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Fixing it
In other Steve Morse news, he was recently featured in the American Musical Supply series Punch In with the Pros.
Steve Morse, legendary guitar virtuoso, came through our studio and played a little game that we like to call “Punch In with the Pros”! We had Steve listen to the track “Fix You” by Coldplay, without the guitar solo, and had him fill in some of his famous soaring melodies and improvise a brand-new solo of his own. If this doesn’t fix you, then nothing will.
The original, for reference:
Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing
Steve is an excellent musician, but there is a reason why the Coldplay guitarist listened to more The Edge and U2 rather than Steve and Dixie Dregs or Deep Purple. The respective roles of the guitar are radically different, Coldplay doesn’t feature a lead guitar in a 70s blues-based sense, the guitar is part of the overall ambience of what is essentially a keyboard/piano-led band.
Coldplay’s music lives from projecting grand emotions, however fake, from a sparse musical background. Everything is set to make Chris Martin’s vocals evoke a maximum of feel from the audience – that isn’t Steve’s musical world at all, he likes to be a busy bee and play challenging stuff. Music for the mind rather than the heart.
And I’m afraid that Steve has never heard much U2, The Alarm, Big Country, Simple Minds, The Smiths, The Cure, Radiohead, Snow Patrol or Coldplay at all, he seems relatively unaccustomed to that type of music and the role of guitars in it which is NOT to lead with solos, fills and riffs but create an atmosphere. [You can play U2’s With Or Without You with just one chord – an ostinato Bm7 without the fifth (F#) – while the bass changes from root note D to A to B to G, the unchanging chord of just three notes (B, D & A) will work every time, yet sound different as the root notes change. That exemplifies the role of the guitar in these bands.]
September 11th, 2025 at 02:23Ohhh Uwe! The Coldplay link must be rattling your cage a bit 😁
I’m amazed how SM plays so elegantly with his massive problems in his wrist 😊
Well ‘Fix You’ is a cute song, and I enjoy SM’s input here 😃
September 11th, 2025 at 06:54While there is no denying the amazing popularity of Cold Play and it’s fantastic base, I just feel that thier music structure is repetitive and one dimension.
September 11th, 2025 at 09:07Now some might say that it’s their own signature but one of the reasons why I love DP catalogue of albums is due to the fact that no two albums sounds the same.
The diversity of their music is so rich.
That’s only my opinion.
Peace ✌️
“Fix You” is your typical made to order “flash your cell phones now” stadium hymn by Coldplay, they thrive on this stuff and do it well.
It’s “girls’ pop rock” for an audience looking for an uplifting communal event and not giving a damn what the guitarist plays – who am I to criticize? I never said that Coldplay do not know what they are doing.
Kings of Leon is another band Steve should have perhaps listened to to acquaint himself with that type of music. 😎
Essentially, pairing Steve with a Coldplay song is as incongruous as having Tony Iommi guest on an Eagles number. I have a hunch that David Gilmour or even Ritchie would have laid down a – not necessarily technically spectacular – solo to Fix You in one or two takes without too much fuss (or fuzz for that matter!). But Steve for all his ideas seems kinda stumped at what to do with the song.
Make no mistake: Steve doesn’t play a single “wrong” note to Coldplay’s piano chords, but all those pinched and tapped notes, the sparingly used, but still grating shredding runs, his very American country’esque choice of notes – it just doesn’t fit.
I’m surprised that Steve with all his decades of experience had such timing issues with the song – Waddy Wachtel he certainly ain’t and I share his self judgement that he is “not a session player”. At one point he says “you can play anything over that diatonic backing”, yet he manages to find something especially ill-fitting to the song in both takes 😂. (Some of his fade-ins or swelling notes approach being nice – let’s give credit …)
Or maybe, just maybe, Jonny Buckland of Coldplay is a lot better a guitarist than I have so far given him credit for,
https://youtu.be/Ul3aud6KTRw
his “solo” in Fix You certainly hits the sweet spot and supports the hymnic character of the song.
September 11th, 2025 at 12:08> Coldplay’s music lives from projecting grand emotions, however fake, from a sparse musical background.
you are right Uwe. sheer empty pathos to squeeze tears out of girls
September 11th, 2025 at 12:35@4
“It’s “girls’ pop rock”“
– 🤣 well Uwe, even though I am known as the girl around here, I can just stand this song, once in a blue moon! I think it’s cute, and I do not condemn Chris Martin 😄 but rock it is not’! Not even poprock!
When I really need to relax my head it is Purple, WhiteSnake, Dan Baird and music like that I let my brain be coloured by!
I wonder if girls, liking Taylor Swift and Coldplay, and the likes of that, think of Purple as ‘heavy’ and it’s from those types Purple had that trademark as a heavy band?
September 11th, 2025 at 14:40There is nothing in the least wrong in focusing on a female audience just as there was nothing wrong with being Motörhead who didn’t.
If someone gave me a ticket for a Coldplay concert I’d go watch them in a heartbeat just for the sheer anthropological experience. By now one has to admit that they have a certain longevity, they’ve been at it for a quarter of a century now.
Karin, since you asked: Taylor Swift is a Def Leppard fan
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=82ilugRfQhU
which is at least pop hard rock and Lady Gaga worships Judas Priest (as does Rob Halford vice versa with her) plus has a certain feel for Led Zep:
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/IqxYTif-42I
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4lbRAyo96z0
There is sometimes this arrogant assumption by “rockers” that anyone in the dance pop business can’t be a good musician – nothing could be further from the truth. These people all come from somewhere.
And then there is alway Miley Cyrus too …
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHuWcJUrP6Y
September 11th, 2025 at 15:58@7
“Karin, since you asked: Taylor Swift is a Def Leppard fan”
– she is! Thanks so much for the link Uwe! I am terribly sorry the comments are deactivated, I had a few things I would like to say 😁
“If someone gave me a ticket for a Coldplay concert I’d go watch them in a heartbeat”
– I’m so tempted to buy a ticket for you, then hide and make a movie of your reaction to mr Martin 😄 however I would not link it in here, I would keep it in my private stash of ‘things that pick me 🆙 when I’m seriously low in coffee intakes’ 🤩
“There is sometimes this arrogant assumption by “rockers” that anyone in the dance pop business can’t be a good musician”
September 11th, 2025 at 18:38– I certainly didn’t say that! I acknowledge the different tastes of music! Have I learned any thing in here, it is that people who likes, no LOVES Purple, also somehow can wrap their heads around EP! And I accept that, even though I don’t participate in the worshipping of the bt over all bts 😃😄
@1
September 11th, 2025 at 20:14Uwe, you did it! Mentioned my desert island choice bands in a row.
I mean the ones I’d gladly send to a desert island never to be heard of again.
@9
Hey 🤣🤣🤣
I just thought….. but then I read your comment again…..
Who would you bring to a desert island Max?
September 12th, 2025 at 00:51Steve is such a class act.
September 12th, 2025 at 11:14Silly question, Karin, Smokie with Chris Norman of course!
https://youtu.be/hKbaGRKKogE
I myself would prefer taking along Pat Benatar in person (I believe in the concept of multipurpose) – but such are life’s choices …
https://youtu.be/_dxydtIBVTg
September 12th, 2025 at 12:15Post scriptum: That Italian chick zeppin’ it up once more:
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/sTJZZTQGGj4
The older fans in the audience tonight will know that one … 🤣
September 12th, 2025 at 12:46@10 All of the above, Karin. Uwe managed to come up with an almost complete list of the bands I dislike the most. I may add Sting though
September 12th, 2025 at 13:21My mutant powers can read your innermost thoughts like a book, Max …
https://media.tenor.com/V83P2LJtROEAAAAM/kye-griffin.gif
Sting? Wasn’t he the guy who wrote a nice song for Glenn?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWO4l0GTwWg
And Paicey drummed on a couple of others …
https://youtu.be/L7quCsAAB60
Spot the singer!
Obnoxious guitar courtesy of some Irishman …
https://youtu.be/85-Dk8z-L78
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rsk1YhRILD0
https://youtu.be/qZiV4oyGkJg
Don Airey on all tracks too …
https://www.discogs.com/release/2552124-Royal-Philharmonic-Orchestra-Arrested-The-Royal-Philharmonic-Orchestra-Friends-Presents-The-Music-Of
September 12th, 2025 at 15:52@14
Yes Max, I got that, but if YOU were to stay on a desert island, who would you bring along?
I don’t believe you would bring, the former Police member Sting (hey I’m a poet, and I don’t know it 😄) even though he has made some beautiful songs, this is a favourite of mine:
https://youtu.be/qrPzcj5JsYQ?si=qhnDKPM517AgKFWK
(listen to the lyrics, it’s beautiful 😍)
I would bring all Purple’s songs (with Ian as the main vocalist) and yes I know some say that only one artist pr song, but hey it’s my desert island, so my rules 😅 and when it’s a desert island who would I annoy? All Gillan’s songs, all Ian Gillan Band’s songs! (Come on Uwe, pour some wrath over me! I know what I said in the past, but I have serious plans with IGB’s music 🤠)
And then of course Dan Baird, including his time with Georgia Satellites, and I have to admit that WhiteSnake also are among my favourites.
But also serious amounts of coffee and milk to splash in the coffee.
Anton, my little doglet, of course, and some matches so I can build a fire and warm the water for the coffee.
And oh yes my hammock so I have a decent place to sleep.
So Max, let me hear 😃
September 12th, 2025 at 16:26Is Uwe right about Smokie? I like them, I like Chris Norman’s voice. But who else?
@12 & 13
Ohh Uwe, that Smokie song you’re linking to is beautiful 🤩
Pat Benatar??? Really!!
September 12th, 2025 at 16:31Is it because you think she is a hottie? Because her voice is scratching in my ears.
You have linked to other female singers that had more impressive voices. But well, love is a battlefield and so is the rest of the life I guess!
You meant who I’d bring along…and stay there myself?
Uwe might search the company of mature American poprock chansonettes – but I’d stick to my doctor. Could be very useful at my age. And she’s really cute too!
September 12th, 2025 at 21:01@18
Your doc!?
Well, you’re very pragmatic indeed 😄
But unless she also can sing or play some instruments, I was thinking about music in any form ☺️
September 12th, 2025 at 21:55If health considerations are to be key, I think I’d rather have a nurse than a doc on that island …
https://i.imgur.com/tvAr1Dz.gif
September 12th, 2025 at 23:00“All Gillan’s songs, all Ian Gillan Band’s songs! (Come on Uwe, pour some wrath over me! I know what I said in the past, but I have serious plans with IGB’s music 🤠)”
But Sista Karin, the return of any prodigal daighter
https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQQZZiDoLQdxsWBc_iLAMe8AW72Es-BVYCD3Q&s
is always only a cause for jubilant celebration, never one of gloating!
If the wonders and miracles of IGB have finally opened their gates of light to you, then I am first and foremost happy.
There is so much to see and hear: 99% of fusion rock jazz bands use – to the extent that they are not just instrumental music which most of them are – black RnB-oriented vocals. But IGB did not have Glenn Hughes singing (which would have worked, but would have hardly been as idiosyncratic a combo), they had Ian Gillan and he used his voice in the most unconventional way with their music. That is the real magic of IGB. Name me another band that combined an instrumental fusion frenzy such as this here with a lead vocal melody like Ian came up with:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWKkn91jkn8
I can of course understand that someone coming from Mk II DP might find the music of IGB with its complex arrangements, funky breaks, jazzy chords and often frantic groove bewildering at first, but while some of their oeuvre is like that, there are also to behold
– wonderful ballads such as Down The Road, the Child in Time rearrangement, Let It Slide and the beautiful Five Moons,
– South American inspired music such as Goodhand Liza and Angel Manchenio with great percussion +
– outright pop tunes such as Twin Exhausted and Mercury High.
Listening to IGB intensely is a rewarding experience, there is so much to latch onto. It is beyond me why one would not want to love a song like Five Moons with its heartfelt rendered scifi lyrics about a new beginning, the lovely flute intro, the layered keyboards and tasteful synth use, the wonderfully melodic bass and the hugely effective dual lead vocals shared by Ian and John Gustafson as well as Fenwick’s tasteful guitar solo followed by the gem sax solo:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZ2DhbGbbTA
WHAT THE HELL IS NOT TO LIKE?
And on a more personal note: John Gustafson’s bass playing was always to die for:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0n3OepDn5GU
He wasn’t offered the job as a full scale member of Roxy Music for nothing (the only bassist in their ranks who ever got that offer) though he – silly boy – turned it down to rather make music with IGB.
September 13th, 2025 at 00:23“I was thinking about music in any form …”
Karin, can we then augment the scenario somewhat that the desert island is (only!) populated by wild wimmin tribes? In that case, Suzi Quatro’s vibrant Primitive Love is all I would need to feed my more primal desires and send a signal out at night to the indigenous population …
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nVFqSpICy4
You’ll be Tarzan, I’ll be Jane …
https://64.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_luvotortfO1qkofwio1_500.gif
September 13th, 2025 at 01:04Over a period of almost thirty years of faithful service and almost as many studio albums as Ritchie during his first stint (and twice as many as during his second srintwith DP, it is pure speculation whether there would have maybe been someone other than Steve who would have fitted better and more consistently.
I kill
Steve was a smooth and fluid player, that was always something important to the other Purple guys: When Big Ian once asked Roger what it takes for a guitarist to be in Deep Purple, the answer was Can he play Lazy? And this Steve could, and in the majority of cases with notably more feel than Ritchie who by 1973 in Mk II as well as with Rainbow and reunion Purple rushed the song lovelessly to death.
All the things held against Steve when he left in 2022 were already clearly apparent when he joined to anyone acquainted with his Dixie Dregs and SMB oeuvre, Roger Glover was a fan after all. His and the others’s decision to ask an UnRitchie to join was therefore an informed and conscious one, they wanted a new era.
September 13th, 2025 at 16:16@20
Well I would prefer a brilliant homeopath!
September 13th, 2025 at 19:26😎
@21 What a eulogy to IGB! Who except Uwe could have come up with such a piece of eloquence… I just was spinning the Budokan record the other day, and to me it is one of the finest music statements in the whole Purple universe. Compositions, arrangements, melodies, solos, musicianship, sheer energy and the combination of all of the above – they’ve got it all. I’m not sure the funky beat that John and Mark lay down for SOTW really suits the song, but everything else is superb.
September 13th, 2025 at 19:35@21
“But Sista Karin, the return of any prodigal daighter” <- don’t you mean ‘daughter’? If not then please enlighten me what daighter means. I’m only asking because you niemals make mistakes ☺️
Vielen Dank for your kindness!
“If the wonders and miracles of IGB have finally opened their gates of light to you, then I am first and foremost happy.”
– arhhh now im almost sorry for telling you what I would use the records, that’s the lps for ☺️
“Listening to IGB intensely is a rewarding experience“
– if you say so!
“though he – silly boy – turned it down to rather make music with IGB.”
– ok now you confuse me more than I’m used to!
Was JG silly because he chose IGB, or was he silly for turning down RM?
Und dann enlightened me: warum is all the movies made outside Germany synchronised to German?
September 13th, 2025 at 19:42I have now tried to watch and understand a program about some poor boy who has been sick with leukaemia and after that a movie mit etwas Spaß, aber doch! I bin sehr müde in meinem Kopf! Ich have Kopfschmerzen Big time!
🤯
@22
Nope Uwe!
