![[hand]](/hs-pics/portraits/hands/paice3.jpg)
![[face]](/hs-pics/portraits/faces/morse.jpg)
Across the puszta plains to see
Ritchie Blackmore’s YouTube channel has posted a video clip for Anya. The video material appears to have been sourced from Come Hell or High Water and synced up with the album version. The video creation is credited to one Russell Wagus.
Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing
Roger is not a bad producer and I put him after Martin Birch as my ears are buzzing with enjoyment.
September 18th, 2026 at 05:09Peace ✌️
A wonderful song still played to this day and we know why don’t we. I wonder why the guy who did this didn’t use the live version from the concert, maybe copyright issues. It would have sounded even better. Not that I am into people editing and making videos to ‘fit’ previous music at all. TBRO indeed and here we go, here we go, here we go AGAIN. Cheers.
September 18th, 2026 at 05:44💜
September 18th, 2026 at 07:40What a classic! I prefer the live performance too (better intro) guys are plays excellent, but,but….but Ritchie “The king of melodies”,is the winner. There’s a bit of “Anya” after atmospheres in song *Black Masquerade”also brilliant song .
September 18th, 2026 at 16:46Back then we didn’t yet know that this type of acoustic guitar intro would come to haunt us over the decades as the constantly reproduced blueprint for the beginning of assorted Blackmore’s Night chestnuts on stages adorned with plastic mock foliage for heightened authenticity.
https://youtu.be/KMg-u6HEU68
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWG_tBq7IyA
https://youtu.be/UCrZ5-65_PU
From Ritchie’s little Sherwood Forest cookbook of tried and trusted recipes: When he likes something, he sure likes something, be it riffs in fourths or little acoustic guitar intros in minorish gypsy scales and filled with dramatic trills …
BTW: Those people who say they love Anya, but can’t stand Blackmore’s Night have some explaining to do! 😂
September 18th, 2026 at 21:53Great video, made the song even better! Maybe Anya should have been the title track for TBRO? But then again we had Grunge ravaging everything…
September 19th, 2026 at 13:12Compare that phenomenal talent in every band member to the absolute crap that is cranked out by most musicians today.
September 19th, 2026 at 17:02Am I mistaken or was Anya the first (and last!) time Mk II incorporated an acoustic guitar into their sound? Mk I had Anthem and April, Mk III Soldier of Fortune, Rainbow Temple of the King and Mk V Love Conquers All (but only the live version where Joe strummed an acoustic), but Mk II shunned acoustic guitar until their final (only seventh, they didn’t make that many in their all-in-all only 12 years together) studio album. A coincidence or did Ritchie actually think that Ian’s voice works better with an electric guitar backing?
Steve of course played acoustic guitars with DP (in the studio), but Simon has so far left them in the case too. Unusual, given that Bob Ezrin is prone to use them prominently when offered the chance:
https://youtu.be/VDTwL15ZHZs
https://youtu.be/_OO2PuGz-H8
https://youtu.be/o7MlC_Qrmmc
September 19th, 2026 at 23:21Not that long ago the lack of acoustic guitar in Deep Purple’s music was discussed here. I made up a quick mention of what sparseness there was, BUT totally forgot about Anya. Well spotted Uwe. Even though I listened to this clip a few days ago, the penny still didn’t drop. So we do have One song for MKII, Hooray! Finally we can all sleep well and even take this with us when we all depart this mortal existence. Seriously though, as I said a little while ago, it has always left me baffled as to why no acoustic, or frig all of it. I went as far as Purpendicular with The Aviator, I am not sure if there are any others with Steve Morse era DP. Even Black Sabbath had more acoustic guitar than DP. Some guitarists use it a little, initially, then never again. Robert Fripp for example. I don’t think I have ever heard Robin Trower’s music with an acoustic guitar, ever! Cheers.
September 20th, 2026 at 06:49Maybe Blackers wanted to painstakingly differentiate himself from Pagey who never avoided an acoustic guitar if it made musical sense? Neither did Pete Townshend who always held the view that an acoustic guitar strummed can very much beef up the sonic might of an otherwise electric band.
https://youtu.be/vTldSCKbxHM
https://youtu.be/-YxWUvWkhJQ
September 20th, 2026 at 19:42So many of our favourite bands embraced the acoustic instruments, it didn’t really worry me that DP didn’t. Just makes us think how a few songs here and there could have worked out. Maybe Ritchie was the reason, who knows. The Gillan song ‘If I Sing Softly’ reminds us of big Ian’s singing with an acoustic guitar, wonderful that song is. It (the acoustic guitar) could have been done of course with DP, but yes, better to leave it and move on. If Blackmore didm’t like When a Blind Man Cries, well, enough said there as to an acoustic softer song possibly being recorded and released. Aside from Temple of the King, Ritchie didn’t go there again with Rainbow either did he? Cheers.
