Black Country Communion, the new group featuring Glenn Hughes will release their forthcoming self-titled debut album in the following 3 formats; Limited Edition 2-Disc CD/DVD, CD, and vinyl. The album will be released in the UK on September 20th by Mascot Records.

Format #1 – Limited Edition 2-Disc CD/DVD Features 12 album tracks on CD, plus a bonus DVD that features interviews with the band, exclusive studio and live images, Kevin Shirley’s (Aerosmith, Led Zeppelin) album production notes, “The Great Divide” music video, ‘Behind The Scenes’ in-studio footage, plus live tracks as performed by BCC at Riverside, California.

Format #2 – Single Disc CD
Single Disc CD edition

Format #3 – Vinyl
Double-sided 12” inch vinyl album

The Limited Edition 2-Disc CD/DVD edition is available for pre-order now at Play.com, while all 3 of the above formats are available to pre-order from Amazon.co.uk and HMV.com.

This is a concert report from Heaven And Hell’s tribute to Ronnie James Dio this weekend at London’s High Voltage Festival.

A big cheer goes up from the crowd. We’re at London’s High Voltage Festival waiting for Heaven And Hell to do their tribute show to Ronnie James Dio, and we’re kinda ready to get started. The big cheer greets a photo of Ronnie James Dio on the screens by the stage. The photo turns into a short gallery with images of Ronnie from the Elf days onwards. Then “E5150” comes over the speakers.

Vinnie Appice appears behind his somewhat scaled down drumkit. He greets the crowd and positions himself to start throwing his thunder. Then Iommi and Butler appear. This is Heaven And Hell. Any second now, a smiling Ronnie James Dio will bounce out from the side of the stage…

No! We are all here because Ronnie isn’t with us anymore. And we’ve come from all over. There’s the Japanese girl who travelled here by herself only for this show. She only heard of Ronnie James Dio a few years ago and bought her High Voltage ticket in January before Ronnie’s condition took a turn for the worse and H&H cancelled all their summer shows. Now they’re back on the bill for one last time, and the Japanese girl is here to pay her respect.

So are thousands of other Dio fans. All kinds of languages are spoken throughout the incredibly well planned festival site. The amount of Dio t-shirts is unreal; from recent ones honouring his memory, loads of Cancer Fund shirts, and a wealth of well worn shirts from past Dio tours.

Heaven And Hell’s rescheduled show at High Voltage comes with equal amounts of anticipation and apprehension. How will it feel seeing Jorn Lande and Glenn Hughes sing with the band instead of Ronnie? Will it bring closure to the sadness and anger over his much too early and unjust death?

The band launches into “Mob Rules”, and Jorn Lande storms onto the stage, wild eyed and eager. The lump in the throat swells up. This is Ronnie James Dio’s band and he is sadly missed. But Jorn Lande does a splendid job. He sings the song unselfishly. He is focused and very well rehearsed – even if he is reading the words off a cue sheet, but that’s allowed.

Vocally Lande is on the ball. He knows the piece and captures the energy beautifully. In front of the stage all kinds of emotions are raging. It’s so wrong that Ronnie is not there, but Jorn is doing a great job and there’s no reason not to enjoy the full roar of Heaven And Hell one last time.

This must be difficult for them. Geezer pretty much sticks to his spot, plucking away incessantly at his bass, hair flying. Iommi remains the grand old riff master, resplendent in blue tinted glasses and long black coat. Stylish, calm and collected. The big screens reveal in close up Appice’s contorted face as he hammers home every stroke with brutal force and that dramatic dragging groove that is unmistably his own.

But who knows how they feel? And who knows what Lande is feeling. He doesn’t say much, quickly asks how we are doing and introduces the next song. “I” off “Dehumanizer”. Gorgeous. Again he pretty much nails it RJD-style with excellent timing and phrasing. In front of him, the full festival crowd has shifted from an ecstatic welcome to (almost) quietly observing the band and trying to suss out exactly how to handle this special situation.

After “I”, Jorn Lande respectfully announces “Ladies and gentlemen, mr. Glenn Hughes.” For the rest of the show, the singers trade place every two songs.

