Classic Rock Revisited has a recently published interview with Don Airey, done by Jeb Wright. Don talks about his solo album A Light In The Sky, his life, his illustrious career over the years, and the circumstances of replacing Jon Lord:
Jeb: Was Jon an influence to you growing up?
Don: I always loved Purple and I loved what he was doing. Even though Jon is a virtuoso, it is what he doesn’t play that I love. Jon is the second best Hammond player I have ever heard, with Jimmy Smith being the best. I loved what Jon did on the early Purple albums but he changed his style when they did In Rock. The guy that really inspired me was Keith Emerson. He just blew me away and he still does. I was lucky enough to meet him a few years ago and I was charmed.
Over The Rainbow management has issued a press release concerning ticket sales for the first 3 OTR shows in Belarus and Russia. It appears that out of the three shows one was oversold and the other two very nearly sold out.
Who would have thought that a mere re-release of one of the more controversial albums in the Purple history could have chart potential?
Remastered 35th anniversary version of Stormbringer went on sale across Europe today, February 23. Usual disclaimers apply, but at the time of this writing (3 p.m. GMT / 16:00 CET) it is at the following chart positions in Amazon stores:
UK:
#52 in Music
#1 in Music > Rock > Classic Rock
#7 in Music > Vinyl > Vinyl Album
Germany:
#158 in Music
#38 in Music > Rock
This could, just could be an early indication of a possibility of entry in the official Top 40. To put things into proper perspective, last year, Whitesnake’s latest, Good To Be Bad, was at #15 position in Amazon UK charts the day after release and that same week ended up at #7 in BBC Radio 1 Top Albums chart. And we’re talking overall music charts, not single (sub)genre.
You can do your part of putting Stormbringer in the charts here.
My prediction: sooner rather than later, the band will be playing South America more often than Germany (not speaking of US or UK). Why? See for yourself.
Rapture of the Deep (a little heavy on the bass, but prime position for the cameraman):
Keyboard solo ~ Perfect Strangers:
Nice job is that you have up there, Reverend 😉
Black Night (see and hear that crowd):
Hush ~ Drum solo ~ Bass solo ~ Black Night (different angle alltogether):
I rest my case.
Thanks to Daniel Bengtsson to get my train of thought rolling.
Italian Deep Purple official fanclub and online community Deep Purple Italia is one of the six Italian online fan clubs featured in the latest (February 2009) issue of Rolling Stone Magazine, an Italian monthly version of the popular US magazine.
Fan club directors Stefano Serafinelli (30, founder, currently in Spain) and Francesco Colombo (25, currently in the UK) stated:
We are delighted that Rolling Stone chose our website as one of the best online fan club to be reviewed and featured in their one-off special. This is a great achievement for us, and it’s due mainly to the band and the site ‘s supporters that keep it active on a daily basis. We thank our visitors and members very much for their support and loyalty over the years.
We understand that lately we couldn’t update the news section as often as before due to personal issues. From now on we plan to give our readers the best information service possible, as it used to be.
Deep Purple Italia went online in 2001 and quickly became the main virtual meeting point for Italian Deep Purple fans. Featuring one of the most active web forums dedicated to the band, a daily updated news section, exclusive interviews and extended discography, deep-purple.it is one of the biggest Deep Purple fansites on the Internet.
We all here at The Highway Star congratulate our friends in Italy with their achievement.
Thanks to Francesco for sending us the press release.
Japan is full of musical genius, it’s just getting lost in translation. In further establishment of the proof of this self obvious thesis, we present you with this little gem: Continue Reading »
In case you’ve been wondering what Doogie White is up to these days, he got back with his old friends from the Scottish band La Paz. A couple of weeks ago they did a Rainbow/Purple tribute show in Glasgow. Here’s a clip of Mistreated performed that night: Continue Reading »
Randal Bramblett in a recent interview with LivingLegendsMusic.com talks about Queen of England, Roger Glover, and the connection that brought them together.
And in case you don’t have the Snapshot yet, go and get it.
Gillan will appear on the American radio show Rockline to promote his One Eye To Morocco solo album. The show will be on the air live on Wednesday, March 25 at 8:30 p.m. PT / 11:30 p.m. ET. Fans are encouraged to call in and ask Big Ian questions at 1-800-344-ROCK (7625).
Deep Purple have started their World Tour 2009 by playing yesterday at the opening of the Nordic Skiing World Championship in Liberec, Czech Republic. Here is a truly bombastic version of Highway Star for your viewing pleasure:
Thanks to Andrey Gusenkov for the info.
Update (Feb 22): another clip of this performance appeared on the YouTube. This time sound is on both channels, but out of sync with video:
![[hand]](/hs-pics/portraits/hands/morse8.jpg)
![[face]](/hs-pics/portraits/faces/glover3.jpg)
Classic Rock Revisited has a recently published interview with Don Airey, done by Jeb Wright. Don talks about his solo album A Light In The Sky, his life, his illustrious career over the years, and the circumstances of replacing Jon Lord:
Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing