There are a couple of items posted on the official Youtube channel worth your attention (in case you’ve missed it).

Deep Purple Mark 4 live at The Capital Centre, Landover, MD, USA, on January 15, 1976. It was the second date of their mainland US tour.

A very energetic short set performed by Gillan for British TV in 1982:

There is a new book of interest out: The other side of Rainbow by Greg Prato, the author of Tommy Bolin biography. The book appears to be a collection of interviews arranged in chronological order (much like many of Martin Popoff’s books). The list of people interviewed includes David Feinstein, Micky Lee Soule, Wendy Dio, Tony Carey, Graham Bonnett, Mark Clarke, JLT, Bobby Rondinelli, David Rosenthal, David Stone, Chuck Burgi, Doogie White, Greg Smith, Eric Bloom (Blue Oyster Cult), Herman Rarebell (Scorpions), Craig Goldy, Eddie Trunk, and others. As you can see, any input from Blackmore is conspicuously absent. Despite that, the few pages preview that is available on Amazon, made this editor yearn for more. And at $10 for electronic version it won’t break the bank.

The book is available through Amazon as both paperback and Kindle editions.

Thanks to Alex Kononow for the info.

Glenn Hughes spoke to Icon vs. Icon couple of weeks ago promoting Resonate, which resulted in an extended interview published on their website. Never being shy with superlatives, ‘incredible’ must be the most often used word in all of this (no, we didn’t do the math).

You followed that incredible night [RRHoF induction — THS] up with a tour of the United States. How was the trip?

It’s always an honor for me to play anywhere in America because it has been so long since I had done a tour. To play up in the northeast was a great way to start the summer. It is so, so beautiful up there! My god, it’s incredible! It was really hot but the fans turned out and we had great audiences and everyone was very receptive throughout the tour, all the way from the East Coast through the Midwest, all the way up the North and then back into LA. Every place we visited was incredible and the good news is that we’re making plans to tour again in the spring!

And on the issue of BCC reunion:

Earlier this year, it was revealed Black Country Communion will make its return in 2017. How did you guys get back on the same page after the past few years apart?

One thing I want to make clear to everybody across air nation is that Joe Bonamassa and I never fell out. It just happened that after “Afterglow” was recorded and released in the fall of 2012, there was no touring schedule set. Being that there was no touring schedule set, I decided to leave the band simply because I needed to go back to my solo career. There was never falling out. Joe was continuing with his solo career and it just never worked out that we could do a lot of touring. Over the course of the years, we have spoken to each other and we had lunch the spring. We said, “Wouldn’t it be great to make another record? Maybe the time is right to do that.” There’s certain times when people get back together for reunions and if they have their material, they have a good insight. We are actually writing now and we have written half of the album. Joe is coming next week to finish up the songs and we will be headed back into the studio in January.

Read more in Icon vs. Icon.

Thanks to Blabbermouth for the info.

Wymer UK has secured the stock of tourbooks for the now cancelled Glenn Hughes’ European tour. They are now offered for sale at £10.

This 24 page programme is to the best of our knowledge the first ever programme for a Glenn Hughes solo tour. It is made even more unique by the fact that the tour was cancelled.

As the official UK merchandiser, these programmes are only available directly from us and are bound to become future collector’s items.

In other Wymer news, the Knebworth’85 book For One Night Only has now gained a foreword from Roger Glover. They also informed us that they will be running a promotion where everybody who orders the book before the the end of the year can enter a competition to win a 50% refund on the price of £80.

For One Night Only is due out on December 9 and can be ordered directly from the publisher.

Thanks to Lutz Reinert for the info.

Today Ian Gillan and Don Airey band start their orchestral tour of Eastern Europe. They are playing with local orchestras, so, naturally, there is a fair bit of rehearsing going on before each show.

Before the tour started, Big Ian spoke to Moscow newspaper Kommersant. Besides plugging in his daughter’s band Papa Le Gal (they’re supporting), he mentioned that several Purple rarities have been rehearsed for this tour, giving Razzle Dazzle, Unwritten Law and Anya as examples. Regarding the new Purple album, he said that it’s coming out in February, after which the band will embark on another couple of years long world tour. He also said that he has 38 rough song ideas on his computer for a solo album, but no immediate plans to proceed with it.

Meanwhile, in Bulgaria, he appeared November 1 on local TV on the Slavi Show. Video clips have been posted online at slavishow.com.

Thanks to Andrey Gusenkov and Space Truckin (via deep-purple.ru).

Deep Purple “California Jam 1974” will be released for the first time on Blu-ray on December 02, 2016 by earMusic/edel.

The video has been completely restored using newest technology and features a new cut of the show.

TRACKLIST DVD
1. Burn
2. Might Just Take Your Life
3. Lay Down, Stay Down
4. Mistreated
5. Smoke on the Water
6. You Fool No One / The Mule
7. Space Truckin’

Bonus
1. Super 8 Crew Recordings

TRACKLIST Blu-Ray
1. Burn
2. Might Just Take Your Life
3. Lay Down, Stay Down
4. Mistreated
5. Smoke on the Water
6. You Fool No One / The Mule
7. Space Truckin’

Bonus
1. Original Video Edit (Full Show) + optional audio commentary
2. Super 8 Crew Recordings

earMusic/Edel will start a series of Jon Lord reissues with the release of “Gemini Suite” on November 25, 2016.

The album, recorded at Abbey Road und De Lane Leo Studios with the London Symphonic Orchestra conducted by Malcolm Arnold features performaces by Albert Lee, Yvonne Elliman, Tony Ashton and Jon Lords Deep Purple bandmates Roger Glover and Ian Paice.

More details as soon as we get them.

Australian site Urban Cinefile has a longish backstory for the creation of Jesus Christ Superstar, as told by Andrew Lloyd Webber himself:

Work started on the album of JCS in early 1970. Murray Head would be our Judas but who would play Jesus and Mary? Tim and I were total unknowns so we couldn’t do more than punt for names. Tim was better connected than me via his days at EMI, but a chance encounter with Jon Lord of Deep Purple at the first performance of Jon’s rock symphony Fusion, led me to meet the band’s new lead singer Ian Gillan, one of the greatest true rock tenors in musical history.

There’s not much else Purple related in the story, but if you’re a fan of JCSS, it’s an engaging read, well worth a visit.

Thanks to Gary Poronovich for the info.

Despite all the efforts to save the day, it was announced today that the whole Glenn Hughes European tour has been cancelled. This includes the dates in both UK and the mainland between November 4 and December 14. The announcement puts the blame squarely on co-headliners’ Living Colour management, who double booked the band.

I am saddened and disappointed that I will not be able to perform for my UK and European fans as I had originally intended. When I partnered with Living Colour to do this tour, I thought we would be able to make something special happen at these shows. Unfortunately, an undermining manager got involved and in turn ruined what would have been an amazing tour. I can’t wait to get back to the UK and Europe to bring the new songs of Resonate to my fans overseas.

Thanks to Nigel Young for the info.

Another one of numerous interviews Ian Gillan gave to the British media promoting his Vinyl Collection. Amid stories of drinking, smoking, and messing with women in the times gone by, he also mentioned that the new Purple album will be out in February, the tour will start in May, and the band “in reality” probably has “another couple of years” in it.

Caution: it is about 10 minutes of the telephone interview stretched over with music to almost an hour.

Thanks to Nigel Young for the info.