to treat him as such, although I wonder if they themselves are not aware that they view him that way if that is indeed how they view him deep down? Insight can be a tricky thing), from the start in ’94, or at least when Steve went from full band member to hired gun in their minds, this whole situation could have been avoided (I’m not sure it started out that way, but somewhere along the way, how
the rest of the band viewed Steve changed, as seen through their actions – again, were they aware of this shift?).
If the band had been honest with Steve about how they viewed his role in the band, and they had the tough conversation, Steve would have understood when they let him go for Simon, or at least have been more likely to, and his feelings might not have been so badly bruised, and there’d be far less hard feelings all around and likely no bad blood.
Id say I hope they don’t make the same mistake to Simon, but honestly I’m not holding out much hope at this point. I hope he knows he’s expendable and can be replaced at any time should the other four decide it. If not, be prepared for a repeat.
September 13th, 2024 at 00:34I also noticed that the bass guitarist was not mentioned, (a prerequisite for being a drummer I suppose). And believe me, I KNEW that myself or anyone else here (bar one individual) wouldn’t have to or need to mention that at all. I do think Morsecode has probably done quite well there to get away with that ‘mistake’. It was a close thing though! Cheers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=br_awKg6bwI&t=2s
September 13th, 2024 at 07:19@76 Your post made me realize that we do not actually know who owns what in DP and whether Steve was formally a stakeholder or just a salaried employee. To us hardcore fans the creative and the personal sides of the story are more important, but from the corporate DP office the story might have looked very different and much more simple, too.
DP: The axeman doesn’t want to tour. We’re not sure about that.
Mgmt: he’s not part of the organization, you guys own it. You can do anything you want. Shall we fire him for you?
DP: Mmm…
Mgmt: Look, if you go on the next tour, you get to earn this much $$$, if you don’t you get to lose that much $$$.
DP: Okay, go ahead and axe the axeman. Just don’t be too tough on him.
That’s business for you. I also recall that Ron Wood wasn’t part of the Stones’ organization financially until like ten years into his time with them. They could fire the guy at their whim. They didn’t but that’s another story.
September 13th, 2024 at 09:23I think we’ve beaten this into the ground with some good conversations. Very cathartic. The reality is the Morse era of Deep Purple is over. As unfortunate in the way it ended I’m going to enjoy and celebrate the music Morse brought to Deep Purple. He brought his influences and in my opinion really stretched Purple’s musicality/virtuosity and created some great songs
Purplemorse
* Ted the Mechanic
* Rapture of The Deep
* ‘69
* Sun Goes Down
* Sometimes I Feel Like Screaming
* Seventh Heaven
* Uncommon Man
* Birds of Prey
* Throw My Bones
* Bananas
* Jack Ruby
* Man Alive
* Above and Beyond
* Wrong Man
* Apres Vous
* Things I Never Said
* Cascades: I’m Not Your Lover
* No Need to Shout
* Time for Bedlam
* Clearly Quite Absurd
* Never a Word (beautiful: Celtic Jethro Tull a hint of Gentle Giant meets Deep Purple)
* Nothing At All
* The Surprising
* The Aviator
* A Touch Away
* Somebody Stole My Guitar (a forgotten gem)
* Back to Back (great solos)
* Loosen My Strings
* I Got Your Number
* Weirdastan
* Rosa’s Cantina
* Silver Tongue
Just to name a few. Well done
Best album: Purpendicular
September 13th, 2024 at 12:52Most underrated: Bananas
Most under appreciated: ROTD
Album that continues to surprise: ABandOn
Uwe Hornung says:
…
Why not give a few Simon McBride solo albums a listen before dismissing him as devoid of any originality?
…
I did. Very boring and primitive stuff
September 13th, 2024 at 12:58…
Mike Nagoda, agree with your opinion about band’s behaviour to Steve.
Unfortunately, Gillan’s ego still prevails in the band, despite the fact that he is now its weakest member.
My understanding is:
– Janine’s lamentable condition had been ongoing for some time. Her treatment and Steve caring for her (or simply wishing to be there while his wife was battling cancer) had – due to the Pandemic, travel prohibitions and lockdowns – little impact on Purple’s then day-to-day operations. Turning To Crime was recorded remotely (remember how Steve wasn’t even featured in the Oh Well!-vid). So much so good (in bad times).
– When the Pandemic subsided, the proverbial thing began to hit the fan: Steve had to abort songwriting sessions in Hamburg for the next album when Janine relapsed to rush home, continuing those sessions without him (or with someone there who longed to be home with his wife) made no sense for the others who had set time aside for it.
– The Purple touring machine (this is essentially what the band does since the reunion and actually always has done even in the 70s) spluttered back into action, the first gigs being done in Steve’s home vicinity (we now know why), finally the pre-Pandemic album Whoosh! could be sensibly promoted (or the other way around), albeit belatedly.
– Or not. Steve was honest and said he could not commit to international touring. So then Don says: “I know this guy with rather short hair in my band, but other than that …”. Simon becomes the interim touring guitarist.
– They tour. Simon plays. He does a good job. He’s from a different generation and chuffed to be in a name band like Purple after only recently not having qualified for a job with a supermarket chain. You can bet he played his ass off every night and who would blame him? He also doesn’t have to worry how his wife is doing while, say, playing the SOTW introduction. That makes for relaxed tour companionship.
– The band experiences that there is life for Deep Purple even without Steve. It’s an experience they have made again and again, not one of the members foremost in the public eye ever proved definitely irreplaceable: Not Big Ian (DC worked, only JLT didn’t), not Ritchie (TB didn’t work, but SM did) and not even Jon (Don did).
– It transpires: Janine will never heal again, Steve will be with her whatever it takes until the end, whenever that will be (which just shows what a wonderful person he is). He can’t tour internationally with DP and can only record with them within driving distance of his Florida home, another guitarist having then to present the freshly created music to the wider public. That is not a tenable situation for Purple in even the midterm, much less long term, given the mortality of all other members. It is only then that they take the difficult decision to part ways with Steve and let Simon join. I don’t see how that decision could have been averted as long as you respect Steve’s decision to stay at Janine’s side on her last journey.
I also fail to recognize what was so terrible in the (foreseeable) development of the above scenario (except, of course, Janine’s horrible and fateful affliction). No one can be blamed for the tragic circumstances, Steve did what he had to do (commendably so) and so did rest-Purple (understandably so). Not communicating this directly to him once the decision was passed is an unfortunate stain though, granted. Could have been handled better, yes. People are people, but not having the balls to face Steve doesn’t turn the other band members into Deep Machiavelli (which is the impression I get reading some of the character assassinations of the remaining band members in this thread).
And it doesn’t make Steve a mere sideman in hindsight either (neither in actual status nor in treatment by the others). He’s written or co-written more than 8o songs for Purple and was featured prominently at every Mk VII or VIII gig I’ve seen (and I’ve seen something like between 30 and 40). Even he has said in interviews that he cannot complain about the writing input he had in Purple or his musical freedom there. What he could not do is change their outlook and identity as an endless touring behemoth – but that is something Ritchie or Jon, both founder members of Purple, could not achieve either.
But when you sign the dotted line with Purple, that is something you irrevocably buy into, following the never-ending path of the celestial highway star for the rest of your musician life. Steve was promised freedom from leather trousers when he joined, not from endless touring.
September 13th, 2024 at 16:19Once you have decided that you do not want to touch a gun anymore, you can’t stay in the French Foreign Legion anymore either, however meritorious your previous service for La France may have been.
Holy crap, what an insight everyone has, from small snippets of interviews, into both management and the artists’ thoughts and actions in relation to Steve’s departure and Simon’s arrival.
September 13th, 2024 at 18:01I wanted to stay out of this.. no good way out.
September 13th, 2024 at 19:57Steve was treated badly, he would have deserved much better.
The new album is good, but I hope for a much better one next with really memorable songs. Otherwise, I will have to accept, that is just business.
Personally, I think that the best thing that could have happened was that Purple got a temporary replacement, maybe Satriani or whoever to come in and tour, until Steve could rejoin the band. 28 years of being a member is a long time, and also Purple came to their decision very quickly. A bit too quickly if you ask me.
September 13th, 2024 at 22:23Now, after enjoying this site for over ten years, this thread has finally motivated me to write my very first comment.
September 14th, 2024 at 06:33I just want to extend a big thank you to all contributors for making this discussion so much more interesting and insightful than all the hundreds of published magazine title stories of the past two months put together.
One starts to wonder when the details of Steve‘s dismissal will spill over into the public conscience, i.e. Wikipedia and the mainstream media.
My late mom used to say when a widower or a widow remarried not too long after their respective loss and gossip would mount in our smallish town: “No one has come back yet!”
I don‘t see what the point of a prolonged mourning period for DP should have been. They stuck it out with Steve for almost a year, leaving the band in limbo, before taking the tough decision. He himself wrote in July 2024 at the advent of his permanent departure:
“Last Autumn, I suddenly left the Purple writing session in Germany because my wife was having a real medical crisis. Almost a year later, we are learning to accept stage 4 aggressive cancer and chemo treatment for the rest of her life. We both miss being at shows, but I simply couldn’t commit to long, or far away tours, since things can change quickly at home. I suggested lining up a substitute guitarist last Autumn, hoping we could see the miraculous cancer cure all of us have heard about. As time went by, I could see the way things were heading though, after 28 years of being in the band.
I’ve already played my last show with Purple back in Florida on the Rock Legends Cruise. I wish to thank the listeners who so strongly supported live music and turned every show from a dress rehearsal to a thundering, exciting experience. I’ll miss everybody in the band and crew but being Janine’s helper and advocate has made a real difference at many key points.”
“The show must go on!” is a core rule of the entertainment industry.
I’m also surprised that so many people seemed genuinely surprised when Steve’s departure became permanent. I’m no clairvoyant, but the combination of “stage 4 cancer of Janine + no touring availability of Steve for an indefinite amount of time + DP’s ‘we tour the world all the time’-mantra + new youngish touring guitarist” pretty much laid out for me what the future would bring unless Simon would mess up badly. And I knew he wouldn’t after having seen him twice with the Don Airey Band, he caught my attention already back then, I had spent a whole gig standing at his side of the stage upfront (the benefit of club gigs!) watching him play. He had a touch of Bernie Tormé, just not as sloppy!
Speaking of: Once Don does solo shows again, will Simon continue to be part of the line-up? If I were the Purple management, I’d possibly have a word with the two about that, preservation of brand image/value and suchlike … You don’t want 2/5 of an arena-filling act playing the club circuit. Somewhere, there is already a gifted young (wo)man playing who will only be too happy to take Simon’s place in Don’s band.
September 14th, 2024 at 14:15Yes Uwe, the show must go on, even if it means treating a 28 year member of the band like crap! Yes Uwe, the show must go on, even if it means putting out an album, =1, that to me sucks (I know most on this forum won’t agree). Hopefully Simon, who seems like a nice guy, won’t get a bad cold and have to be off the road for 6 weeks because, as you state, the show must go on so the aging rockers would have to find a replacement!! As for Simon continuing to be part of Don’s solo shows, the Purple management should stay out of it. Don should talk with Simon one to one, unlike the band, cowards they are, who had management tell Steve he was no longer part of the band!!
September 14th, 2024 at 23:17I happened to talk with guy at the Scranton show, who saw Steve solo since his departure from Purple. He told me he asked Steve what happened between him and Purple, and Steve politely told him he didn’t want to talk about it. He said Steve acted like a true gentleman when that question was brought up and didn’t bad mouth his former bandmates.
September 15th, 2024 at 00:14Calm down, Leslie, I liked Steve with Purple too. Showbiz can be merciless.
I was with my law firm for 36 years, 29 of them as a partner and reasonably popular with most people. If I had fallen seriously sick, being unable to work, the firm would have continued paying my distributions as a partner for another six months by our partnership agreement and likely for another six months more even after that because we were mostly made up of nice people. But not long after that someone would have sat down with me and asked: “Uwe, how is this supposed to go forward?” And if I had then answered: “I don’t know whether and when I will be able to contribute again.”, consequences would have occurred. I fail to see what was so different in the “Purple & Steve”-scenario, call me heartless.
Steve was the lead guitarist in a heritage band that makes its living by playing concerts – lots of them and mostly in markets outside of the US. He knew that he wasn’t joining Lynyrd Skynyrd or Molly Hatchet and be touring only the South of the US for the rest of his life. When he could no longer perform his part of the deal (for, I repeat, the most honorable reasons imaginable), the clock was ticking, anything else was delusional.
PS: Now I feel like that ruthless (but efficient) German U-Boat Captain in the (very good) Allied WW II propaganda movie “Lifeboat” by Alfred Hitchcock where the incognito German U-Boat captain (his sub also sunk, but he doesn’t reveal his rank when saved) eventually explains to the survivors of the merchant ship he torpedoed that he pushed their wounded out of the lifeboat at night (while all the others were sleeping, drained from exhaustion and exposure) for the collective good because “they would have died anyway from their wounds and it saves our limited freshwater supplies so we all now have a better chance of surviving”. And then smiles maliciously.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKYPN8ACx20
The film wasn’t widely screened at the time because there were concerns by Allied censor boards that Hitchcock portrayed the U-Boat Kapitän’s behavior for all his social Darwinism in a still too understandable, sympathetic light (it is his incessant rowing of the lifeboat – made possible by extra freshwater he has hidden only for himself – that eventually leads the boat to another ship for the survivors to be saved) .
https://the.hitchcock.zone/1000/30/0680.jpg
It’s worth watching.
September 15th, 2024 at 01:06If McBride doesn’t start to improvise soon, maybe they should start consider looking into the jazz circuit for someone who will? A less busy player, big on improvisation, would hopefully wake the rest of the band up as well. Paicey is sounding more lively as of lately, which is a good sign.
September 15th, 2024 at 10:03You are correct Uwe. Showbiz, and big corporations can be merciless. Funny you mentioned Subs. I served on them in the Navy. By the way, my favorite Submarine Movie is “Das Boat” One of the best movies ever made IMHO. As for the band known as Deep Purple. They’ve been my favorite band since 1973. to be a DP fan means putting up with many “Highs” and a few “Lows”. Hopefully they will put out another album that will be a “Big High”!! 🙂
September 15th, 2024 at 11:48The weakest member of the band should now be asked. “When will you be able to perform effectively and consistently so as to maintain the integrity and legacy of this great band whilst on tour and do right by the ticket paying public” if he answers “I can’t give you any guarantees about that” maybe the others should proceed to identify and invite a suitable replacement to join. Management could then tell him the bad news.
That’s never going to happen of course but the same principles apply in Steve’s case and any cursory look at YouTube videos from the current tour confirms that Gillan is mostly not anywhere near up to the job he is being paid for. You can tell from the body language and expressions on his bandmates faces that they know the game is up. Good luck to Simon however, he is a very competent guitarist.
Steve should have been afforded a great deal more respect from the others and I am now done with Deep Purple.
September 15th, 2024 at 14:59Ian Gillan is an 80-year-old man singing songs that were written for a 25 year old. I have no complaints, he’s holding up fine given the circumstances and nature’s merciless toll on all of us. I’m 63 and there are lots of things I can’t do as well anymore as when I was an adolescent, wet dreams among them.
Leslie, how long did you serve on subs? ‘Das Boot’ continues to have many fans, I guess it caught the atmosphere on a German U-Boot in WW II quite well, it’s sort of seen as the benchmark in submarine films. With the exception of Jürgen Prochnow as the Kaleu, the cast was largely unknown at the time, but nearly all of them enjoyed reputable careers in German movies and TV after ‘Das Boot’.
September 15th, 2024 at 23:26Hi Uwe. Thanks for asking. I served on Submarines for 2 years until I became a Corpsman. I made 2 patrols under Artic Circle. How about yourself Uwe? I believe I read in other posts that you play musical instruments.
September 16th, 2024 at 06:54Yes, the Cast of Das Boat was largely unknown but they sure did a Great job! I am glad they had good careers in German movies and TV!!
Hi everybody 👋🏼
I can be wrong here, but I seem to remember that Steve Morse suffers from some form of arthritis in his right hand (maybe both?)
Could that have been a problem for him playing so many gigs?
K
September 16th, 2024 at 14:44Steve Morse:
“Last Autumn, I suddenly left the Purple writing session in Germany because my wife was having a real medical crisis. Almost a year later, we are learning to accept stage 4 aggressive cancer and chemo treatment for the rest of her life. We both miss being at shows, but I simply couldn’t commit to long, or far away tours, since things can change quickly at home. I suggested lining up a substitute guitarist last Autumn, hoping we could see the miraculous cancer cure all of us have heard about. As time went by, I could see the way things were heading though, after 28 years of being in the band.
I’ve already played my last show with Purple back in Florida on the Rock Legends Cruise. I wish to thank the listeners who so strongly supported live music and turned every show from a dress rehearsal to a thundering, exciting experience. I’ll miss everybody in the band and crew but being Janine’s helper and advocate has made a real difference at many key points.”
18 months later….
Roger Glover: “We fired him”
Honest Roger felt strangely obligated to reveal that Morse’s account, which allowed Morse some dignity and being able to take the high road on the situation, wasn’t quite accurate. “We actually fired him via management”. As Simon McBride reported at the time: “Ian (Gillan) turned to me and asked ‘Are you in the band or what?’ – I said yes and there was quite the celebration.”
Deep Purple now has the guitarist that can literally drag them across the finish line in a whimper which according to Glover “that’s how WE do things”. Doesn’t mean I have to be dragged along with them.
September 16th, 2024 at 16:14Me? I play bass since 1977. If you can’t become a drummer, that crown of musical evolution, that is what you’re left with. “Playing bass” is of course an oxymoron to both “musical” and “instrument”: We just do what nobody else wants to commit to. Sort of like vultures and hyenas in the animal kingdom. 🤣
Never served on a sub though! Among other things: Too tall. I’m slightly above 6’2″ or 1,90 meters (or at least used to be in my prime!) though I’ve read that there is only a minimum, not a maximum height in US subs irrespective of vessel class.
September 16th, 2024 at 18:01I do understand the business reason to fire Mr. Morse. I do not understand the way they did it via management instead of talking to him. And I do not understand why Mr. Glover at least could not keep the story to himself. Distributing it to the public does not serve anybody at all.
September 16th, 2024 at 20:25That 1981 Das Boot movie & also the recent tv series I have enjoyed. I haven’t watched the fourth series as yet. Pretty intense indeed, one of my preferences at times for dramatic suspense in ‘entertainment’. Plenty of respect for anyone including Leslie who could serve on a submarine. Another movie in that regard I enjoyed was Black Sea with Jude Law, very intense. Cheers.
September 16th, 2024 at 22:18Let’s all remember that this is the World of Deep Purple. Other than Jon Lord’s retirement from the band, who’s departure from the band has happened on good terms? So, it really shouldn’t be a big surprise. I feel bad for Steve, then again seeing them a little over a week ago they kicked ass! Although I must admit Simon still looks a bit out of place to me.
September 16th, 2024 at 22:22I’m going a bit off topic, but last night I listened to Come Taste the Band, has anyone here thought that You Keep on Moving was a prophetic song of things to come. I listened to the music and lyrics, and I find it haunting. It’s also the last song on the album, and the line “where the angels fear to tread” seem to foretell the end of the band in the 70’s and of course Tommy Bolin’s death at an extremely young age.
Don’t want the truth, huh?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHI0CVu6MSY
If you know how these things work and can read between the lines, Steve’s account of his departure and Roger’s depiction are not that far apart. It all started with Steve being unable to commit further for an indefinite time period. Once you’re there, you can flip a coin whether Steve says “I have to leave then.” or DP say “In that case you will have to go then.”
Also, DP are Brits, and me having worked in a largely British law firm for decades, I can attest to the fact that they are masters at phrasing things in a way they sound innocent and least abrasive. Even Americans often don’t get what is between the lines. Roger’s, the two Ian’s and Don’s published parting messages to Steve had red lights flashing to the experienced eye: “Our hand was forced by the circumstances, we did not like to do this, Steve was a great guy, thank you for your service, but there was no alternative to a separation.”
And I don’t see Steve’s dignity impaired one bit. He did the honorable, compassionate and loving thing for his wife, knowing full well where it might lead him down the road. He certainly didn’t hope for Janine to succumb as quickly as she did so he could get quickly back on the road with Purple, he would have cared for her for years and years with increasing intensity, all the time not being fully available as DP’s guitarist. With that perspective, I think it’s a moot point whether he himself or whether DP were the first first to state the inevitable.
September 17th, 2024 at 00:11Roger has been fired from Deep Purple himself, so has Big Ian, they both know what it’s like. And both were fired because Ritchie and others who sided with him were no longer satisfied with their performance (whether for valid reasons or not). The quality of Steve’s contribution, however, was left untainted, he simply had to leave because – for no fault of his own – he could no longer perform the work he was hired and signed up for.
September 17th, 2024 at 00:17#98
I suspect the reason Roger aired the dirty laundry in public is guilt and/or shame on his part – I don’t think he felt too good about how Steve was let go, being his friend, and I think in disclosing it he’s likely trying to save face here by showing that he did indeed care about Steve, which is why he called him and managed to patch things up – they are still friends that talk to each other. even after the way things were handled, and that does say something.
Did he need to air the dirty laundry? No, I don’t think he did – but then again, emotions are a tricky thing to manage – unless you’ve got lots of training in emotional intelligence and awareness or are some sort of Buddhist monk, most folks act compulsively in terms of what their emotions are trying to get them to do. I don’t think Roger is any different from the rest of us in that regard.
