Now what?! has been released in a number of countries today, April 26, and is charting very well on Amazon.de. At the time of this writing (23:43 CEST) the limited edition is at #2 in overall album chart (with only a Bravo magazine compilation sneaking ahead) and #1 in ‘Hard Rock’, ‘Rock’, and ‘Limited Edition’ categories. MP3 dowload is #1 in ‘MP3 Albums‘ category, and regular CD is #50 in ‘Music’, #2 in ‘Hard Rock’ and #13 in ‘Rock’. The Hard Rock Top 20 chart is absolutely dominated by Deep Purple with six entries (sic!): two editions of the new album at #1 and #2, Rapture of the Deep at #8, 30: Very Best of compilation at #9, self-titled 1969 album at #16, and Made in Japan at #19. Add there Whitesnake’s Made in Japan at #6, and Purple family domination is utterly absolute. Like Bayern München this season 🙂
Even knowing that Amazon charts are a feeble thing and change on an hourly basis, this leaves us here at the THS ivory towers with warm and fuzzy feeling. 😉
Well done, gents!
Not to distract you all from the enjoyment of the new album, but it was announced today that Steve Morse with his band will be supporting Joe Satriani on the latter’s upcoming tour of the United States. (Or shall we say it’s a double bill of family guitar extravagaza?) The tour will start on August 29 in San Diego and finish the second leg on September 28 in Philadelphia. Details in our calendar.
All the venues are theaters with all reserved seating, so get your tickets early. Ticketing info has not been announced yet though.
Thanks to BraveWords for the info.
Music Radar has track-by-track commentary of Now what?! from Steve Morse:
A Simple Song
This was Rog playing a dyad riff on the bass. We had a lot of variations on that part. Whenever anybody brings in an idea, they have to be prepared that it’s going to change. But this thing of Roger’s was simple and elegant enough that we pretty much wanted to leave it as was.
I made a little melody, and Ian worked up what he was going to do vocally. It is what the title says it is: a simple song. No big guitar solo. It didn’t need it.
Read more on Music Radar.
German chain Media Markt sells Now what?! CDs with a sticker that unlocks a free download of a bonus track called First Sign of Madness from it’s own website.
Today, April 24, the band also appeared on the German TV show TV Total. They performed Hell to Pay live (and not All the Time in the World as was announced earlier). Watch it on ProSieben.de
Thanks to Milan Fahrnholz and Ralle for the info.
A long(ish) and rather interesting interview with Roger Glover on Rockpages.gr:
Rockpages.gr: What really surprised me in the new album is that you weren’t afraid to have long tracks, longer than regular 4, or 5 minute rock songs, you went a little further trying new stuff that I haven’t heard from Deep Purple again, what do you think about that?
Roger Glover: Well, history is all that we’ve got, doing something new is very important without losing your identity. Sometimes you might become a parody of yourself, there is a danger if you are playing a certain way to sounding the same. It really all comes from the writing, and of course we play the same, because we have the same lineup, the same organ, guitar, bass, drums and vocals, that won’t change and that is our identity, the characters that we are. They way that we play, that’s our identity. So, we actually feel free to explore all kinds of music. There is no such thing to us, as “a long Deep Purple song”. “Deep Purple song” is whatever we play. If we started thinking what people would expect from us, I think we’d be heading towards the wrong direction. We’d be the tail wagging the dog. We have to be the dog!
Read more on Rockpages.gr
Thanks to Yiannis Dolas for the info.
Deep Purple performed All the Time in the World this morning, April 24, live on Geman TV show Morgenmagazin. You can view the perfomance at DasErste.de
Thanks to all who reported it.
(Updated Apr 24) Ian Paice and Ian Gillan made a very entertaining appearance today on BBC Radio 2. The show will be available for listening online until April 30 from the BBC. Chat with Ians starts approximately 65 minutes into the recording.
Both Ians were also on BBC Radio 4 Front Row last week recalling anecdotes from the years, including the slightly infamous 2008 Kremlin gig. This one probably won’t stay on BBC’s site for much longer, so go and have a listen while it lasts.
Also, listen to Ian Gillan talking to a slightly disorganized inerviewer at Hangar 19.
Thanks to Andrei Gusenkov and Marcus Streets for the info.
Made In Japan is currently #2 in a new Greatest Live Albums Of All Time poll at British music magazine NME.
Why don’t we all pull together to make it #1 – and bump Muse off that spot?
Worth a try while we wait for the new one… Cast your vote now.
…Most of us will need one. Some sooner than later. Continue Reading »
![[hand]](/hs-pics/portraits/hands/glover2.jpg)
![[face]](/hs-pics/portraits/faces/morse.jpg)
Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing