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Don Airey in Classic Rock
Classic Rock magazine has an interview with Don Airey in their latest issue (#340, with Fleetwood Mac on the cover). We don’t have many further details at the moment, apart from the blurb:
Q&A: Don Airey
The Deep Purple keyboard player, go-to session guy and solo artist on his new album, touring, Purple, Blackmore.
If you happen to have access and there’s something interesting in there, please post in comments.
Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing
It’s mostly about his new solo album but he was asked about Purple and responded “I only came off the road on the 19th December so we’re having a bit of a break. Once the dust has settled down then we can look to the future” and one anecdote about Rainbow, he’d previously told the interviewer that sometimes Ritchie would solo leaning back on his Marshall stack but the roadies would have to push against it to stop it falling over. One time they forgot and Ritchie leant against the stack and he and it fell over backwards “Sophia Gardens, Cardiff on the Down To Earth tour. Ritchie gave me a wave as he was falling backwards and pointed. That was my cue for a ten minute solo.”
April 28th, 2025 at 06:42I hope he doesn’t use this interview as another opportunity to say how Simon is the best thing that ever happened to them and to slag Steve.
April 28th, 2025 at 13:40I agree John. Simon is an excellent guitar player but, to me, he lacks “that something” that makes him stand out. As for Don, I still think his performance on =1 wasn’t as good as any of his other DP albums. I’ve been called a lot of names for posting this, but (and I listened to it a few days ago), think =1 is not that good and is my least favorite DP album of all time. They’ve been my favorite band since 1973 but, for some reason, some people on this web sight think I have no right to speak badly about a DP album.
April 28th, 2025 at 19:45@ 3 – don’t worry Leslie, speak out all you like and I agree with you in many aspects. A new album always gets some people excited and that is fine, how long does that lasts is fine also. History never repeats and we all are aware of that conundrum. It is all over bar the shouting anyway, life eh? Go for it. Cheers.
April 28th, 2025 at 22:14@3
You’re not alone, =1 doesn’t do much for me either. Obviously Deep Purple; but a castrated version.
There, I said it. I suppose Uwe will calling for me to be burned at the stake or something equally horrible.
April 29th, 2025 at 08:29=1 is a lively affair – I like it first and foremost for that.
But by the same token: Leslie is free to not like it. If it doesn’t speak to him, then it just doesn’t.
Simon is essentially an advanced blues rocker – Gary Moore school. Maybe that is why you miss “that something”, Ritchie had that neo-classical element plus the eastern tinge, Tommy that staccato flurry of notes playing and black rhythm guitar approach, Steve treated guitar as if it was a keyboard to create soundscapes … Simon is the first guitarist of DP from a generation that learned at least a part of its chops already from the internet (and before that from instruction videos on DVD, he has had exposure to a lot of styles and co-mingled them all into his own. I think his playing is “well-rounded”, but with an access to so many styles via media there is perhaps less of a definite stylistic imprint. There is a whole new generation of players like that.
But if we did the time travel test and dropped present (or say 20 years younger) Simon into late 60s London, I think he would have made a name for himself very soon as “that hot guitarist with the spiky hair who does all this strange stuff on his guitar and is lightning-fast”. I believe Ritchie would have said: “This guy is real good and to be watched out for!”
https://youtu.be/vwlWgYsyp1k
We have to realize that at age 12, not Ritchie, not Tommy, not even Steve Morse, not Jeff Beck, Jimi Hendrix or Eric Clapton (who couldn’t play any guitar at that age because he learned it comparatively late) were in league with young Simon. That just goes to show what availability of influences and tutoring (and some talent of course) can do.
April 29th, 2025 at 12:04# 3 Leslie.You might recall that I took a pretty good roasting over my review of = 1. You’ve been contributing your thoughts and considered opinions here for quite some time.Don’t stop now.
April 29th, 2025 at 14:25@2 and 3 …and even 4
HERE, HERE
April 29th, 2025 at 14:55At last some people talking sense …nothing against Simon …but he is no where near Steve …we miss Steve terribly 😔 I’ve been watching them live from infinite and Now What tours lately …Steve is fantastic…the energy, the style…the smile !
I don’t reckon Blackmore will be back but ..for fucks sake …bring Steve back for the last album and tour , that would be so fitting, considering what he has done for the band !
=1 has been a very divisive album, almost on a par with the CTTB and S&M.
April 29th, 2025 at 19:15I personally like it a lot and like Simon as an exceptional player. I simply didn’t want to lose Steve…but that was fate. And terribly sad.
All of my other thoughts on this have been said much more eloquently by Uwe.
But, of course , we must remember, it is a website where everyone has their own opinion …no one is right or wrong…and we don’t have to go stomping over everyone’s post , like an obnoxious twat, insisting only our opinion is right !
But, for me , Simon is not Purple standard , yes , his effects box is cool that he uses at the end of Black Night ( same solo, every night !) But a 10 year old can use toys like that and make themselves look good .
Now, I’m going to have a think …worst Purple album ..Slaves and Masters or =1 ?
April 29th, 2025 at 20:05Steve had a good run with the band and now he’s gone, get over it. And if we’re honest with ourselves, much like Jon he wasn’t enjoying his last years with Purple as much as the years before.
I’d rather hear him on a new Flying Colors album. He was delighted to play in that band, it was eye-opening to see them with him.
April 29th, 2025 at 23:01@ 5 – Russ775 – don’t worry Russ, even way back in the day there was a saying that is most probably still prevalent today. Please don’t anyone here or anywhere else take this literally, it is a satirical look at things as so many sayings are. However it does get the thoughts active, so to speak. Cheers.
https://nosweatshakespeare.com/quotes/famous/lets-kill-all-the-lawyers/
April 29th, 2025 at 23:24“almost on a par with the CTTB and S&M”
Hey, I like both! DP’s rich history would be poorer without them. One album showed that DP can play West Coast hard rock with a funk edge and the other that they were competent at AOR.
April 30th, 2025 at 00:17@12 😄 😄 😄
How many lawyer jokes are there? Three… the rest are true stories.
April 30th, 2025 at 07:53@10
Steve:
“But, for me , Simon is not Purple standard , yes , his effects box is cool that he uses at the end of Black Night ( same solo, every night !) But a 10 year old can use toys like that and make themselves look good .”