On my desert island there are no people! Only me and a lot of very delicious music 😃 oh, and Anton of course, but that’s because I’m afraid Anton would die should René be in charge of feeding him 😥
SQ once made a duet with Chris Norman! ‘Stumblin’ in’ I believe it was 😊
When I was ein kleinen Mädchen, I remember Deutche Fernsehen schauen.
September 13th, 2025 at 19:51Maybe I will sing all Ian’s songs on that island, and then of course in German!
I hope you, and with you, all other German people who visit our kleine country, are impressed that the only tv we can see is the German kind 😄
Yes, Germany has a strong dubbing culture, we’re really obsessed with it, turned it into a high art and then tend to be surprised if we hear the real voices of non-German actors. 😂
Gustafson let heart rule over mind when he opted for IGB – he knew Ian Gillan and had been associated with Purple Records, also liked to play more energetic music than Bryan Ferry and his men regularly provided, but there is no question that Roxy Music would have been the smarter commercial move, especially moving forward into the 80s.
And if there are no savage, men-starved wimmin tribes on your silly island, then I for one ain’t going – duh!
Suzi not only sang with Chris Norman, but also for Elvis – together with his backing vocalists, The Jordanaires, very moving:
https://youtu.be/R97hrS3hF9M
I think Ian would approve.
September 13th, 2025 at 23:33Danke für die Blumen, Georgivs, IGB means so much to me because no other band ever sounded remotely like them. Releasing their first album at the dawn of Punk was of course their death warrant and – much like Glenn Hughes never really finding a dedicated funk audience – Ian’s DP legacy likely alienated the jazz rock/fusion crowd which in the 70s was still a significant market. But it was a brave and musically fruitful experiment.
Colin Towns once aptly said: There was just too much music in the Ian Gillan Band for Ian to be the singer.
I agree that they were spoofing SOTW a little with their version! 😂
September 13th, 2025 at 23:53@28
“Yes, Germany has a strong dubbing culture, we’re really obsessed with it,”
– alright there! This I got. But WHY?
“Gustafson let heart rule over mind when he opted for IGB – he knew Ian Gillan”
– ok, no need to say more 😃
“And if there are no savage, men-starved wimmin tribes on your silly island, then I for one ain’t going – duh!”
– 😂🤣🤣
Thanks to Svante I once learned the word DUH, and I for one really appreciate it and believe it’s a nice word we need to use way more!
Well Uwe, you ought to know that without a proper invitation to visit people it’s some kind of being naughty to say you won’t show up in the first place 😄😄😄
My desert island isn’t silly, it’s a peaceful haven, no loud discussions, only the sound of waves gently hitting the sandy beach while a small bird sings and in the distance a lion’s roar is heard, and of course Purple’s music with Ian as the vocalist!
September 14th, 2025 at 06:04Can you see you really don’t fit in there? 😂 because before I know what happened, we would be arguing and throwing stones at each other!
And you might drink all my lovely coffee….🤔
(And I think Anton would bite you a little bit then ☺️😃)
@29
“no other band ever sounded remotely like them.”
– No! And thank God for that, I was almost tempted to say!
“I agree that they were spoofing SOTW a little with their version! 😂”
– a LITTLE?
Had I never heard SotW before, I would certainly never had listened to that song again, no matter what people would say to convince me….. 😖
You are, together with the other three, of course in your right to appreciate IGB, but I believe it speaks volume that Ian left HIS OWN band Uwe!
September 14th, 2025 at 10:14If he had loved it, I’m sure he would have stayed and have continued that jazz fusion!
Ian has never been doing things just to please other people. To me it always seemed he has been doing things he liked and loved, his clothing – which you always have been cutting down! – as one fine example!
And believe me, had he enjoyed IGB he hadn’t left 😊
I have no idea why the dubbing thing became so huge in Germany. Yes, we’re perfectionists, so we like to do things right and German dubbing has an extremely high standard. It’s also an industry and a lot of German actors lend their voices to Anglo-American actors for a living.
September 14th, 2025 at 13:50@32
When I took French lessons at the university of Aarhus, my dear teacher told me to ‘bathe in the language’.
I didn’t have access to any French channels, so I started to listen to French chansons and saw all the French movies I could! Et à quoi cela m’a-t-il servi ?
I would imagine that kids in Germany must have some difficulties obtaining the English language, among other languages.
September 14th, 2025 at 19:59Even though yourself and your German co-writer in here (aka Max) are indeed very good at English.
So I guess I’m wrong….😊
You have a point, it is often said that Scandinavians pick up English more easily due to the many undubbed US series they can watch – and that they all have either LA or NYC accents because of it!
September 14th, 2025 at 21:44When I first visited Germany in the 90’s,, I was surprised that so many Germans didn’t speak English very well. I thought they would know the language as good as us Swedes. But no. But these days I find it is much better. It must have become better since the internet became wide-spread.
September 14th, 2025 at 21:47The Red Baron seems to have the hang of it, the English language. Blackadder obviously understands, not Baldrick though.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMx0RH_YXgU&t=2s
September 15th, 2025 at 06:54An US based entertainment industry aka pop culture plus more and more kids attending highschool and university did help too. Plus the internet of course. You see pretty much the same in France and Italy. Back in the 80s you’d have a hard time there trying to find someone that spoke English…not so today
September 15th, 2025 at 07:35Karin, no gloating, it’s not a nice thing to do. I wouldn’t draw too much from Ian “leaving”’ IGB, he also “left”
– The Javelins,
– Wainwright’s Gentlemen,
– Episode Six,
– Mk II in 1973,
https://www.loudersound.com/features/ian-gillan-the-day-i-left-deep-purple
– GILLAN in 1982,
– Black Sabbath in 1983/84
– Repo Depo, the band with which he toured Toolbox, to rejoin DP in 1992.
“Leaving” a band is Ian’s default modus operandi, he was fired only once, when Blackmore staged his last – eventually failed – coup d’etat at the end of the 80s.
When Ian left IGB they were without a recording contract, faced with the Punk onslaught of media disinterest and only commercially successful in Japan. That said, they did tour the US a lot more extensively than GILLAN ever did (but whether pairing them up with Thin Lizzy, Nazareth + Ted Nugent and the like was smart, remains debatable).
Your refusal to see IGB as a viable endeavor of Ian is somewhat surprising as it was there where he developed and honed a less conventional vocal style that would become a trademark for him on the more off-the-wall GILLAN tracks, with Black Sabbath (the vocal melody of Zero The Hero repeats the one of IGB’s Scarabus six years before) and interestingly enough very much with post-Blackmore DP (Mk VII-IX), where Steve’s and Don’s style of writing would see Ian often having to think out of the box for his vocal melodies.
Ian tends to be dismissive of IGB today because he finds it in hindsight too cerebral and un-rock’n’roll, but I also remember an interview some years back where he said that he was grateful for his time with the band “because I learned an incredible lot about music there”. The same comment was incidentally made by Colin Towns who always hailed the musicianship of Fenwick, Gustafson and Nauseef. And I guess we can all agree on Colin’s musical abilities.
Duh, you obstinate and stubborn dune dwelling damsel! 😂
September 15th, 2025 at 15:24@38
Aber doch Uwe! You misread me completely 😊 I’m not gloating.
“he also “left””
– exactly! It’s called evolving 😃
In Denmark it’s a common ‘thing’ that people don’t stay in the same job for years and years. Either one is sacked or leave the job voluntarily, it’s a very good reason for Selbstentwicklung.
I seem to remember you once told me that Ian indeed left IGB because he didn’t like the jazz-fusion-thingy. Sorry I can’t find it 😊
“Duh, you obstinate and stubborn dune dwelling damsel! 😂”
– 😂 well likewise my famous lawyer from the south!
P.s. has Edith told you we’re awaiting a terrible weather from now (7 at night) and tomorrow too with heavy rain, thunderstorms and ordinary storm?
September 15th, 2025 at 17:12Anton is alarmed a bit…
Yeah, I heard from Edith that weather was bad even for Denmark standards and that they could barely leave the sommerhus, but it has meanwhile lightened up.
Sure, Ian Gillan “left” IGB because he felt the music was growing over his head and becoming to Weather Report’y/Return to Forever’ish and not connecting with an audience that went to see IGB as the ex-DP singer’s former band, but had the band been successful, would he still have taken the same decision?
In hindsight, it wasn’t a good idea that he let himself be pushed by the record company into naming the band Ian Gillan Band. That put too much of a focus on him and raised “Made In Japan”-like expectations. They should have stuck with John Gustafson’s idea of Shangrenade, a made up name that sounded good, but did not have all that DP baggage attached. And the band should have been set up to tour with bands like, say, Gentle Giant, Brand X or Max Webster rather than arena hard rock greats. In that US package tour with Thin Lizzy, Nazareth and (!) Ted Nugent, IGB’s less than immediate music stuck out like a sore thumb.
September 16th, 2025 at 17:31I am surprised Karin still gets Uwe to do her research at certain times. Karin, just get AI to do it, much more accurate……………………………! Having said that I can understand Karin feeling sorry for Uwe with Edith constantly away and enjoying herself on her holidays. Karin most probably likes to keep Uwe busy, so he won’t become bored and get up to something untoward, that’s fair enough. I do hope that Edith managed to find a ‘decent’ coffee in Denmark recently. Cheers.
September 16th, 2025 at 22:07@41
“Karin, just get AI to do it, much more accurate”
– AI more accurate than Uwe the word-meister? I don’t think so 😄
“I do hope that Edith managed to find a ‘decent’ coffee in Denmark recently.”
– in strictly confidence I’ll tell you that I have been looking for Mrs.Hornung.
Have walked the streets and paths endlessly and tiredlessly 😁 looking for a woman who wore the resemblance of being married to a ferocious lawyer, and seeking refuge in the peaceful haven that is indeed Denmark, just to be able to give her a lovely cup of coffee 😃
So far I haven’t tracked her down, but I’m not a quitter!
However I do go back to my home Saturday, so I have to pace myself 😑
“I can understand Karin feeling sorry for Uwe with Edith constantly away and enjoying herself on her holidays.”
– exactly MacGregor!
I do believe we have to toss up certain controversial subjects to get his mind off being so lonely.
Subjects such as:
– Is Liam Gallagher a better singer than Ian?
– Is Noel Gallagher a better lyricist than Ian?
