![[hand]](/hs-pics/portraits/hands/gillan4.jpg)
![[face]](/hs-pics/portraits/faces/airey.jpg)
Let’s try ending on the four chord
Music Radar has an interview with Steve Morse. It is apparently published on the occasion of the recent album, but deals with his Purple years. Steve particularly fondly talks about Jon Lord:
During one writing session for 1996’s Purpendicular, Morse’s debut on a Deep Purple record, a tea break was called, and Morse played on for a bit. Like the others, Lord sat down for tea – but he was listening.
“It came from me just noodling to a guitar part, as a guitar solo piece. We were during a break, and you know how it is in the UK, everybody stops and drinks tea after so many minutes of doing anything,” says Morse, the only American in the band. “Jon sat down his cup and says, ‘Ah, that’s something there.’”
Morse demurred but Lord was hearing none of it. They went back to it, and that’s how Sometimes I Feel Like Screaming came together.
“I said, ‘I wasn’t thinking that that would be a tune for Purple. I was just practising an idea I had.’ And he said, ‘Well, I like it. Let’s do it. Let’s try ending on the four chord here.’ And by the end of the day, we had the song mapped out on tape because of Jon,” says Morse.
Read more in Music Radar.
Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing
That’s a cute story about the interaction with our Jon.
I remember solos by Steve during his DP tenure that had me floored live, he certainly didn’t have me frown more often than Ritchie did in the 80s and 90s when on some gigs he could be a real noise merchant in his solos.
Steve’s solos were never dark like Ritchie’s – even when he was playing darkish keys -, but I learned to accept that as just him being him.
Steve’s precise rhythm playing was also always a joy to watch and listen to.
November 27th, 2025 at 07:55Lovely story indeed! And this ending of the main theme in the fourth (in G where you’d expect a Dm) is really something.
November 28th, 2025 at 08:09AbandOn is the last,with the Lord.
November 28th, 2025 at 08:46I love how he plays, he puts so much feeling…
I miss him. ♥︎
While I prefer Ritchie as a soloist, I always thought Steve expanded DP’s musicality. “The Aviator” and “A Touch Away” add a bit of whimsy to their sound, and they’re two of my all-time favorite tracks by the band. I couldn’t ever see Ritchie writing anything like that. And “Now What?” is one of those albums that’s perfect front to back.
November 28th, 2025 at 17:27It would have been a huge blow for Steve Morse when Jon Lord retired from Deep Purple. He rated Lord as his favourite rock keyboard player and that was before he liaised with him personally and musically. Cheers
November 28th, 2025 at 21:38Steve just sounds so American – that’s not a criticism, just a description of fact. And he was co-opted into a band that sounded until then (short intermezzos like Mk IV and Mk V excluded) very European, namely DP.
BUT – and it is a big “but” – Gillan, Glover, Lord & Paice knew that when they asked him to join. It only takes a half-hour jam with Steve to notice that his musical sensibilities are utterly Yank (again: not a knock).
Yet Steve did also adapt to Purple – to the extent nature let him. Those criticizing him for not having done so completely should participate in the following thought experiment: If Ritchie had joined the Allman Brothers, Lynyrd Skynyrd, the Grateful Dead, the Doobie Brothers, Little Feat, The Band or really any other arch—American outfit, don’t you think that his playing there would have sometimes felt more than a little awkward and stuck out like a sore thumb too?
November 28th, 2025 at 22:16everything Lord & Morse did on Purplendicular & Abandon through much of Bananas has never been equaled in the years since.
November 28th, 2025 at 23:42Great song. One of my all-time favorites.
November 29th, 2025 at 05:17„Sometimes I feel like screaming“ is Steve‘s signature piece in DP, I think. Esp. When it’s played live, you wish the outro-solo would never end.
For me, „Purpendicular“ is one of the best albums DP ever made.
The cooperation between Steve and Jon was incredible, just think about what Steve always mentioned about Jon‘s „big ears“.
November 29th, 2025 at 09:50Unfortunately, I can’t add a link here, but when you watch the YT video of „Abandon“ with that wonderful guitar-solo and see how how both communicate without words – it’s just magic.