😂😂😂, ok personally I really dig Simon!
But tell me then who you would have liked to seen holding – and playing – the banjo 😊
April 30th, 2025 at 08:12@14 I cannot resist this :
“A lawyer walked into a room. ‘Hello’, he lied”.
(I was told this joke by a bass-playing friend whose indentity I will try to keep secret)
April 30th, 2025 at 10:38@14
Russ, 99% of lawyers give the rest a bad name 😄
And did you know that right now in USA scientists are making very VERY interesting tests on lawyers?
They used to make them on rats, but as time went on, it became crystal clear that you can’t get rats to do all kinds of terrible stuff 🤭
(Sorry Uwe 🤗 it was a joke one of my bros enjoyed tremendously!)
April 30th, 2025 at 10:58And you are and will always be my favourite lawyer 🤩
Sigh, MacGregor and Russ are sort of the Beavis & Butthead of this forum
https://media.tenor.com/rcp6tc4SpUcAAAAM/giggling-butt-head.gif
I sometimes feel more like Daria, their intellectual nemesis:
https://media.tenor.com/Knegk5nyzJAAAAAM/quinn-black.gif
That said, things can be learned even from them … I swear I up to now was under the false impression that the “kill all the lawyers” phrase was of Don Henley/Glenn Frey origin
“The more I think about it, ole Billy was right, let’s kill all the lawyers, kill’em tonight!” @01:11
https://youtu.be/Mre-bXXVo18
not Shakespeare! Goes to show, juvenile/stunted development aside, you should never underestimate people that derive their life’s enjoyment from banging on drums or rocks as the case may be. Thanks 🙏 for enlightening me guys! I finally know who the referenced “ole Billy” is.
April 30th, 2025 at 13:05Simon is certainly a good player, but not an exceptional one. The jams by Jon & Ritchie, Jon & Steve, and Don & Steve were what made Purple so exciting. Nothing is more boring on tour than playing the same thing every night.
For me, Paul Gilbert would have been Steve’s first choice as his successor. An absolute master of his craft and also a very good singer who isn’t as afraid of the high notes as Big Ian. Of course, this is due to Ian’s age, but it’s been like this since the 1990s.
Paul can also sound like Ritchie and Ian together when he wants to.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6jovDODl7s
April 30th, 2025 at 13:45Bring on your lawyer jokes, some of them are really good! “Hello!” he lied. 🤣
Crocco, I will not stand for an Ibanez player being part of Deep Purple! There have to be boundaries that are not crossed. 😁
April 30th, 2025 at 14:59Karin
….Thats a very good question and you have floored me a bit !
For me, thinking about it , I would have liked to have seen the whole band taking a step back and resting and dare I say , wait for Steve to come back ( I don’t want to sound tactless as I know it was tragic circumstances)
Then , they could have done one final, killer album …a few more dates ..and bowed out on a high …instead , I fear my worst fears are being realised and the legend is becoming tarnished .
The one thing that I take out of the comments from the band about Steve is, good old Paicey saying ” the juggernaut must keep on rolling ” …in other words , the band has dates booked , contractual obligations and it would cost far too much money to stop …
April 30th, 2025 at 15:00St. Steve @21:
OMG, Deep Purple are a business!!!
😯 😨 🤯 😱
How could they deceive us so!
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/iFftkaDeqjoemrG9f4Eedc-1200-80.jpg.webp
I agree, a hopeful press statement at the time
“DP will now go on hiatus until Steve’s wife has died (whenever that will be) – to then return with aplomb and batteries recharged!”
would have been the decent, tasteful and sensible thing to do.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYZ0rkVaPyY
April 30th, 2025 at 17:24Just my 3 cent….Steve Morse is a first class guitar player, absolute pro, nice human being (a friend of mine happened to be around him several times for job purposes), an interesting and multi interested man and a caring husband and father. A fitting guitarist for DP he was not. Much less so than RB, Bolin, Satriani and Simon. His influences are very different and his playing and writing to me were pure prog. The side of DP I always disliked most.
April 30th, 2025 at 17:48@21
Oh ok Steve you’re really not fond of SMcB?☺️
I do like the way everything turned out, but if I have to be completely honest, I would so much have liked if Ritchie could’ve (would’ve + should’ve) behaved accordingly to, ahem, more normal human standards!
(Yeah, yeah YEAH – I know he might have had his reasons to do as he did, and yes we do indeed NOT know everything that went on!
Nevertheless, how nice it would have been if grown ups act as such!
I loved Ritchies guitar playing, and no bad attitude can take away that he is (or was) a genius!
But I also liked, and was really grateful for Steve’s stepping in and taking over!
Must have been hard though! Remember have read Steve said: he didn’t fill Blackmore’s shoes, as far as he knew, Blackmore took the shoes with him.
And also thinking of all the fans who were not ready to accept a new guy!
And then Simon McBride!
April 30th, 2025 at 19:12He has the right attitude for sure 😄 and as far as I can tell, he is an eminent guitarist 😉
And am I happy he was part of making =1 happening?
Oohhh YEAH!
I agree Steve. As someone on another DP sight posted “they had to get someone quick to get them over the finish line”.
April 30th, 2025 at 19:18#20 Uwe, and what about Joe Satriani? As far as I know, he’s an Ibanez -Endorser, right? 🙂
April 30th, 2025 at 20:14Uwe …WTF …we are actually in agreement! A momentous day for sure ( though I don’t understand why you posted clips of Kiss !? )
Karin , I’ve said before that I’ve nothing against Simon whatsoever, he seems like a nice, humble guy who has found himself in a very difficult situation and as I’ve said before, he was just in the right place at the right time ( obviously Don’s friend and he played with Gillan a lot ) …and at least he is very humble about it ( not like when the Puff Joe Lynn joined and thought he was the best singer Purple had ever had )
Simon is a brilliant guitar player but can he write a Purple song ? I’ve not seen it yet !
And just look on You tube, there are hundreds of brilliant guitar players ( and organ players ) doing brilliant renditions of Purple songs …thats just my opinion anyway .