– Ought Ian to receive two (2!) Nobel Awards?
– Is coffee better than tea?
– Which German car is the better?
– Which Japanese car is better than German cars?
– Do all models need to starve themselves to fit into the designer clothes?
– Is dairy milk better for the metabolism than plant-milk?
– What did Roger actually think of when he wrote ‘All night long”?
– How do we get rid of the increasing rat population?
– Did Uwe regret to submit to Euro instead of the ever powerful Deutche Mark?
Hmm, and now I don’t have more suggestions…
Ohh maybe this last one:
– What does he (Uwe that is) really think of EP?
Well MacGregor, I guess my work here is done, now we have him occupied for a decent hour or maybe two!
Cheers right back at ya!
September 17th, 2025 at 07:28@40
“Yeah, I heard from Edith that weather was bad even for Denmark standards”
– yes and this is why we always say: there is no bad weather, only wrong clothing!
“In hindsight, it wasn’t a good idea that he let himself be pushed by the record company into naming the band Ian Gillan Band. That put too much of a focus on him and raised “Made In Japan”-like expectations.”
– I guess you’re right about this, but somehow I’ve always seen Ian as his own man, doing what pleases him!
(I might be wrong, but I don’t think so…😄)
“IGB’s less than immediate music stuck out like a sore thumb.”
September 17th, 2025 at 09:54– no wonder why I left…
@40
No wonder why HE left (hate that autocorrect thingy 😝)
September 17th, 2025 at 09:54@42
Great set of topics here, Karin. To keep him busy for another hour we might start to rave about Rainbow Rising, especially the bass sound and Dio’s relevant lyrics.
September 17th, 2025 at 11:56– Is Liam Gallagher a better singer than Ian?
Not since he lost his front teeth in that Munich brawl he ain’t. Don’t mess with Krauts.
– Is Noel Gallagher a better lyricist than Ian?
Empirical evidence seems to suggest otherwise:
https://slackershack.wordpress.com/2020/02/17/top-ten-noel-gallaghers-worst-ever-lyrics/
– Ought Ian to receive two (2!) Nobel Awards?
Isn’t Donald Trump up for one first?
– Is coffee better than tea?
It’s quicker to make. Less fuss.
– Which German car is the better?
I dunno, I’m a Volvo man. And I’d always prefer a Corvette Stingray over a Porsche 911.
https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRbSYHoWIP3uUjPNSZ6dNa4Uhz0QRUbysVo4eh4rVDWeA&s=10
https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcShfxO2KOyO2j2YRPuDJrrQLJxZ_7RtUgdPsNs0dF6oUQ&s=10
That said, Mercedes had potential for doing some good things I guess …
https://youtu.be/bEME9licodY
– Which Japanese car is better than German cars?
The Shinkansen:
https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRU04RYkYyHDW2lzDspFn3LWztkjxQ0tHmz1KMt847amg&s=10
– Do all models need to starve themselves to fit into the designer clothes?
“Starve” is a big word, but they all diet before shows. Veganism and smoking are other tricks to keep slim. The expectation pressure from the fashion industry on them is insane.
– Is dairy milk better for the metabolism than plant-milk?
For a young calf? Silly question, why shouldn’t it be?
https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQgzRGXg6R8o6QoNWnmDbx3BbVlk4iuHoVgqBf8IeDfkQ&s=10
– What did Roger actually think of when he wrote ‘All night long”?
He wasn’t thinking much, just looking at a Hustler centerfold as men sometimes do. Not much brain activity needed for that, blood concentrates in other regions for the moment.
– How do we get rid of the increasing rat population?
More Black Mambas could do the job I guess:
https://youtu.be/wB3MfYOa2tM
Didn’t your honeysuckle Ian once praise them from his own pest control experience: Black Mamba – no compete!
https://youtu.be/kML4ZwU4iIk
– Did Uwe regret to submit to Euro instead of the ever powerful Deutche Mark?
Only backward countries obsessed with their nationalism and often steeped in archaic monarchical systems skipped on the Euro – it has been a resounding success against everything the naysayers predicted. Plus: Giving up the Deutsche Mark was a precondition for German reunification – a deal’s a deal.
– What does he (Uwe that is) really think of EP?
There is a vibrant warmth in his voice. My judgement might be tainted because my mother liked his voice so much, Liselotte had a good musical taste (unlike my dad! 😂). A lot of singers – not just your Ian – owe his influence a bow …
https://youtu.be/ClxXDfvtoj0
https://youtu.be/zO6D_BAuYCI
https://youtu.be/lrpXArn3hII
https://youtu.be/2UW6EIJI8nw
September 17th, 2025 at 12:37Don’t underestimate Ian’s vanity and pride. Whereas DC, with his often boastful stage persona, knuckled down post-Deep Purple and didn’t consider himself to be too good to open for anyone who would have him/Whitesnake as an opening act (some good working class ethics there), inter alia for AC/DC and Nazareth which had only a few years before opened for Mk III & IV, Ian had a sense of entitlement when he resumed his career in 1975, he really didn’t think that groundwork was apt for him and it is telling how – unlike IGB – GILLAN never played as an opening act (except on festival bills somewhere in the middle). Make no mistake, Ian considers himself rock royalty, all humble outward appearances aside.
