Axel Rudi Pell will be releasing a live 3CD/3DVD album Magic Moments – 25th Anniversary Special Show at the end of April. The show was recorded on July 11th 2014 at the Bang Your Head festival in Balingen, Germany. The reason we mention it here is because of the several covers performed that night together with several people from the Purple family.

The album includes covers of Black Night, Mistreated (performed with Doogie White and Tony Carey), Since You Been Gone (with Graham Bonnet and Doogie White), Long Live Rock´N´Roll (with Doogie White, Graham Bonnet, and Tony Carey), and a grand finale of Smoke On The Water with all guests. Top this up with Bobby Rondinelli on drums, and you have a pretty good chunk of the Rainbow branch of the Purple family tree appearing on stage that night.

His rendition of Black Night is now streaming from the Soundcloud:

Magic Moments – 25th Anniversary Special Show is out via SPV/Steamhammer in Scandinavia on April 22nd, in Germany on April 24th, in Europe on April 27th and in the USA on April 28th.

Thanks to Cameron Hons for the info.

The renowned Purple tribute band Purpendicular is releasing an album of original material titled tHis is the tHing#1 on March 6. It is an 11-track concept album featuring guest appearances by Ian Paice, Roger Glover, Don Airey, Steve Morse, and Neil Murray, among others. The release party will be held in Paderborn, Germany, also on March 6. After that the band will embark on an extensive European tour with Ian Paice taking the seat behind the drums on 5 dates.

Track listing:

1. Somebody Done It
2. Dancing In A Cage
3. Only To Laugh At
4. The Rain Is Gone
5. If It’s Possible
6. Business Is Business
7. Off My Trolley
8. Broken Bones
9. Crazy
10. Keep Me Away
11. Samara

The album will be sold at the shows or can be ordered by contacting the band at purpend.icular@gmx.net

Thanks to Classic Rock for the info.

…Or, at least, to his manager.

Classic Rock has some quotes from DC appearing in the April 2015 issue of the magazine (the one with In Rock on the cover, see above):

The tragic loss of Jon made me finally realise that life is too fucking short to hold animosity, bitterness and resentments.

So I decided to reach out to Ritchie to share the sense of grief and loss of Jon with him, and to express my gratitude to him for bringing me on board Deep Purple.

During the conversation we did discuss the idea of getting back together in some way, which was Jon’s wish.

After several discussions with Ritchie’s manager I felt I didn’t share their vision of the project. I sincerely wished them well and respectfully withdrew.

During this time I pulled out the albums and started messing around with some of the songs – rearranging ideas, adding a new bit here and there.

The bonus for me was I rediscovered my love for that time and the work all of us achieved together. Magical times.

I felt I had to prove myself. I knew I had been given an incredible opportunity and didn’t want to blow it.

But, my God, I was so young and naive. Thrown in at the deep end to sink or swim. The two sci-fi lyrics I wrote for Mr Blackmore, Burn and Stormbringer, I’d never written like that before. But then again I’d never been given music like that before.

Classic Rock April 2015 issue should be on sale now (or very soon) at a good newsagent stand near you.

After some vague hinting and some more vague hinting, Whitesnake revealed today that their next album will consist just from remakes of Purple Mark 3 and 4 material. It will be called The Purple Album and is slated for release on May 18 in the UK (May 15 in Europe, May 19 in North America) via Frontiers Records.

Track list:

1. Burn
2. You Fool No One (interpolating Itchy Fingers)
3. Love Child
4. Sail Away
5. The Gypsy
6. Lady Double Dealer
7. Mistreated
8. Holy Man
9. Might Just Take Your Life
10. You Keep On Moving
11. Soldier Of Fortune
12. Lay Down Stay Down
13. Stormbringer

The deluxe edition will also include two bonus tracks:

1. Lady Luck
2. Comin’ Home

and bonus videos:

• Lady Double Dealer
• Sail Away
• Stormbringer
• Soldier Of Fortune
• Behind The Scenes
• EPK

The news are accompanied by a couple of quotes from Coverdale:

It’s a tribute – a homage. It’s a huge thank you from me to Deep Purple for the opportunity I was given over 40 years ago.

I said to Richie Blackmore, ‘You guys set me on an incredible journey that continues today and I couldn’t have asked for better teachers.’ The university of Deep Purple is an extraordinary, amazing school to learn from. We can’t wait to play these songs in concert.

After this release the band will embark on an extensive US tour (with a couple of Canadian dates tucked in) that will start on May 28 in Spokane, WA, and finish on July 25 in Atlantic City, NJ. The tour is also branded as Purple. See our calendar for the complete listing. Tickets for many shows are going on sale in within the next couple of days. Whenever there is a “fan club” presale, the password is PURPLE.

VIP packages are available for some shows. These will include (at least for the Santa Rosa show on June 2):

• One premium reserved ticket located in the first 12 rows
• Specially designed Whitesnake tour shirt (exclusive to VIP packages only)
• Collectible tour lithograph autographed by David Coverdale (numbered, limited print)
• Official Whitesnake tour program
• Exclusive Whitesnake merchandise item
• Commemorative tour laminate

Thanks to Classic Rock for the info.