Given Steve’s wish to keep things private, I can’t imagine he’s too happy about this public disclosure either. It’s a messy situation, to be certain.
September 17th, 2024 at 06:00Uwe, in 1984, 20-year-old Def Leppard drummer Rick Allen lost his arm in a car accident. The band, which was on the rise, took three (!) years off from touring, waiting for the one-armed drummer to return to action. No attempt was made to replace him, despite the band’s most successful period in their career.
September 17th, 2024 at 07:46Rush’s Geddy Lee announced the end of his popular band after Neil Peart died. No attempt was made to replace him, despite the band’s legendary status as stadium-fillers.
There are decent actions and there are indecent ones. Think about that the next time you start defending Gillan & Co.
Dark Purple.
September 17th, 2024 at 08:35If roles were reversed and some other member of Deep Purple was in the distress that Steve Morse was experiencing there is absolutely no way Morse would have allowed events to unfold as they did. Communicate/support/resolution
We can make all the excuses we want (ie. It’s business/ they did it to Glover etc), but these members of Deep Purple lacked basic human compassion. We aren’t talking young naive kids anymore – these are seasoned veterans experienced in both the music business and in something called life. Instead they chose a cowardly selfish and extremely cold approach to their band mate of 28 years. Saying it with the nuances of a British accent doesn’t hide the callousness of it all.
September 17th, 2024 at 12:30I have a hunch that things will mend over time and that we are eventually gonna see that SOTW jam of Mk IX with Steve guesting or hear some Steve fingerpicking on a Roger Glover solo album.
DP gifted Steve a long-lasting international career and exposure to crowds he never had before. If it wasn’t for him joining and playing with them, his name would today mean something to a couple of guitar nerds. And no one would ever mention him here.
September 17th, 2024 at 14:24@104: The members of Def Leppard weren’t 80 years old when that accident happened. They had lots of years ahead of them. As for Rush, they had the same lineup for the most of their career. I don’t really think these are valid comparisons to DP.
September 17th, 2024 at 15:30@108: The fact the Def Leppard were young men, relatively inexperienced in life and still made the decision they did to support Rick Allen regardless of “the show must go on” pressure makes experienced, mature DPs actions all the more callous. They are not alone I will admit. Quo and the Stones, to name just two, have also tried to replace the irreplaceable with predictable negative outcomes but I naively thought better of Roger, Ian P and Don.
Uwe will evidently defend DP to the hilt no matter what the circumstances but deep down I’m sure he knows they fucked up badly over this issue and have upset countless fans.
September 17th, 2024 at 15:57For the record: What Def Leppard did with Rick Allen will forever let me like them as a band. Wonderful, but a very high benchmark. Sheffield buddies. But DP aren’t buddies as a whole (and never were), they are a musical collective.
Replacing Neil Peart in Rush at that stage of their career was a bit like Jack Bruce and Eric Clapton trying to replace Ginger Baker in Cream or Sting and Andy Summers continuing without Stewart Copeland – some things just don’t work, especially in trios with dominant drummers.
But there is no argument that DP could have handled the communication better. The decision itself I hold to be inevitable. I too would have voted against waiting for Steve – with a heavy heart, but still.
September 17th, 2024 at 15:59Hi Uwe. I agree with you about Def Leppard and Rush (one of my favorite bands)!! Now, I hope you don’t mind me asking this question but, were you ever in a band that put out an album (CD)? If so, is it available from Amazon? Thanks Much!!
September 17th, 2024 at 16:33“Uwe will evidently defend DP to the hilt no matter what the circumstances but deep down I’m sure he knows they fucked up badly over this issue and have upset countless fans.“
Is that the impression I give, Andrew, that I eagerly lap up everything DP and its members do or don’t do? I need an image counselor then, I always prided myself on taking more of a biographer’s/historian’s stance, weighing the good AND the bad.
The “they do upset fans”-argument amuses me, I never thought anybody within DP was a better person than we all are, I’m not expecting them to be role models for my conduct in life. Maybe Taylor Swift tries to be a role model to her fans (all power to her then and long may she reign), but I never tried to pattern my life after what Ritchie, Jon, the two Ians or Roger do or don’t do.
Worse things than what happened to Steve have happened in the Purple Family camp like Roger being rowed out of the band in 1972/73 to satisfy Ritchie’s erratic ego, with Jon and Little Ian standing by doing fuck-all. That was real betrayal, Roger hadn’t stated that he could no longer contribute to the band. And I never forgave Coverdale for dropping Mel Galley ( a man whose talents he had lauded incessantly before) after the latter broke his arm so badly and caught a virus that only a leather/steel contraption could let him continue to play which had DC famously say “you can’t go on stage like that, you’ll look like a spastic!”. For a man who had almost lost his then only child to a life-endangering disease only a few years before, that was a bottomless pit of moral depravity, Trumpian in scale. I wonder what he made of Def Leppard’s Nobel Prize-worthy decision re Rick Allen at the time.
I take an active interest in DP since 1975, but they’re human and they fail their and our best aspirations sometimes. That doesn’t cast me into a cauldron of despair though when it happens.
September 17th, 2024 at 17:12@107 You’re right had DP not “gifted” Steve an international career with them it’s doubtful he would be mentioned on this site..our loss. I don’t think he would have just disappeared forever, he would have or could have had a great career solo or with another group because he’s damn good! I’m the furthest thing from a guitar nerd there is but I knew of him before Purple and was excited to see him come on board with my favorite band. Who knows how things would have turned out DP could have picked a real moody and brooding guitarist who’d quit in mid tour instead. I’ll miss SM but I can’t argue with their new LP or tour reviews. It sucked the way he was let go and I’m sure we do not know every detail….playing on a solo Glover project sounds great but I won’t hold my breath!
September 17th, 2024 at 17:23once again. for me the real drama is that they chose a mediocre guitarist like mcbride. I think of it as morsecode, I find the management of the matter shameful and I have always said so. I think the tragedy of the illness was also somehow exploited to one’s advantage, as if to make friends forced to give up. and as I’ve always said, I don’t think it’s possible to promote an album by saying that it isn’t up to par with previous ones or by letting the public know certain things. For those wondering if arthritis is one of the causes of Steve’s abandonment, I remember that at the moment you see him around with SMB and DD. and honestly I also find the position of those who say that Purple have always been a “rude” band and must be justified by virtue of their troubled history to be miserable. it’s a bit like if someone came to steal from your house and the policeman told you “oh.. it’s always been like this.. don’t be upset”..
September 17th, 2024 at 18:07You know..i prefer when things get Better instead of worse.I mean worse beacuse they’re not 20 years old
At least Roger was honest about what happened. He seems like a decent person who can’t live with a lie. And anyway, hopefully Steve will put out more records as well as DP. We certainly will have the best of of both worlds if that happens!! (and maybe one day, that early 1969 MKI Canadian show which was found, lost, found again and apparently, lost again will be found and issued)! 🙂
September 17th, 2024 at 18:15Leslie, I never got farther than opening once for Roger Chapman (whilst Laurie Wisefield was in his band) before perhaps 1.500 people, winning a few band contests and recording decent demos in real studios with various bands. I can hold a beat to a click track, harmonize guitars and vocals + write songs and lyrics though people say my real strength is arranging music in a way completely different from the original. I never run out of ideas. But a real professional option eluded me and if I’m honest, by the time I had turned 25, I probably wouldn’t have taken it anymore as then a career in law didn’t look so bad anymore (I hated studying law with a passion, but I dug the practice of it).
And let’s be realistic, to have been able to provide for my family as well as I did as a law firm partner, I would have likely in the German music scene needed to be in a position like the bassists of the Scorpions or Rammstein held/hold. For a decade or two. Those slots are rare. So no regrets.
September 17th, 2024 at 21:04@ 107 – “If it wasn’t for him (Morse) joining and playing with them(DP), his name would today mean something to a couple of guitar nerds. And no one would ever mention him here.”
September 17th, 2024 at 21:36He would be mentioned here Uwe, just like other guitarists are. Morse wasn’t THAT obscure before he joined DP. He just wasn’t glorified in that over the top way like many of the other ‘guitar heroes’ that are out there. Cheers.
@ 110 – “Replacing Neil Peart in Rush at that stage of their career was a bit like Jack Bruce and Eric Clapton trying to replace Ginger Baker in Cream or Sting and Andy Summers continuing without Stewart Copeland – some things just don’t work, especially in trios with dominant drummers.” Neil Peart I believe would have said go for it & “I wish you all the best” if Lee & Lifeson had decided to push on with Rush. They both did a little bit of belly aching at having to retire in that following year or two. Lamenting that fact & sort of resenting Peart in some ways for retiring. They or Geddy in particular admitted & then regretted that a little from what I have read & heard in interviews. Some people seem to think that it is sacrilegious to replace Peart & we know it was their band originally with a different & original drummer in John Rutsey. If they wanted to go back on the road, they could have to get that aspect of that ‘resentment’ out of their system. Of course everything changed with Neil’s health about 2 years after Rush’s conclusion, so then they would have had to contend with that at that time. It is all water under the bridge, a bit like this recent DP ‘saga’. Cheers.
September 18th, 2024 at 00:06“… once again, for me the real drama is that they chose a mediocre guitarist like McBride …”
Sigh.
https://media.tenor.com/G0qSp0PcLDMAAAAM/peanuts-charlie-brown.gif
Simon is vastly superior to both Ritchie and Tommy in technique and probably not too far away from the chops of Joe S and Steve M. Calling him “mediocre” is quite a statement. Don, who has played with Blackmore, Gary Moore, Tony Iommi, Randy Rhoads, Jake E. Lee, Michael Schenker, Uli Jon Roth, John Sykes, Martin Barre, Glenn Tipton and last but not least Steve Morse should be able to recognize mediocrity if he sees and hears it, don’t you think, egregio QuelloCheHaRagione?
Then again, to quote Antonio Salieri, “mediocrity is everywhere!” …
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ML_f3aV_Vwk
September 18th, 2024 at 00:12Leslie @115 – yes hopefully that April 1969 show will be issued at some point! Have also read that the tape was lost… However copies were apparently made. Someone on the Steve Hoffman forum boasted of having one, and was able to reveal that a MKI version of “Paint It Black” was in the setlist.
(Wonder if they also performed “Hallelujah” or any of the other numbers they were considering recording as a single upon their return to the UK a couple of months later…)
It would be interesting to hear a full-length show, as opposed to the only MKI show released so far, the shorter “Inglewood 1968” opening-set. Especially a show from this 1969 tour, as it was apparently the one during which Jon Lord came up with the idea of playing his Hammond through a Marshall amp.
Have also read that the tape hasn’t been lost – that the reason it hasn’t been released is that it is tied up in litigation. Who knows.
It’s also somewhat odd that none of DP’s Fillmore shows from November (West) or December 1968 (East) have surfaced. One of those would be a goldmine – Bill Graham required bands to play two one-hour sets with no repeated songs.
Someone posted the song list from the first set of one of the band’s two nights at the Fillmore East.
https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/deep-purple/1968/fillmore-east-new-york-ny-43d85f57.html
Which makes one wonder: was this person at the show, taking notes? Or… might they have a tape?
The Bill Graham archives were in possession of hundreds of tapes which, per a fairly recent update, they had yet to go through. Since “Wolfgang’s Vault” ran into some lawsuits, though, the organisation seems cautious about what it releases. It might take an official inquiry from a Purple representative to unleash any surviving DP show they might hold.
If there’s nothing in those archives… Various people in Grateful Dead / Flamin’ Groovies circles are thought to have recorded pretty much every show at the Fillmore West. Where DP shared a bill with It’s A Beautiful Day for four nights. It’s interesting that only a decade or so ago IABD was able to issue a live LP recorded at the same venue earlier in 1968…
September 18th, 2024 at 03:47@ 116 – That is impressive Uwe getting to play opening for Roger Chapman with Laurie Wisefield in that band. I was not aware that Cliff Williams later of ACDC fame was a founding member of Home, the progressive band that Wisefield was also a founding member of in the early 70’s. He is the second ACDC member that came from a progressive rock band with Bon Scott being in Fraternity in Australia. I wonder what went wrong for them to drop the anchor & play a rather simpler style of music. Maybe it was all those flowers in their hair or something. All this research eh, look what emerges. Just curious, were you nervous getting ready to play that gig, I would have been. Cheers.
September 18th, 2024 at 07:40hi guys
ewe.107..my oh my stating steve morse wouldnt be remembered if it wernt for deep purple….when in the dixie dregs he was voted best overall guitarist i beleive 7 years on a trot….he was john petruccis favoutite guitarist along with their favourite band…he has been in kansas…and quoted by many famous guitarists as one of the best overall guitarists to cover any style ….the dregs song over the top was played starting the friday rock show ….okay he may have not been known in kuala lumpar or outer mongolia but come on call yourself a musician
September 18th, 2024 at 12:35Herr MacGregor, answer me truthfully: Have you ever met a woman who knew who Steve Morse was prior to him joining Deep Purple? See, that is right off the bat 50% or more of the rock and pop population and you tell me he wasn’t obscure! He was strictly someone showing up in guitar academia mags and at music fairs.
Was I nervous because of Laurie? Naw, but our guitarist was, I played in a trio called Trouble Unit at the time and we were a bit musicians’ music, other musicians would love us, but audiences were sometimes a little bewildered due to our many different influences, we only played our own stuff. I was probably more nervous because people from my law firm were there and I didn’t want to mess up. It all worked out fine though, we had a good sound, lights and a lengthy slot plus people actually listened to what we did.
When Laurie passed us backstage on his way to the stage, Gerhard, our guitarist, quipped “The king will come!” and diminutive Laurie (he’s around 5’7” or less) laughed and gave one of the nicest smiles imaginable. I saw that same smile much much later when I met him again as part of the house band (together with Neil Murray) of the We Will Rock You Queen musical in the London Westend. He had been handpicked from auditions by Brian May to do the job. Anyway, at the end of the show I see Laurie with a guitar case walking up the inclined auditorium, no one there knew the hell who he was, and I just went: “I loved your work with Wishbone Ash.” And there it was again, that beaming smile and a thank you. I actually thought at the time, dar, you were so wonderful with WA and now you have to ape Brian May for popcorn munchers who don’t even know who you are. But I’m sure it paid well. Neil Murray didn’t look too happy either pretending to be John Deacon.
The Queen musical, btw, was utter crap (through no fault of the house band I hasten to add who played well), awful, dumb and non-sensical script, an insult to Queen as a band.
Wisefield – along with John Miles (he of “Music” fame) – was also Tina Turner’s touring guitarist in the 80s and 90s. He was always the little guy on stage with the hot solos!
September 18th, 2024 at 13:49@ 123 – Uwe your eyes glaze over far too easy. Where did I say he WASN”T obscure? I have to repeat myself, again. I said he wasn’t THAT obscure before joining DP, there is a difference. And what does it matter if there is a higher percentage of males at a concert than females?????????????? You often mention this in regards to certain artists & I am not sure why as it is irrelevant. Unless you are feeling a bit ‘out’ at certain gigs & you are worried about your feminine side being neglected, he he he. Seriously what are musicians supposed to do. People like what they like, many women attend other concerts, sometimes more than men, is this an issue at all? No it isn’t. Uwe states “Have you ever met a woman who knew who Steve Morse was prior to him joining Deep Purple? See, that is right off the bat 50% or more of the rock and pop population and you tell me he wasn’t obscure! He was strictly someone showing up in guitar academia mags and at music fairs.” A bizarre comment if ever there was one & deliberate in it’s intent to support the authors warped perspective. Yes, my partner at the time was into Morse because I had his records etc, she does like his softer classical style & melodic music, still does. My male friend who is a guitarist was also with his partner at the time we went to the Brisbane gig in 1994. They enjoyed the concert, heaven forbid a lady to enjoy ‘man’s music, there must be something wrong with them, surely. However that will not be enough of course to appease Uwe’s take on MAN music. There would have been other women there also, I don’t take a count of these things of course, why would I? Who knows maybe Morse is a Freemason or a member of a gentlemen’s club or something, I don’t know. Getting ‘serious’ again & I remember Morse being held highly by his peers & still is & many other guitar aficionados. Winning the Guitar Player best overall guitarist poll 5 times. Joining Kansas. He did also play live with DeLucia, DiMeola & McLaughlin. He has connections as you know with many higher profile artists that he has appeared with at times as a guest, you know all of this. What clarifies obscurity? Huge crowds & increased record sales I guess. Well to some perhaps. He wasn’t ‘unknown’ at all. Cheers.
September 18th, 2024 at 23:38@ 123 – thanks Uwe for the feedback regarding your support gig. Laurie Wisefield is a very melodic guitarist indeed. His first album with Wishbone Ash is my favourite, There’s The Rub, what a gem it is. However just being pedantic here, your guitarist did a whoopsi there with ‘the king will come’ as Wisefield wasn’t in Wishbone Ash for the Argus album. Not to worry, maybe it was his nerves & being ‘starstruck’ perhaps. Roger Chapman was rather popular in Germany at that time I believe. He has been around the traps & is or was very experienced at what he did. Highly respected too. I have him on vocals on the song ‘Shadow on the Wall, on Mike Oldfield’s Crisis album.
September 19th, 2024 at 00:05That ‘Queen’ musical sounds awful indeed & poor Laurie, I hope it was worth it for him & Neil Murray. Cheers.
Uwe uwe uwe..
September 19th, 2024 at 05:33have you ever met a woman who know
mc bride..?
The Clones Colossus Kevin McBride, he beat Mike Tyson. Of course, people know him.
September 19th, 2024 at 10:22NomeACaso: My wife does (she thinks his hair is terrible) and so does my cousin Jutta who has seen him thrice with me, she‘s become a DP fan! 🤗
I know what you mean, but I don’t deny that Simon was picked from obscurity too. Poor guy applied with a supermarket chain and couldn‘t get arrested.
Actually, most DP members joining the original nucleus came from obscure backgrounds. Episode Six weren‘t a household name, the “unknown boutique salesman from Redcar”-moniker for DC speaks for itself and Trapeze were so obscure you could hardly get their records in Germany even in well-stocked record shops before Glenn joined DP. Even Bolin was unknown to the larger rock public in 1975, no one knew Zephyr and Spectrum was an album for Mahavishnu fans plus Tommy‘s tenure with James Gang had gone by largely unnoticed (and overshadowed by Joe Walsh’s status), he was a musicians‘ musician. Teaser hadn’t even been released before he joined Purple.
My point was: DP exposed Steve to a much larger mainstream audience and were also his first opportunity to actually make a good living with music. Before them, money from music was a scarce commodity for him, he has always confirmed that in interviews.
Herr MacGregor, Gerhard of course knew that Laurie wasn’t Ted Turner and that he hadn’t played on Argus, but what was he gonna say to the poor guy as a sign of his appreciation “Hi, Fucked Up Beyond Belief?” (FUBB)? 😂 Wisefield’s more funky style was right up Gerhard’s alley who had strong funk influences himself and ironically ended up in a Tina Turner tribute act. Probably the best guitarist I ever played with. He loved my melodic style too and we gelled well.
September 19th, 2024 at 13:00Sidroman!
September 19th, 2024 at 16:58Certainly! why didn’t I think of it before!.. and in case any woman was offended…we’re joking! Let me be clear, nothing personal against McBride.. I’m not heartless like Deep Purple… joke joke
Thanks for the info Uwe. I’ve never heard of Roger Chapman but I just ordered his Best of CD. Half the fun is trying new music!! As for opening for someone famous, GREAT!!. I can sometimes barley open the door after a few beers!! As for most DP members being from obscure backgrounds, I think you are correct. All of them, though, including Simon, have been outstanding musicians. Who knows, maybe 5 years from now, Simon might be mentioned as one of the greats!! I used to, listen to a show called “Night Rock” on an FM station in Chicago (when FM was excellent). Every time one of the DJ’s would play a DP song, he used to say “You may not know his name, but he’s the guitar player heard around the world more than any other guitar player”, talking about Ritchie!! I also remember playing “Burn” after closing hours at the Restaurant I used to work at and one lady saying, during the guitar solo on Burn “That must be Jimmy Page”. I certainly corrected her! 🙂 🙂 They’ve been my favorite band since 1973 and nothing will ever change that!!
September 19th, 2024 at 18:50And if Purple ended tomorrow, Simon’s short stint in the band will have done his solo career, should he resume it (as he eventually will), mighty good. It perhaps won’t turn him into a superstar – it’s too late for that – but he’ll certainly be good for filling large clubs to small halls on the Continental European circuit on a consistent basis. He’ll have a living without needing to ever send job applications to supermarket chain HR departments again. And it can’t be long until PRS releases a Simon McBride Signature Model guitar either.
He’ll have a hot little band with a Hammond player and I will drag my geriatric butt to his gigs and approvingly nod when he will announce: “Here’s a song some of you might know from that other band I played with!” And some kid attending will say “He wrote Smoke On The Water, didn’t he?” and I’ll revert: “Not quite, but close …”! And all will be good. 😂
September 19th, 2024 at 22:32“My point was: DP exposed Steve to a much larger mainstream audience and were also his first opportunity to actually make a good living with music. Before them, money from music was a scarce commodity for him, he has always confirmed that in interviews.” It certainly did especially outside of the USA. And we were glad for him. I have mentioned here a few times of when the promotors in Oz didn’t want a bar of the SMB in 1993/4 era. Morse said that & I wasn’t surprised at all. That scenario also has me pondering, what if the SMB wanted to tour Australia now, would a promotor say, ‘Oh yes indeed, I know who you are now, come on out.’ I don’t know if that would have changed or not here in Australia. The Dixie Dregs & SMB is music as we know, that isn’t necessarily in line with many peoples perception of ‘rock’ music. Too diverse, too technical in some aspects & not rock music per se. Regarding gifted virtuoso guitarists, someone like Joe Satriani wouldn’t have any problems with a promotor out here I would imagine. He is much more known & therefore much higher in demand. However, I went to a Robben Ford trio gig in a east coast country town pub in the late 1990’s, so work that one out. John McLaughlin has also toured here quite a few times, although he is a world wide known guitarist from the golden era. It is a fine line it seems. Cheers.
September 20th, 2024 at 03:12Herr Uwe,
being from Germany, how many times have Purple and Uriah Heep been on the same bill? I only was able to see Heep twice here in the states in fairly small venues
September 20th, 2024 at 04:43Talking of Mick Box & the Uriah Heep B(r)and, they have announced (wait for it). A farewell tour commencing next year. And there is more, it will apparently run for 2-3 years. Can someone wake me when that time is done please. Cheers.
https://www.loudersound.com/news/uriah-heep-farewell-tour
September 20th, 2024 at 07:34Uwe’s quote
>Simon is vastly superior to both Ritchie and Tommy in technique and probably not too far away from the chops of Joe S and Steve M. Calling him “mediocre” is quite a statement.
Mediocre is a very polite word in this case.
> Don, … should be able to recognize mediocrity if he sees and hears it, don’t you think,?
Here is my album review on russian site (sorry need to use translator to read on other languages). Im pretty sure you will find answer there.
https://www.deep-purple.ru/discogr/dp_eq1.html
September 20th, 2024 at 11:10not to argue.. Dima is right.
plus this thing of “Don knows… Don thinks that…”
you know when I go to the cinema I know very well that I know nothing about directing compared to whoever produced the moovie… but if I don’t like it I don’t like it! I don’t care if the best of the best do it. and I also believe that every now and then you feel free to criticize those who are probably more knowledgeable than you… be it a politician, an actor, a musician… and the great thing is that the product in question is an album, a film or a sandwich intended for the consumer, in this case me.
and I, competent or not, have the opportunity to tell you that I don’t like it.. so Don.. keep your Simon.
do you remember that time Ritchie said things like “hey Joe, he’s really good… SnM is a great album…”
Ritchie can recognize mediocrity… but like Don, he can also make mistakes.
try to understand me, I’m not elevating myself to a divine state… it was just to be clear and make the concept understood.
the fact that you have to accept that Simon is a good guitarist but not up to par… and it’s something I’ve already said and I don’t want to repeat.
if you like it listen to it. END. no one forbids you.
I would like to touch on another point.
I saw Simon say..”we made a song in a few minutes”..I saw Purple say “one or two takes..everything is easier and faster..
or something like that I don’t remember
Man, if I go to the supermarket to do some shopping I prefer to have a nice variety. a bit like in the studio when I have to record a track. if this is not the case it means that the upper market is not supplied.
if our friend on the cover of bananas had only one banana..well he must hope that it is ripe and not green..and not even black..because he only has one.
steve give a lot of possibility.. a nice super store.
it’s certainly more tiring. but if you want to make a different bread and butter recipe you have to walk a bit in that super market
I don’t know if I can explain myself.
feel free to laugh at me
and for those who keep saying..”simon has a prs signature guitar”.
lot of shitty guitarist have signature.. for example the guy from green day.. I don’t remember the name.
it’s certainly not for guitar merits.
the list is vast.
then if I have to be honest, the PRS really suck for me.
especially the single cuts.
they look like a bad copy of a les paul.. it sounds like the worst of colds.. you know when the circus comes to town and the rides have those airbrush designs like bugs bunny but blue.. or asterix but he has a black moustache.. and I look at it and..WTF!
you’ll probably think I’m stupid. and you have a good portion of truth
let’s get back to us
going back to the topic title. IN MY OPINION purple left steve really badly and replaced him just as badly.
September 20th, 2024 at 16:14Спасибо/Spasiba, Dima!
While I don’t share your view of Simon as a minor league goalkeeper, I read your review with relish, I don’t mind scathing reviews if they are well done and you certainly put a lot of work and thought in yours, it’s a T-34/85 of a statement, my grandfather always had a lot of respect for those!
I’ve taken the liberty to attach its google translation below. I’m sure the translation doesn’t match the elegance of the Russian original, but here we go …
[PS: And I think it’s refreshing that we see a 3/10 review of =1 among all the praise that has been heaped on it so far. Differing opinions are the spice of life! There is therefore no reason to now all gang up on Dima and hammer him, minority opinions are a protected species.]
— DIMA’s =1 REVIEW QUOTE: —
“In 1986, before the fall of the Berlin Wall, two German teams met in the quarter-finals of the Cup Winners’ Cup – the outstanding team of the GDR “Dynamo” (Dresden) and the very modest club from the FRG “Bayer Uerdingen”.
In 2016, guitarist Ritchie Blackmore announced the re-establishment of the legendary band Rainbow.
It would seem, what is the connection between these two events and what does this have to do with the new Deep Purple album from 2024?
Let’s start with Blackmore. It is no secret that if Ritchie had decided to assemble a team of venerable rockers, a line would immediately form for him. However, he went the other way – without further ado, he took almost the entire line-up of his then Renaissance project Blackmore’s Night into Rainbow, adding a vocalist found on YouTube. The actual renaming of one group into another led to a disappointing result – a rock group even remotely resembling the former Rainbow did not come out of them. But everyone also remembers that Blackmore, of all people, has always been a perfectionist in choosing musicians. He could not have failed to know that Deep Purple still exists and the same people who annually attend the endless tours of the “dark purples”, with whom the musicians of Blackmore’s Night, with all due respect, cannot compete, would come to the concert of the newly-minted “Rainbow”. That is, logical comparisons will not be in favor of Ritchie and Co.
Why did Blackmore do this? The old man’s “It’ll do!” option, alas, remains the most realistic reason, despite the fact that there is no doubt about Blackmore’s sincerity in paying tribute to the fans. (UWE’s EDIT: I actually agree with all of this.)
Let’s return to football. The modest club from Uerdingen was supposed to be smeared across the field by the Dresden machine. The first game in the GDR ended with a score of 2:0 in favor of Dynamo. In the return match at home, Bayer was “losing” by the break with a score of 1:3. But something happened that should not have happened.
The visiting goalkeeper, Brand Jakubowski, gets injured. And as luck would have it, his backup was out of action the day before the match. Therefore, not just a third reserve goalkeeper went to the FRG, but a previously unknown goalkeeper from the youth team, Jens Ramme, who had never played at such a level before. To call his performance a failure is to say nothing. Within 30 minutes, 6 (six) goals fly into his goal, and Bayer wins with a score of 7:3. After that, Ramme was banished to a provincial club with a hard-to-pronounce name, Fortschritt Bischofswerda (UWE’S EDIT: a first time mention of this place on the holy Highway Star pages! 😁), where he ended his inglorious career.
Alas, in the case of Deep Purple, the worst thing that could happen happened – two similar stories at once. Instead of guitarist Steve Morse, who left the band, a certain Simon McBride was hired under the patronage of Don Airey. If anyone knew him, it was only because of his work in the episodically assembled solo band of Don Airey himself. McBride had several solo albums to his credit, which can be characterized by one English word – trash.
Fresh blood is a good thing, but almost a year of live performances showed that there was no blood at all. The stage was filled with memorized and always the same simplified parts, and from McBride’s terrible solo number (with the endless plucking of one string) blood could only come out of the ears of the audience.
Nevertheless, the group announced a new album under the strange name “=1” (we will leave Gillan’s tedious pseudo-philosophical explanation of the name he came up with outside the scope). We must give credit to the management – such a powerful advertising campaign has not been seen for a long time. Video clips launched online, a stream of review interviews, traditional special editions in different formats, etc. Everything was done perfectly. (UWE’s EDIT: What’s wrong with good propaganda, Ilja Ehrenburg would have approved!)
Honestly, the album can safely be called the best solo album of Don Airey, who accomplished a real feat (I will explain why below) with the unconditional help of the excellent rhythm section in the person of Roger Glover and Ian Paice. All three masters were excellent.
As for Ian Gillan’s vocal abilities, at first it seemed that a neural network was singing with his voice (UWE’S EDIT: Ouch!!!), so noticeable was the difference between the album recording and his recent frankly weak concert performances. The topic of vocals can be concluded here by stating the fact: instead of singing – the already familiar recitation of text with a touch of, God forgive me, rap style. But Gillan has no other vocals and will never have them (although he did try to sing in “I’ll Catch You”, but it would have been better if he hadn’t tried).
Now about the music itself and what happened with this McBride. Personally, I managed to listen to this album only on the fourth try, and even then I skipped half of the songs I had already listened to. I couldn’t shake the feeling that it was the same, familiar band, but something had changed in it, and for the worse. Perhaps McBride does have some creative potential, but this album called its very existence into question, and here’s why.
The first thing that caught my eye was that all the riffs in each song were not played by the guitarist (which has always been the gold standard for Deep Purple), but on the organ or synthesizer. Big respect to Don Airey for playing them both for himself and for that guy (with the guitar). And although the abundance of synthesizer samples, bridges, backings and riffs together with a carousel of plugins and post-processing effects may seem excessive to someone, nevertheless, it must be admitted that after Steve left, instead of two creative units responsible for the music, there was only one left in the band – Airey himself. Who had to pull this very musical component of the album alone. More precisely, together with the producer, the legendary Bob Ezrin. Secondly, you can be or not be a fan of Steve Morse, but you can’t help but admit that Bob Ezrin always brought his guitar parts to the forefront, where they sounded crystal clear and powerful. And there’s no need to even talk about the guitar riffs. But on “=1” in the vast majority of tracks the guitar is pushed by Ezrin somewhere into the background so that at times it is barely audible behind the synthesizer curtain. And another indicative innovation – in many tracks the organ plays in unison the same part as the guitar, actually covering the guitar sound, as well as masking potential flaws in the guitar playing. Thirdly, in some tracks the total duration of Don’s solo runs is several times longer than the time allocated for the guitar solo. (UWE’s EDIT: Here is where I disagree, Dima, having only revently listened to Whoosh! and =1 back to back, I find the guitar on the latter more to the forefront than Steve’s on the Ezrin era productions, Simon is not afraid to play simple things, but he does so with aplomb.)