I remember IG once saying in an interview something like “It’s time to make our Sgt. Pepper”, and I think their Sgt. Pepper is Purpendicular. I think Purpendicular is up there in the top five DP albums. And I also think that it is much due to SM.
November 29th, 2025 at 11:31@9Beate: Amen!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4C-QuE1Pbb8&list=RD4C-QuE1Pbb8&start_radio=1
November 29th, 2025 at 13:00@9
Beate I agree!
November 29th, 2025 at 15:17No doubt about it that I loved when RB was the guitarist in Purple, and to some extent I agree with those who don’t like Steve’s way of playing the tunes written by and meant for RB, but OH MAN the tunes written for Steve, there he is phenomenal 💜
Ritchie in the Grateful Dead? He wouldn”t have lasted a Single day….as a lifelong Deadhead myself this proposal makes me laugh……yes, he could outplay them All but the spirit of the Dead was and still is one of a kind….
November 29th, 2025 at 16:22And yes, i do miss Steve in the band, his style, his smile and his spirit
To me Mark 7 will be always the 2nd best Purple incarnation after the almighty Mark 2 (which are untouchable), followed by Mark 3.
The band, studio and live, were on fire. And seeing Jon always happy on and off stage, founding his new soulmate on stage which was Steve, makes you feel good. Such a paradise after what they experienced with Ritchie in 1993.
Much have been said about their two albums which were superb products. I would like to point out on their live performances, especially on the old Mark 2 rarities. Steve, helped by Jon, made those songs their own esp. the ‘rarities’ Blackmore disinterested to play (No One Came, Fireball, Pictures of Home, Maybe I’m A Leo, When A Blind Man Cries. etc). Their live shows were also powerful, never heard bad bootlegs from their era. Also another contribution, Gillan’s voice in the 90’s were remarkable.
I specifically think that their ‘pinnacle’ moment as a band was when the fans thought “Bloodsucker” was a new song (led to them re-recording it as Bludsucker in Abandon). This shows how tight and stand-out they are as a group of musicians playing any musical composition on stage.
November 29th, 2025 at 16:30I sometimes think that Jon would have left DP rather sooner than later to do his own thing had Ritchie stayed on, but hung on another couple of years after Ritchie’s abrasive departure to see the band he had co-formed guided into the safe waters of a new era.
Roger once said in a HS interview with Rasmus and Svante here that by the recording of Pictured Within in 1997 (same year as Abandon was being recorded) Jon was thinking more and more in terms of orchestral music. Then the rejuvenated Concerto came (which I doubt Ritchie would have participated in had he still been in the band) and that and the ensuing tour of course gave Jon a full circle closure with DP.
When he finally decided to leave, he knew Purple could continue. Imagine what would have happened had he left together with Ritchie in 1993 too – that would have been a death punch for Purple.
Steve and Don perhaps never quite gelled as much as Steve and Jon because Don is a “lots of notes”-player like Steve which had them in combat for aural space (and over time, Steve did play more sparsely after Don had taken Jon’s place), whereas Jon had the innate ability to pull back to make others shine – be it Tommy Bolin on CTTB, Marsden & Moody in WS or Steve on Purpendicular and Abandon.
Add to that how Don has a certain picture of how a “guitar hero” he wants to complement has to be – the Gary Moore, Randy Rhoads, Michael Schenker, Jake E.Lee, John Sykes, Uli Jon Roth experience so to say, but Steve Morse simply isn’t a guitarist like that. Jon otoh recognized Steve’s deep musicality.
November 29th, 2025 at 19:48@6
> BUT – and it is a big “but” – Gillan, Glover, Lord & Paice knew that when they asked him to join.
Deep Purple made a knowingly “risky”, or at least adventurous, move taking Steve. They knew he is something totally different from Ritchie and an electric guitar virtuoso (so was Satriani) of a guitar school that came after the years that Deep Purple had become a big name. I think they all embraced this at the moment and we had the great and fresh Purpendicular and beautiful vibe in live sessions (“Live at the Olympia” is on of their most enjoyable live recording to listen all the way through IMHO).
