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The perfect marriage of all elements
Glide magazine has an interview “on all things Purple” with Jürgen Engler — producer of the Purple Storm tribute album that should be out by now.
Congratulations on this new Cleopatra Records tribute album, a great follow-up to Ride the Rainbow – The Ultimate Tribute to Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow from earlier this year. Your love of Deep Purple comes through on Purple Storm.
Thank you. Yes, I have such a love of and strong connection to Deep Purple. I had the massive mixing desk from Ian Gillan’s old Kingsway Studios, back in my German studio. It was way too big to bring over to the U.S., so unfortunately, I had to sell it before I moved here. That was my Deep Purple souvenir. How about you?
Well, when I was ten, a new customer came into my father’s restaurant and my dad ended up sitting at the guy’s table, conversing with him. He told my dad that he was a music publicist, and my dad said, “My kid knows a lot about music,” and called me over. The customer gave me an oral music trivia test; I answered all his questions, including one on Deep Purple, and then I got back to cleaning tables. After he left, he went to his car and came back with a small stack of records with Deep Purple’s debut album, Shades of Deep Purple on top, and said, “These are for you. Enjoy!” My copy of the album has a circular promo sticker stating: CONTAINS THE SINGLE “HUSH.” So, let’s begin with that 1968 debut hit. That same year, Arthur Brown was also in the Top 40 with “Fire,” as was Vanilla Fudge with their version of “You Keep Me Hangin’ On,” with Carmine Appice on drums. It is fitting to have Arthur and Carmine together on this new track.
Exactly. That was the perfect marriage of all these elements. You definitely hear Carmine’s drumming style on that track. Of course, Arthur put his stamp on it, and he still has a strong voice. Arthur and I have a history. With my band Die Krupps, we wanted to do a cover version of “Fire” back in the ‘90s. I was trying to locate him. Guess where I found him? He was actually in Austin, where I now live permanently. We hooked up, and he came to my studio in Düsseldorf at the time and recorded “Fire” with us and did a video too.
Continue reading in the Glide magazine.
Bonus: Spill magazine reviews the album and gives it 4 out of 5.
Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing
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