Obviously, the Juggernaut is running out of Petrol and I will most certainly shed a tear when it stops …but please don’t ruin the legacy
April 30th, 2025 at 20:52Listening to this release. Not hitting hard on my noggin’. Fearing it won’t grow like Herr Uwe’s Tolstoy overload on each and every subject matter.
Herr Uwe, just bringing levity to the Purple Table. Your Missus must be grateful for this extraordinary time you choose to not give her righteous attention?
Is it Marital Salvation?
Wink wink, a nod’s as good as a wink to a blind bat, eh?
Blessings from New Jersey over to Alemana.
Peace,
April 30th, 2025 at 21:09Ted 😉🇩🇪
Crocco, I was joking. Ibanez is fine. I’m a great fan of the Iceman shape and have a couple of their Iceman basses from various eras.
Ibanez has always made good, value-for-money stuff, I have really nothing against them. I own Yamaha basses too.
In my book, if you can’t get a decent, usable sound out of a 400 Euro guitar and a budget amp, you should perhaps play tennis rather than guitar or bass. I hate equipment vanity.
April 30th, 2025 at 21:49@20
“Bring on your lawyer jokes, some of them are really good!”
Don’t get me started…
Well, just one more:
Q: What do lawyers use for birth control?
A: Their personalities.
April 30th, 2025 at 22:04“A fitting guitarist for DP he was not. Much less so than RB, Bolin, Satriani and Simon. His influences are very different and his playing and writing to me were pure prog. The side of DP I always disliked most.”
Alas!, there it is again, that Teutonic severity in Maxens acerbic judgement, tsk, tsk, tsk …
Being a man of great temperance and general benevolence, I wouldn’t go as far. Steve pretty much single-handedly created a new, lengthy era with DP and he did everything to put his guitar playing to service for the band. Of course he couldn’t change his feathers, he’s Steve Morse after all, an academic guitar-nerd in a NAMM clinic world. But his legacy with Purple is rich, those weren’t lost years for the band. Would have anybody else done a better job during such a lengthy period of service? I doubt it. He has certainly never been responsible for an album as pained and lackluster as The Cattle Grazes On nor did he throw water on band members’ wives and fail to apologize for it.
He wasn’t as moody-artistic maverick’ish as Blackmore, didn’t dress as well nor play rhythm guitar as sexy as Tommy + he’s not from the streets of Northern Island with the ensuing grit like little Simon.
I enjoyed Steve’s tenure with DP (dutifully closing my eyes on a good many of his vast array of printed tank-tops/muscle shirts), but I don’t long him back. I do wish he would find a place in a band with sophisticated music plus vocals that also earns some money, but I mentioned Flying Colors already in another post. Plus a woman who is good to him, he is still an attractive widower. My mom always said: “Not one has come back yet.”
And he can rest assured that I will continue buying all his solo output. Who knows, maybe in a few years from now, he’ll be touring German clubs with a young band of Florida musicians and a program called “Sometimes I Feel Like Screaming: An Evening of Morse Era Deep Purple!”
I’d go no sweat, he’s family.
April 30th, 2025 at 22:42Yes indeed we may as well ‘strike while the iron is hot’. There is another one of those sayings, they are everywhere, just like lawyers it seems. Love the rats joke Karin, well done. Uwe I don’t really enjoy hitting rocks as they all sort of sound the same and they hurt, clunk. What happened to the much more earthy old tree trunk or log lying around. Much more dynamics there and very earthy (pagan) too. Beavis and Butthead, I like it. Cheers.
April 30th, 2025 at 23:40@23
“Just my 3 cent“ – yeah that inflation is so annoying 😉😃🤗
“A fitting guitarist for DP he was not“ – Max, as I’ve mentioned a couple of thousands times, I’m not a musician so I cannot hear what you lot hear! But my lack of understanding taking in consideration, I do love Steve’s way ☺️
May 1st, 2025 at 07:07Every time I hear ‘Ted the Mechanic’ I cannot imagine anyone doing a better job than Steve. That goes for ‘Sometimes I feel like screaming’ too!
(And yes – SIGH – now I’m sure Uwe will step in and produce a quadrillion links to prove me wrong (a quadrillion is 10 in 24th potens 😉☺️) but that’s ok, as has been so eloquently explained in here, several times, it’s ok we each have our opinions, after all how much fun would HS be if we were nothing but an echo chamber 🙃
@22
Uwe, 🤣 that link with Gene S simply proves one thing:
May 1st, 2025 at 07:26He ought to keep playing the bass (and nothing more! )
Though 2:11 to 2:15 and the end too show a pretty cute falsetto!
@27
🤣🤣
“Uwe …WTF …we are actually in agreement!” – Steve, when Uwe gets bored it’s common knowledge that he fights among himself 😂
“not like when the Puff Joe Lynn joined and thought he was the best singer Purple had ever had” – well he does (or did) sing very nicely, but his attitude – yeah, I lack the right words here 😏
“Simon is a brilliant guitar player but can he write a Purple song ? I’ve not seen it yet !” – ok, you might have a point here, but is it necessary that he can write a tune?
“and I will most certainly shed a tear when it stops “ – oh me too 😨😰😰😰
As I see it, the only one in Purple who never can be successfully replaced is Ian G!
In Denmark some scientists are researching for ways to live longer, and there’ve been produced very interesting results.
May 1st, 2025 at 10:41As a homeopath I also go into this field with great enthusiasm, but the main goal for me is not to be as old as possible, but to feel as great as possible for as long time it’s making sense!
And I may add: the guys in Purple are living proofs that you can get older without acting old 😍
@30
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Russ, I add that brilliant joke in my little black book with comebacks to annoying people 😂😂
May 1st, 2025 at 10:44@32
MacGregor, in Denmark there has been a terrible rat situation.
People have been haunted down by those rodents! ( ok maybe not literally hunted down, but you know..)
Living in the country side we have caught 3 rats in the garage. It was all my fault 😔
I like to feed the birds all year through and had bought a bag with birdseed that was made of paper.
Yeah 😟
Rat teeth can go through almost anything but hard plastic, and I do have plastic boxes to the birdseed, but had completely forgotten about the paperbag.
May 1st, 2025 at 10:57It’s really foolish actually because rats are pests! And pestering – and still I felt like a murderer killing those animals, they are just doing what comes natural to them….