An interview with Jon Lord, done before the Concerto performance in Dublin in September 2009, is available from Irish public broadcaster RTE. This obviously has previously appeared in print, albeit in unspecified publication. Jon quips about the Concerto, past and present.

Regarding the original 1969 performance and alleged tensions within the band about it:

The band loved it! Reports of a schism were not true, it wasn’t ‘Jon was doing his classical thing, so he wasn’t concentrating on the rock band’. People forget that during that time, were inventing hard rock, and during the time of the Concerto we were writing Deep Purple In Rock. I don’t think that anybody would listen to that album and say that it wasn’t committed. The story doesn’t hold up. Forgive me for saying this, but it was a journalistic invention, it was a good story. ‘Jon wants orchestras, the rest of the band don’t. Split in Deep Purple!’

Read more from rte.ie (PDF file, 1.4 MB).

Thanks to Yvonne for the info.

Wymer Publishing were kind enough to send us a preview copy of Jerry Bloom’s Deep Purple — A Matter of Fact.

First things first: what this book is not. It is not a comprehensive biography of the band. It does not pretend to be. As such, I would not recommend it as an introductory reading on the history of the band.

What the book is: it is a collection of short (2-3 pages) stories arranged in roughly chronological order. Some of them are highly amusing, some educational, some quite bizarre, and some quite mundane. What falls where is a matter of opinion of course, but I’ll give you one example of the latter category: a certain singer, whose name escapes me at the moment, was offered a job in the nascent Deep Purple (way before Rod Evans came into the equation). His manager refused, in the hopes of advancing said singer solo career instead. Months later the manager refused another job offer, this time from one Jimmy Page, for another nascent band. The fact that I forgot the name of the singer before I finished the book, speaks volumes about wisdom of said manager on both counts.

It is 193 pages long, printed in rather generous 10-point(ish) font, interspersed with contemporary press clippings and an odd photo or three. Being a collection of short stories, it also plays quite well with reading on the go.

From what I can tell, the book is very well researched, although of course there’s no ceiling of how well it can be done, and some (you know who you are) might find inaccuracies.

In summary, it is quite literally what it says on the cover:

Based on interviews with band and road crew members, contemporary press articles, and drawing on management files, A Matter of Fact helps to clarify the truth behind several stories. It also dispels some untruths once and for all, as well a few previously un-revealed new stories that will appeal to even the most diehard fans.

Our verdict: while we would not recommend it for an introductory reading on the history of the band, it is a very interesting read for hardcore fans. This way, it is highly recommended.

Deep Purple — A Matter of Fact will be published on May 4, 2015 via Wymer. The book can be preordered from the publisher’s website.

On October 10 last year Polish fans held a third Jon Lord memorial concert in Warsaw, which is now threatening to become an annual event. We had announced the first and second events, and apologize for missing it last year due to a miscommunication. In the spirit of better-late-then-never, we present you with excerpts from the proceedings.

And trust me, these are some of the best covers that this site has ever seen.

Child in Time
Lead Vocals: Ania Rusowicz
Keyboards: Łukasz Jakubowicz
Guitar: Piotr Brzychcy
Bass: Błażej Grygiel
Drums: Sebastian Wojciechowski

Hallelujah
Lead Vocals: Ania Rusowicz
Keyboards: Łukasz Jakubowicz
Guitar: Ritchie Palczewski
Bass: Michał “Burza” Burzymowski
Drums: Hubert Gasiul
Backing Vocals: Joanna Jakubowicz

Mistreated,
Vocals: Grzegorz Kupczyk
Keyboards: Łukasz Jakubowicz
Guitar: Ritchie Palczewski
Bass: Michał “Burza” Burzymowski
Drums: Hubert Gasiul

Thanks to Łukasz Jakubowicz (the Hammond man) for sending this in.

Joe Lynn Turner appeared on the Bulgarian version of the X Factor singing Street of Dreamswith one of the contestants. JLT’s involvement with the show came about when a friend sent him a video of Slavin Slavchev belting out a version of Can’t Let You Go. Here’s JLT appearing on the show:

Thanks to Blabbermouth for the info.

Bob See, the founder and the owner of a lightning and sound production company called See Factor, has passed away on February 10.

Robert See speaks to NAMM in 2010

Purple connection? He designed and built the enormous rainbow that adorned the stage of the eponymous band during the RJD years. Later on, he also was responsible for the giant eyes stage prop seen during the Straight Between the Eyes tour.

Thanks to Andrey Gusenkov for the info.

Back on Black Records will be celebrating the Record Store Day this year by releasing Live at Montreux 2011 on vinyl. This show already had a vinyl release back in 2012, which was limited to a run of 500 copies. It’s on a different label, so all the bells and whistles of the original pressing may not necessarily apply.

The Record Store Day in 2015 will be held on April 18.

Thanks to Joe Embleton for the info.