Less than 10 years later, when Jon decided to retire, they made a much more “safe” decision. Don is not the same as Jon, but I believe that if someone made a poll back then asking Deep Purple fans “who do you see as a possible replacement of Jon Lord for DP?”, Don would have taken a lot of votes. He was in Rainbow, he had a consistent career participating in a huge catalog of Hard Rock and Heavy Metal names and he was (and is) a great player.
Fast forward to 2022, the band had for several reasons to replace Steve, and they again fell to a different, but still “safe” decision. Simon is not Ritchie style, but much more the type of player once could foresee in a hard rock band. He was not very famous, but everyone knew him by side projects.
I believe that in the end all these decisions were good to make and they graced us with great music and live shows. So it is not a criticism, just an observation. And it is understandable that it is easier to make bold changes at your 50ies than when approaching the 80ies.
November 30th, 2025 at 07:13Rajaseudun @10: That Sgt. Pepper comment was made by Ian ahead of ROTD. I remember, because by that statement the album was somewhat anticlimactic.
But comparisons between The Beatles and DP are difficult anyway.
November 30th, 2025 at 14:39#7: Did Jon play on Bananas? The liner notes on my copy of the CD say it was Don on that album.
December 1st, 2025 at 03:57I found the link to one of the most wonderful solos and the magic between Steve and Jon (Abandon live, I wish I could buy that DVD again nowadays)
https://youtu.be/y-CC2jOVNSI?si=-87NOCBTn1lsiOZI
December 1st, 2025 at 17:29I think there might still be a little bit of Jon on Bananas (not much though), he certainly co-wrote a few titles.
Yeah, Beate, those solo spots of Steve early in his era with DP were really nice, he didn’t shred, but created atmosphere. And much like Tommy Bolin, he was good at using effects.
December 2nd, 2025 at 01:07@19 Beate,
December 2nd, 2025 at 05:08It’s from the Total Abandon Live in Australia concert at Melbourne. It’s worth getting the LP release – it sounds great. I agree it’s pure magic, as good as anything throughout DP’s career.
#16. Well said. It’s easier to make bold choices in your 50s than in your 80s. DP still live on but now with two soloists who play the solos note for note from one evening to another. If you listen to McBride’s solo in When A Blind Man Cries on stage with them these days, as good as it is, it’s the exact same solo he played six years ago on stage with IG for his solo orchestral shows. A casual fan attending one show every couple of years will will likely not pay any attention to this, but disappointing nevertheless.
Don always played a supportive role in his career. Support to Ritchie, Gary Moore, Ozzy. Rarely in a lead capacity. Still, I find it hard to believe someone as talented as Don is lacks improvisational skills. Same thing with Simon really. So, it’s a bit puzzling. Maybe they feel improvisation belongs to the 70s and prefer to play it safe.
Shaking up the setlist on a more regular basis would compensate for the lack of imrovisation. Unfortunately, they play it safe on both counts.
December 2nd, 2025 at 06:19@16
In this interview:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_qm74Ot7DI
Around the 19th minute (it is lovely to watch it all if you haven’t), Jon does say that he was involved in the writing of 2 songs. I do not know which 2 these are, and I do not believe he did record anything.
There are interesting things he says about Bananas in his 3-4 minutes answer:
– It was different than he expected
– He was not fond of the sound, he believed Roger Glover would have done a better work producing it
– He did rank it better than Abandon, which (he says) lacked direction
– Yet lower than Purpendicular, which he considered one of the best DP albums, along with In Rock, Machine Head and Perfect Strangers
It is nice because he puts the words kindly, yet he sounds sincere
December 2nd, 2025 at 08:23(@16 meant to be @18 in my last message)
December 2nd, 2025 at 08:25You’re tough, Daniel!
Jon was an extremely loose player, he could have played with the Stones. Don is too structured for that but I think he has come a long way improvisationally since his early days with Purple, I found him very angular at first, but he liberated his playing (especially on the Hammond) over time. He’s no Jon Lord though, but then who is.