Curiously enough, Glenn Hughes’ first song is “Country Girl”. He prances about the stage, strutting his weird designer haircut and makes gestures and faces at the crowd that are taken straigh out of chapter one of The Heavy Metal Frontman textbook. It’s sort of embarrassing, but perhaps he’ll settle down once the nerves are calm.

It’s not fair to be too critical of Glenn Hughes at this gig. Apparently he was one of Ronnie’s favourite singers, and he sang at Ronnie’s funeral, so his efforts deserve respect. But as it turns out, Glenn Hughes has finally found his match – or insurmountable mountain if you will. His voice, splendidly powerful and refined as it is, simply doesn’t fit this band. He delivers Ronnie’s rich and melodic tunes with a strangely staccato feel that sounds strained and unnatural.

On the other hand, Jorn Lande is a rock solid no nonsense frontman. Without too much fuss and bother he sings everything just right. You might argue Glenn is doing a tribute to Ronnie, interpreting the songs in a different way while Jorn is copying Dio’s way of doing them. Suffice to say, should the band decide to carry on after this, it will be difficult to imagine a singer better suited to their sound than Lande. Simply add some new songs and a new name, and this band would once again be equipped wth a great vocalist and a promising future.

But even combined, tonight’s two magnificient singers – Glenn Hughes and Jorn Lande – can’t match Ronnie James Dio in terms of his masterful and inspirational singing and an inimitable frontman skills. He would capture your attention and hold it effortlessly as he lead you through his shows with infectious enthusiasm.

For the eerie and spellbinding opening to “Falling Off the Edge of the World” Glenn Hughes comes close to the spirit of Ronnie’s singing. It is a touching piece as it is, but the circumstances tonight reinforce the power in the opening lines; “I think about closing the door, and lately I think of it more…” Shivers run hot and cold down the spine, and the eyes mist over. I can’t be the only one fighting with the feelings and the memories. All around me people are watching in silent awe.

The same thing happens during Tony Iommi’s guitarspot and during other instrumental bits. Close your eyes and it’s almost as if Ronnie is there getting ready to sing the next verse…

After “Die Young”, Wendy Dio is invited onstage. Terribly nervous and overcome with emotion, she reads out a short speech praising Ronnie and urging everyone to support the Stand Up and Shout Cancer Fund. Indeed, judging by the number of complimentary donator t-shirts seen around, many in the audience already have.

The band has chosen to a set of songs that loosely reflects the show they’ve been doing the past couple of years. Songs from their first two albums together, “Heaven And Hell” and “Mob Rules”, one from “Dehumanzier” and even one from Ronnie James Dio’s last album, “The Devil You Know.” Glenn Hughes does a competent version of “Bible Black” but seems uncomfortable with the darker aspects of the lyrics.

One ‘new’ old addition to the set is “Turn Up the Night”, sung by Jorn Lande. A refreshing reacquaintance. The last two songs are shared between the two singers – and suddenly during “Neon Knights” an intruder appears; Phil Anselmo of Down has decided he’ll sing with the guys onstage – who obviously haven’t approved the idea.

Heaven And Hell’s final show at High Voltage is a chance for the fans to get together and celebrate and revel in the music that was a big part of Ronnie James Dio’s life. For such an occassion, it is important to allow room for feelings and expression. Sadly, the sensitive atmosphere between the band and the thousands of devoted Dio fans is mauled by Glenn Hughes’ shameless prancing and his abrasive attitude. He allows nothing to breathe on its own.

The song “Heaven and Hell” has long been a crowd favourite and highpoint of any Heaven And Hell concert. The crowd would take over the riff and sing it back to the band – often with breathtaking power. Tonight this moment of united band-crowd magic is spoiled. “I want you to sing this riff,” instructs Glenn Hughes before the song has even started. He has no right. How much grander had it felt, and how much more release had it offered, if Glenn had stood back and let it evolve spontaneously?

And this is where the show falls short. It brings no closure. It does not allow the crowd to unite with the band. Jorn Lande knows when to hold back and be respectful, but Glenn Hughes is a poor but dominant custodian of the honour bestowed upon him tonight.

The band wisely skips that section of “Heaven and Hell” about the big black shape looking down at us. Routinely, all the stage lights would go out and Ronnie would lean over a red spotlight nested between his monitors, so he was lit up from below like the devil himself – to great theatrical and dramatic effect. Fortunately this piece of Dio magic is left alone in everybody’s memories.

