JonLord.org has announced that Jon’s memorial show at the Royal Albert Hall in April will be released by Edel/earMusic on September 26, 2014 — the day month of the 45th anniversary of the performance of Jon’s Concerto for Group and Orchestra at the same venue.

The set, titled Celebrating Jon Lord, will be released as 2DVD, Blu-Ray, 1CD The Composer, 2CD The Rocker and a box set (presumably comprising of both video and audio).

The Composer set includes Jon’s orchestral works performed that night before the intermission, while The Rocker includes Deep Purple’s performance on the second disk and everybody else on the first one.

Thanks to JonLord.org and Blabbermouth for the info.

Paul Mann shares his experience on assisting The Sunflower Jam to create and unforgettable evening:

– One of the things that always impressed the orchestras we toured with then was the band’s skill as improvisers. Mia Sfura, my fiancée, who as you know played in the Romanian orchestra on the Concerto tour, and who was in the second violins of the Orion orchestra for the concert this year, always says how impressed she was that after thirty performances then [Deep Purple] were still finding something different to play every night.

– Multiply that by the thousands of performances they’ve done of most of their repertoire and you get an idea how exceptional that aspect of what they do really is. Of course it was one of the most important aspects of Jon’s genius, and Don carries that mantle in his own brilliant and unique way.

– This is something which used to be part of every classical musician’s training. Bach, Mozart, and Beethoven were all extraordinary improvisers, and every performer of their music was expected to be able to improvise, for example, the concerto cadenzas. But the skill of the creative and re-creative have become largely separated from one another in modern classical musicians, much to their detriment, I think. Another thing we can learn about from rock musicians!

Read about the endless meetings to get the concert off the ground, the agonizing over the setlist, the hectic rehearsals, and much more on JonLord.org.

Errata: originally the article stated that September 26 is the Concerto anniversary. In fact, it is September 24th.

The record company has been kind enough to send us a freebie, so here’s a quick review of the Purpendicular reissue.

The new edition comes in a fold out digipak with redesigned booklet. Gone are the lyrics, gone is the foldout. The new booklet is a traditional format, with new liner notes written with the benefit of a hindsight by Malcolm Dome.

Despite the slightly confusing notice “Digital remasters © 1996 Sony Music Entertainment UK Limited”, it appears to this pair of ears to be identical to the original master. Not that the original needed any improvement.

Bonus tracks are Don’t Hold Your Breath, originally appearing on the Japanese and US editions of the album, and a single 4:35 edit of Sometimes I Feel Like Screaming.

Verdict: the 2014 edition serves single purpose of keeping the album in print. It’s probably not worth a purchase if you have the original. Otherwise it’s a must have as it is a truly seminal album in Purple history.

Artist: Deep Purple
Album: Purpendicular
Published: 2014
Label: HNE Recordings Ltd. / Cherry Red Records
Catalogue number: HNECD041

The official Youtube channel has posted a video produced by Swiss TV in 1971 looking at how people “consumed” music and if it’s any different from consumption of, say, Coca-Cola. The event they chose to investigate was April 1971 Deep Purple concert in Montreux.

Deep Purple were inducted into Kerrang! Hall of Fame this year at the award ceremony held on June 12 in London. There they join previous years inductees of the (mostly) metal oriented publication: Mötley Crüe, Iron Maiden, Slayer and Machine Head (the latter claim their band’s name has no relation to the Purple classic album). The award was presented to Ian & Ian by Taylor Momsen of the Pretty Reckless, who herself picked up the Hottest Female award (apparently, there is one — you always learn something!)

Thanks to Yvonne for the info.

Deep Purple have played at the Hellfest in Clisson this past weekend, and at the press conference before the show Roger Glover confirmed that the band is indeed working on a new album for tentative release in 2015:

…Some time next year there will be another album…

Thanks to Michael Foucault (check out his pictures from the press conference and the show) and Andrey Gusenkov for the info.