If we could make up some agreement: you stay away from our property and we will let you live happily ever after!
(I’m such a girl, I know ☺️😉)
“Hitting rocks” was aimed at Russ, that mineral man and fearless role model of kempt pubic appearance, Herr MacGregor, but let’s not split hairs.
Kinda slow these Tassies sometimes …
Gene Simmons is not a great singer, Karin, but I like his voice, it is a lot less affected than Paul Stanley’s. Gene’s talking and singing voice are not that far apart. He can be just right on a number like this:
https://youtu.be/yiSB7G732Eg
And the guy has a real melodic side too, unknown to most he’s a Beatles buff:
https://youtu.be/gnxiITtNZEo
May 1st, 2025 at 12:31@38
“…fearless role model of kempt pubic appearance”
Hey, I wore a suit once. https://www.cnmineral.com/other%20pages/suit.htm
May 1st, 2025 at 19:45Any agreement with Steve is of coincidental, even accidental nature, and not intentional at all, I’d like to stress that.
TeddyMechy: Edith will be the first to admit how much she has learned about DP in my time with her, but she feels that all that is relevant has been said. She sometimes utters divorce filing-relevant things like “I can’t believe you still listen to all that stuff, you must have heard it a million times!” If I’m in a vengeful mood, I then put on Clear Air Tirnulence or Born Again and after a short while she will timidly ask: “Is that a long album?” 😂
This won’t endear her to Karin, but Edith thinks that Ian’s best years as a vocalist ended circa 1973. But he is still better than Glenn to her and with DC she wonders what all the fuss is about. Joe Lynn Turner had the most variable voice of any Purple singer, she says, but it’s also totally interchangeable with other AOR singers. Her favorite singers are David Gilmour, Van Morrison and Eddie Vedder.
And she is determined in her view that all DP singers are never loud enough in both the studio and live mixes. To which I counter: “You’re watching too many of those talent shows on TV!”
May 1st, 2025 at 20:18Karin
I understand Uwe has lots of self portraits around his house and mirrors …so he can have lots of conversations with himself and agree with himself and look into his mirrors and tell himself how brilliant he is ! …I’m not saying he’s arrogant and conceited but , apparently, when he has an orgasm …..he shouts out his own name !! 🤣🤣🤣
I actually like Slaves and Masters …but, I’m so pro Gillan…I feel treacherous to admit I like it !
May 1st, 2025 at 20:25Actually I saw them with the puff singing at Hammersmith in 1991 …wasn’t a bad gig at all …they did Hey Joe and Whiter shade of pale …
No bad deed goes unpunished, Karin!
https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQzcr391AaoL6JBkdCcbkkFAJTLgXhnGsQQhg&s
May 1st, 2025 at 22:05Karin there are a few songs with rat or mouse in the title, I have a few albums with those. Deep Purple of course with Flight of the Rat, Jethro Tull (One Brown Mouse) and Genesis ‘All in a Mouse’s Night’, and a few more familiar artists (Auntie Alice, The Doors and Queen) in the link below. In Australia we have our own native rats along with the cursed introduced rat (Rattus rattus) what a name eh? They all get the same treatment from many people because they all have the same habits, not their fault, as you said they have to survive etc. The second link below has those mentioned along with the introduced one. Our other native friends the brush tail possum can do a lot of damage similar to what you have mentioned. They are very aggressive when in search of food and poultry and bird habitats are one of their favourite haunts. Even plastic food containers can get chewed out by rats and possums occasionally and they gain access. I have noticed metal containers being used out here on farm properties. Yes an amiable agreement with certain creatures would be nice. I have often warned or advised them, ‘now stay away’ etc, but to no avail. Nature and humans again. Can we co exist? You will notice I placed Deep Purple first in this post just to get past the moderators. Cunning as a rat eh? Cheers.
https://homme.band/songs-about-rats/
https://australian.museum/learn/species-identification/ask-an-expert/is-it-a-rat/
May 2nd, 2025 at 03:10@27
“And just look on You tube, there are hundreds of brilliant guitar players ( and organ players ) doing brilliant renditions of Purple songs …thats just my opinion anyway”
I guess you’re right, but it’s not just about being a good guitar player!
Ritchie, ok he was among the best, and he for sure didn’t fit in.
As I see it, it’s also about the quality he brings to the band, personality, humour, respect towards the rest of the band….. the chemistry among them that will break or make the band.
And here it really seem that SMcB is a perfect match!
😊
May 2nd, 2025 at 04:43I sincerely hope Karin does not think I am pushing the barrow out for old David Coverdale over Ian Gillan. I didn’t read the ‘songs about rats’ articles of the few bands I know and have in my collection. Uwe will be sighing and thinking, ‘how could he not even research his research’? Yes I admit it, he he he. David Coverdale eat your heart. I have never realised that he was there from the start of DP. Amazing. Cheers.
May 2nd, 2025 at 07:48Karin
May 2nd, 2025 at 10:34I take your point and it’s very well made, in fact , I basically agree with you .
But , I just think , he is only in the band to get them to the finishing post , so to speak .
I guess they’re all having fun …and why not …they’ve given us some vast amounts of pleasure over the years !
@38
Have you seen ‘Castle’?
(If you never have seen Castle, then you’re in for a treat 😃)
Nathan Fillion is Castle, Stana Katic is his beautiful sidekick. Castle is a novelist, very successful and Beckett (Stana Katic) is a policeofficer, and he shadows her in her day to day work, to get new ideas for books (yeah right! 🙄)
May 2nd, 2025 at 11:078 seasons of charme and a little bit excitement, and the reason I mention Castle is that Gene Simmons is in it, as himself 😊
@40
“This won’t endear her to Karin, but Edith thinks..”
Uwe, I have the greatest respect for your darling wife!
I guess you easily can figure out why, but should your brilliant lawyer brain take a day off, here is why:
Edith is married to you
AND
You’re still alive
May 2nd, 2025 at 11:12😂
@41
“I’m not saying he’s arrogant and conceited but , apparently, when he has an orgasm …..he shouts out his own name !! 🤣🤣🤣”
Steve! 😆😆🤣🤣😆😂😂
I’m too shy to even consider giving a commentary to this!