There can only be one logical explanation for the above – the quality of the guitar playing turned out to be so bad that smart Ezrin simply could not allow McBride to ruin everything else. Just as he could not throw away the guitar at all. McBride simply does not know how to play like Steve Morse (UWE’s EDIT: a lot of people actually think that is a plus …), so the producer had to decide what could be done with such a guitar in each specific track. And one can only sympathize with Bob in such a situation. Well, judge for yourself (and we are talking, wait a minute, about the guitarist of the band Deep Purple!) – what level do you need to have to play such sloppy solos in “A Bit On The Side” or “Old-Fangled Thing”? How could you ruin, for example, the part in “If I Were You” with such clumsy amateur sound extraction… Or how is he out of time in… No, the list of jambs (UWE’s EDIT: that translation is likely misleading, perhaps “woodwork strike” in soccer terminology was meant in the original Russian?) can be continued, but I don’t want to torture myself with another listening. As was rightly noted on our forum – the difference in the playing and sound of the guitar and all the other instruments on the album is so obvious, and even Ezrin couldn’t always do something about it.
However, let’s be fair – a couple of times McBride managed to play quite high-quality solos, for which he is not ashamed. However, all of them are vanishingly small exceptions.
In general, Deep Purple dug their own hole, first by taking an amateur from the lower league into their lineup, and then by throwing up their hands – “It’ll do!” The result in such cases is always predictable.
What else can be added to this unusually politically incorrect review? Of course, no one knows whether this album will be the last in the history of the band. Calling it “Shame Of Deep Purple” would probably be too much – it contains excellent, driving finds that in capable hands would certainly sparkle with all the colors. And the resuscitation efforts of Airey and Ezrin deserve respect.
And I really hope that this Ramme-McBride, who appeared out of nowhere, will quickly go to his own godforsaken “Fortschritt”, where he belongs. And the remaining old-timers (and especially Gillan) will still remember that the principle “It’ll do” does not add respect to the legendary name of Deep Purple. But this hope, alas, is very illusory.
As sad as it is, my personal rating of the album is 3/10.
Thank you for your attention.
Dmitry Zykov
July 2024″
— DIMA’s =1 REVIEW UNQUOTE —
UWE’s EPILOGUE: I’m not much of a soccer fan, Dmitry, so I’ll stick with WW II tanks for my metaphors: Maybe Steve was a formidable Tiger/Königstiger/Panzerkampfwagen VI of a guitarist and Simon is more of a T-34/85 or Sherman unremarkable run-of-the-mill armored utility vehicle – he works well and reliably in the field, does what is required … and then wins the war!
September 20th, 2024 at 16:20Dima. Nice review
September 20th, 2024 at 16:45My dear Brethren Sidroman: Quite often. Heep generally play large clubs to small halls in Germany, filling them reliably, but they also often go out as openers with Deep Purple, Status Quo and most recently Judas Priest.
I remember a large open air back when the inimitable Trevor Bolder was still alive and playing hilariously over the top, but skillful lead bass with Heep. Mk VIII were heading and Heep were opening (with a long, greatest hits-studded set and even an encore granted) before a couple of thousand of people at least. That was a good gig both for Purple and Heep – and with a Purple audience Heep can of course do no wrong, we all know that Heep is to Purple like the mentally challenged little brother, but you still hold him dear as a family member! 😁
https://media.tenor.com/r6CCMjA63-cAAAAM/johnny-depp-whats-eating-gilbert-grape.gif
Now to make your envy devour your entrails even more, Sidroman,
https://media.tenor.com/yjBRPpUhX-UAAAAM/hand-kissing.gif
I’ve not only been to gigs where Heep and Purple both played, but also to a concert of the legendary Puriahple aka Deep Heep:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fqRv7Eb4PVM&t=1251s
(Bernie introduces Don at 32:37 “from a little band called Deep Purple …” 😋)
Now don’t do anything drastic! 😘
PS: I have my own – European – crosses to bear: I never got to see The New York Dolls in their heyday, Starz, Angel, The Runaways, Starcastle, The Dictators, The Cars or Rick Springfield either, who seemed to play the US circuit only.
Starz were effing brilliant, I would have given my left nut to see them:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIAS9mygJi8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSLLyp5I7Ng
No Bon Jovi without them!
September 20th, 2024 at 17:06@ 136 & 137 – thanks for the reviews. First thing in the morning & I am a bit bleary eyed consuming my first coffee of the day. I will have to read them again, although I did get most of it. Good on you both for such a passionate take on all things ‘Purple’. Cheers.
September 20th, 2024 at 22:21Ah, MacGregor finally got his lazy butt out of bed!
September 21st, 2024 at 00:24Thanks for the info, Uwe
Speaking of bands, I would have loved to see The Runaways but was way too young. I saw Joan Jett 3 times and Lita Ford once both were very good.
September 21st, 2024 at 06:55I never saw The Cars, but my older brother did, and he said they played great, but had no stage presence, they never addressed the audience, I don’t even know if they bothered to say hello or goodnight. Lots of great songs by that band though. My favorite is Magic.
@ 141 – I suppose the time I rise at early dawn Uwe would be about the time you are retiring for the night. About 9 hours or so difference I think. We may be ahead of Europe in time, but behind in all other aspects, ho hum, such is life in Van Diemen’s Land. I will just go & check the mail, meaning the coastline to see if there is a message in a bottle for me. Cheers.
September 21st, 2024 at 09:25It’s pretty simple. Steve Morse may have been an “obscure” guitarist to the public – I would like to think of him more as not mainstream/underground before Purple – but he certainly was not obscure when it came to fellow musicians. Well recognized well respected and extremely musical.
Now McBride – he was obscure both as a guitarist (outside the world of Don Airey) and as a musician. His solo albums are run of the mill and his guitar work is nothing special or at least doesn’t really stand out.
There is absolutely no comparison between the two.
McBride got his break because Don Airey and Ian Gillan worked with him and liked him. He was an available and convenient choice during the emotional upheaval Morse was experiencing. He had the chops to cover Deep Purple songs and struts around the stage. A very good cover guitarist which is what Glover and Gillan wanted. A very competent no baggage guitarist to get them to their final show (in a whimper). What you won’t get is the vast musical diversity and stretching the musical boundaries of Deep Purple as a band.
Instead we get:
‘Show me, what you got there What you got behind your back and why you’re doing that You really think you know me, are you lead free? Well, that’s taken off the shine Have you lost your freaking mind?’
-gulp-
September 21st, 2024 at 13:29I’m hopelessly nocturnal, Tasmaniac, and rarely go to bed before 6 am CET. Even as a child, the benefit of rising early escaped me and I fear things have only gotten worse with age.
Sidroman, you’re already the third guy who saw The Cars in their prime telling me that audience participation wasn’t their exact arena focus, at least not like their fellow Bostonians, the rabble-rousing “wamma jamma” J. Geils Band! I guess Ric Ocasek didn’t only PLAY the nerd … 🤓
I saw Ms Cherie Currie only recently in a small club – my first Runaway ever. She did not disappoint, she can just as well not really sing today as she couldn’t back then. A range between three or four notes, but man she had those down pat. ☺️
September 21st, 2024 at 13:50Sidroman
Saw The Runaways at CBGBs in NYC back in 1976. Might have been there 1st appearance. Club was packed a real fire trap. Electric environment.
September 22nd, 2024 at 00:33@145 – I get it now Uwe. The link to Nosferatu, hmmmmm. They only come out at night. Also the title of Edgar Winter’s mid 70’s album with the instrumental Frankenstein. Cheers.
September 22nd, 2024 at 05:34Morsecode,
Did you catch any other acts at CBGBs- The Ramones, Blondie, Talking Heads? I was born in 1971, so I missed out on that. That’s kewl that you saw the Runaways there.
September 22nd, 2024 at 10:52Herr Uwe, I didn’t see The Cars my older brother did I think it was circa 1985, he would have been in college. The only other thing I remember was that he told me was that Oingo Boingo was the opening act if I remember correctly.
Btw, I thought I would share this
My older brother used to bust my balls a lot about liking Purple. He always had strange tastes though- he loved The Who but paid no attention to any other of the British Invasion bands, although he did have Tattoo You by the Stones. Genesis, Supertramp, the Alan Parsons Project, The Cars, Hi Infidelity by REO Speedwagon was played a lot, Journey- Escape and Frontiers as well.
September 22nd, 2024 at 11:06Finally in 2005 Purple came to the Scranton Cultural Center, my wife already saw them a few times and wanted to sit this one out, so my brother went to the show. Mountain opened for them and were great with Richie Scarlett on bass instead of Felix of course. Corky Laing kicked over his cymbals at the end of their set.
Then Purple played and my brother was mightily impressed, had a great time and after the show at Coopers Seafood admitted he liked them.
Sidroman
Did see Blondie and a band called Television at CBGB. I remember seeing Talking Heads but I don’t think it was at CBGBs. Possibly the Village Square? The brain is fading.
Funny thing is that you’re watching these bands in their infancies not knowing that some were destined for success.
September 22nd, 2024 at 18:39My older brother brought In Rock home in 1970, calling it “an underground record” as if it was something highly illegal. The music went straight over my head – I was 9 at the time and basically only heard The Beatles -, but the cover art left a lasting impression. It still defines Pop Art to me.
Morsecode, wow, Runaways at CBGBs, that could very well have been the first East Coast performance by them, Californian creatures they were! Did you see The Dictators at Max’s Kansas City too?
https://youtu.be/35EOvM3mhxw
https://youtu.be/0LOol4HLc5c
September 22nd, 2024 at 19:28Television, the East Coast Grateful Dead!
https://youtu.be/PyQBLQgVblY
September 22nd, 2024 at 22:01Is 153 a record number of responses in a thread on this site?
September 23rd, 2024 at 11:23@153: No, this is the winner so far with 379 comments:
https://www.thehighwaystar.com/thsblog/2008/06/21/purple-rainbow/
We have a couple of other in the 300 range.
September 23rd, 2024 at 11:40@154 And not even one post from either Uwe, Gregster or MacGregor (eller Karin for den sags skyld 😉 ) in that one.
September 23rd, 2024 at 17:41“And not even one post from either Uwe, Gregster or MacGregor …”
I wasn’t even born in 2008 yet! 🤣
September 23rd, 2024 at 21:20@ 155- ha ha ha, indeed that was the case. I did peruse THS site a lot wayyyyyyy back then. It looked a rather intimidating site to be honest, I thought if I get involved in all this, I am doomed. So after many years of building up the confidence, I went in to the Deep end about the 2011/2 era. In regards to Uwe, who I don’t think joined until about 2018 to my knowledge (I could be wrong on that), I do think he was unsure of the vocabulary that we were using here, himself being employed in Law. All the fancy big words here were a mystery to him, he was out of his depth so to speak. However after coming to terms with every word, he then built up the confidence to join in. And things have never been the same since! Cheers.