By the end of the show the crowd is left emotionally drained and confused. It wouldn’t have been right to let Jorn Lande handle all the vocals, but you wish the band had invited a couple more singers along to help spread the burdon.

What High Voltage did offer was one final, triumphant dose of the Black Sabbath that Ronnie James Dio helped revive in 1980. This was a splendid celebration of Sabbath’s most musical and most skilled singer and frontman. And it was exhilarating to experience again the blasting power of Appice, Butler and Iommi at full whack. Even without Ronnie they’re a giant force, and hopefully we have not seen the last of them together.

– Rasmus Heide

Setlist and singers:
E5150
Mob Rules (Jorn)
I (Jorn)
Country Girl (Glenn)
Children of the Sea (Glenn)
Turn Up the Night (Jorn)
Voodoo (Jorn)
Bible Black (Glenn)
Falling Off the Edge of the World (Glenn)
Die Young (Jorn)
Wendy Dio’s speech
Heaven and Hell (both)
Neon Knights (both)

Vocals: Jorn Lande / Glenn Hughes
Guitar: Tony Iommi
Bass: Geezer Butler
Drums: Vinnie Appice
Keyboards: Scott Warren

Gibson.com has an interview they recently did with Claude Nobs. The inevitable question, of course, came up:

Tell me what you remember about the “Smoke on the Water” incident on December 4, 1971.

This was one of the concerts I was doing besides the festival in the summer. I had Pink Floyd, Rolling Stones, Deep Purple, and one time I had Frank Zappa. And at the end of the concert someone threw a flare gun at the ceiling and everything started to be on fire.

You helped get people out of the burning building. There’s even a lyric about it in “Smoke On The Water.”

It was actually not that difficult because we had big bow windows in the concert hall overlooking the swimming pool. Frank Zappa took his guitar – a Gibson, a very strong one – and he smashed the big window down with his guitar. Then a lot of people could go out through there. The people went out through that exit, and within about five minutes, the 2,000 kids were out. And the people were watching the fire thinking, “Oh, you know, Frank Zappa is just doing an incredible ending to his show.”

How did the Deep Purple song evolve out of the ashes?

Deep Purple were watching the whole fire from their hotel window, and they said, “Oh my God, look what happened. Poor Claude and there’s no casino anymore!” They were supposed to do a live gig [at the casino] and record the new album there. Finally I found a place in a little abandoned hotel next to my house and we made a temporary studio for them. One day they were coming up for dinner at my house and they said, “Claude we did a little surprise for you, but it’s not going to be on the album. It’s a tune called ‘Smoke On The Water.’” So I listened to it. I said, “You’re crazy. It’s going to be a huge thing.” Now there’s no guitar player in the world who doesn’t know [he hums the riff]. They said, “Oh if you believe so we’ll put it on the album.” It’s actually the very precise description of the fire in the casino, of Frank Zappa getting the kids out of the casino, and every detail in the song is true. It’s what really happened. In the middle of the song, it says “Funky Claude was getting people out of the building,” and actually when I meet a lot of rock musicians, they still say, “Oh here comes Funky Claude.”

Read the interview at Gibson.com. Bear in mind that the article managed to get a couple of things wrong. It makes you believe that the band was at the Hotel Eden au Lac when the fire started, while they were actually in the Casino itself and retreated to the hotel across the bay later; and Eden au lac is not the Grand Hotel which was empty, cold and bare. That building is further down the road and has been converted into a condominium since then.

Thanks to Bryan Wawzenek for the info.

Steve Morse recently has done a quite entertaining interview for GuitarPlanet.com.au. Ever wanted to know why is that SOTW is banned from the music stores or why the Y2D guitar comes only in 3 colours, watch it. And if you didn’t, watch it as well.

If you are more technically inclined into guitar gear, check out his second interview about the Music Man signature guitar and the photo gallery documenting Steve’s implements of trade on the recent Australian tour.

Thanks to Nigel Young for the info.

Swedish channel SVT is broadcasting a new 10-part series called The Seventies. Deep Purple are prominently features in the first episode — 1970 — which was shown on July 17 and now you can watch it online at svtplay.se. Unless you think you’ll enjoy Joe Tempest talking in Swedish, you can skip straight to around 6:15 into the episode. A contemporary interview with Ian Gillan starts at around 7:45 and continues through 17:40, after which point the show moves on to other subjects. Of Purple-related interest is also the appearance of The Flowerpot Men (just the singers) on Beat Club around the 23:55 mark.