(But man I have been laughing! 😂😂😂)
“I actually like Slaves and Masters …but, I’m so pro Gillan…I feel treacherous to admit I like it !”
This I completely understand! Feels like I belong in Tower and am awaiting my death sentence!
A very close friend of mine has been educating me in Whitesnake!
May 2nd, 2025 at 11:30And like you I feel I’m untrue to Purple, but woah Whitesnake have made some beautiful music! But if you ever quote me on this, I’ll deny it till the day I die! 😉😅
@43
“with the cursed introduced rat (Rattus rattus) what a name eh?”
Yes, I’ve wondered if the scientist-guy who gave the species their name in Latin, just had written the name ‘Rattus’, then poured himself a cup of coffee, ate a biscuit, smoked his pipe and then thought to himself: ohhh I better remember to give that cute little lawyer-looking animal a name, and without looking twice on his notes (because then he would have seen he already had given it it’s name) he wrote again ‘Rattus’, and my dear MacGregor that’s why the rat is called Rattus Rattus in Latin
Otherwise I know nothing 😄
Hey didn’t you forget ‘Rat Bat Blue’? I know the lyrics is dubious but the melody is sweet 🤩
I did not know that about the possum!
Maybe I also end up with putting the bird feed in metal containers.
For sure I did not win any sympathy contests at home, when I placed the paperbag with bird feed in the garage, I do think though the rats send some nice thoughts to me (until they died that is 😉)
Yes MacGregor we have to be sneaky when it comes to Nick and Svante 😅
May 2nd, 2025 at 11:53Uwe, you sure did prove on this site more than once that judgement is something you avoid like old Count Dracula avoids garlic on a cross in the bright light of the morning sun – so I declare: It was just my 3 cents, as written above. Not a judgement. I know many a fan sees, make that: hears it differently but other than Steve who thinks Simon can’t write a DP song I think Steve Morse led the band astray. Especially on record they didn’t sound much like Purple anymore. As long as Jon Lord was aboard there was a glimpse of old Purpleness but later with Don Airey and those b-movie sounds of some keyboards. No, those weren’t bad records at all, they just didn’t sound Purple. (Just as say CAT or Play Me Out or The Mask don’t sound much like Purple) And #1 owes more to the old Purple sound and feel, yes. Due to Simon.
And sure, Karin, Ted the Mechanic and Sometimes I feel like Screaming are fab songs. The whole Purpendicular album is a gem in my collection. But I would not put any Morse aera album on when I’m in a Purple mood. I’ve got my own moods for them 😉
May 2nd, 2025 at 13:35Steve, even when I have orgasms with myself, I tend to think of other people, I’m kinda twisted that way! Like any old vampire 🧛🏻♂️, I also detest mirrors. Interestingly, one of the most standard accusations I hear from my children, ex- and current wives as well as friends is: “You never really talk about yourself and what is going on in you. You’re an attentive listener, but hardly give anything away from yourself.” Hey, I’m a middle child, we learn early on that the world doesn’t revolve around us! So reading Steve’s depictions of me is a welcome change from being perceived as introverted and the self-deprecating class jester who underneath all the quips, sarcasm and fast tongue is hard to get at. When I meet people who are full of and revolving around themselves, blindingly self-confident and competitive (I’m not, always hated sports because of that, I avoid any situation that puts me in competition with someone), I’m always fascinated how something so different from me can live and breathe.
I think Purple getting a young guitarist who has ingested Blackmore more intensively than Tommy, Steve and Simon ever did would be a retrogressive step. There is only one David Beckham and likewise only one Ritchie Blackmore. I want Blackmore to play like Blackmore in Purple and no one else (that is why I generally avoid DP Tribute bands.) I find it refreshing that Simon has other roots and sources (even if Gary Moore is among them whom I I will never “get” because he just tried too goddamned hard with everything he did, very competitive, not a trait I like, see above).
Were you at the first or the second (or third) Hammersmith Mk V gig? I was at the second night and really liked it (and I never liked Joe with Rainbow).
On rodents: I really like rats, they’re smart, have a sophisticated social life among themselves and I like their cool look. I had one as a pet once, it was really tame. Unfortunately, where we live (across from the woodland – rats were originally forest animals – and with a 35.000 liter pond where large size catfish, sturgeons, grass carps and other fish are fed 24/7 all year round) they create issues. When they first began to “set up camp” at our pond, I thought them fascinating, I’d watch them at night as they scurried about and investigated their surroundings. But not even concrete structures – they gnaw through concrete and destabilize it as well through their incessant burrowing – and electric appliances (the pond is and needs to be constantly filtered and oxygen-supplied, imagine a huge aquarium) were safe from them so we had to do something and now use pest control to lower their numbers (you’ll never get a pond close to a forest completely and durably rat free – forget it!).
A couple of years ago, I managed to catch one with a live trap, man it sure didn’t like it, it screeched and hissed at me enraged from behind the cage’s mesh! 😂 Guilt-ridden, I proceeded to drive the darn thing 10 miles to a natural forest pond not too far away at early dawn – note to self: wild rats sure stink in the car! – not too far away from us and let it go free there. It didn’t even thank me and I’m still waiting for the Rattus Norvegicus (most scourges of man stem from Scandinavia) Peace Nobel Prize for that!!! ☝️🧐
May 2nd, 2025 at 14:42@52
“Hey, I’m a middle child, we learn early on that the world doesn’t revolve around us! “
– arrrhhhh man Uwe, now I feel really bad for teasing you 😝
I’m the youngest child, please don’t think that with 4 (four!) older brothers I ever felt anything was revolving around me!
But that’s life, we adapt, we try to be more clever next time….
May 2nd, 2025 at 19:14Uwe…I never talk about myself ..Hornung !!! 🤣🤣🤣🤣
…now, gather round my children and I’m going to tell you a story…did I ever tell you about my life as a lawyer ..a bass player…or as a NASA scientist!?…ah, see someone has posted something about how to boil an egg …I had better interject and write a boring old essay on that to prove how superior I am to you all on every single subject in the universe!