DC otoh conquered the States with the 1987/Serpens Albus album by going on a lengthy US tour opening for Mötley Crüe. Once that tour finished, Whitesnake’s US success eclipsed Mötley Crüe’s, a feat that Rainbow had not attained opening for REO Speedwagon in 1978.
September 17th, 2025 at 14:09@45
Thank you Max 😊
Well, maybe we ought to debate whether Dio is a great singer or not! 🤭
And as you can see of @46, he did actually answer all my insightful questions 😄
Can we make a bet of how long time he used to get the answers?
Thinking about how you don’t like Ronan Keating what much, what do you think of this:
https://youtu.be/wZkTh_T75QY?si=wABl7kGCVTQvQvj4
And am I the only one that hear the riff from that one is almost the same as the riff from this one:
https://youtu.be/iHbDSIPqJLI?si=g5uvThuGmjejpDgI
Looking forward to some in depth analysis 😃
September 17th, 2025 at 17:50@46
Thank you Uwe, I’m impressed!
I know Ian was influenced by bt but he stopped being impressed in the ‘50s, so come on and let that bear sleep 😁
September 17th, 2025 at 17:54@46
Btw: I somehow don’t think Trump wanna receive a Nobel award for lyrics, which is the category in which I presume Ian wanna receive at least two 😃
September 17th, 2025 at 18:03@47
“Make no mistake, Ian considers himself rock royalty, all humble outward appearances aside.”
– well he is! He has been since he began singing with that marvellous voice of his!
He is humble though because he never puts other people down to become more himself 😃
September 17th, 2025 at 18:07@ 40 – we could presume it wouldn’t have changed Ian Gillan’s thoughts Uwe, whether the IGB were successful or not. He didn’t enjoy that music it seems, especially the further it went on, the more he was looking at getting out. From what we have heard about his thoughts on that band. All in hindsight of course. His vocal just doesn’t gel with that sort of music. Maybe a song or two here and there they worked out ok, but really, that is the overall issue with that music isn’t it? He isn’t that sort of vocalist. At least they tried something different. Cheers.
September 17th, 2025 at 22:44@48
Well T Rex have been stolen from very often – while they nicked riffs from Chuck Berry of course (who didn’t? Go to WS Rock’n’Roll Women or RS Star, Star for example).
Anything’s better than RK in my book. And T Rex is enjoyable I think though Glam ain’t my thing, Ma’m.
September 18th, 2025 at 08:35@53
Sorry for the confusion!
September 18th, 2025 at 13:46Is this your thing Sir?
https://youtu.be/zb47CstE7R4?feature=shared
Noel has admittted that he loaned that riff from Marc Bolan. And Bolan owed a lot to Chuck Berry and also Eddie Cochran who was especially huge in the UK.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oceqiGMpG4I
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fw2_Di6sepk
Marc Bolan was an artist, but also a bit of a one trick pony. And that typical T Rex sound owed a lot to Tony Visconti’s layered string arrangements, they became a trademark. Bowie’s Starman (also produced by Visconti) was a direct rip-off from the Rextasy sound of the era,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOKWF3IHu0I&list=RDoOKWF3IHu0I&start_radio=1
but unlike Marc he outgrew it quickly, Bowie never stood still.
Marc was even in 1977 (five years after his halcyon days) still playing music that was to a great part a pastiche of 50s rock’n’roll and doo-wop songs structures:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dx25bxer5lQ
Bowie had moved on in leaps and bounds:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjCM_X3xpRM
September 18th, 2025 at 14:44“His vocal just doesn’t gel with that sort of music. Maybe a song or two here and there they worked out ok, but really, that is the overall issue with that music isn’t it? He isn’t that sort of vocalist. At least they tried something different.”
You’re not alone with that sentiment, Herr MacGregor, but I never heard it that way. Granted, no one would mistake IGB with Tower of Power,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PF6uVdmXYKs
but I thought the combination of the IGB’s instrumentalist’s jazzy chops (yet played with rockers’ determination) and Gillan’s voice new, fresh and exciting.
Gillan’s vocal style is a tale of progression on paths less trodden. I think he de-conventionalized his vocal melodies actively on WDWTWA (maybe just to piss off Ritchie who was going on about what a great singer the much more musically conservative Paul Rodgers was) and IGB just took things further. People always seem to assume that IGB and GILLAN are totally different bands, but two key members – Ian and Colin – remained the same. GILLAN ditched the Weather Report’ness of IGB for punkish nervous energy, but the vocal melodies on especially the Towns compositions weren’t all that different, Colin Town’s influence on IGB was as great as it was on GILLAN. And I think a lot of what Ian sang over Steve Morse’s again not really rock-conventional ideas in Mk VII + VIII owes a debt to what he first did with IGB.
I believe Ian is even cognizant of this, the liner notes of the 2010 Demon Music remaster of CAT and Scarabus quote him as follows:
I have very good memories abut it all. It was completely new ground for me and I was thrilled with it. I was working with great musicians and lifting my ground as best as I could and particularly feeling good about the sound and atmosphere we had in the studio, Kingsway. I had a garage at home with some serious sound equipment and would sit up all night enjoying the monitor mixes, savourting the playing and all that. Later, the ultimate highlight would be hearing a special track from the next album, Scarabus.
