Frontiers Records has announced digital release of the first single from the new Blackmore’s Night album Dancer And The Moon. The track is called The Moon Is Shining (Somewhere Over the Sea):

[It is] based on an old folk Czech melody which Candice and I thought were very melodic and haunting. We adapted and arranged to suit more of a rock structure. We also played it as a ballad as it was originally intended. We asked several of our Czech friends what it was called but they couldn’t tell us, so it remains a mystery.

The single can be downloaded now from iTunes or Amazon and streamed via Spotify and Deezer.

Listen to the sample of The Moon Is Shining courtesy of Frontiers Records.

Dancer and the Moon will be released on June 11 in the US and June 14 in Europe in the following formats:

• regular CD
• deluxe edition: digipak, including bonus DVD featuring a 40-minute “making-of” documentary and acoustic versions of The Spinner’s Tale, Somewhere Over The Sea/Moon Was Shining, The Ashgrove and Queen For A Day
• “super deluxe” limited edition (2,000 copies): all of the above, packaged in a polyston frame with the cover artwork printed on canvas and including a black tote bag with Blackmore’s Night artwork, four Blackmore’s Night pins, and a certificate of authenticity


Thanks to BraveWords and Blabbermouth for the info.

The 1970 BBC radio session of Deep Purple performing Grabsplatter and Black Night has been rebroadcasted on BBC Radio 6 Music Live Hour in the wee hours of Sunday, May 12. The show will available for listening online for a week now. Should you be inclined to skip PJ Harvey and T.Rex directly to Purple, their contribution starts at around 47:20.

Thanks to Alexander Draper for the info.

Italian tribute band Forever Deep has put out an album of original material with Ian Paice and Don Airey guesting on several tracks:

1. The Star of my Secret Arts
2. The Wish (feat. Paice & Airey)
3. Never
4. My Loneliness (feat. Airey)
5. Without your Love (feat. Paice)
6. Do I Belong
7. Marosh (feat. Paice)
8. Purple Fury

The album is available for purchase on iTunes and via the band’s website.

Thanks to Simone Bistaffa for the info (and sorry it slipped through the cracks first time around).

Behind the music documentary which was recently shown on VH1 in the US has been posted on Youtube. Act fast before Powers That Be^(tm) take it down.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNid240VutI
All in all, I must say it’s rather well done, considering the enormity of the task of covering the 45-year history of the band in 45 minutes. Blackmore, Gillan, Glover, Lord, Paice, Simper, Hughes, Coverdale, Derek Lawrence, Michael Bradford, Joe Satriani, and Lars Ulrich were interviewed for the film, with some interview footage from archives (obviously, in case of Jon Lord).

Thanks to Andrey Gusenkov for the info.

The promotional video for Vincent Price was shot at the Berlin Dungeon. Check out pictures of the shoot in Berliner Morgenpost and on Facebook.

Hmm, I wonder if they’ve run into Blackmore there…

Thanks to Peter and Yvonne Osthausen for the info.

This list is being continuously updated. Progress of the album in charts around the world is neatly summarized here.

The first week of Now what?! out in the wild is over and the first official chart positions accounting for both online and offline sales are in.

• Germany: #1 first week, #5 second, #12 third, #22 fourth, #27 fifth, #32 sixth, #37 seventh, #46 eighth, #54 ninth, #58 tenth, #63 eleventh, #73 twelfth, #71 thirteen, #79 fourteen, #77 fifteen, #89 sixteen, #62 (week of Dec 13, Gold Edition).
  • Independent albums: #4 in April (up to May 3), #1 in May (May 3-30)
• Austria: #1 first week, #12 second, #23 third, #32 fourth, #59 fifth, #54 sixth
• Czech Republic: #1 first week, #5 second, #8 third, #14 fourth, #20 fifth, #17 sixth, #17 seventh, #23 eighth, #29 ninth, none — tenth, #46 eleventh, #43 twelfth, #46 thirteen, #34 fourteen, #13 fifteen, #3 seventeen (week of Aug 28), #36 eighteen, #45 nineteen
• Switzerland: #2 first week, #10 second, #11 third, #23 fourth, #38 fifth, #46 sixth, #51 seventh, #62 eighth, #54 ninth, #88 tenth, #83 eleventh, #47 twelfth, #54 thirteen, #76 (reentry on week ending Dec 15, 2013, following release of the Gold Edition)
• Norway: #4 first week, #1 second, #2 third, #6 fourth, #13 fifth, #22 sixth, #23 seventh, #34 eigth, #38 (reentry week of Aug 23)
• Poland: #5 first week, #5 second, #8 third, #11 fourth, #14 fifth, #21 sixth, #13 seventh, #14 eighth, #23 ninth, #35 tenth, #41 eleventh, #38 twelfth, #39 thirteen
• Sweden: #7 first week, #13 second, #16 third, #20 fourth, #22 fifth, #37 sixth, #28 seventh, #21 eighth, #26 ninth, #48 tenth, #59 eleventh, #51 twelfth
• Hungary: #7 first week, #8 second, #12 third, #33 fourth, #21 fifth, #27 sixth, #38 eighth, #29 (week of Aug 20th)
• Finland: #8 first week, #13 second, #23 third, #21 fourth, #23 fifth, #32 sixth, #29 seventh, #34 eighth, #48 ninth, none tenth, #44 eleventh, #46 (week of Aug 29)
• Worldwide: #11, first week, #27 second, #40 third
• Netherlands: #12 first week, #48 second, #58 third, #74 fourth
• Italy: #12 first week, #18 second, #26 third, #25 fourth, #33 fifth, #66 sixth, #80 seventh, #72 eighth, #77 ninth, #95 tenth, #92 eleventh, #91 thirteen
• UK:
  • Albums Top 100: #19 first week, #69 second, #81 third, #95 fourth
  • Rock & Metal Albums: #1 first week, #4 second, #3 third, #7 fourth, #14 fifth, #18 sixth, #16 seventh, #21 eighth, #33 ninth
  • Record Store Albums: #5 first week, #17 second, #24 third, #32 fourth
  • Scottish Albums chart: #13 first week
• Spain: #19 first week, #30 second week
• France: #23 first week, #57 second, #84 third, #135 fourth, #171 fifth, #195 sixth, #162 seventh
  • Physical sales: #19 first week, #44 second, #68 third, #113 fourth, #115 fifth, #136 sixth, #118 seventh, #163 eighth, #188 ninth
• Greece: #20 first week, #21 second, #13 third, #36 fourth, #28 fifth, #43 sixth, #64 seventh
• Denmark: #26 first week, #18 second, #36 third
• Belgium:
  • Flemish chart: #33 first week, #37 second, #50 third, #67 fourth, #59 fifth, #77 sixth, #81 seventh, #112 eighth, #111 ninth, #170 tenth, #156 eleventh, #162 twelfth, #149 thirteen, #199 week ending Jan 11 2014
  • French chart: #36 first week, #14 second, #34 third, #30 fourth, #34 fifth, #48 sixth, #37 seventh, #53 eighth, #63 ninth, #74 tenth, #78 eleventh, #99 twelfth, #77 thirteen, #88 fourteen, #106 (week of Sep 14), #136 (week of Sep 21), #198 (week of Sep 29), #189 (week of Dec 7), #105 (week of Dec 14)
• Japan (released May 22): #50 first week (1,404 est. sales)
  • International albums: #15 first week
• Ireland: #87
• USA: #115 first week, not in Top 200 second week, #110 third
  • Hard Rock Albums: #8 first week, #20 second, #7 third

The actual sales numbers are a bit difficult to come by. One source provides weekly global sales with numbers appearing to be not cumulative, therefore missing data for the critical first few days after the release:

• May 3: ??? (between 0 and 20,000)
• May 10: 51,000
• May 17: 30,000
• May 24: 25,000

Total confirmed sales: 106,000.

