As promised earlier, Sound & Vision publishes their full review of the 2024 Machine Head remix:
The more aurally adventurous among us are in for one helluva ride. Dweezil’s stereo remix will indeed grab you in somewhat unexpected ways (a la “Never Before”), but it’s in Atmos where Machine Head gets to do some literal space truckin’ nonpareil. “Highway Star” is a balls-out ferocious assault wherein you can discern the layers in Ian Gillan’s stacked lead vocal tracks and get blown over by the clockwise swoosh of the keys-and-guitar-solo section. The 1974 quad version of “Highway Star” is a bit more compartmentalized, though you really do feel Ian Paice pummeling his drum kit. Back in Atmos, Ritchie Blackmore’s searing guitar solo on “Smoke on the Water” takes to the upper stratosphere — and be sure to listen for the vocalized, FZ-related Easter egg at the very end. Jon Lord’s keyboard clinic all throughout “Lazy” in Atmos almost makes the 2012 5.1 mix seem like it’s, well, sleepwalking.
Read more in Sound & Vision.
Scenestr has a short interview with Simon McBride on the occasion of the impending release of =1.
When you join a band like that, as you mentioned all the iconic players, there’s always that little bit of expectation from the fans I believe. They all want you to play like they want you to play. Some of them want you to play like Ritchie, some of them want you to play like Steve or Tommy or Joe.
I said to [Don Airey], ‘I don’t know what to play. I don’t know whether to play like Ritchie or play this or do this’, and Don says: ‘Just play. Be yourself. Don’t worry about anything that Steve did or anything that Ritchie did. That’s history, this is a new thing. Just be yourself and just play.’
Read more in Scenestr.
Photo: Stefan Brending, cc-by-sa-3.0 de
The second single from the upcoming new album =1 is out now Continue Reading »
Black Country Communion are on the cover of UK’s Powerplay magazine (#274, June 2024), with a Glenn Hughes interview inside. It should not come as a surprise that being shy is just not in his vocabulary.
Black Country Communion return after a seven year absence with glorious new album ‘V’. We chat to Glenn Hughes about the supergroup, which he believes has the potential to be one of the top five bands on the planet, and we ask him the big question that everyone wants answered: will the band ever tour again?
The issue can be ordered through the publisher, albeit overseas shipping is quite stiff and there seems to be no digital option.
Thanks to Benny Holmström for the info.
New Jersey Stage has an interview with Ritchie Blackmore and Candice Night on the occasion of their upcoming shows in the area. Not much in the sense of groundbreaking news in there, just a bit of Ritchie being Ritchie at the end:
When asked if there was a fan or two that really touched Ritchie over the years, he replied, “Yes, there was a fan that touched me – so I punched him in the nose!”
His music may have mellowed, but he’s still 100% rock and roll at heart.
#InfamouslyDry
Read more in New Jersey Stage.
Ian Paice spoke to the Classic Rock History on the occasion of upcoming new Deep Purple album =1. The meaning behind the album title, Steve Morse’s departure from the band, how Simon McBride fits in, the setlist, touring logistics, and life in general. Continue Reading »
A Tommy Bolin exhibition has opened at the Sioux City Public Museum. Many of the artifacts on display are from the collection of Bolin’s brother Johnnie.
What: Gypsy Soul: Remembering Sioux City’s Tommy Bolin
When: Friday, May 31, 2024 10:00 AM to Sunday, August 18, 2024 5:00 PM
Where: Sioux City Public Museum
607 4th Street Sioux City, IA, 51101 United States
Sound & Vision magazine (of an audiophilious inclination) has an interview with Dweezil Zappa on remixing Machine Head in Atmos surround.
Zappa’s Atmos mix of Machine Head—which has quite specifically and very deliberately been dubbed a “remix”—will most definitely challenge the ears of any Deep Purple fan, new or old, who knows the core album inside and out. As I noted in my review of the Machine Head box set (which will post here on S&V on June 7), the Atmos version of “Highway Star” is a balls-out ferocious assault wherein you can better discern the layers in Ian Gillan’s stacked lead vocal tracks, and then get blown over by the clockwise swoosh of the keys-and-guitar-solo section. You’ll also be riveted by the height-channel ascension of Ritchie Blackmore’s guitar solo during the forever-iconic “Smoke on the Water” and the full 360-degree dimensionality of Jon Lord’s literal keyboard clinic on “Lazy.”
Of course, there will be those listeners who don’t want to hear something quite so adventurous—and, hey, no one is stopping them from listening to the original version of Machine Head, if they so choose. But, just like Zappa, I prefer to be challenged as a listener whenever I enter the immersive arena in my listening room. “When you listen to the Atmos version in speakers, you really get to feel the immersive quality, versus what happens just in headphones,” Zappa clarifies. “One of the challenges in this format overall is you have compromises that have to be made when you encounter translation things that happen in headphones versus speakers. I think some people opt to let the headphones be the winner, but I feel like that’s not the way to go. I feel like the speakers should be the winner because, eventually, there are going to be more places where you’ll actually hear it in a speaker environment—and cars are probably going to be the main play.” (Let’s go space truckin,’ indeed. . .)
Read the first part of the interview in Sound & Vision. The second part is due some time later in June.
The latest (#44, June-July 2024) issue of the Rock Candy magazine has Q&A with Roger Glover, and a feature on Black Country Communion and their new album. The issue can be purchased directly from the publisher for £7 (plus £2 UK/£5 abroad postage for the dead-tree format). Continue Reading »
Ian Gillan talks about Deep Purple’s journey to musical freedom. This clip appears to be a part of the promotion campaign for the new album. Continue Reading »
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Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing