Bernie Marsden recently spoke to Rockpages.gr, promoting his solo album Shine. The conversation also turned to history.

On PAL:

Rockpages.gr: What do you remember from the Paice, Ashton, Lord album “Malice In Wonderland”?

Bernie Marsden: Ooh, I remember everything! It was one of the best things I have ever recorded! A very very good record, but people weren’t quite ready for it yet, because of the Deep Purple thing. I mean most of the fans were expecting Deep Purple Mk.VI, or VII… you know what I mean… and of course it was totally different. When I listen to it now, that’s me! I am really proud of it. It’s a really really good album, but have anybody heard it really? Hahaha!

…And the Whitesnake of old:

Rockpages.gr: Your work with Whitesnake in the ’70s and the ’80s, when you were playing with Micky Moody, I think gave an edge to the more traditional British blues sound. It made it harder, catchier and more mainstream. Have you ever thought about that, your contribution to that sound?

Bernie Marsden: Well, I think that when we did that at the time it was very conscious. Because of my association with Jon and Ian, and because I would always hear stories about Deep Purple and Ritchie (Blackmore)… when we got together with the beginning of Whitesnake we kind of made a conscious decision Micky and I. You know we weren’t interested in this “guitar hero” stuff. What we wanted to do was to play good rhythm and blues songs played really well. We could play well together, and we were more into the Allman Brothers, than in Deep Purple. And I could see David’s shoulders go “oh, it would be great!”. Because there were no ego problems, you know, who is going to be the star guitarist. Because we had two very good lead guitarists. We just played together. And I think that’s what gave the record a great identity. That and Martin Birch, a great producer who knew exactly where to put stuff in the mix. Sometimes Martin is a little bit overlooked when we talk about the old records. Martin was the extra member of Whitesnake, a very important guy!

Read more in Rockpages.gr

Thanks to Yiannis Dolas for the info.

An audience recording of Deep Purple gig in Bologna, Italy, on May 27, 1971, has surfaced on YouTube. The sound quality is, ahem, fair, but one can not ask too too much from that era.

Thanks to Claudio Grassi for the upload and letting us know.

Joe Lynn Turner spoke to Rockin’ Metal Revival promoting Rated X, although the interview (seemingly inevitably these days) slid onto the Rainbow reunion path.

There does not seem to be a way to provide a direct link, so you’ll have to select episode RMR 121-2 manually by selecting playlist icon in the player above. The interview section starts around 18:15 into the episode and lasts for 20 minutes.

Thanks to BraveWords for the info.

Ian Paice and Deep Purple tributes Purpendicular have announced a new string of dates for 2015 in Denmark, Germany and France. See the dates on the poster below.

The mini-tour builds on the dates Ian played with the band this year in Germany and Czech Republic. The three shows receives favourable reviews and included these tracks:

Fireball, Bad Attitude, When A Blind Man Cries, Black Night, Cascades, Hell to Pay, Apres Vous, Child in Time, A Simple Song (intro only), Speed kind, Perfect Strangers and more – along with some of the bands own songs from their soon to be released debut album This Is The Thing

Watch video:

Ian Paice: People ask me why do I do these things? … I enjoy playing drums, I enjoy playing with these guys.

Highway Star – Ian Paice onstage with Purpendicular:

Further details emerge on A Light In The Black Rainbow box set: track listing has surfaced. It answers a lot (but not all) of questions regarding the contents.