I know, I’m getting on everybody’s nerves here, but IGB’s lasting influence on what we hear of Ian still today is often forgotten though it was really pivotal. And the Ian you hear with IGB is exactly the Ian Blackmore despised stylistically and wanted to get rid of after a while, be it for Paul Rodgers, David Coverdale, Joe Lynn Turner, Doogie White or, eventually, Candice. Blackmore likes vocal melodies that conform to tradition, he is musically conservative. Ian likes to push the envelope.
September 18th, 2025 at 15:16Incidentally, I think stuff like this brilliant, both lyrically (Ian being all disdainful of male, NOT female social climbers) and musicwise:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_tFNnbGE6ok
You don’t make it with your fire and your rain
You ain’t nothing but a fool
You’ve got nothing in your animal brain
But baby I will stand with you
Say hey to your Daddy, hey to your Mammy
Maybe to your sister too
‘Cos you got the money and I’ve got the need
So baby I will stand with you
There’s no way you can stop it
You’ve got my heart in your pocket
Moving up from rags to riches, slags to bitches
You throw parties on your own private beach
I see you riding horses too
You’ve got the things that are out of my reach
Baby (un)less I stay with you
I ain’t gonna fight you, I’m only gonna bite you
‘Cos you’ve got enough for two
The sweetest things your inheritance brings
So baby I will stand with you
See me walking with my nose in the air
Though I can’t see too good
You catch me spitting though it ain’t debonair
But mostly I can be like you
So give it to me honey, take me to the money
Surely that’s the least I’m due
I’m just your toy I know, but you are a fool
And baby I will stay with you
Tell your Daddy that you’re gonna be mine
You know I love you truly
When he tells you that you’re out of your mind
‘Cos I’m stupid and unruly
Smile at him sweetly, whisper so discretely
One and one is three not two
He’s got the money and I’ve got the need
So baby I will stand with you
***********************************************************************************
I dedicate this song to Max! Have some sympathy with mature ladies who have a crush on younger men who could be their sons (a teenage pregnancy here gallantly assumed for sake of argument …)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVbbYYUMI-c
Keating can sing, I’ll give him that. And the vid is nicely done. And Cat Stevens records were the soundtrack of our first biological discovery sessions with the other gender, weren’t they, Max? Results with playing Rainbow Rising (never mind the somewhat encouraging title for our forays) where largely unsatisfactory to my recollection.
September 18th, 2025 at 15:42Couldn’t have made a better choice, Uwe. I remember to this day sitting on my grandma Leni’s sofa – it was the summer holidays and I spent them visiting her – and listening to that Scarabus LP I just had bought. Slags to Bitches was my favourite instantly and has remained a beloved song ever since.
September 19th, 2025 at 07:15Being 14 I did like Twin Exhausted and Mercury High plus the title track too. The other songs grew on me later on. I still prefer CAT though. But I would easily trade in any Gillan album for another IGB one.
Sorry for you you had to make it through Cat Stevens albums til the morning has broken. I remember him being popular with the girls, as Simon & Garfunkel were (though much better to stand) – but I am proud to say the girl I discovered earthly pleasures with wasn’t into that kinda music. She would put on a Doors album and light a joint. Can’t stand the Doors for the life of me since those days but that’s a whole other story….
@55
“Noel has admittted that he loaned that riff from Marc Bolan”
– YEAH Uwe! I’m not completely tone deaf then 😃
September 19th, 2025 at 07:46@57
Aww Uwe, that song is romantic 😄
“Have some sympathy with mature ladies who have a crush on younger men who could be their sons”
– 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Am I the mature lady Uwe?
Then I have to tell you that RK is 10 years younger than me, and even though I, ahem, developed early, I wasn’t that impetuous 😄😆
And no, I really don’t dig RK, to be honest, but this song:
https://youtu.be/MlC7m7wPZp8?si=s9o-wyKgk2LVxx2y
speaks to the colours in my head in ways I can’t explain completely 😍
His voice is blah really, and the other songs from him and Boyzone are completely indifferent. But that one song – woah!
September 19th, 2025 at 07:57But of course Ian is still number one! He could sing from a cookbook and I would still buy all the records! (Except if it was jazz fusion 😝😎)
“Then I have to tell you that RK is 10 years younger than me, and even though I, ahem, developed early, I wasn’t that impetuous …”
🤣🤣🤣
But in Denmark anything is possible, dear! ☝️🧐
Wot, Max, “til the morning has broken”? Himmel, have you muddled instructions yet again? I thought it was hymens!
First sex with a druggy chick listening to Jim Morrison? 🤯 How I envy you for having your fire 🔥 lit that way!
https://youtu.be/cWXHKbK-30Q
Yes, CAT was musically more ambitious than Scarabus, but the latter is still a great collection of snappy songs. John Gustafson, who penned Twin Exhausted by himself, was no slouch as a songwriter, he also wrote this here for Status Quo:
https://youtu.be/U-zIM7ofJSw
September 19th, 2025 at 12:14@61
“But in Denmark anything is possible, dear! ☝️🧐”
September 19th, 2025 at 16:55– 😁 maybe in your country Dr.Uwe, but in Denmark certain things have to me in order to develop a foetus… well, enough about that!
I would rather talk about yummy coffee (sigh…)