A couple of items from the desk of our trainspotting department.
British TV series SAS Rogue Heroes is a WW2 action/adventure drama based on “mostly true” events. What it lacks in historical accuracy, it makes up in the entertainment value. And a very anachronistic soundtrack. Season 2, episode 5 features a convoy of said rogue heroes spiritedly driving behind the enemy lines to blow something up, accompanied by the studio version of the Highway Star. It was a big chunk of the track — from the main riff to just after Jon’s solo, then skipping to the end.
From the other side of the pond, an upcoming episode of a “tough guy in a pickle” series Reacher (season 3, episode 6) is titled Smoke on the Water. No further details yet. The episode is scheduled to be released on March 13, 2025.
[Update March 16]:Soap Central has an update on the Reacher S03E06, and it is chock-full of spoilers. Suffice to say, there is water, there is fire, and there is smoke in there.
Thanks to Mad Hatter and Kick Koopman for the info.
A piece in Ultimate Guitargoes all drooling over this guitarist’s take on Blackmore’s solo in Burn:
Here’s How Ritchie Blackmore’s ‘Burn’ Solo Should Sound in 2025
Now, I know what you’re thinking: “What do you mean it ‘should’ sound like anything?” Of course, you’re right, Ritchie Blackmore’s solo section in “Burn” is the stuff of legends. Just listen to it, he really did a number on that guitar, definitely made it scream like never before (possibly). “Burn” simply stands out among Deep Purple’s songs because of how well the solo complements the energy of the other sections.
But, if for a second, we tried to imagine this solo in a new context, modernized to meet the standards of rock and metal music in 2025, we’d really have to open up our minds to the possibilities. Let’s not go too far and imagine some kind of proggy, techno-industrial nightmare spin. We could just imagine a shredder taking the solo to the next level.
Feel free to discuss. 😉
Credits:
Andre Nieri — guitar
Levi Clay — transcription
Continuing with the tidal wave of Gillan news, the 2011 documentary about Frédéric Chopin narrated by Big Ian has been recently posted on ’em intertubes. Due to the scarcity of archival footage of Mr. Chopin, we get to see a lot of the narrator, riding horse carriages and tractors, and even partaking in a village dance. Continue Reading »
Louder Soundteases Gillan’s interview appearing in the current (#337) issue of the Classic Rock magazine. The interview largely deals with Gillan the band years, and the teaser is the story that most of us have heard before — of Blackmore trying to recruit Gillan to sing for Rainbow.
The reason I had left Deep Purple was that they were moving into a kind of territory [later filled by Rainbow]. I didn’t want that. I wanted a group with grit, excitement and edge. Also one that had balls. That’s no reflection on Ritchie, who was a fantastic, amazing guitar player – in fact I said: ‘You can come and play in my band if you want’ – but Ritchie has firm ideas about how things should be, and there were things that we disagreed on.
Simon McBride’s new album is due to be released on March 14 via Edel/earMUSIC. It is called Recordings 2020-2025, but contrary to what it may seem, does not include any of the tracks already released during these years (such as on his 2020 Trouble EP, or 2022 The Fighter album).
Track listing:
Uniform Of Youth
Kids Wanna Rock
Ordinary World
Grandma’s Hands
I Gotta Move
Lovesong
Dead In The Water
Gimme Something Good
Don’t Dare
Heartbraker
The Stealer
Hell Waters Rising
Dead Man Walking
Fat Pockets
So Much Love To Give
Covers on the album include: Ordinary World — Duran Duran, Uniform Of Youth — Mr. Mister, Kids Wanna Rock — Bryan Adams, and The Stealer — Free. The rest appear to be original material.
Ordinary World has been posted to accompany the announcement:
Thanks to Blabbermouth for the info, and to snarkmeister Uwe for the correction.
Guitar Player reprints online a story of how Ritchie Blackmore got the “loudest amp Marshall ever made”.
In his Deep Purple days, Ritchie Blackmore was known for two things: his habit of torturing his Fender Stratocasters and his love of volume. But getting an amp as loud as he wanted took particular skills and talents. It also took perseverance on Blackmore’s part to convince the only man he knew could do it: Jim Marshall.
“I knew him as a friend, because I used to buy my guitars from him,” Blackmore told Guitar Player in 2018. “He was a drum teacher, and he had a music shop in Ealing. Mitch Mitchell [of the Jimi Hendrix Experience] used to work there.”
As Marshall moved into amp making, he opened a factory in Bletchley. “Jim was a very nice man,” Blackmore said. “His office was down the road from the factory, but he would always come in when I was in there, because he could hear me blasting away. He would say, ‘I knew you were here!’ ”
Louder Sound reprints online a feature on Gillan’s Magic, arguing it is a conceptual album of sorts in nature.
Of the three major offshoots that emerged after the break-up of Deep Purple in 1976, Gillan (the band, not the man) was certainly the most musically daring. And Gillan’s most daring album just might be their last: 1982’s Magic.
Yes, the keyboard-heavy record carries a glossy, polished sheen; yes, it contains a pair of obvious stabs into ‘hit single’ territory; and yes, the off-the-rails kinetic chemistry of the Bernie Torme years is largely absent. But it’s not the music that makes makes Magic Gillan’s most fascinating record; it’s the words.
Truth be told, Magic could and should be looked at in hindsight as a concept album, as the lyrics throughout revolve around a common theme: Gillan (the man, not the band) was laying out his future plans right before our very eyes, misdirecting our attention with another album’s worth of musical hocus pocus while planning the greatest magic trick of all: making himself disappear.
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![[face]](/hs-pics/portraits/faces/paice2.jpg)
Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing