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What do you think of Now what?!

Deep Purple - Now what?! artwork; image courtesy of Edel/earMUSIC

The new album has been out for a while now, the dust seems to be settling down, and it’s time for another poll here at The Highway Star.

We tried to put together a variety of the most often expressed opinions of the album, and you can always post your opinion in free form in the comments.

The poll closes at 23:59 UTC on Tuesday, May 21. You need Javascript and cookies enabled to vote.

What do you think of Now what?!

  • Their best since Purpendicular (41%, 578 Votes)
  • Their best since Perfect Strangers (23%, 328 Votes)
  • Their best since the 70s (12%, 167 Votes)
  • It's okay, on par with the last 4 (8%, 119 Votes)
  • Best thing since sliced bread (4%, 60 Votes)
  • It's a fine album, but it's not Deep Purple (4%, 57 Votes)
  • Listened to it, put it on the shelf (3%, 43 Votes)
  • Have not heard it yet (3%, 41 Votes)
  • None of the above (feel free to comment) (2%, 34 Votes)

Total Voters: 1,427

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Paicey on Linea Rock

A longish (and thus interesting) interview with Ian Paice was done by Italian Radio Lombardia’s show Linea Rock some time in April and is now available for viewing:

Thanks to Yvonne Osthausen for the info.

The Moon Is Shining

Blackmore's Night in Tarrytown, NY, Oct 25, 2012; photo © Nick Soveiko CC-BY-NC-SA

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
  • Blackmore's Night - Dancer and the Moon cover art; image courtesy of Anne Leighton Media
    Thanks to BraveWords and Blabbermouth for the info.

’70 vintage Purple on BBC

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.

Forever Deep

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

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.

Seven screaming virgins

Deep Purple shooting promo video for Vinvent Price in Berlin Dungeon

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.

Now what?! charts summary

Deep Purple 2013

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.

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:

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 & Ian on BBC

Ian Gillan; photo © Jim Rakete; image courtesy of kayos ProductionsSteve Morse; photo © Jim Rakete; image courtesy of kayos ProductionsIan 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.

Paicey has his own beer

11.-Ian-PaiceCastle 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.

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