September 23rd, 2024 at 22:23Yo,
@155…
2008 would have been the 1st year I discovered lap-top-computers, & acquired one for myself…I probably spent at least 2-years catching-up with Little Feat & RUSH, though likely visited here too, but couldn’t come to terms with what people were discussing regarding forums & their topics / discussions. It was a long while before I started to participate.
My first post in here was by-chance-visit, & 3rd or 4th post in a new thread, sending my condolences to Jon Lord’s family, as he’d just moved-on to that big-gig-in-the-sky…
Peace !
September 24th, 2024 at 03:43@156 Thats what I mean, had you been there the number would have been even higher 😁
September 24th, 2024 at 06:40That wasn’t just an underhanded compliment, right, janbl? 🤣
September 24th, 2024 at 10:33“I probably spent at least 2-years catching-up with Little Feat & RUSH …”
I get that, counting out all those weird meters can be tasking.
https://64.media.tumblr.com/eeea98c140fd0548d270dcf49e654be8/tumblr_pajpb2pYhM1xwze3do1_400.gif
September 24th, 2024 at 10:37You guys should take it as a compliment, I allways look forward to your insight and banter. I don’t play myself, but my daughter do play a decent bass.
September 24th, 2024 at 14:20Uwe
Though I saw those bands it was out of curiosity for the upcoming punk movement. Never saw the Dictators. Spent 1976-1977 in England with the Sex Pistols ‘God Save the Queen’ (the name being blanked out on the published British charts – lol) battling out Kermit the Frog for #1. Never got into these bands but enjoyed the show and the movement.
I was more into Sweet / Status Quo not to mention DP Come Taste the Band, Nazareth/Montrose during this time.
September 24th, 2024 at 15:15Now that is something to pride yourself for as a dad, janbl – way to go!
You don’t need to play an instrument at all to appreciate DP, their instrumental virtuosity was always readily accessible to the people. Anybody can tell the difference between AC/DC and Deep Purple. The latter got a lot of stick from critics for it too, some Brit crit(ic) once wrote: “DP is music for nurses to dance and jump around to when they’re off shift.” (British intact class society is always a joy to witness!)
OTOH, if you do play an instrument, then the way the different DP sound components work with and against each other draws you in. They are satisfying to analyze and simply a musically interesting band – plus one where the various instruments + the voice are on a relatively equal footing. So many bands are dominated by one or two guys to the exclusion of pretty much all other band members. Not Deep Purple, they are very much a collective at work, even when Blackers was primus inter pares.
September 24th, 2024 at 17:33A lot like me then, Morsecode, I was a heavy metal/hard rock/glam rock teenager too, but I had no aversions against Punk. It had after all a similar energy and a rebellious attitude, albeit sans noteworthy solos. I liked The Ramones, Eddie & The Hot Rods, The Jam and The Stranglers, but considered the Sex Pistols and The Clash hypes though Johnny Rotten was nicely edgy and had a sharp, perceptive tongue and Joe Strummer’s lot did improve quite a bit musically over time.
Bands like MC5, The Stooges, The New York Dolls and The Dictators I did not even consider Punk, they were to me in the no man’s land between garage and hard rock. Blondie was to me just a very good pop band. By the same token, I deemed early AC/DC punkish with their primal approach bordering on the cretinous.
I remember an interview with Joey Ramone where he admitted his love for early Mk II circa In Rock (a garage album really) and Fireball, but also how smitten he was by The Bay City Rollers’ S-A-T-U-R!!! D-A-Y-NIGHT!!! after which The Bruddahs patterned their call-to-arms EY-OH!!! LET’S GO!!!-intro to Blitzkrieg Bop. And I thought to myself, why can’t I like all three then: Deep Purple, BCR and The Ramones? Still do, just on Sunday I followed listening to the new Schenker UFO tribute album and GHOST’s new live release with an hour of BCR (to the despair of my wife: “You can’t be serious about this … At least turn it down, what if the neighbors hear it?!” 🤣).
https://youtu.be/q04AoXwUGjA
September 25th, 2024 at 00:01Herr Uwe
Why no love for the fantastic Emerson, Lake and Palmer? This band is so overlooked it’s ridiculous! This band contains my favorite keyboard player, and drummer, and Greg’s voice, bass and guitar playing are fantastic as well. I was lucky to see them live 3 times but never as a headliner, I caught them twice in 96 with Jethro Tull, and 98 with Purple and Dream Theatre. Carl Palmer’s ELP legacy is certainly a worthy show to catch I think it has been 3 times for me seeing them as well.
September 25th, 2024 at 03:05Emerson, Lake and Palmer… I really don’t think they are overlooked! They sold truckloads of records and went on huge tours, getting a lot of press coverage, in fact they most likely provoked the punk movement along the likes of Pink Flöoyd and Genesis with their megalomania … I guess it’s just that they aren’t around anymore for a long time … so you don’t hear too much about them now.
September 25th, 2024 at 07:51You asked, Sidroman, so I’ll have to answer:
I’ve tried to like ELP, but it just doesn’t work for me (I share that with Steven Wilson who gave up remixing them because of that). I find their music incredibly cold, highly testosterone-charged and competitive in its athletic outlook, pretentious, yet curiously emotionless. And Greg Lake’s ballads and romantic contributions are for me an excess in saccharine tweeness. I don’t even like Greg Lake’s bass playing, it’s lifeless even when he plays something intricate (he’s technically skilled like all ELP members). That said I have all their studio output, also the Powell spin-off and listen to it from time to time, but it is a bit of a chore every time, an exercise in analysis not enjoyment. I’ve seen them on an open air with Purple in 1998 too, it was a good performance, but the music does so little for me.
And it’s not for lack of a guitarist: There are other keyboard trios I like such as Triumvirat and UK Mk II (Bozzio-Jobson-Wetton) or American Tears. I never minded Supertramp’s lack of a guitarist (mostly) either.
Sorry, but you asked! But be assured of my sincerest blessings for your devotion! Isn’t the inimitable Herr MacGregor an ELP nut too? He probably has one of those Tarkus creatures a a pet, they roam the Tasmanian bush freely I’ve heard …
September 25th, 2024 at 13:40Max, I believe ELP’s many female fans who supported them over the years simply moved on to Rush or something similarly emotion-dripping soulish oozing hormones …
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vAiESu5wrA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjlSiASsUIs
It seems a natural progression to me: ELP –> Rush –> Marvin Gaye.
Initially, The Commodores really wanted to pen Night Shift about ELP, always a band that got butts moving and hips swaying, so organic and non-angular.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FrkEDe6Ljqs
September 25th, 2024 at 18:39@168 – They used to roam the state Uwe, until white man turned up & exterminated them. Sorry, I thought you were talking about the Thylacine. Tarkus indeed, well most of it. I actually don’t own that many ELP albums on cd. Only the Pictures At An Exhibition, a ‘best of’ along with Black Moon 1993 era. I did own Tarkus, Trilogy & their debut on vinyl but haven’t replaced them with cd. I have always found them to be hit & miss, for want of a better description. Hence the best of collection. Greg Lake is wonderful on acoustic guitar, bass & of course vocals & his songs are melody plus. So many musicians would love to have his knack for quality songwriting & delivery. “Saccharine tweeness”, oh dear. And Uwe sends video slips of other artists who do so easily fall into the same category. I like Keith Emerson only in certain arrangements as he can get a little too busy & dare I say it, ‘bombastic’ at times. However they don’t have a lead guitarist as such so that is the band, it is or was Emerson’s band. Keith is the most brilliant keyboard player I have ever seen or heard in a rock band. It’s the jazz & big arrangements that get a little boring for me at times.A superb drummer is Carl, one of the best in rock by a mile. I rate them highly, that 1997 DVD Live at Montreux is superb. I applaud them for being different, no guitar as in lead riffing guitar like so many bands. But at the same time I crave guitar after a while, if that makes any sense at all. A dynamite band though & has or will there ever be anything slightly resembling them again, no way. Their in a league of their own. And I would NEVER call them pretentious. Who or what were they pretending to be? That is a cheap insulting word thrown around far too easily in regards to many of the progressive rock bands. What were they supposed to do? Be like other bands or tone it down a little because it may offend or go over peoples heads? Were would rock music be without the progressive & fusion bands. Well a lot more boring no doubt. Diversity is the key! Oh hang on, ELP are for MALES only are they not, according to Uwe & his ‘gender agenda’. Regarding Steve Wilson, he only ever set out to remix the albums from certain artists that inspired him when he was young. He didn’t do the complete package of all those bands from my memory. He was never going to. Cheers.
September 25th, 2024 at 21:44I have always appreciated ELP, for being a trio without a guitar, for having written Tarkus and their famous suites, for the solos that were the only ones that could compete with those of Deep Purple, and finally for not being – in my ears – boring like Pink Floyd, Yes and above all Genesis, who I have never been able to digest.
September 25th, 2024 at 22:08I have to second that ELP never did it for me either. Though I must admit their music was always a vital part of the milieu of the FM world which I enjoyed , but I never got into them after buying their first album
For me if I didn’t like a band that much I didn’t pursue their albums. Couldn’t afford to! That includes ELP.
Following music is funny. Some bands I followed religiously in the beginning but stopped after a certain album and said enough. Eg. Led Zep after Houses of the Holy/Black Sabbath after Vol IV , Jethro Tull after Passion Play/Rush after Caress of Steel (though I did go back and buy Farewell to Kings) to name a few
Yet there are bands that I continued to buy everything they put out: Deep Purple/Sweet/J Geils/Climax Blues Band/ City Boy/ Nazareth/Everything associated with Tommy Bolin/Bryan Ferry – Roxy Music/Icehouse/All things Ronnie Montrose/Jan Akkerman/Slade/Flash and the Pan (yes I admit it)/Alsn Parsons
I’m always amazed at the enormous music collections people have
September 25th, 2024 at 22:23I have to join German forces here with Uwe: ELP to me is an abbreviation for pretentious. Or it might have been for bombastic?
Uwe, in fact “Lucky Man” went down very well with the girls. Guess that was about it. 😀
September 26th, 2024 at 07:32But I remember borrowing ELP’s album with that song so I could record it for the mixtape for said Christiane …
I can relate to only listening to certain artist back in the day for a little while & then moving on. Status Quo, for one. Certain music moves with our evolving I guess, some stands the test of times & some goes by the wayside. Regarding ‘enormous’ cd collections, well I am not sure what to call enormous. Uwe allegedly has a 10,000 plus collection if I do recall. Now THAT is ginormous indeed. I do wonder though at times whether he ever gets lost in it, like in a maze. I also wonder if it is a alphabetical listed or genre listed. How does Uwe deal with that leviathan of a cd collection. More to the point how does his wife put up with it? Especially if she places a cd somewhere & returns to get it again & it is gone, moved somewhere else, how would she ever find it. Sounds like some sort of ‘horror’ movie. Now there is a thought. Has there ever been a movie about the horror of being lost in a giant cd collection? Cheers.
