Bild.de reports that while in Berlin Deep Purple have signed a guitar (a white Strat, no less) that is being auctioned now on Ebay. All proceeds will go to charity Ein Herz für Kinder (A Heart for Children) that promotes children health, education and welfare in Germany and abroad. The auction closes on November 9 and at the time of this writing (October 30) already fetches a hefty bid of €3,120.

About a month ago The Guardian interviewed musical duo Chas & Dave (the Chas part is none other but Chas Hodges of The Outlaws fame). He recalls an episode that happened in 1971 while supporting Deep Purple on tour:

And then lightning strikes Chas. “I forgot all about it, but we did a tour with them.” By “we”, he means Heads Hands and Feet, his pre-Chas & Dave band. “And I sat in with them when their bass player was ill. It was up in Scotland and I did a gig with them. I played with Deep Purple.” And it’s true: for one night only, on 8 March 1971, at Aberdeen Music Hall, Chas Hodges was Deep Purple’s bassist.

Thanks to The Guardian and Andrey Gusenkov for the info.

Since its release earlier this month, Perfect Strangers Live enjoyed success in the charts. As the album was released on both video and audio, it had a chance to enter charts in both categories (where available):

• UK Music Video Top 40 #1 on (week ending) October 26, #8 on November 2; #15 on November 9, #31 on November 16
• Australia Music DVD chart: #6 on October 28; #23 on November 4
• Denmark Music DVD Top-10: #5 on week 42 (of the year); #5 on week 43, #7 on week 44
• USA Billboard Music Video Sales chart: #5 on October 30
• Germany Top Album Chart (audio album): #20 on week 43; #49 week 44
• Austria
  • Musik-DVD Top 10: #5 on October 25; #5 on November 1, #6 on November 8, #9 on November 15
  • Albums Top 75 (audio): #53 on October 25
• Sweden
  • DVD chart: #5 on October 18, #7 on October 23, #7 on November 1, #13 on November 8, #13 on November 15
  • Albums Top 60: #59 on October 25
• France Top 200 Albums (audio): #140 on October 26
• Belgium:
  • Flemish Album chart: #180 on October 26
  • French Album chart: #112 on October 19, #92 on October 26

If you have any confirmed chart positions, please post in the comments, preferably with a prooflink.

Thanks to Nigel Young and joroz for continuing updates.

I guess sometimes you have to be there to know. However here’s a couple more reviews from the UK tour, covering both sides of the coin….

Purple returned to Glasgow on the back of the great new album and we were intrigued to see how much they would change their set to accommodate it. We need not have worried as they surprisingly started with Après Vous and it was immediately clear that the new material had reinvigorated the band. Steve Morse and Don Airey traded licks throughout the show and the band were really enjoying themselves.
Ian Gillan was in the best form I’ve seen for years and his voice soared into the stratosphere at the end of Vincent Price. More surprises were to follow, not least when the Mule was resurrected complete with a classic Ian Paice drum solo.
Well worn favourites such as Highway Star were cast aside in favour of Hard Lovin’ Man and Into the Fire but this was not an issue as the ecstatic crowd lapped up the virtuosity of the frequent jams. Don Airey and Steve Morse excelled and did their predecessors proud. The band played Above and Beyond in tribute to Jon Lord and Ian Gillan put his heart and soul into the vocals.
The encores of Green Onions, a Roger Glover Bass solo and Black Night rounded the night off with a bang and the abiding memory is of Ian Gillan sitting on a monitor enjoying watching Morse and Airey blazing away in another guitar/organ duel.
A fantastic concert and we can only hope the success of this tour will tempt them into the recording studio again soon.

Andrew Jones

Stilton is a Mature Cheese that can go Off

Having been a fan for the last 45 years and seen the band many times over the years ( see earlier reviews) I was looking forward to the bands return to thr UK since I last saw them on their orchestra gig at the O2.
I had great tickets centre stage 15 rows back and was right in the middle of a great mix. We had been entertained by the unusual Rockbox who did a very good covers set with an unusual instrument line up.
After the anticipated warm up of the orchestral “Mars Bringer of War” they opened with Apres Vous. Now before I go any further I have mixed feelings about the new material and whilst the songs are well produced I dont feel the energy or exitement with any of the tracks that I could honestly say are classic purple and feel the album to be quite average and uninspiring.
Not a classic opener therefore but I appreciate they are promoting the album after all. Now Ian has always been my favourite rock vocalist but it would seem age is taking its toll and attempting numbers such as Into the Fire and Hard Lovin Man were painful for him judging by his grimacing and the resultant sound was sad for me to watch.
The band were in essence superb with a good mix and the usual solid tight sound. However, even the classics have become a little jaded and predictable. The new songs didn’t really do the band justice and Vincent Price sounded like a pet shop boys cover.
They finished with SMOTW and BN but why Ian was wearing a lurex jacket as if in some vegas tribute pastiche was embarrassing. I have adored this band for many many years and have all of their material and it was disappointing for me to leave the show without the warmth and satisfied excitement I have always felt from the band having watched their shows all around the world. The musicianship is still great and the classics are what they always will be but like a good cheese such as Stilton it can go stale after too much maturity.