Uwe actually got turned down by the book publishers on having his life story printed …….so, he wrote it on here instead! 🤣🤣🤣
He actually has his own dictionary coming out next week but, it only contains 2 words ….I and ME 🤣🤣🤣
…but, he never talks about himself! 🤣🤣🤣
I don’t know what gig it was Uwe…but it was the Saturday night …I remember Jon Lord introducing Joe Lyn ..( similar to Coverdale and Hughes in California )
May 2nd, 2025 at 21:00It wasn’t a bad gig actually ( I had forgotten all about it ) but, I’m gonna get pilloried again …but the only song I get a yearning for on =1 ( Gillans last solo album ) is ..A bit on the side ….and from S and M …Breakfast in bed, King of Dreams..Truth Hurts , Cut runs deep …now ..I wonder who came up with those riffs ? …clue…he turned 80 a few weeks ago
@ 52 – Ha ha ha ha, oh Uwe, I get your desire for a Noble Peace prize, well done. The only trouble is, will anyone believe that story, he he he. Don’t worry I have done similar. I once placed a live funnel web spider inside a jar and swam across the river to release it. I still cannot believe I did that. Mind you the Dutch lady who I lived with then (and still do) simply said at the time ‘get rid of that thing now, but make sure you don’t harm it’. And as we do, we obey! A true story and one I have NEVER told to anyone. People would think I was balmy or something, surely. Most probably not here though, so I feel quite ‘normal’ in saying that in present company. Cheers.
May 2nd, 2025 at 22:25Possums are Australians and hence unpopular anywhere else, especially where the Kiwis roam.
https://youtu.be/kmpdm8DOX70
May 2nd, 2025 at 22:39@ 51 – “But I would not put any Morse era album on when I’m in a Purple mood. I’ve got my own moods for them 😉 Max that is a really good observation of Deep Purple in regards to the mood factor. I agree with that although Purpendicular being a lot more Jon Lord-ish gets a little extra nod as a ‘no Blackmore’ DP album. Plus it has stronger songs than most of the other recent records. It is an easy thing to do for me as we know the early origins and success of the band that always ties in with our youth and our influences. So the Blackmore, Lord and Paice factor is a big one, at least for me and no doubt many others. If it wasn’t for Ian Paice still being there I could easily (and I have done ) listen to the later era Purple as a more of a Gillan & Glover band, if you know what I mean. Ian Paice still has that feel so it sort of still works with certain albums and songs, but not as strong as our younger ears yearn for. I use the word ‘observation’ because that is all our thoughts really are. Remembering good ole Sherlock Holmes and his take on most things. ‘Merely observing Watson’ an old retort of his and a good one. It sounds better than the word judgement to me. Cheers.
May 2nd, 2025 at 23:27Musik ist keine Olympiade.
May 3rd, 2025 at 00:15Jeder Gitarrist der Band war zur richtigen Zeit am richtigen Ort.
Qualitativ sind sie nicht schlechter als früher und von der Spontanität in den Konzerten der Frühzeit weit entfernt, aber =1 ist ein solides Album, nicht mehr und nicht weniger.
Für mich das beste “DP” Album der letzten Jahre, der Remake der “Purple Tapes” von David Coverdale. 😉
Kraftvoll, dynamisch und fett im Sound.
@52
“Guilt-ridden, I proceeded to drive the darn thing 10 miles to a natural forest pond not too far away at early dawn – note to self: wild rats sure stink in the car! – not too far away from us and let it go free there. It didn’t even thank me”
Uwe, first: you took the poor rat away from its family and friends! No wonder it hissed at you 😄 (ok, I quit watching Disney shows now…)
Second: their pee can be quite dangerous to human beings! That’s why it’s needed to kill the little cuties, because they are plague infected!
Third: “I’m still waiting for the Rattus Norvegicus (most scourges of man stem from Scandinavia) Peace Nobel Prize for that!!! “
May 3rd, 2025 at 06:32Ok alright then, I nominate you to the Nobel committee !
But don’t lose any sleep while you await for the prize 🏆 🤠
@58
was Stefan gesagt hat!
May 3rd, 2025 at 09:34@54
🤣😂😆🤣😂😆😅😅😅😅🤣😂😆😆😆😄
Awww man Steve, we have to be gentle to Uwe, after all his book publishers did turn him down!
I will how ever say this in the defence of my favorite lawyer/bass player/ NASA scientist (are you completely sure about this one?) that when ever I ask a question in here, Uwe answers quickly, very politely and I’m not in any doubt after reading his answer that his research is top notch 😎
May 3rd, 2025 at 09:43@55
“once placed a live funnel web spider inside a jar and swam across the river to release it.”
I guess MacGregor it was a very dangerous spider?
No matter what, I am still impressed with your deed!
Actually, I have this remedie: if a person is afraid of spiders (or any other animals that give peoples any kind of discomfort) then they get completely over it!
May 3rd, 2025 at 10:00I used to be terrified of spiders and ants, but now: I prefer to be pen pals with them, but don’t mind them stopping by to say hello!
Alas!, something about me seems to rub Steve decidedly the wrong way, there’s always been a few people like that – class bullies, band members and leaders, opponent attorneys & or law firm colleagues -, I’ll just follow Taylor’s advice on that:
https://youtu.be/nfWlot6h_JM
But we’ll always have Hammersmith, Steve, because we went the same night …
https://youtu.be/93WuCPokDr0
Moving on from romance to rodents: When I was a teenager my mom asked me to get rid of a rat (she had a phobia from war time about them) in our cellar – that unfortunately entailed killing it because it was hiding in some hole and I really hated doing that, little critter put up a great fight. I felt like crap afterwards and have since then tried to avoid killing any other one just for it being a rat. I sometimes think that humans despise rats so much because we are not entirely dissimilar in the way we behave and in how we shape our environment. Both species are great survivors.
As regards spiders, that is a standard argument between Edith and me, she goes: “There’s a spider here!!!” And I go: “But that is a good thing, honey, preferable to the presence of any other insect (I know, spiders aren’t insects, number of legs and all) in our home!” She’s kind of stubborn in failing to see the purity of my ecological argument though …
May 3rd, 2025 at 14:04@58/60
Nein.
I am a Deep Purple fanatic for 48 years now. And a dedicated follower of DC. Always up to defend him, even facing Karin to do so… But The Purple Album may be an all time low in the man’s career as far as I’m concerned. I remember Roger Glover saying something about it as polite as only he can be…but you could still see he thought it was crap.
May 3rd, 2025 at 14:51Max’ contributions here often show a depth otherwise only found with Heidegger, he’s our resident philosopher! (Steve, I just put Heidegger in there to brag about that I know who he is, we went to school together!)
There is not one DP for me. I have moods for every line-up. And if I want to hear something that really kicks my endorphins, I always revert to MH, Burn or CTTB. When I’m whimsical I like to hear Mk I and the Morse era sees my analytical brain parts (I do have them!) switched on. I have to admit that Steve Morse’s guitar playing does not stir primal reactions like Blackmore, Bolin, Gallagher (Karin: Rory, not Noel!), Rossi/Parfitt, Tipton/Downing or Donald ‘Buck Dharma’ Roeser/Eric Bloom do.
Stephan, the Purple Album is not as bad as some people make it out to be, but Coverdale’s vocals are studio-treated to AI levels and some of the new arrangements are simply heavy-handed and lead-footed.
I have the new WS live box and it is revelatory in the deterioration of DC’s voice. Judging from today, he was actually still quite good in the mid noughties when WS returned with the Aldrich/Beach line-up (if nowhere near as good as in the late 70s/early 80s), but by 2010 or so it’s one endless struggle and maneuvering around notes he once reached easily.
May 3rd, 2025 at 16:53MacGregor, I’d join the Observation-Club anytime! And I agree on IP being the keeper of the flame. Other than Uwe I like his spare time band Purpendicular very much…they got so much more of a Purple feel than any other Purple coverband…and it’s his drumming that makes all the difference. I’d recommend them anytime.
May 3rd, 2025 at 18:15Uwe
May 3rd, 2025 at 18:26I’m in agreement. I like both CTTB and S&M, one much more than the other, bit they divide purple fans more than most. I think =1 is a fine rock album. I think McBride is a really talented guitarist. He’s not Steve Morse in the same way that he was not Ritchie Blackmore.
Uwe….I’m only teasing you …its really nothing personal…I actually like your posts …they make me laugh ! And you did point me in the direction of the Doors tribute album !
May 3rd, 2025 at 20:00I’ve never met you but , I’m certain we’d get on just fine…I’d even let you smoke your Hans Lander pipe ( Chritolph Waltz…Inglorious Basterds) …and I’d sign your ” Uwes Collins Dictionary ” …that only consists of 2 words .. Me and I ( well, I thought it was funny anyway )
It is quite ironic that Simon McBride is influenced by Uwe’s nemesis, Gary Moore. Good humour sometimes comes in small doses, but effective all the same. Seriously though McBride is a fine guitarist and no doubt a nice chap. He cannot help when he entered this life, he is influenced by guitarists from the later rock music eras. The previous guitarists from Deep Purple lineups had a lot lesser ‘known’ influences. One way of looking at it. It would be a lot harder these days developing your own style etc, without all the other things sometimes getting in the way. Good luck to him. Cheers.
May 3rd, 2025 at 22:28Karin @ 62 -yes, one of the world’s deadliest spiders. I adds to the drama and excitement of it all. @ 63 – so what happened Uwe, did you relocate the poor little thing after your good wife highlighted the fact it shouldn’t be there? In my experience with a female partner living in the same abode, they will highlight the fact that something is there and if I say anything like, ‘yes, what of it, it isn’t hurting anyone’ then the re phrasing of the comment will be ‘well, let’s put it this way, either it goes or YOU go’. The ladies in our world do have a certain way of getting things done at times. Regarding that rat you relocated 10 miles away, it was probably back at your property before you were, such is their primal urge in returning to their place of birth. Returning to the music and I alway enjoyed Alice Cooper’s ‘The Black Widow’ song from his Welcome To My Nightmare album. Alice was into all the darker sides to certain things in our world, bless him. Cheers.
May 3rd, 2025 at 23:17“Our thoughts are hot and crazed, our brains are webbed in haze
Of mindless senseless daze, the Black Widow
These words he speaks are true, we’re all human stew
If we don’t pledge allegiance to the Black Widow”
When I first heard Simon with Don I immediately became aware of the overwhelming Gary Moore influence. And it is true, I find that Moore tried to darn hard, his intensity was obnoxious to me. Hendrix, Jeff Beck or Ritchie, they all were/are intense in places, but not 24/7 365 days a year! Moore’s guitar playing to me was brickwalled, he was never subdued, never light-of-touch, he just tried too hard all the fucking time and clamored for attention. Even when he played a ballad, he just couldn’t do it without reverting to those endless sustain notes which I tire of quickly. I’ve been to too many Ted Nugent gigs to be impressed by endless sustain feedback on a guitar (and Uncle Ted, for all his ghastly political views and inanities, is a much more agile and groovy rhythm guitarist than Moore ever was).
For the record, Moore was technically a very good solo guitarist (as a rhythm guitarist he was just average and largely unremarkable), I’m not denying that, but I like guitar playing with light and shade, playful even. Moore was always so bloody serious in his playing, all the time, it grated on me.
But luckily, while the Moore influence is audible, Simon isn’t as full-on attack all the time, maybe his love for Steve Lukather taught him that less can be more (but less can never be Moore!). So I’ve decided to not hold it against him! 🤣
Simon isn’t the best guitarist DP ever had, I don’t really know who is. Ritchie was certainly the most influential and enigmatic, but is he better than all his successors? Tommy was likely less technical than all other DP guitarists, but there was something about his happy-go-lucky guitar playing that was idiosyncratic on a very musical level. Satriani and Morse were both brilliant technicians and Steve’s scholarly approach to the guitar was as influential for Mk VII/VIII as Ritchie was to Mk II/III. Simon is perhaps not as virtuoso in his solos as Ritchie was in the 70s or Satriani and Morse were later on, maybe he is just a very good all round guitar player like Tommy was . When I see Simon with DP, I don’t really miss the improvisational highlights Ritchie and Steve provided more in the past, I’m just happy that he put some rock’n’roll back in Purple. That is what I liked about Tommy in 1975 too, he made Mk IV sound livelier and more playful than Mk III. Come to think of it, Simon is the best and grooviest rhythm guitarist Purple have enjoyed since Tommy Bolin and given that Jon’s slithery rhythm organ is no longer a presence in the band that alone has a a value that shouldn’t be underestimated.