I don’t believe that Simon and Don set out every night to ply everything note for note, but hey certainly have a sketch of what they want to play and of course overt routine (with the amount of gigs that they do), muscle memory and the realization that something sounds so good it’s worth repeating all play a role.
Simon is certainly from a generation of players where the ability to reproduces something technically demanding is rated higher than loose improvisation, all the Steve Vais, Joe Satrianis and John Petruccis of this world aren’t really improvisational people – they are too disciplined and perfectionist as players for that.
December 2nd, 2025 at 13:41@ 23 – Interesting comments from Jon Lord regarding Abandon, I agree. It was very disappointing after Purpendicular. Thanks for the interview. @ 25 – To improvise or to not, that is the question. Some can do it well, many do not, it is a gift of sorts no doubt. How to think ahead of the pack really quickly, how to ‘know’ where another musician is going to regarding the in the moment scenario. It is a sadly lacking thing in today’s music world in so many aspects. Today’s world is all about technical perfection, in that regard. The years gone by not so much, thankfully. Plus in today’s world it is all about looks, how do I look while I am playing this instrument, that vanity thing. That does also get in the way of free expression. Android replicas, that it s where it is all heading. Cheers.
December 2nd, 2025 at 20:19#25 Uwe:
I totally agree.
December 2nd, 2025 at 23:13Obviously Don was an exceptional musician even before Purple and he already had enormous experience,
but certainly his approach to the keys is different from that of the Maestro..
However, I can’t think of any other living keyboard kings worthy of taking Lord’s place, if not Airey himself.
I thought Abandon was just much darker, less colorful than Purpendicular which was a caleidoscope of colors, but not necessarily bad. In the same way that In Rock is a darker album than Machine Head or Burn a darker album than Stormbringer.
I actually like that variety, that DP are not always dark like, say, Ozzy era Sabbath. I loved that Purply would do jaunty songs like Anyone’s Daughter or Lazy or Woman From Tokyo.
December 3rd, 2025 at 00:47#26 MacGregor:
If John were still alive and had made all the subsequent albums, I think he would have drastically reevaluated Abandon compared to all the weak stuff Purple wrote after Bananas.
December 3rd, 2025 at 07:21Abandon was indeed darker and heavier. Jon says ‘it lacked direction’, but I think the problem was that it had too much direction, it was Purpendicular that lacked direction in the most beautiful way.
Also, in Abandon in the middle there is a triplet of somehow weaker (IMO) songs:
December 3rd, 2025 at 09:307. “Jack Ruby”
8. “She Was”
9. “Whatsername”
Plus I am not too much of a fan of “Seventh Heaven” that many people loved.
These make me also rank the album a bit lower, but I still listen to it often with a lot of joy.
@ I get the point… But for those about to agree Ozzy-era Sabbath is always dark: Supernaut, Sabbra Cadabra, Rock ‘n’ Roll Doctor (which btw was a setlist-oddity sung by Gillan in ’83), Shock Wave, Never Say Die, Hard Road and the great Air Dance (featuring a beautiful piano played by Don Airey) are exceptions here
December 3rd, 2025 at 09:35I still enjoy Don Airey’s solos in recent Purple live gigs, he has that panache and diversity of the classic melodies that few have these days. One of the only recent DP things I watch including some of the newer songs. He deserves his day job and just like Steve Morse, I am glad they have/had that opportunity. Any of those old school keyboard players from the original or near enough original bands are irreplaceable in their respective bands. Just like the other musicians, when one changes of course there is going to be a different take on it. Airey is old school, hell he is even older than Grumpy Rick. And Airey has that Black Sabbath connection just like Rick. There must have been something in the water back then. Cheers.
December 3rd, 2025 at 09:56For the avoidance of doubt, TillytheSab: Ozzy’s doom-laden monotone wail with the Sabs had vital quality because he was blessed with a real sense for simple (almost childlike), yet hugely effective melodies.
