Roger Glover’s message to the fans, the band, the crew, the management, the record company, and generally to the world:
2013 is almost over. And what a banner year it has been – Now What?! has made its mark and stormed up many a chart around the world giving the band a positive springboard for next year. Touring is over for the year and we had some killer gigs and a lot of fun – London, Paris and St Petersburg stand out but that’s not to diminish any of the others at all; every gig is valued.
Roger’s very own Love is All is one the latest projects of the Playing for Change charity, which self describes as “a movement created to inspire and connect world through music”. Recorded by children all over the world:
Stormbringer cover art looks like hand drawn (because it is), but it is actually based on one of the most famous photos in the history of storm chasing. The dramatic picture (shown above) was taken on July 8th, 1927 (or 1928, depending on whom you believe), near Jasper, Minnesota, by a schoolgirl called Lucille Handberg. It appeared in the contemporary issue of The Milwaukee Sentinel, which had the story of the young photographer who chased the tornado to win a state fair prize.
Thanks to John Coulthart for the info (via Andrey Gusenkov).
This may look like yet another cover band, but what’s interesting about this one, is that it is made of students and teachers of a school in Oskarshamn, Sweden. They played a concert last Friday, November 22, which included Burn, The Mule, Space Truckin’ and Smoke On The Water. The core of the band consists of music teachers and students aged from fourteen to eighteen who joined in on guitar and vocals.
Update (Feb 19, 2014): complete video of the show is now available:
Thanks to Stefan ‘on the drums’ Nielsen for the info.
It was a great boost to the band to tour behind a hit album and very gratifying to hear audiences singing along to Vincent Price, All The Time in The World and the rest as enthusiastically as they did to Smoke or Black Night.
It has also been a tremendous lift realising the impact NOW What?! has had on people’s lives.
Here’s to the next one and thanks to you all for making this so possible!
Concerto for Group and Orchestra got a name check in an episode of a British soap opera Coronation Street that aired on November 11: Continue Reading »
Without much fanfare, on November 15 Blackmore’s Night released an updated version of their Cristmas album Winter Carols. The 2013 edition comes on 2 CDs, with the first appear to be identical with the original album that came out in 2006, and second one containing bonus tracks:
Hark the Herald Angels Sing / O Come All Ye Faithful (Live from Minstrel Hall 2013)
Emmanuel (Live from Minstrel Hall 2013)
We Three Kings (Live from Minstrel Hall 2013)
Ma-O-Tzur (Live from Minstrel Hall 2013)
Good King Wenceslas (Live from Minstrel Hall 2013)
Christmas Eve (2013 Version)
Christmas Eve (German Radio Edit)
Christmas Eve (English & German Radio Edit)
Christmas Eve (English Radio Edit)
The album is available from Amazon in Germany and UK, with German one also selling individual MP3 tracks.
Geddy Lee of Rush was interviewed by radio.com and, among other things, they’ve asked him how he’s going to vote for the next year’s Rock’n’Roll Hall of Fame induction candidates (everybody who is already inducted are voting members themselves):
Well, certainly Deep Purple, certainly Yes. I have to give it a more complete thought but those are two names that stand out as omissions in my view. I think one of the things the Hall of Fame looks for is influential bands. And if influence is a big part of their criteria, and you can make the case clearly for Deep Purple.
My daughter Gillian Glover has a new CD out. It’s called Still Life With Music. If you’ve heard any of my last two solo recordings then you will know what an original voice she has. If you’ve heard her debut album, Red Handed, then you will also know that she has a talent for writing beautiful and inspiring lyrics. But don’t just take my word for it; after all, I’m her proud dad. Check it out at http://www.gillianglover.com, Facebook, or better yet, buy it on iTunes and all the other regular places, such as Amazon.
St.Petersburg based Sobaka.ru took a slightly unorthodox approach to the photo report of a Deep Purple concert. In its dead tree incarnation Sobaka.ru is a glossy ‘lifestyle’ magazine, so they concentrated on people in the audience instead of exclusivity of what’s happening on stage.
And you know what — the result kinda sorta lends some credibility to Gillan’s claims of the “18 year old audiences” often repeated in interviews. At least in some places. Yes, there’s is probably quite a bit of a selection bias going on, but you gotta have young people in the audience to start with in order to make such selection bias possible. And yes, they all rush to the front row, and yes, the front row is all that the band can see from stage.
![[hand]](/hs-pics/portraits/hands/mcbride3.jpg)
![[face]](/hs-pics/portraits/faces/glover3.jpg)
Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing