Steve Morse was at the NAMM convention this year (like he does almost every year), and spoke to Andertons Music about his plans for 2019. The two takeaway moments are:

1. He will be recording two new albums — one with the Flying Colors and one with Deep Purple;
2. more Purple live dates are being booked.

Thanks to Deep Purple Tour Page for the heads up.

Rhino Records will release a 35th anniversary edition of Whitesnake’s Slide It In on March 22. The album is famous for vastly different versions released on the two sides of the Atlatic at the time. The European version, released in 1984 and produced by Martin Birch, featured Coverdale, Micky Moody, Mel Galley, Cozy Powell, Colin Hodgkinson, and Jon Lord. Soon after, Jon left to reform Deep Purple, while Moody and Hodgkinson were replaced by John Sykes and Neil Murray. Sykes and Murray, together with session keyboard player Bill Cuomo, re-recorded their parts for the 1985 US release, mixed by Keith Olsen. This resulted in significantly different sound that marked the beginning of the band’s slide into the MTV-friendly hairspray metal scene.

The anniversary edition will be available in several formats.

A 1CD edition will include newly remastered US mix of the original album.

The Deluxe Edition on either 2CD or 2LP will include both the UK and US mixes of the album, both newly remastered.

The Ultimate Special Edition on 6CD+DVD will include both UK and US mixes, plus a plethora of bonus material detailed below. This edition will also feature a 60-page hardbound book including photos, essays, notes, and credits.

Ultimate Special Edition

Disc 1

US Mix (1985) 35th Anniversary Remaster

Disc 2

UK Mix (1984) 35th Anniversary Remaster

Bonus tracks:

Need Your Love So Bad – single b-side
Gambler – 7-inch Eddie Kramer Mix (1983)
Guilty Of Love – 7-inch Eddie Kramer Mix (1983)

Disc 3

35th Anniversary Remixes (2019)

1. Slide It In
2. Slow An’ Easy
3. Love Ain’t No Stranger
4. Give Me More Time
5. Guilty Of Love
6. All Or Nothing
7. Spit It Out
8. Standing In The Shadow
9. Hungry For Love
10. Gambler
11. Need Your Love So Bad

Disc 4

Monitor Mixes & Intros (September 1983)

1. Intro to Gambler from David Coverdale
2. Gambler
3. Standing in the Shadow
4. Intro to Slide It In from David Coverdale
5. Slide It In
6. Give Me More Time
7. Intro to Love Ain’t No Stranger from David Coverdale
8. Love Ain’t No Stranger
9. Hungry For Love
10. Intro to Guilty Of Love from David Coverdale
11. Guilty Of Love
12. Spit It Out
13. Intro to Slow An’ Easy from David Coverdale
14. Slow An’ Easy
15. All Or Nothing
16. David Coverdale discusses the US vs UK versions

Jon Lord’s last Whitesnake show (Grand Hotel, Stockholm, Sweden, April 16, 1984 – filmed for Måndagsbörsen TV show)

17. Gambler
18. Guilty Of Love
19. Love Ain’t No Stranger
20. Ready An’ Willing (Sweet Satisfaction)

Disc 5

Live in Glasgow, Scotland (March 1, 1984)

1. Gambler
2. Guilty Of Love
3. Ready An’ Willing (Sweet Satisfaction)
4. Love Ain’t No Stranger
5. Here I Go Again
6. Slow An’ Easy
7. Cryin’ In The Rain
8. Keyboard Solo
9. Ain’t No Love In The Heart Of The City
10. Fool For Your Loving
11. Need Your Love So Bad / Thank You Blues
12. Slide It In
13. Don’t Break My Heart Again

Disc 6

Early rough mixes with unfinished lyrics:

1. All Or Nothing
2. Hungry For Love
3. Spit It Out
4. Give Me More Time
5. Slow An’ Easy
6. Love Ain’t No Stranger
7. Need Your Love So Bad (instrumental)
8. All Or Nothing (acapella excerpts remix)
9. Slow An’ Easy (organ and drum excerpts remix)
10. Wheezy Interludes (various alcoholic studio antics, David and Mel “fighting a cold”)

Original demos:

11. Slow An’ Easy
12. Slide It In
13. Standing In The Shadow
14. All Or Nothing
15. Spit It Out
16. Guilty Of Love
17. Love Ain’t No Stranger
18. Intro to Need Your Love So Bad from David Coverdale
19. Need Your Love So Bad

Demo ideas that were never finished:

20. Body Heat
21. The Gypsy In You
22. Lounge Lizards
23. Great Riff In The Morning
24. The River Song
25. Can’t Make A Deal With The Devil
26. Prayer For The Dying
27. Spend The Night With Me
28. So Much To Live For
29. Riff Raff Blues
30. Thanks You Blues

DVD

1. Guilty Of Love – Music Video
2. Slow An’ Easy – Music Video
3. Love Ain’t No Stranger – Music Video
4. Give Me More Time – Top Of The Pops
5. Standing In The Shadow – New Promo Video
6. Love Ain’t No Stranger – Live… In The Still Of The Night
7. Slide It In – Live at Donington (1990)

Jon Lord’s Last Whitesnake Show (1984)

8. Gambler
9. Guilty Of Love
10. Love Ain’t No Stranger
11. Ready An’ Willing (Sweet Satisfaction)

Thanks to BraveWords for the info.

In a recent interview with Metal Hammer maestro Tony Iommi, a riffmeister extraordinaire himself, weighted in on the greatest riff of all time question:

Apart from your own, what’s the greatest riff of all time?