September 21st, 2026 at 23:36Yo,
Leiber Uwe commented ( edited qt.)…”Pete Townshend always held the view that an acoustic guitar strummed, can very much beef up the sonic might of an otherwise electric band”.
This is very true indeed. Every Who studio recording has an acoustic guitar being played & recorded. And if you have their most recent release circa 2020 “The Who”, the songs are quite powerful, with lots of acoustic guitar present like the early days, & barely-a-hint of overdrive from the electric guitars…The tunes are still quite powerful in their delivery too imo.
You’d be surprised to learn how many bands have followed this technique over the years…Often its difficult to hear the acoustic guitar in a multi-track-mix with everyone playing, but it’s certainly there. And modern cleaned-up / remastered recordings of older classics tend to reveal them more & more.
As an example, you could here acoustic guitars throughout Queens early albums, if a little brittle / thin sounding, but the newest re-releases reveal that they’re played throughout many tunes on the debut & Queen II for instance. And since Be-Bop-Deluxe has been discussed in here recently, it goes without saying that Bill blended acoustic & electric guitars together. And on it goes !
Ciao !
September 22nd, 2026 at 00:34A German musicians’ mag once wrote: “Any other guitarist in the world would have performed Rainbow Eyes with an acoustic guitar, it seems logic and self-evident. Not Blackmore! He of course has to use his trusted old Strat and – like only he can – the results a quite beautiful and worth a listen.”
Blackmore the contrarian and iconoclast probably thought that if everyone digs out an acoustic to perform a ballad, then that is one very good reason for him NOT to do it. He knew he was sufficiently in control of his playing and sound to even whisper with a Strat.
September 22nd, 2026 at 12:12@8:
September 22nd, 2026 at 13:27Not only in the studio:
They played “sometimes I feel like screaming” live 1996 with TWO acoustic guitars!
It’s a pity that this masterpiece of Steve disappeared from the setlist later. I could listen to the guitar solo(s) for hours…
https://youtu.be/Qy8SRt3s0DA?si=vkHRWPMbBrf5lJIY
Oh wow, you muscle-shirted Florida hay farmers’ patron angel, what a find, I’ve never seen or heard this!!! Vielen lieben Dank!
Beate is much like the late Queen of England, she comments sparsely, but when she does, her contributions carry immense weight!
Sort of like me.
September 22nd, 2026 at 16:49@14
It always seemed to be inspired by GARY MOORE.
Ask Simon when you meet him.
September 22nd, 2026 at 18:54Steve, that Fleischwerdung of musical restraint and good taste INSPIRED BY THAT OBNOXIOUS GARY MOORE?!
You’re sowas von knettergek, RV! 😂 Candy’s gone more mad than bad!
https://youtu.be/FG1IfWMLA9s
September 22nd, 2026 at 21:53I have to make amends!!! By sheer coincidence I heard this evening Moore’s Dark Days In Paradise and A Different Beat for the first time (I kind of stopped buying Moore albums past After The War, a few of the Blues ones excepted which I didn’t really like). All I knew was that DDIP and ADB were supposedly odd and hated by Moore aficionados, but they are by now so cheap to get so I thought what the heck I’ll give them a listen …
And now I’m confronted with the realization that both these albums are probably the best I’ve heard of him since what he did on Victims of the Future! I am not joking. Those two albums are … brave. DDIP is essentially a Brit Pop album, wow, I didn’t think he had that in him. And ADB is of course dance rhythms and beats, but I find the combo with his – often placed in lower ranges – voice and raw guitar playing refreshing!
Goes to show that fans and the public know nothing.
September 23rd, 2026 at 01:03@15
What a compliment, but I wouldn’t want to be compared to the Queen—I don’t have the “contenance” (I like this french word!) for that.
I doubt you are a sparse commentator, Uwe!
September 23rd, 2026 at 09:58Am I insane?
Well, I often unguarded told things that most psychologically healthy d never express.
Silence is golden, talking is cheap?
THAT solo is a cousin of many Gary made in classics known to people who preferred him in his heavyrock days.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygvXPS0cs4k
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkuiBeclQAI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v17QyiukuYM
September 23rd, 2026 at 20:15@18- please tell me I am NOT hallucinating reading this post or have gone totally out of my sane mind. Cheers
September 23rd, 2026 at 22:20I doubt you are a sparse commentator, Uwe!
I’m not wasting any words on that, Beate!
September 24th, 2026 at 12:51@ 14 Have a go at Seventh Heaven (Abandon) for one of the juciest solos Steve did with Purple..
October 5th, 2026 at 14:527th Heaven is one of the Abandonsongs I kinda liked.
But as I said of his era songs they mostly were not played anymore or even tried, like my favourite from Bananas, SUN GOES DOWN.
I suggested several times to release a triple CD/DVD of the Lord/Morse era but no….
They could ve been less lazy and make shows with Morse only setlists.
They didnt.
What does this all prove?
I never said they had to play Machinehead song s every day.
Oh well….
October 6th, 2026 at 15:41