Just look and listen too how one-time-short-term Sab vocalist Dave Walker sang over what became Junior’s Eyes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRJbm0SUHXM
and how Ozzy did it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QQTHWf5xxQ
Ozzy’s catchy vocal melody is pure genius, Walker’s attempt at singing over the riff and chords sounds like where he came from and returned to: reminiscent of a B-side from Savoy Brown, those second to third tier blues rockers.
Don’t let your dad tell you Sabbath is no good, son!
December 3rd, 2025 at 16:10@33
> he (Ozzy) was blessed with a real sense for simple (almost childlike), yet hugely effective melodies.
Absolutely true. Don acknowledges this in some interviews, e.g.:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHcG9kFe_vU
There were some other factors involved, but it is also thanks to this talent that Ozzy managed to form a very successful band, with at least 2 landmark heavy metal albums and many hits that spread over the years after leaving Sabbath
December 3rd, 2025 at 17:46Don’t let – by all means – get a lawyer in between affairs!
Noone ever said Sabbath ain’t no good. It just ain’t no good for Papa Max.
Manic Miner …very well said: Purpendicular lacked direction in the most beautiful way!
December 3rd, 2025 at 17:52Didn’t get what Jon meant… Abandon was less diverse and had more direction I think. But a less appealing one.
Ozzy always had the nous for a good hooky and commercial tune, the Beatles/Lennon buff in him. “Just” writing melodies (and not the instrumental music or the lyrics) isn’t nothing, you know. No one ever accused Elton John of being a lesser musician for not writing his own lyrics or leaving the more intricate arrangements to his basic song ideas to his 70s backing band who were also in charge of arranging and layering the trademark harmony vocals.
Ozzy’s penchant for what were essentially lullabies made Sabbath a lot more commercial than just their instrumental music would have allowed. And his solo career took that even further, I mean Crazy Train is a (very nice) pop song in a major key with a neo-classical metal riff as an intro, but any idiot can whistle the vocal melody.
December 3rd, 2025 at 23:56#36 Uwe:
It’s true, Ozzy’s melodies were incredibly basic and effective, but he wasn’t the only one, Ronnie for example also wrote really simple melodies, and so did Iron Maiden, AC/DC and others.
December 4th, 2025 at 21:57Did Iron Maiden really ever write more than one song which they keep re-recording and retitling through the decades?! 😂
December 5th, 2025 at 12:53Don’t tell me poor ole Ozzy has been demoted to a poor man’s lead vocalist. ‘Any idiot can whistle the vocal melody’. Uwe, if they (the O$Bourne clan) notice that comment you could be in for a right rollicking. Poor ole Roger Waters only made a basic comment ( no where near as bad as that one of your’s) after Ozzy’s death and now he has had a t-shirt made for him. What will Uwe’s punishment be? A cut away t-shirt with a picture of a cartoonish bat getting its head bitten off on it. Why not ladies and gentlemen, Uwe has a penchant for those sort of things. I will just send a copy of his latest comment to the right reverend $haron and we will sit back and enjoy the vindictive punishment dished out to our esteemed heavy metal follower here at THS. Cheers. P.S. Roger Waters new t-shirt below.
https://www.loudersound.com/bands-artists/roger-waters-ozzy-osbourne-another-prick-in-the-wall
December 6th, 2025 at 01:41@39
I believe that this controversy between Ozzy and Waters is interesting. In my opinion they are both great examples of musicians with minimal musical talent (Waters could not tune his bass… Ozzy, well you can hear his singing in some live recordings and the issue is not the drugs), yet they have been great forces in terms of creativity. Both of them managed to do great stuff with what they had, and for me this is something to applaud for (a bit like Greece winning the 2004 euro cup with minimal talent, one has to acknowledge that they really did the best they could with what they had).
Nonetheless, their characters evolved much differently. Ozzy had his difficult moments, mostly due to drug addiction, but in the end, almost everyone has a good word to say about him (our Ritchie included). Waters on the other hand seems to be angry with almost everyone these days, his old band-mates, other rock musicians, the western world etc
Anyway, in the end it is just an observation and “thank you for the music”
December 6th, 2025 at 11:01