May 4th, 2025 at 02:26@68
Uwe’s Collins Dictionary ” …that only consists of 2 words .. Me and I ( well, I thought it was funny anyway )…”
I thought it was hilarious almost pissed myself laughing.
May 4th, 2025 at 05:58It’s honestly an accusation – and I’ve heard many, some of them true – that has up to now never been put against me, not by my worst enemies. I’ve been with higher and lower truth ingredient called a contrarian, Profilneurotiker, caustic soon-of-a-bitch, fuel-to-the fire giver, lacking empathy for people with a less thicker hide, an emotional recluse from society or really any larger group of people, rabble rouser adopting controversial views just to see how other people react, a lefty living the privileges of a righty etc.
The “me, myself & I”-criticism, however, truly baffles me (and I’m not that easy to baffle), it’s like saying I am a Led Zep fan or worship at Ritchie’s altar (I don’t, heck, he’s even more quaint than I am!). Deeply puzzling. If there is one thing I’ve heard in my professional career it is: “You lack true ego (probably why I have such a disdain for sports) and that killer instinct.”
Many years ago, there was an internal contest about heading a department in our firm. I wasn’t involved initially, but someone else who would have given his left and right nut for the job was really campaigning hard and looked like the sure winner. He was a skilled attorney, but also someone with an undeniable reputation for self-interest and looking after himself, also for leaving scorched earth in disputes of any kind. And then one night, I see a couple of guys in the doorway of my office and they ask me to run against him in the last minute. A couple of them genuinely liked me, but there were also people among them who I knew shook their head about me most of the time. And I asked one of them, “Hans (not his real name), why would you of all people want to vote for me? We never agree on pretty much anything, you deem most of my approaches and demeanor impossible + a potential liability for the firm, so tell me why? And Hans goes: “Because if there is one thing I know about you, then it is that you will never misuse a position of power given to you.” It was one of the few nice things he ever said (and I’m sure: thought) about me. (I had nothing against Hans, I just didn’t take him really serious, which I know he took as a slight.)
May 4th, 2025 at 14:40@73
Uwe, dry your eyes!
I’ve got your back 😃
Hey everybody, lighten up re Uwe! He is a good bloke and very smart 🤩
And man it would really be BORING if he wasn’t here!
May 4th, 2025 at 16:55Uwe…or , should we now call you Mr Me Me !?🤣
The fact that you are responding to my post by using an insane amount of illustrations and examples about yourself and using the letter/ word ” I” more times then it’s ever been used in all the worlds autobiographies put together….rather proves my point!
I should just let it rest before you dig an even bigger 🕳 hole for yourself!
I’ve told you before ” Self Praise is no recommendation! ”
…you don’t always have to have the last word on every single post on every single topic 😒 🤣🤣🤣
May 4th, 2025 at 17:03I wouldn’t be surprised if traffic onto and user retention at this website have increased since Mr. Hornung began posting regularly. He’s a knowledgeable and lively writer that makes it worth paying a visit here every once in a while to see what history nuggets he’s shared about Purple and the extended family.
That being said, of course his posts are loaded with his personal viewpoints and opinions, but then again so are everyone else’s. You can’t really state your opinion without using words like “I”, “my”, and “me”, so that’s an odd reason for pulling on someone’s leg.
One thing that does warrant criticism I think is the way how often these comment sections are treated as a personal chat room. One has to to screen through numerous posts about each other’s partners or other irrelevant topics just to find someone actually discussing whatever news or subject the page is about.
As far as I can tell, this website is not structured as a forum and the comment section is not designed to be used as such. Perhaps this is a feature the folks at THS may consider adding, as there seems to be demand for it.
My two cents, of course.
May 4th, 2025 at 23:21Ok, if autobiographic anecdotes (which I welcome from anybody in real life or on this site), whether flattering or not, automatically qualify as self praise, then I guess you’re right.
May 5th, 2025 at 02:33Steve @ 75 – just refer to Uwe as the title of that Joan Armatrading album and song from 1980. You were getting close, that title is even closer, he he he. Sorry Uwe, I had to chime in and sometimes I lack a certain discipline. Cheers
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBRNfWGxBp8&t=27s
May 5th, 2025 at 05:39That’s ok, I like Joan Armatrading’s work.
May 5th, 2025 at 13:34I thought you would enjoy her music Uwe, she was a really good songwriter and some of those songs are grand. Excellent musicians involved with many of her recordings and no doubt her live performances. The days of the genuine singer songwriter. Cheers.
May 5th, 2025 at 21:54VD, sure I have opinions, sometimes even wrong ones. But I would like to hope that I (there it is again!) sometimes free my mind to view something from several viewpoints and that includes reconsidering my own. The Bedlam recordings have me reconsidering Powell’s drumming, I’ve looked again at ROTD, I’m likely on of the few people here that bought Candice’s new album and appreciates it. My Zep dismissive comments are mostly just quips and playing the role of the resident Zep basher, someone has to! They are such a glorious target with all the reverence they get, my contrarian urges just cannot resist.
I’m not a blind fan of everything Purple and its individual members have done either, but I do honor the incredible breadth of music in the Purple family – hard/heavy rock is just one aspect of that, albeit the one that made them famous. Critical thinking! Perhaps I’m not even a fan at all, more of a chronologist (I find even bad albums interesting), I like the many facets of Purple’s colorful history and how the puzzles fit together. At the same time they are not deities to me, I poke fun at them, but I try to stay benevolent doing so.
And to me any view for or against Purple & Family is first and foremost an interesting starting point for a hopefully enlightening and entertaining discussion.
May 5th, 2025 at 23:46VD @ 76 – the traffic certainly increased and some when Mr Hornung commenced his commentary. However it is the moderators here who have to receive the applause for getting through it all. Can you imagine, everything sailing along nicely and then……Kabang………..’who is this’. So my compassion and empathy has always been for those labouring through Uwe’s comments and surviving. We have a choice of ignoring whatever we want, they don’t. Sorry Uwe I couldn’t resist I really couldn’t. If people didn’t tempt me I wouldn’t say a word out of place, honestly. Cheers.
May 6th, 2025 at 08:35