Back in April Classic Rock Magazine has republished online a profile of Ian Gillan, concentrating on his everyday life outside of the band. The article originally appeared in the print edition of Classic Rock, issue 59, quite a few years ago. If you’ve missed it in dead tree form, it’s quite an entertaining read (registration required to view content):

My wife allows me two days to transfer from being a rock singer to a husband and father. On the third day there’s the list of chores! I do a lot of building and repair work. I like messing around with things. I fell off the roof of my studio because I didn’t secure the ladder. It slid away and I fell through the greenhouse. I managed to break my fall but it was pretty terrifying, and I went straight down the pub. My wife had a real go at me. The very next day I was back up the ladder, trying to finish the roof off, and I’m coming down and I miss the step and fall through the ladder. I’m hanging upside down, I’ve fallen through the bay tree opposite and I’ve done my other leg. I managed to get free and get down the pub again. I didn’t tell her for three weeks, because she would have hurt me more!

Read more in Classic Rock.

Thanks to Yvonne for the info.

Jon Lord has won the Greatest Keyboard Player poll held by Real XS radio in Manchester, UK. The final top 10 is as follows:

1. Jon Lord
2. Rick Wakeman
3. Rick Wright
4. Keith Emerson
5. Ray Manzarek
6. Matt Bellamy
7. Jordan Rudess
8. Tony Banks
9. Dave Greenfield
10. John Paul Jones

Thanks to Alan Heron for the info.

An industry insider Mitch Weissman recently shared on Lefsetz Letter this tidbit of history on how the Coverdale/Page collaboration was put together:

I almost had [Jimmy Page] and Billy Squier unite for a record in the 80’s. Jimmy and I were chatting in NY’s China Club under the Beacon Theater in ’89. We had become friendly of late. While discussing his next move, I commented on how “Wasting My Time” from Outrider reminded me of “Everybody Wants You,” to which Jimmy said “That’s what I based it on. I love that song!”

So, I said “Let me call Billy.” We both lived in the area. We were very good friends and sometime collaborators. So I called him and said “Jimmy wants to talk to you.” So over he comes, they sit and talk, and I leave them alone. When I returned to the table an album project had been decided upon. And we all enjoyed the rest of the evening together.

So what happens? John Kalodner (Geffen) gets wind of the idea and promptly packages the 2 label mates together, resulting in a record that made Robert Plant bristle. Coverdale/Page, a really great “Led Zeppelin” album.

Can only wonder what the Squier/Page that might have been.

Thanks to Mitch Weissman for the permission to reproduce the story.

In his September 2013 interview with Songfacts Graham Bonnet talked about the guitar player luminaries he had worked with during his career: Ritchie Blackmore, Yngwie Malmsteen, Steve Vai, Michael Schenker. He took time explaining how he got into Rainbow and how he got out of it:

Songfacts: If you think back to 1985/1986, it seemed like the majority of heavy metal bands had spandex and huge hair.

Graham: Yeah. That was not where I was at. I got roped into being a so-called “heavy metal singer.” When I was living in England, I was doing R&B and pop stuff, and I was very much into ’50s music, so I had the suit and the tie and the bend-back hairdo from the 1950s. I was into that very much, the 1950s sort of thing.

I was given the chance with Rainbow and I went over there and auditioned with them. When they gave me the job, I wasn’t sure I should take it, because I didn’t think I fit in at all. I didn’t want to grow my hair long, wear spandex and all that kind of thing. It’s not me. I just didn’t want to do that. That’s a uniform I could never fit.

Songfacts: How did you originally cross paths with Ritchie Blackmore?

Graham: That was through Roger Glover. One of my friends, Mickey Moody, was playing for Whitesnake at that time, and I think Roger was producing their album. This is 1970-something. Mickey told Roger that I was doing some solo stuff, which was successful in places like Australia and New Zealand. Weird places – everywhere but England. Roger wanted to know what I was doing, so they invited me over to this chateau on the border of Switzerland and France, and they gave me a song to learn. I had to learn a song called “Mistreated,” which I didn’t know anything about. I didn’t know anything about Rainbow at all, to be honest with you. So I had to buy the albums and learn one song as an audition.