Assuming exponential decay in sales, first week (April 26 to May 2) numbers can be estimated at 85 to 90 thousand, with 160-170 thousand cumulative for the first three weeks.

Another source gives slightly different numbers:

• April 28: #40, 19,100
• May 5: #8, 76,200
• May 12: #20, 37,300
• May 19: #34, 27,400
• May 26: #46, 20,000

Total confirmed sales: 180,000.

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

Thanks to Ke79, Daniel Bengtsson, Andrey Gusenkov, Bjørn Sund, Mike Eriksson, Ron, laski, Nigel Young, ron, joroz, Giuseppe, Akis, alessandro, Joerg, Apollo, micke, and many, many others for the info.

Special thanks to Esteban, joroz and Nigel Young for continuing updates.

Ian Gillan and Ian Paice are scheduled to be the studio interview guests on Later… With Jools Holland next week. The show goes out live on Tuesday, May 14th on BBC2, is repeated in a slightly longer version the Friday after, and also available to view online on the BBC iPlayer.

Thanks to BraveWords for the info.

Castle Rock Brewery from Nottingham has a series of one-off seasonal beers dubbed Nottinghamian Celebration Ale named after famous people born in town and beyond. This spring offering on tap: Ian Paice Celebration Ale. The beer is described as a “dark bitter with a slight ‘smoke on the water’ character”. We’re still waiting for our sample.

Thanks to Andrey Gusenkov for the info.

Members of the band alluded in the interviews that a new setlist will be rehearsed before touring starts in earnest with more songs from Now what?! incorporated into it. Ofcourse, we all want the whole album played live. But let’s be realistic optimistic and, say, they will pick 6 songs.

Now, which ones?

There’s no guarantee that anybody will listen, but here’s a chance to voice your opinion.

Poll closes at 23:59 UTC on Monday, May 13. You’ll need Javascript and cookies enabled to vote (most browsers do that by default).

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David Coverdale gave an interview to the Metal Express Radio. He spoke about his new live releases, the upcoming British tour, his humble beginnings in Redcar, his family, and Jon Lord:

MER: Jon Lord has been a really big loss to the music world.

DC: The world is a lot worse off for his loss. I was so, so honoured to have known him and to have worked with him in two big bands. I can so easily visualise him right now. I remember bumping into him at a hotel a few years ago when he was on his way to Australia and we just sat down and had a drink together and the time just flew. It was so much fun to see him. Jon was extraordinarily articulate, charming and such a funny man. He was so gifted musically too and I totally miss him. He was from Leicester so he had a good bloke energy about him so he was able to sit down and bloke it with the best of them. It`s weird you know. I have a big 65” TV in my gym to try to distract me from the pain in my knees and it`s wired into Apple TV so I can access all my photographs. I have around 20,000 photos on there. I put in on shuffle and there`s lots of personal photos on there and lots of music related photos too. When a picture from the Slide It In era of Whitesnake came up half the band has passed away. Jon Lord, Mel Galley and Cozy Powell are all now gone and that`s such a shame. It`s chilling, it just stops you in your tracks. I really miss them all; they were great musicians and fantastic to play with. Loss is tough and to find the time to grieve and process that is difficult particularly in a public scenario. People ask how I feel when I lose a close friend but how do you think I feel? It`s hard to lose such people. The only contact I have now is with the daughter from Jon`s first marriage. On the day he died I had all my family here, it was the Olympics at the time and I just couldn`t get a flight or a hotel. We were laughing about that and in times of sadness sometimes it`s easy to grieve in laughter. Sara, his daughter joked that it was really inconvenient of her Dad to die at that time. Jon would have loved that. We talked about everything and anything.

Read more in Metal Express

Thanks to BraveWords for the info.