September 26th, 2024 at 07:53I never understood why pretentious and bombastic is regarded as bad in music. Most of my favorite bands fall in that category. Even DP at times.
September 26th, 2024 at 11:24Good question. For me it’s about humour. If the music is taken too seriouslly, the band is too full of themselves, the acting too vain… In fact if there’s no humour in it I may dislike it.
Perfect Strangers (the song) for example is – to me – bombastic and I do like it a lot. Now and then a little of that stuff is nice – but all of the time? Deep Purple found a good balance, they included llots of elements in their music – from classical stuff to jazzy stuff and sheer old time rock’n’roll – so a bit of bombastic stuff thrown in for good measure was more than bearable.
September 26th, 2024 at 12:43Uwe
> No, the list of jambs (UWE’s EDIT: that translation is likely misleading, perhaps “woodwork strike” in soccer terminology was meant in the original Russian?) can be continued […]
Yes, it’s a sort of slang idiom meaning “mistake”, “poorly done job”, “fail”, “flaw” etc.
September 26th, 2024 at 12:49Thanks to everyone for reading my review.
#169 Uwe
it’s obvious and I want to hope that an ELP listener also considers Rush as a fundamental band.
I may be dumb or ignorant, but I don’t understand the association with Marvin Gaye, except as a funny aside.
September 26th, 2024 at 13:46Sometimes I’m glad I don’t play myself and just like to listen to and enjoy music and not care much about terts, B flat, 8 and so on.
September 26th, 2024 at 14:57I did have a lot of lp’s and cd’s but now its mostly Spotify but I always buy Purple’s cd’s
Svante, I know your Nordic roots – just like my Germanic ones – guide you in that direction, but there is a fine line between being bombastic and ridiculous! 😁 I can only take THAT MUCH Wagner before I start to laugh.
Herr MacGregor, do I get lost in the maze? Sure I do! 😂 I only recently had to rebuy a Trapeze boxed set I had bought only a few months before, but try as I might I couldn’t find it! I was losing sleep over it, thinking at night what if Cherry Red delete it and I can’t find the one I have ever again? So in the end I rebought it. I know, therapy would have been an option too. Please don’t call me obsessive, I resemble that.
Alphabetical or genre? The former + also family tree oriented:
I keep everything DP-related separate, DP live and DP studio albums are separate (I’ve consigned bootlegs and compilations to the cellar, I had too many of them). Deep Purple is followed by the racks with
Rod Evans
Nick Simper
Ian Gillan (including Bernie Tormé, Colin Towns and John McCoy solo albums)
Roger Glover (including albums he produced)
Ritchie Blackmore
David Coverdale (including Micky Moody and Bernie Marsden solo albums)
Ian Paice (starting with an EP of The Maze)
Jon Lord
Glenn Hughes (lots of session appearances!)
Tommy Bolin
Joe Lynn Turner (ditto)
Steve Morse (ditto)
Don Airey (ditto)
Simon McBride
I also keep everything with Graham Bonnet separate, not sure why I started doing that.
The non-DP stuff starts with ABBA (actually it starts with ‘A’, a Brit band that released just one album) and ends with ZZ Top of course. It is mostly alphabetic, but not quite. Let me explain: You’ll find Don Henley, Glenn Frey, Joe Walsh, Timothy B. Schmit, Randy Meisner and Bernie Leadon albums filed behind the Eagles, that means Poco is also located there because Timothy B Schmit played with them (and before Randy Meisner). Likewise, you’ll find Peter Wolf (the singer) after the J Geils Band and Rob Halford after Judas Priest as well as Ian Anderson after Jethro Tull, but Sting is not filed after The Police, he’s separate and the members of The Beatles are all separate too, except those George Harrison albums that feature Jon Lord which are filed with him or the Harrison and McCartney albums featuring Paicey which are filed with the drummer. You won’t find Paul Weller after the Jam either, he’s also separate as are Peter Gabriel and Phil Collins from Genesis or Bryan Ferry from Roxy Music, but Rick Wakeman follows YES. It gets complicated: Sammy Hagar follows Van Halen so that Montrose and Gamma do too (or are Gamma filed under G, I’m not really sure, I might file them after Nightranger too because their keyboarder Alan Fitzgerald … 🤯).
I accept the criticism that I’m not really stringent 😥, much of it is tradition, ’tis true. My wife steadfastly refuses to file anything in my system. We’ve been together since 2007, have joint bank accounts, know each other’s pass words, the house is in her name, but our CD collections are separate to this day 🤣, she says: “If we join them, I’ll never find anything again.”
I will not divulge anything further of my collector habits or y’all call the funny farm!
September 26th, 2024 at 15:04Morsecode: Wow, someone who knows and likes City Boy,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kV1nWmVi2_I
I thought I was the only one ON EARTH … Next thing you’re gonna say you knew Mr Big (UK) and Stingray too!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2l8UUo4s39U
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCpN2ptIcgE
Between 10th and 13th grade I went to a German Gymnasium/Oberstufe where most people saw non-Prog Rock music as beneath them. I was derided for my Deep Purple, Status Quo, Slade, Sweet and Kiss buttons, but I gave as good as I got. It has never bothered me being the odd man out.
There were basically five Prog bands in the top pantheon in Germany (plus also-rans such as Gentle Giant, Saga or Supertramp and Manfred Mann’s Earth Band), in alphabetical order:
ELP -100% male audience, owning Pictures At An Exhibition was mandatory – as I’ve written, they always sounded too technocratic to me, there is no warmth in their music. Good musicians yes. No on realized back then that the Brain Salad Surgery cover and album title was about fellatio, such things weren’t invented yet in Germany.
GENESIS – Hugely popular, probably the most popular Prog band in Germany after Waters, Gilmour & Co. Very pastoral and quintessentially Brit, but they found grace with me, I liked both Gabriel’s and Phil Collins’ voices (before the latter became over-exposed). But Selling England By The pound, The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway or A Trick Of The Tail and Wind & Wuthering …, yeah, that was good music. To me, Genesis had warmth. Oh, lest we forget, I did like Calling All Stations with Ray Wilson too (more than some of the later Phil Collins stuff), I think that album and tour caught a lot of flak undeservedly.
JETHRO TULL – Also hugely popular, but I never got into Ian Anderson’s ultra-mannered style of singing, he doesn’t have a rock voice to me. Plus: Jethro Tull could rock, but they never rolled. That rolling groove & swing Status Quo had in Down Down, The Dire Straits in Sultans Of Swing or the Stones in Star Fucker, impossible to attain for Anderson and his men, they were an angular band and all their music sounded over-composed and over-worked-out to me. There was some warmth in their music, but it was quaint. Maybe the band would have benefited from Anderson allowing other people to write to.
PINK FLOYD – If instrumental intricacy defines PROG, then Pink Floyd is not really a Prog band, their music is by and large simple (nothing wrong with that) and slow-moving, it is the layered approach to it that creates some sophistication. Popularity-wise, no one could touch them in Germany in the latter ahlf of the 70s. Gilmour is a great guitarist, no two ways about it, and my favorite album of theirs is Wish You Were Here, really a record full of soundtrack’ish ambience music with more than a shot of krautrock (Tangerine Dream!) to it. But a classic no doubt. Never been too much a fan of DSOTM (PF work better for me with longer songs where they can stretch out) or The Wall though. For a teenage Uwe, Pink Floyd were all in all a little lame (I wasn’t much of a pot smoker), asked whether I would rather see PF or Slade live, I wouldn’t have hesitated a second and picked Noddy and his men. Or the J Geils Band with the wonderful Peter Wolf fronting: “RAPUNZEL, LETCHA HAIR DOWN!”
YES – Chris Squire was of course one of the greatest bassists ever, but those high-pitched vocals … Somehow, Jon Anderson’s angelic falsetto never clicked with me (though I love the same thing with Russel Mael of the criminally underrated Sparks), YES was always a little ‘wussy’ to me. Strangely, when I stumbled on Starcastle by accident, I really liked them which doesn’t really make any sense if you don’t like YES. Admittedly, of the above list of Prog heroes, I was least acquainted with YES’ music. That has changed over time and I’m fine with them today though the vocals are still a bit pansy’ish, irrespective of who is singing with them. Fly From Here (Benoit David version) is probably my favorite YES album, strange choice I know, maybe because it sounds a little like Starcastle trying to sound like YES? 😎
September 26th, 2024 at 16:10I forgot Don Felder! He’s filed after Eagles too, logically.
September 26th, 2024 at 19:30“I may be dumb or ignorant, but I don’t understand the association with Marvin Gaye, except as a funny aside.”
No, you’re not dumb and ignorant, Fla76, it’s just that I’m immature! It was purely in jest.
The roots of music and dancing go of course back to mating rituals when we still lived in caves. And bands like ELP and Rush are for me arch-examples of how much we have left that behind – both bands’ music is totally asexual, even when they picture Alien blowjobs or lifted skirts on their albums. So I juxtaposed Marvin Gaye, the king of songs about love-making. And the Commodores song (a great number) is of course about him.
September 27th, 2024 at 10:08OK, back to the original subject. I’d say Steve is nicer than I would have been in that situation. Roger calling after management did the dirty work of sacking him? Too little, too late, especially given what Steve was dealing with at the time.
Let Roger go to voicemail, it’s not like they’re ever going to see each other again anyway.
September 27th, 2024 at 13:51Life’s too short to bear long grudges, you’ll learn that, young Padawan, as your journey unfolds.
https://lumiere-a.akamaihd.net/v1/images/Yoda-Retina_2a7ecc26.jpeg?region=0%2C0%2C1536%2C864
Both Purple’s and Steve’s life turned for the better due to their almost three decades together. Nothing lasts forever, but good things don’t become worthless in hindsight either.
September 28th, 2024 at 00:55#183 Uwe
Uwe I had rightly intuited that yours was a German/British humour which when spoken is certainly more evident than when written.
I may be too attached to the low quality of the albums after Bananas, but when I learned that Steve Morse was no longer in Purple (or had been fired, we’ll know the truth for sure in a few years), and seeing how the others were reborn, I’m happy that it went that way.
the battle rages on, and that’s what’s important for a fan from MKI to the future days!
September 28th, 2024 at 13:12@ 181- finally I found this comment again after reading it days ago from Uwe. “YES – Chris Squire was of course one of the greatest bassists ever, but those high-pitched vocals … Somehow, Jon Anderson’s angelic falsetto never clicked with me” Anderson isn’t a falsetto singer Uwe, never has been has he? Alto tenor is his natural range. Talking about Sparks & there were plenty flying around in my head after reading that! “YES was always a little ‘wussy’ to me” Well at least they were in touch with their ‘femininity’ perhaps Uwe. Much better than Rush & ELP with their macho boys band music, he he he. Your words, well maybe not the macho one. Cheers.
September 29th, 2024 at 07:18