Without much fanfare, on November 15 Blackmore’s Night released an updated version of their Cristmas album Winter Carols. The 2013 edition comes on 2 CDs, with the first appear to be identical with the original album that came out in 2006, and second one containing bonus tracks:

1. Hark the Herald Angels Sing / O Come All Ye Faithful (Live from Minstrel Hall 2013)
2. Emmanuel (Live from Minstrel Hall 2013)
3. We Three Kings (Live from Minstrel Hall 2013)
4. Ma-O-Tzur (Live from Minstrel Hall 2013)
5. Good King Wenceslas (Live from Minstrel Hall 2013)
6. Christmas Eve (2013 Version)
7. Christmas Eve (German Radio Edit)
8. Christmas Eve (English & German Radio Edit)
9. Christmas Eve (English Radio Edit)

The album is available from Amazon in Germany and UK, with German one also selling individual MP3 tracks.

Thanks to BraveWords for the info.

Geddy Lee of Rush was interviewed by radio.com and, among other things, they’ve asked him how he’s going to vote for the next year’s Rock’n’Roll Hall of Fame induction candidates (everybody who is already inducted are voting members themselves):

Well, certainly Deep Purple, certainly Yes. I have to give it a more complete thought but those are two names that stand out as omissions in my view. I think one of the things the Hall of Fame looks for is influential bands. And if influence is a big part of their criteria, and you can make the case clearly for Deep Purple.

Thanks to radio.com for the info.

Proud father Roger writes:

My daughter Gillian Glover has a new CD out. It’s called Still Life With Music. If you’ve heard any of my last two solo recordings then you will know what an original voice she has. If you’ve heard her debut album, Red Handed, then you will also know that she has a talent for writing beautiful and inspiring lyrics. But don’t just take my word for it; after all, I’m her proud dad. Check it out at http://www.gillianglover.com, Facebook, or better yet, buy it on iTunes and all the other regular places, such as Amazon.

Thank you and good luck,
RG

St.Petersburg based Sobaka.ru took a slightly unorthodox approach to the photo report of a Deep Purple concert. In its dead tree incarnation Sobaka.ru is a glossy ‘lifestyle’ magazine, so they concentrated on people in the audience instead of exclusivity of what’s happening on stage.

And you know what — the result kinda sorta lends some credibility to Gillan’s claims of the “18 year old audiences” often repeated in interviews. At least in some places. Yes, there’s is probably quite a bit of a selection bias going on, but you gotta have young people in the audience to start with in order to make such selection bias possible. And yes, they all rush to the front row, and yes, the front row is all that the band can see from stage.

Check out the gallery at sobaka.ru.

On a more traditional note, there’s plenty of good pictures here, here and here.

Thanks to Kostya and Andrey Gusenkov for the info.

British based Team Rock Radio is giving away a free copy of Now what?! deluxe box set, and from the looks of it it’s open worldwide. Enter your details here.
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An interview with Nick Simper was posted a couple of weeks ago (although it is not clear when it was recorded). Nick talks about his work with The Good Old Boys, Nasty Habits, the days long gone with Jonny Kidd & the Pirates, and of course Deep Purple. Listen to the interview on Mixcloud (warning: their flash player is rather intrusive and can do weird things to your browser/antivirus).

Tony Edwards, the cunning linguist, makes a little speech on the band’s 40th anniversary addressed to the German musical establishment:

And the last but not least, Colin Hart spoke to Z Rock R magazine:

SM: And what apparently was the most unmanageable circumstance for Rainbow and/or Deep Purple which YOU managed successfully?

Colin: Some of the most difficult things with Rainbow were related to getting out of situations created by Ritchie, damage from practical jokes, being late, pushing boundaries of time constraints. With Deep Purple there were a few things. The almost impossible group and orchestra dates in London. The crew were great on those shows. Travel and lodging problems were quite tricky. Also trying to control an almost impossible guest list and make it all look easy! When Ritchie came back to Purple in ’84, it was quite difficult to try and work his requests to blend with those of the rest of the band and try to make it all work and keep everyone smiling. He tried hard to make life hard!

Read more in Z Rock R magazine.

Thanks to Yvonne Osthausen for the info.

