Another video promoting Joe Lynn Turner’s new solo album Belly of the Beast. This is for the track called Tortured Soul. Continue Reading »

Another audience film of a full show from the current tour. This one is from London O₂ gig on October 20, 2022. It is shot quite a bit further from the stage than the Milan offering. On the plus side, the singer is in top form right from the beginning. Continue Reading »

There is a growing subgenre on YouTube — classical musicians reacting to rock tunes, and you might be familiar with examples of such presented on our pages. What distinguishes the Virgin Rock channel from the rest of the pack is that the first listen reaction is followed by a few days later by an in-depth analysis of the piece. This week Child in Time got the treatment. Check out the comparison with Bombay Calling and Stairway to Heaven in the second part.

Deep Purple are currently touring the country where it all started some 54 years ago, and here is a selection of gig reviews so far from the UK press.

London, October 20:

The much delayed UK tour by rock legends Deep Purple finally ‘Whooshed’ into London for what looked like a sell-out show at the O2 Arena. Following a solid performance from support band Blue Oyster Cult (who did a fine job of warming up the crowd) the audience rose to their feet as Purple took to the stage and gave a performance that belied their years.

The sound was the best I’ve heard at the O2 (and possibly anywhere) with all instruments clear and distinct and the band themselves sounded like they’d never been away. Remarkable. The big change this time around of course was the inclusion of new boy Simon McBride on guitar (stepping in to replace long-time guitarist Steve Morse who withdrew from the band for family reasons). Simon quickly proved that he was up to the task, knowing when to pay homage to the original solos in classic songs and when to put his own stamp on proceedings. He particularly shone during the extended intro to ‘Uncommon Man’ which he made his own.

Continue reading at The Rockpit.

Glasgow, October 22:

The arena was full and had an air of expectation when Deep Purple entered the fray. The slow build-up in the Highway Star intro got everyone on their feet, and it wasn’t long before the first few lines were seemingly being sung by the whole room, as well as Ian Gillan.

The sound was almost perfect, each instrument able to be heard clearly and the song bubbling along on a rhythm section that doesn’t sound like it has aged at all.

Then it was time for that classic guitar solo spot, and Simon McBride stepped front and centre for the first time.

Continue reading in Metal Talk.

Leeds, October 23:

“This one’s deep and meaningful,” Deep Purple frontman Ian Gillan tells Leeds’s First Direct Arena, as drummer Ian Paice grins behind his kit. The two exchange a glance, before the former adds a knowing caveat: “And mercifully short.”

He’s not wrong to clarify brevity: at this much-delayed stop in West Yorkshire, their performance is as much a world-class exercise in wig-out noodling as anything else.

There is little disputing the indelible mark the veteran group have left upon hard rock and heavy metal, even if their line-up has been reshuffled more times than England’s top-order batting partnership.

Continue reading in the Yorkshire Post.

[Update Oct 29]: Manchester, October 26:

Oh, so dramatic, the stage goes black while the speakers boom out Holst’s The Planets. The band find their places before exploding into Highway Star. It’s a big number to kick the show off with and the front man’s voice really could have done with something a little easier. He quickly get’s into and here we are. Deep Purple, three original members from ‘Mark I’ – Ian Gillan, Roger Glover (on bass) and Ian Paice (on drums), augmented by Don Airey on keyboards, replacing the late Jon Lord, and Simon McBride on lead guitar, who recently took over from Steve Morse, himself taking over from Richie Blackmore via Joe Satriani. It’s like this with these iconic rock band – keep up!

Continue reading in Louder Than War.

Perhaps this is the right place to remind everybody that you can write your own review of a gig for The Highway Star.

On October 17 Deep Purple played a gig in Milan, Italy. A fairly decent audience recording of the show has been posted for your viewing pleasure. Sure, Big Ian sounds quite rough for the first couple of tracks, but once you get past it… Enjoy! Continue Reading »

Doug the classical composer reacts to Rainbow’s Gates of Babylon. Could be particularly interesting for those of us who can tell thy harmonic majors from upper tetrachords. Continue Reading »

Caramba TV resumes their semi-irregular issues with a hotel security special — Big Ian offers timely advice on how to keep your valuables and cards safe when travelling. Continue Reading »

The record company has posted a third video track from the Düsseldorf 2005 gig — this time it’s Strange Kind of Woman. Continue Reading »

Joe Lynn Turner was a guest on BraveWords’ Streaming For Vengeance podcast promoting his upcoming solo album. And he was asked about his stint as the Purple’s lead singer.

BraveWords: What is a project that you had your heart and soul set on, but it didn’t click?