That’s even harder. There’s so many great riffs out there from the past, and up to date stuff. But you’ve got to have Deep Purple’s Smoke On The Water. And of course there are a lot of Zeppelin songs. Jimmy Page has some great riffs.

So there you have it.

Thanks to BraveWords for the info.

Another member of the family has passed away. Drummer Ted McKenna, who played with Gillan on Naked Thunder, and more recently was a member of Michael Schenker Fest together with Graham Bonnet and Doogie White. He died unexpectedly, during an elective surgery that prompted a bleeding the doctors could not stop.

Neil Murray wrote:

Completely shocked by the very sad news of the sudden death of drummer Ted McKenna (SAHB, Michael Schenker, Rory Gallagher and many others) who I spent time with only 3 weeks ago at the Cozy Powell Birthday Bash. A lovely guy and great drummer who will be much missed.

Thanks to Blabbermouth for the info.

And then there is this piece from British Pathé highlighting circa 1967 vintage hipsters. Look out for familiar faces!

Thanks to Yvonne for the info.

[Update: Dec 29] We have it on good authority that the mentioned below Deep Purple gig in Finland on July 27 is not happening. So, we’re back to “for the first time in many, many years we do not have any Deep Purple dates either confirmed or leaked” situation.

We were just about to post an annual roundup of touring plans for the Purple family and start it with something like “for the first time in many, many years we do not have any Deep Purple dates either confirmed or leaked” when this happened. Bear in mind that this date is highly unconfirmed, bordering on dubious. Tickets are being sold by Ticketmaster though, and for all it’s drawbacks, the outfit is pretty reliable.

As for the rest of the family, there’s plenty to choose from. At least if you happen to be in the right part of the world.

Don Airey will tour Central Europe with his band in March.

Glenn Hughes will continue touring with his Mark 3 & 4 “Classic Deep Purple Live” set, starting with four dates in Spain in early April, then off to the US for a couple of weeks, moving to the UK in mid-May, continental Europe in the Summer, briefly returning to the UK for a festival performance on August 24.

Ian Gillan will do another tour of Germany with the Rock Meets Classic starting late February and continuing through the most of March.

Ian Paice took playing with tribute band Purpendicular to his heart and so far is booked to perform with them for 17 more (so far) gigs in February and March, all in Europe.

Ritchie Blackmore is booked to do another 4 shows with his latest incarnation of Rainbow in June, all in Europe again, before switching to acoustic for an obligatory, albeit a brief one, tour of German castles with Blackmore’s Night.

Whitesnake are all set for a month long extensive Stateside tour of resorts and casinos starting mid-April, moving on to Europe for June and July.

As always, full details in our purple calendar.

Happy New Year everyone!

Las Vegas TV channel KSNV has a flashback news report about a riot that ensued on April 27, 1973, when Deep Purple did not take the stage at the LV Convention Center. The report itself was published in 2015 on the occasion of Fleetwod Mac being in town, who were also on the bill for the ill fated ’73 gig.

Thanks to Yvonne for the info.

While being on tour with the band in Mexico, Eddie Trunk did two extensive interviews with Gillan and Paice. Both are now available online as podcasts, albeit with quite annoying commercials mixed in.

Ian Paice, “the only guy to whom you can talk about every era of the band” (and they do):

The interview starts at around 12’30” into the podcast, subsequent segments begin at 22’05”, 40’05”, and 58’55”.

Chat with Ian Gillan:

The interview starts at around 14’15”, continuing at 34:40.

Thanks to Akemi Ono for the info.

Glenn Hughes recently spoke to Music and Me, revealing that he has settled his royalties for Burn (he famously claimed that he co-wrote the album, but was not credited for contractual reasons). The settlement, we presume, was made with the embattled HEC Enterprises and Deep Purple (Overseas) companies.

As we sit here speaking, it’s three months ago, it’s all been resolved. It’s taken a long time. It’s not really something I’ve spoke about in the press.

People, of course, always ask me: ‘How come you didn’t write on ‘Burn’?’ And I don’t really go out of my way to give the definitive answer, but the fact is I was signed to another company. And if you look at George Harrison and Robert Plant, they were off a couple of records too — Robert being ‘Led Zeppelin I’. It’s the same scenario. I decided I’d leave my name off to… take care of business, if you will. At a young age as well — I couldn’t believe I did that.

I never hold a resentment. Because the resentments are about people who are no longer with us. Let’s just say that I was mismanaged — young and mismanaged — and I was promised things that… Being an only child living with his mum and dad up in the north, I was offered a handshake, and I took it.

The thing that’s kept me alive is I’ve never held a resentment against anyone. Never. Resentments would kill me — it would take me out drinking, it would take me out cavorting. I never held a resentment. And now, 44 years later, it’s been resolved. It’s a long time.

I’m getting paid, yeah. It’s going back. But more importantly, I’m getting paid going forward. But there are some things I’m getting paid for, like film stuff and sync rights and streaming and stuff from lately. But there are other ways to go about it, which I can’t talk about. But I am right now…

Listen to the complete interview (24 minutes long) at this location.

Thanks to Blabbermouth for the transcriptions and to Jim Collins for the heads up.

On Friday, January 11 2019, the “Concerto for Group and Orchestra” will be perfomed in Kaiserslautern by the Orchester des Pfalztheaters Kaiserslautern together with the band Vanden Plas.

The complete program will be:

• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Ouvertüre zu „Don Giovanni“
• Sergei Rachmaninow Paganini-Variationen op. 43
• Jon Lord Concerto for Group and Orchestra

Event details