CD1

1. Black Sheep Of The Family 3:22
2. Sixteenth Century Greensleeves 7:33
3. Snake Charmer 4:33
4. The Temple Of The King 4:45
5. Tarot Woman (rough Mix) 6:06
6. Stargazer (rough Mix) 9:09
7. Run With The Wolf (rough Mix) 3:49
8. Mistreated (live In Osaka, Japan / 1976) 11:10
9. Purple Haze / White Christmas / Lazy / Man On The Silver Mountain / Blues / Starstruck (live In Osaka, Japan / 1976) 16:18

CD2

1. Sensitive To Light (rough Mix) 3:04
2. The Shed 4:46
3. Rainbow Eyes (rough Mix) 7:06
4. Jesu, Joy Of Man’s Desiring (bob Daisley Rehearsal Tape) 1:41
5. Long Live Rock N Roll (L.A. Rehearsal / 1977) 6:57
6. Do You Close Your Eyes (bob Daisley Rehearsal Tape) 6:19
7. Still I’m Sad (with Organ Intro / Bob Daisley Rehearsal Tape) 10:07
8. Gates Of Babylon 6:48
9. Catch The Rainbow (live/1976 / With Applause) 22:02
10. Long Live Rock ‘n’ Roll (live In Munich, Germany / 1977) 3:32
11. L.A. Connection (live In Munich, Germany / 1977) 5:13

CD3

1. Eyes Of The World (instrumental Outtake) 6:51
2. Ain’t A Lot Of Love In The Heart Of Me 5:00
3. Lost In Hollywood 4:52
4. Danger Zone 4:30
5. Since You Been Gone (album Version) 3:21
6. Bad Girl 4:52
7. Over The Rainbow / Eyes Of The World (king Biscuit Flower Hour Radio Broadcast / Live At Calderone, New York / 1979) 9:23
8. Love’s No Friend (king Biscuit Flower Hour Radio Broadcast / Live At Calderone, New York / 1979) 8:10
9. Ode To Joy (king Biscuit Flower Hour Radio Broadcast / Live At Calderone, New York / 1979) 5:42
10. All Night Long (single Remix Version) 3:50
11. Weiss Heim 5:19
12. Stargazer (live At Donnington/1980) 8:33

CD4

1. Midtown Tunnel Vision 4:33
2. I Surrender (album Version) 4:03
3. Magic 4:08
4. Vielleicht Das Nachster Mal 3:20
5. Jealous Lover 3:13
6. Spotlight Kid (live At Hammersmith Odeon, London / 1981) 5:07
7. Rule Britannia / Fire (live At Hammersmith Odeon, London / 1981) 2:50
8. Death Alley Driver 4:45
9. Bring On The Night (Dream Chaser) 4:06
10. Stone Cold (album Version) 5:18
11. Power (live In San Antonio, Tx/1982) 4:39
12. Miss Mistreated (live In San Antonio, Tx/1982) 4:26
13. Tearin’ Out My Heart (live In San Antonio, Tx/1982) 8:20

CD5

1. Can’t Let You Go (album Version) 4:21
2. Desperate Heart (album Version) 4:35
3. Anybody There (outtake / Polar Mix) 2:51
4. Drinking With The Devil (outtake / Different Guitar Solo) 3:43
5. Make Your Move 5:26
6. Snowman 4:32
7. Street Of Dreams (album Version) 4:27
8. Stranded (live At St. David’s Hall, Cardiff/1983 / With Applause) 5:51
9. Power (live In Cardiff/1984) 4:30
10. Fire Dance (live In Cardiff/1984) 4:26
11. Fool For The Night (live At The Tokyo Budokan/1984) 3:59
12. Difficult To Cure (live At The Tokyo Budokan) 11:17
13. Smoke On The Water (live At The Tokyo Budokan/1984) 4:42

DVD

1. All Night Long (live At Monsters Of Rock, Donington Park, Uk / 1980) 7:56
2. Catch The Rainbow (live At Monsters Of Rock, Donington Park, Uk / 1980) 5:06
3. Eyes Of The World (live At Monsters Of Rock, Donington Park, Uk / 1980) 1:23
4. Lost In Hollywood (guitar Solo / Live At Monsters Of Rock, Donington Park, Uk / 1980) 3:32
5. Will You Love Me Tomorrow? (live At Monsters Of Rock, Donington Park, Uk / 1980) 3:15
6. Long Live Rock ‘n’ Roll (live At Monsters Of Rock, Donington Park, Uk / 1980 / Pt. 1) 2:29
7. Kill The King (live At Monsters Of Rock, Donington Park, Uk / 1980) 3:29
8. Long Live Rock ‘n’ Roll (live At Monsters Of Rock, Donington Park, Uk / 1980 / Pt. 2) 2:20

Disclaimer: the last disk is marked in online listings as CD6 and it is presumed here that it is indeed a DVD like reported earlier.

