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.

A rather interesting interview with Ian Paice appeared almost a year ago in a watchmaking blog Quill & Pad, of all places. It was prompted by a Swiss watchmaker Corum releasing a limited edition of their Bubble model co-branded with another Swiss company — Paiste.

Sometime around Baselworld 2015, an employee of Corum – who also happens to be a drummer – saw an ad for a Paiste cymbal in a music magazine. The ad compared the precision of the Swiss-made music instrument to the precision of a Swiss-made watch movement, and a light bulb went off in his head: wouldn’t a cymbal look great as a dial on a Corum watch?

This idea born of passion became a reality when both the watch company’s upper management and Erik Paiste, owner of the century-old cymbal maker based near Lucerne, concurred.

The connection with Paicey is actually a rather tedious one — he’s been using Paiste cymbals exclusively since 1971, and ended up being the recipient of one of the 350-piece limited watches:

However, the first two editions of this tempo-loving wristwatch went to two very special people: Erik Paiste (naturally) and Ian Paice, the iconic drummer of Deep Purple.

But we got an interesting interview out of it, so we shan’t complain. And kudos to Quill & Pad for doing a better job than some of the music publications we know (and which shall remain nameless to protect the guilty).

I try and find a swing in everything. To do that, you have to understand some of the technical aspects of drumming: it’s no good just going one, two, three, four and thinking that’s all there is to it. So I would watch the very best guys from that style of music and I would listen and I would watch their hands and find out what they were doing. If I’d had a teacher, it would have been easier. But there was nobody there teaching drums and obviously within 12 to 15 months [since picking it up] I was the best drummer in the area, so there was nobody to go to.

A drum kit is sort of impersonal, so if you can impart your personality in what you play and the sounds you create, then that’s much more difficult. And if you can do that, people remember you and not just ‘the drummer.’ I’ve always found that the luck of learning to play drums from a totally different point of view from most other rock and roll drummers has been a great benefit to my career.

Read more in Quill & Pad.

Thanks to Yvonne for the info.

Glenn Hughes will appear on Get Ready To Rock radio today, October 30, at 22:00 GMT. The show in question is called Assume The Position and will be repeated on Monday, October 31, and Friday, November 4, at the same time. Get Ready To Rock is broadcasting live worldwide over the internet, just follow ‘LISTEN LIVE!’ link on their website (flash plugin required). Later on the show might also be available on mixcloud.

Thanks to Yvonne for the info.

Ever since Ritchie Blackmore speculated about doing a couple of RAINBOW shows in 2016, hopes and expectations have lead to very emotional disucssions between fans. To the disappointment of those hoping for one of the former lineups to reunite for the gig, Blackmore didn’t go the easy way and – as often – assembled a new team of musicians to accompany him on this adventure.

The band finally announced consisted of current BLACKMORE’S NIGHT drummer David Keith, former BLACKMORE’S NIGHT bass player Bob Nouveau, BLACKMORE’S NIGHT contributor Jens Johansson and LORDS OF BLACK singer Ronnie Romero, which lead to even more discussions between fans and even former RAINBOW members with Joe Lynn Turner claiming the planned lineup will be “a Ritchie Blackmore band, but certainly not Rainbow” overlooking the fact that RAINBOW has always been what Ritchie Blackmore wanted it to be.

Three shows took place, two open air shows in Germany at Loreley and Bietigheim while the third show was staged at the Genting Arena in Birmingham, UK. While the two German shows were recorded on audio and video for a later (November 18, 2016) release, the UK show wasn’t recorded, which is unfortunate as it did not only feature the most consistent band performance of all three evenings but also was the only show featuring “Soldier Of Fortune” and “Burn”.

Sadly, the CD booklet doesn’t explain which song has been taken from from Loreley and which song has been taken from Bietigheim which is odd as the second CD contains some bonus tracks from the “alternative night” (which one?) and introductions like “You wanna sing with me, Loreley?” are still included.

Despite all the discussions about the musicians on stage, the setlist had been the major point of criticism, including way too many DEEP PURPLE songs while leaving out a bunch of RAINBOW classics. I won’t repeat details about the performance which have been already covered in my review of the Loreley show, but one of the major surprises on the CD is Jens Johansson which – now being clearly audible – does a far better job than my memories of the show suggested. For a current release, the CD offers an enjoyable sound with clear dynamics and a well-balanced mix between each instrument.

Is “Memories in Rock – Live In Germany” an album worth buying? That’s a question hard to answer. It’s a good live album, but for a band as RAINBOW, good just isn’t good enough. There are more impressive live versions of almost every song out there which leaves the group of potential buyers to completists, people being curious how RAINBOW sound in 2016 and those who attended at one of the shows now being offered a perfect souvenir.