Thanks to Nigel Young for the info.

There is a new previously unreleased video of Deep Purple performing Black Night in Hamburg circa December 1970. The footage have been partially available on YouTube for some time now, but the release features complete song and in much better quality video (perhaps as good as could be expected from that period), albeit the sound is still fairly distant.

You can purchase the video at iTunes (might need to switch to your country store).

Other videos available:

• Smoke on the Water
• Highway Star
• Child In Time
• Burn
• Strange kind Of Woman
• Perfect Strangers
• Hush
• Lazy

Due in October: a brand new video for Child in Time combining studio soundtrack with historical footage.

Caveat: iTunes requires their proprietary software to interact with the store.

Swedish prog-metal band Opeth is releasing live footage and audio from the band’s recent performance at London’s famed Royal Albert Hall. The front cover artwork concept pays tribute to the original Concerto for Group and Orchestra album, underlining the band’s longstanding love for their roots. As recently as this May Opeth’s rhythm section of Martin Axenrot on drums and Martin Mendez on bass performed with Jon Lord at the Nidaros cathedral in Trondheim, Norway. You can see video of the rehearsals on JonLord.org.

Opeth In Live Concert at the Royal Albert Hall is due out on September 21 on Roadrunner Records.

Thanks to Daniel Bengtsson for the info.

As the Black Country Communion goes into the full promo mode, Glenn has just finished a European tour doing public appearances and interviews.

Interview to the French channel France 24 (in English) can be viewed at France24.com.

Acoustic performance (including Medusa and Catch The Rainbow) on Radio 3 RNE in Madrid (July 14):

Interview on Radio Lombardia in Milan (July 15):

Black Country Communion will also appear live on Rockline radio show in North America on Wednesday, September 8 at 8:30 p.m. PT / 11:30 p.m. ET. Fans are encouraged to call 1-800-344-ROCK (7625) during the show with their questions. Rockline is syndicated on many stations across US and Canada, some of which also broadcast online.

Thanks to Blabbermouth.net for the info.

You had a terrible day which seems to be going from bad to worse. You finally get to the gig, look on stage and see a bass player happily bouncing around. And you think to yourself “oh, these guys have it so easy…”

Rrright.

These days are a breeze by comparison; we have it easy, not that we don’t sometimes have to endure all sorts of trivial irritations. As Alice Cooper says in his song, it’s the little things that really get your goat. Take the other day…

We had a couple of days off so after a quick trip back home I fly to rejoin the band. Either a virus or a bout of food poisoning has my bowels in turmoil so after an anxious flight and then a taxi ride, I arrive at the hotel late at night, pay the driver and run for my room and the toilet. Waking up exhausted the following morning I discover that I have lost my wallet, probably dropped as I paid the taxi driver. After all the usual phone calls and searches I have to kiss goodbye to what was in it – not a lot, just everything of importance…

Read the story of a day in the life of a bass player in Roger’s second installment of Road Life.

As we reported earlier, release of the Nick Simper’s Mk1 Songbook will be accompanied by single of The Doors’ Roadhouse Blues backed by Hush (unreleased version) and The Painter. The single will be available on a CD and not as digital download.

This will Simper’s first single release since 1982’s Russ Ballard penned Just Another Day with his then current band Fandango. So what on earth possessed them to release the single in this day and age?

During the recent live performances of The Deep Purple MKI Songbook with Austrian band Nasty Habits, Simper has had a long-held desire fulfiled. As an admirer of The Doors, he had always wanted to play Roadhouse Blues, the opening cut from the band’s fifth album, Morrison Hotel.

Although it’s the only non-Deep Purple song he performs in the shows with Nasty Habits, it always goes down a storm with the audience and Nick Simper was keen for the world to hear their version. As it was illogical to include it on The Deep Purple MKI Songbook album release they initially considered releasing it as a download single. But then they had second thoughts. They figured that most of Simper’s fans are like them — traditional in their thinking and prefer a “proper” record as opposed to a mere “digital file.”

The single will be released on August 16th by Wymer Records.