Roger phoned me up and said, “Will you come over and do a song with us?” And so I went over there and sang at them and they gave me the job. That was it, really. Then I went home, thought about it, and I said to my manger, “I’m not right for this. I’m not like these other guys, long hair and all the rest of it. I don’t fit.” But I did in the end.

Songfacts: Would you say that played a part in your not staying very long in the band, that you felt like you didn’t really fit with that band?

Graham: Yeah. It came to a somewhat slow end. Because Cozy Powell [drummer] left the band before we started rehearsing for the second album in Copenhagen, and rehearsals were with Bobby Rondinelli, the new drummer who came in. Cozy was a very close friend of me and Don Airey, you know. We’re very close, and when he left, Don was threatening to leave. Ritchie didn’t sometimes turn up to rehearsals, so it would be me and Don and Bobby Rondinelli there, and sometimes not even Roger Glover.

They’d look at each other, “Well, what are we doing?” “We’re rehearsing for the next album.” “Oh, okay.” And we only had one song, just a song that Russ Ballard wrote, called “I Surrender.” That’s the only song we had. So we’re sitting around looking at each other and Ritchie would come in for like half an hour and plonk on his bass pedals or whatever the hell, and then he would go. It was unproductive. The thrill had gone, so to speak.

Bobby Rondinelli really wanted to fix it and get on with it, but we just didn’t gel and nothing was happening, so I went home. I went back to LA and the management called me and said, “What do you want to do?” I said, “Well, nothing’s happening.” I’d put down some backing vocals to the song “I Surrender,” that’s all I’d done on this album, because it was not going anywhere. So he said, “Do you want to sing the songs you like and have another singer sing the songs you don’t like?” I said, “Well, there’s no songs there. And two singers – no, that won’t work for me.”

So I left the band. That was it.

Songfacts: On the Rainbow album, you didn’t write any of the songs, right?

Graham: No. Well, the melodies I did, but I was never credited for.

Songfacts: I would also be curious as to what you could do with the classic Rainbow lineup. But I don’t think that Ritchie Blackmore does rock music anymore.

Graham: I don’t see that happening ever again. He’s gone his own way again. He’s got his own music he’s gone into that he really loves to do. He was a big Jethro Tull fan, I always remember that, and he’s gone that way with his wife, more so the medieval deal. He’s found his niche, so to speak, and I don’t see him ever going out there and playing “Smoke on the Water” or “Since You’ve Been Gone” again. It’d be great, though. I’d love to play with him again. He’s a good friend and a good guy. I got to know him really well. He’s not what people think he is.

Read more on Songfacts.

Blackmore Vale Magazine (I kid you not) reports that Ian Gillan offered his services to perform at the Guitars On The Beach festival in his home town of Lyme Regis. The event is essentially a mass gathering of guitar players not unlike the ones that set the world record, albeit not on quite the scale: last year 2,267 guitarists set the UK record, with this year more than 3,000 having already signed up. Smoke on the Water is one of the songs to be played, along with Buddy Holly’s Rave On, Rocking All Over The World by Status Quo, 500 Miles by The Proclaimers, Valerie by The Zutons, Sharp Dressed Man by ZZ Top, Sweet Home Alabama by Lynyrd Skynyrd, I Wasn’t Born To Follow by The Byrds and Summer Holiday by Cliff Richard, “the last two depending upon finding a bunch of Rickenbackers and a London bus.”

When Big Ian heard about the event, he offered to sing Smoke, this giving a chance to 3,000 budding guitarists to brag about playing guitar for Ian Gillan.

The event will be held on the beach in Lyme Regis, UK, on the weekend of September 6-7th.

Thanks to Andrey Gusenkov for the info.