Berlin’s Rock City Radio Show will be airing an interview with Don Airey on Sunday, Nov 10.

The interview is from October 26 when Don played with Deep Purple in Berlin. The part with Don & Purple is about 30 minutes long (including music).

The show also features an interview with Nick Fyffe & Phil Campbell from The Temperance Movement. Nick talks about replacing Roger Glover temporarily in Deep Purple.

Although the presentation of the show is in German, Don will be in English. The radio station is ALEX (here’s the radio station website, they have a live stream there as well).

Rock City Radio Show Berlin
Date: November 10 (Sunday)
Time: 17:00-18:00 (5-6 pm Central European Time)
Livestream: www.facebook.com/rockcityradioshowberlin

Thanks to Jens from Rock City Radio for the information

Gibson.com has an interview with Bernie Marsden, in which he reveals that he’s finishing a solo album and how quite a star studded it is turning to be:

Who else is on the album?

David Coverdale has graciously sung a song for me, which is, of course, fantastic. We’ve re-recorded “Trouble” from our Whitesnake days – it was one of the first songs we ever wrote together, and it’s the first time we’ve recorded together in 30-odd years. David is singing as well as ever. Obviously, I’ve guested on some Whitesnake shows in the last few years too, so we’re like an old couple now. It’s just nice to be able to talk and play together as friends again.

Do you have good memories of Whitesnake?

My whole Whitesnake era was fantastic, when I look back. Even though David went off and formed the “American” Whitesnake, they re-recorded “Here I Go Again” [a Marsden co-write] which went to Number 1, so I can’t complain. I don’t have any resentment about that at all.

And I can still go out and play with Whitesnake. The U.K tour [May 2013] with Journey was fantastic fun. Getting to hang out with David Coverdale and Neal Schon on the same gig: how bad is that?

Is the album finished?

Nearly. Joe Bonamassa and Steve Lukather have still got to complete their guitar parts for my album. But Ian Paice [Deep Purple, Whitesnake drummer] and Don Airey [Rainbow, Whitesnake keyboardist] are also playing on it. And the harmonica player Mark Feltham [Nine Below Zero, Oasis, Gary Moore, many others]. So I’ve pulled in a few favors. But it’s sounding great. It harks back to Whitesnake, but with a contemporary feel.

Read more on Gibson.com

Many of you who attended the recent shows have been wondering why Big Ian keeps disappearing behind the curtains during the unusually lengthy instrumental breaks, what he’s been up to, and generally if he’s in good health. Caramba TV offers us a unique behind the scenes look at his (potentially NSFW) emergency treatment:

[Updated with tracklist and artwork] The Now What?! tour gold edition that will be released on November 29 in continental Europe and December 2 in the UK will come in following flavours:

• Double CD, with the first disc containing the original studio album, plus bonus tracks It’ll Be Me and First Sign Of Madness. Second disc will contain the Live Tapes (tracklist).
• Double vinyl LP with Live Tapes. Tracklist identical to the CD version, split at 3 songs per side.
• The super duper deluxe limited edition box set with:
  • CD of the original album;
  • bonus DVD: 1. In Conversation (20 minutes) / Bonus Audio content: 2. All The Time In The World (alternative radio mix) / 3. Perfect Strangers (live) / 4. Rapture Of The Deep (live);
  • Above and Beyond single CD: 1. Above And Beyond / 2. Things I Never said / 3. Space Truckin’ (live) / 4. Green Onions / Hush (live)
  • Vincent Price single CD: 1. Vincent Price / 2. First Sign Of Madness / 3. The Well-dressed Guitar / 4. Wrong Man (live) / 5. Vincent Price (promo video)
  • All the Time in the World single CD: 1. All The Time In The World (radio mix edit) / 2. Hell To Pay (radio edit) / 3. Perfect Strangers (live) / 4. Rapture Of The Deep (live);
  • CD with the Live Tapes;
  • a t-shirt;
  • a poster;
  • a sticker.

The box set is being advertised at some online retailers as a 6CD set, which is technically (almost) true, except 3 of the discs are singles and another one is a bonus DVD. It is being priced at around €40/£30 though.

Thanks to Vladimir Drybushchak for the heads up, and to John Waller and Chris Hewlett for additional info.