The old management company has announced that Universal is preparing a (belated) 40th anniversary edition of Made in Japan. Kevin Shirley is finishing remix of the album and actually all 3 Japanese dates are being remixed. Universal ended up owning the band’s back catalogue after in 2011 it bought up what was left of EMI’s recording business.

Thanks to Andrey Gusenkov for the info.

As it has become a good tradition, the Teenage Cancer Trust is holding an Ebay auction for two tickets and two after show meet-and-greet passes for any one of the five concerts during the upcoming UK tour. The tickets and passes have been kindly donated by Roger Glover. The auction closes on October 4, at 9 p.m. BST.

[Update Oct 11]: the auction has raised £560. Congratulation to the generous winner.

Thanks to Lee Worrall for the info.

NME is running a readers’ poll of the greatest live albums of all time, which we announced back in April. Mission accomplished: Made in Japan is leading the poll, and by a good margin.

Here’s top 10 as of September 21:

1. Deep Purple — Made In Japan — 9.95
2. Pink Floyd — Pulse — 7.48
3. The Who — Live At Leeds — 7.25
4. Iron Maiden — Live After Death — 7.08
5. Lynyrd Skynyrd — One More From The Road — 6.88
6. Led Zeppelin — The Song Remains The Same — 6.78
7. Thin Lizzy — Live And Dangerous — 6.75
8. Motorhead — No Sleep Til Hammersmith — 6.55
9. Tom Waits — Glitter And Doom Live — 6.30
10. AC/DC — If You Want Blood — 6.27

Thanks to Andrey Gusenkov for the info.

[Updated Sep 26] Earlier today, September 20, Ian and Bron Gillan were the guests of honour at the grand opening of the music school in Gyumri, Armenia. This is the very school rebuilding which was the main focus of Big Ian’s recent WhoCares project with Toni Iommi. Well done, gentlemen!

At the press conference the night before, Gillan also mentioned a possibility of starting an album with Tony Iommi. Although we at the THS ivory towers remain sceptical as between Sabbath reunion and his cancer treatment Iommi kinda has his hands full at the moment.

Read and see the coverage of Gillan’s visit to Armenia from Mediamax: press conference, school opening.

[Update] Photo gallery: Gillan’s three days in Armenia. Check out the cake!

Thanks to BraveWords for the heads up.

German publishers Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf have announced that a new edition of Didi Zill’s photobook will be published on October 1. The new edition will expand both on the photo material and written comments (caveat: all text is in German, at least that what was in the original). The book was originally published in 2003, is long out of print, and as wonderful as it is, was plagued with photo reproduction problems.

Photographer: Didi Zill
Title: Deep Purple Fotografien
Format: 500 pages | Hardback with dust jacket
ISBN: 978-3-89602-665-1
MSRP: €99.95
Date: October 1, 2013

Thanks to Lutz Reinert for the info.

[Updated with tracklist and artwork] The record company has announced that the new single from Now what?! will be Above and Beyond, to be released on October 25 in Europe (28th in UK) as

• 7” purple vinyl (B-side: Space Truckin’ recorded live in Majano, Italy, on July 24, 2013);
• CD single with bonus tracks Things I’ve Never Said (studio), Space Truckin’ and Hush (both live in Rome, Italy, July 22, 2013).

Cover of the single was designed by an unnamed (so far) “young artist from Brighton” who has won the competition.

There wasn’t really a brief as such, just a size and resolution and some information about the song; and researching other Deep Purple album art revealed an eclectic mix at best, with no overall style or direction from which to take influence. So basically, I’ve created something I like, in the style that has been much loved when used for my Broken Parachute album art (see my other deviations).

It’s based synaesthetically on the music itself, the feel of the sound of Deep Purple, and also on the lyrics of the song and the circumstances of its creation (read about that here), which speak of hope carried on the waves of loss.

Or something like that, anyway. It’s purple, and that’s good enough in itself, surely?

Prints of the cover art are available for sale via DeviantArt.