Thanks to Ray and Weltbild.de for the info.

A pretty unique monument to Jon Lord was unveiled on November 27 in Ukranian city of Uzhhorod. A pint-sized Jon is sitting on the railing of a riverside promenade and contemplating the view.

The idea of the monument came to a couple of locals two years ago. They started collecting the money in empty beer cans strategically placed in local pubs. Two years and 16 kilograms of coins later, here he is, in all his glory:

Jon’s sculpture joins a number of other quirky miniatures installed in the city ranging from 19th century Hungarian musician Ferenc Liszt, to the good soldier Švejk, to RMS Carpathia.

Thanks to Volodimir Drybuschak for the info. Photo: zak-kor.net.

Couple of new entries to our trainspotting project.

A restaurant called Deep Purple has opened last year in Chiangshu, China. It specializes in western (as in European / North American / Australian) food. The band gets a nod in their self description:

The name Deep Purple traces its roots back from the mysterious and dreamy color that brings everyone a sense of imagination and nostalgia. The world famous Deep Purple Band is a legend in the history of rock music, and is the root for the name Deep Purple.

It does not appear that the band’s music is featured though:

At deep purple enjoy your meal while listening to the wide selection of music covering: village country, jazz, Bossa Nova, French, and lounge music.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, in Texas, a nine year old boy was struck by lightning during soccer practise and is making a very slow recovery. Local TV station reports:

Just recently came the recognition of his favorite song, “Smoke on the water.” His sister, Julia, loaded it on her iPod and played it for him at the hospital.

“He sort of squinted his eyes first, and then he started smiling — just the biggest smile I’ve ever seen on his face before,” said Julia Hermann. “It was really incredible to see.”

Thanks to Yvonne and Andrey Gusenkov for the info.

Two new Rainbow box sets are coming out.

The first is an 8LP vinyl set called The Polydor Years. It contains Rainbow studio albums from Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow to Bent out of Shape, plus On Stage. Finyl Vinyl is not included. The albums are straight copy of the originals content-wise, without any bonus tracks, and are pressed on 180 gram vinyl. The box was released on November 24 in the UK, with other territories to follow in early December.

The second set is titled A Light in the Black 1975-1984. It was rumoured quite a while ago, with some details starting to emerge now. This box set will contain 6 disks, plus a 60-page booklet with photographs by Ross Halfin, history of the band, and album artwork. One of the disks is reported being a DVD with 1980 Monsters of Rock performance, and remaining 5 CDs touted to contain a mix of Rainbow classics and unreleased tracks. Release date is pencilled in for January 26.

Both box sets are being released by Universal Music.

Thanks to Super Deluxe Edition, Darren Keeler and metal-district.de for the info.

The documentary DVD that was included in the 4CD+DVD box of the Made in Japan reissue this spring, will be released separately as a standalone DVD by Universal on December 12 (at least in continental Europe).

In other news, Deep Purple (Overseas) and Universal are remixing Made in Europe for a box set release some time in early 2015. There’s no word on the content of said box yet.

In yet another news, Stereo33Books are preparing a new Deep Purple photo book compiled from shots by former Melody Maker photographer Barry Plummer, taken on the band’s British tours between 1971 and 1974. The book is also due some time in early 2015.

Thanks to Peter Chrisp, Daniel Falaschi and Darker Than Blue for the info.

The official YouTube channel has posted an expanded version of the video interview with Colin Hart. Colin started working for the band as a roadie back in 1971, then became tour manager for Elf, Rainbow, and post-reunion Deep Purple. It was probably recorded shortly after his retirement from the band circa 2001. Many of what he said has been greatly expanded in his autobiography.