Dave Bonner

The original management company Deep Purple (Overseas) has posted a teaser for the Made in Japan documentary that is being prepared for release some time early next year:

The documentary component highlights the Mark 2 period of the band with a focus on the recording of ‘Machine Head’, the friction that developed within the band, the recording of the famous Japanese 1972 concerts, and for the first time we will see the complete 1972 film recording.

The documentary will cover the period in band’s history starting from recording of Machine Head to Mark 2 implosion in June 1973. Most of the 26 minutes of live footage from Tokyo August 1972 is used, with both historical and new interviews overlaid in places of the show that were not filmed.

The documentary will be released in conjunction with the remix of the three Japanese shows.

Thanks to DP(o) for the info.

Deep Purple live at Donau Arena (Regensburg, Germany 2013-10-25)

With positive but nevertheless mixed feelings I remiss on the performance.
Frampton+co was good and funny. But Peter: ‘mit Euch’ nicht ‘mit Ihnen’ (chuckle!). We’re all united, ain’t we?
Was Gill(i?!)an quite with it til Strange Kinda … (ie 5 th)?!
It got better and better with marvellous solos, impro. and exchange. I-An (as the Ds call him) went on to do new and interesting interpretations of his works – different, unexpected, but refreshing. Despite other reviews and rumours, Ian can still MORE than deliver – like a time served craftsman with an ever adapting style of his own.
Riffs from You Fool No One and Goin Down. Ian in 2 ‘Smokings’ (Cream then Black with dickie) …… hmmmnnn … different. (gell?!)
All very well nit together, great lights, honourable and decent homage to JON, harmonie and FUN. (oh, yes, and a lil bi a rock n roll)
P. S. well done to Rob (from Notts/Dorset!?!) and Team for somehow mastering those acoustics. Wot a bluudy challenge!
So hope to be in Stuggi on 31.10
Luv, Roger

review by Roger

Edel has released an updated tracklist for the Now what?! tour edition. The second CD (a.k.a. Live Tapes) portion is now:

1. Strange Kind Of Woman
2. Hard Loving Man
3. Vincent Price
4. Contact Lost
5. All The Time in The World
6. No One Came
7. Bodyline
8. Perfect Strangers
9. Above And Beyond
10. Lazy
11. Black Night
12. Smoke On The Water

Live tracks were recorded in Rome on July 22, Milan on July 21, Gävle on August 10, and Aalborg on August 9 this year.

The double album will be released November 29 in continental Europe, December 2 in the UK, and some time in 2014 in the US. It will have a price “which is lower than the usual price for any new stand-alone live release”. There also will be a double vinyl edition and digital, with the latter available both bundled with the studio album or as a standalone live release.

Thanks to BraveWords for the info.

Blackmore’s management circulated the following message today:

Please note Ritchie has no involvement in the particular organization that is putting on an event at the Royal Albert Hall. Mourning is very personal – He would rather express himself in the instrumental he wrote for Jon – Carry on Jon.

The ‘event at the Royal Alber Hall’ we presume to be this one.

In an effort to promote the tour a.k.a. gold edition of Now what?! (which has been postponed to late November – early December) the record company has posted an instrumental mix of Hell to Pay:

Thanks to BraveWords for the info.

Deep Purple live at Clyde Auditorium (Glasgow, UK 2013-10-13)

I recently went to the Glasgow Auditorium to see Deep Purple on their Now What 2013 tour. I was apprehensive as I saw them in the SECC in 2003 when Lynyrd Skynyrd
were the support band and Skynrd played them off the stage. Purple were at best average on the night.
I bought their new album after listening to it on Youtube and on the strength of that I booked the tickets. Would they deliver?
The answer was a resounding yes and then some! 5 tracks from the new album kicking off with “Aprez Vous” instead of “Highway Star” – a bold move but it set the
standard for the rest of the show. Highlight for me was the poignant “Above And Beyond” as a tribute for Jon Lord which then transformed into “Lazy” but it was the
musical prowess of the the whole band which shone on the night. Here are a band at the peak of their collective powers, with each player performing their role
passionately. Don Airey and Steve Morse were outstanding and their interplay on “Uncommon Man” and “Hard Loving Man” was a joy to watch. Don in particular has
stepped out from Jon’s shadow and owned the stage and in my opinion drove the show.
Performing “Green Onions” on their return for the encore set was not lost on the audience, who roared their appreciation in return. Nearly 2 hours on stage with a stellar
performance worthy of a festival headlining act – Download 2014 anyone?
What of the support band I hear you ask – Rockbox – walked on to the stage with 4 out of 5 dressed as Angus Young in the purple velvet school uniform – one guitarist, 2
drummers and a guy playing a French Horn! The vocalist performed through a megaphone throughout as they delivered a stellar set of covers from Bowie, Hendrix, Cooper
AC/DC etc and as funny and entertaining as they were, they were blown away as soon as Purple hit the stage.

Billy Duchart

review by Billy Duchart