In other news, a tour edition of Now what?! will be released on November 8 29 (Europe) and November 11 December 2 (UK). It will be a double CD, the first disc will contain the “regular studio album” (whatever that means), while the second one will be subtitled The NOW What?! Live Tapes and will contain 70 minutes of live material recorded this summer in Italy, Germany and Sweden — live versions of the three ?! singles, plus selection of other songs. The “three singles” presumably are All the Time in the World, Vincent Price, and either Hell to Pay or Above and Beyond.

Also, according to the record company, the album has sold “in excess of a quarter of a million copies”.

Update: online retailer JPC.de has full tracklist. The first CD will include both It’ll Be Me and First Sign Of Madness. The double album is fairly reasonably priced at €15.

Disc 1 — studio album

1. A Simple Song
2. Weirdistan
3. Out Of Hand
4. Hell To Pay
5. Body Line
6. Above And Beyond
7. Blood From A Stone
8. Uncommon Man
9. Apres Vous
10. All The Time In The World
11. Vincent Price
12. It’ll Be Me
13. First Sign Of Madness

Disc 2 — Live Tapes

updated tracklist

1. Fireball
2. Into The Fire
3. Hard Lovin’ Man
4. Vincent Price
5. Strange Kind Of Woman
6. Body Line
7. Above And Beyond
8. Perfect Strangers
9. All The Time In The World
10. Hush
11. Black Night
12. Smoke On The Water

Thanks to Classic Rock and dirie for the info, and to Lutz for the new release date.

Eagle Rock has posted preview clip from the the upcoming Perfect Strangers Live DVD. The album is out on October 14 on DVD, CD+DVD, audio download and video download.

Thanks to Andrey Gusenkov for the info.

The Trondheim Experiment is a web presentation of a Jon Lord concert in Trondheim, Norway on May 24, 2010, and it can only be described as Jon’s bonanza. The entire show professionally filmed, plus introductory notes from Knut Morten Johansen, behind the scenes footage from rehearsals, Jon’s interview to local TV, and photo gallery — all that is available for your viewing, reading, and listening pleasure absolutely free, with blessings from Jon’s family and management.

Enjoy it at http://trondheimexperiment.com/

Thanks to JonLord.org for the info.

Flying Colors will release Live in Europe on October 14 via Mascot Records. It is a recording of their performance in Tilburg, Netherlands, on September 20, 2012.

Available formats will include:

• 2CD
• 3LP (clear vinyl, limited to 1000 copies)
• Blu-ray
• DVD

Preorders made through Mascot webstore will come with the following bonuses:

• free MP3 download of The Storm (live) with download link in confirmation email
• free poster
• free MP3 downloads of Blue Ocean and Love Is What I’m Waiting For (recorded in Hamburg on September 9, 2012) with download links sent when your order is shipped

The Blu-ray and DVD includes the 45-minute documentary First Flight featuring interviews with the band members, meet & greet footage and candid moments on the road captured backstage, in the dressing rooms, the band bus, and during tour rehearsals. The documentary also features excerpts from songs recorded during the band’s very first show (LA, USA), first show in Europe (Hamburg, Germany) and final show (London, UK) of the tour.

The 3LP pack will be available separately or as a bundle with an exclusive t-shirt.

Track list:

1. Blue Ocean
2. Shoulda Coulda Woulda
3. Love Is What I’m Waiting For
4. Can’t Find A Way
5. The Storm
6. Odyssey
7. Forever In A Daze
8. Hallelujah
9. Better Than Walking Away
10. Kayla
11. Fool In My Heart
12. Spur of the Moment
13. Repentance
14. June
15. All Falls Down
16. Everything Changes
17. Infinite Fire

Mascot records webstore: Europe, rest of the world

Twin sisters Camille and Kennerly Kitt, better knows as the Harp Twins, made their name by playing covers of rock tunes and music from the movies arranged for two harps. And being very easy on the eye doesn’t hurt either. 😉 Their latest instalment is Smoke on the Water:

Frankly, this one leaves me a bit cold. I guess some tunes just don’t translate well onto acoustical harp. Compare it to their take on Iron Maiden’s Fear of the Dark, which IMHO is pretty awesome:

Thanks to Dave Hodgkinson for the info.