Turner: That’s an interesting question. Nobody has ever asked me that before. I mean, look, from one album with Deep Purple, it was, I have to say, a disappointment, but I knew what was happening. I knew why it was happening. I knew that they got this huge deal from BMG to get Gillan back in the band. You can’t pass up a couple of million dollars like that. So, they were like, ‘Joe, sorry’. Everyone likes to say ‘Joe was fired’, but I wasn’t really fired, I was let go. I was explained the situation, and I said let me bow out to let Purple come forward again. Because I’ve always loved Purple. I was a big fan of the band my whole life, so I feel, as Ian Paice said, and I love this comment, I have a screen shot of it, and I’ll paraphrase it. He basically said, ‘Joe Lynn Turner was the link’. We would have never gotten to Perfect Strangers or anything if he hadn’t been there for Slaves And Masters, because Ritchie would have bolted. Ritchie would have left and done something else, and then there would have been no chance for them to regroup. So, I was kind of like the middle man, to keep it together. And he said many other kind words about me. I love the guy, but not because he’s flattering me, but because he’s accurate. And I knew that was the accuracy. We got so much flack for that album, but you listen to that album, it’s a damn good album.

BraveWords: Absolutely. And it has stood the test of time.

Turner: Exactly. The writing the production, the performances. Come on, it’s a good record.

BraveWords: But, despite that you’re only on one Deep Purple record, that’s a hell of a thing to have on a resume.

Turner: Oh yeah. I’m proud of it. I’m honoured and blessed to be on it. I was very fortunate. I mean, they had somebody lined up to be a singer and I was the last-minute call because at that point Colin Hart, the road manager called me up and said, ‘You fancy coming up for a month to audition?’, and I said, ‘I gotta audition?’. So I drove up for a month, and there they were in this beat-up, old, abandoned ski lodge, in the bar area, stinking of cigarettes and beer, and as soon as I walked in Blackmore started playing and I went up to the mike. And then John Lord, rest his soul, he started playing this piano bit, and that turned into ‘The Cut Runs Deep’. Right there and then. And they looked at each other after the jam and said, ‘He’s the guy!’, and Ritchie went, ‘I told you. He can write, he can sing. There it is, we got him.’ And they all said, that’s it. And that’s how it happened. Quite, in a way, last-minute. But I must say, at that time, I was coming out, I was already in Foreigner and out of Foreigner, that’s because during the time when Lou had quit, I call it the ‘Say You Will’ period. And I had a falling out with Bud Prager, the manager, because he was a complete arsehole, and I just told him he was. You don’t do that, right? Then Bad Company was also interested in a singer before they got Brian Howe. So, it was a peak of that leg of my career, and I went, ‘I want to go with Purple’, and that’s what I did. And I never looked back, and I don’t regret a damn minute of it.

BraveWords: Well, when you look at the lineage of singers, it’s a pretty exclusive grouping.

Turner: You know what? Absolutely. That legacy, to be part of that, I’m so blessed and fortunate, really I am. It’s like, ‘Pinch me’, it’s a dream. Really.

Thanks to BraveWords for all the heavy lifting.

Bernie Torme’s posthumous live album aptly named Final Fling will be released on November 25, 2022. It was recorded in December 2018 at the Barnroom Studios in Kent, England. Bernie passed away on March 17, 2019 after being hospitalized with virulent double pneumonia.

“Wild West” was recorded by Bernie and his final trio lineup (featuring bass player Sy Morton and drummer Mik Gaffney) live at Bernie’s Barnroom studio after the end of Tormé’s sadly prophetic The Final Fling tour in 2018. The run was a huge success, and with the band in dazzling form night after night, the trio soon began to regret the decision not to record any of the shows, so with the set fresh in their minds, the band loaded the gear into the live room and set up one more time to run through a set of classics numbers, spanning Tormé’s storied career. The energy and power is evident from the first crack of Mik’s snare drum as Tormé and company power through “Wild West”.

1. Intro
2. Wild West
3. Come The Revolution
4. No Easy Way
5. Turn Out The Lights
6. Flow
7. Star
8. Motor Daddy
9. Stoneship
10. Drum Solo / Jameson Break
11. Rocky Road From Dublin
12. Can’t Beat Rock ‘n’ Roll
13. Trouble
14. New Orleans
15. Summertime Blues
16. Mr Crowley
17. Crazy Train

Mixed and mastered by Eric Tormey
Artwork by Tuli Tormey

Guitar & Vocals: Bernie Tormé
Bass & Vocals: Sy Morton
Drums: Mik Gaffney

The album will be available as a deluxe package at £38 (includes CD, t-shirt, woven patch, and enamel star badge), a standalone CD for £15 (tri-fold digipack with 12 page booklet), and digital download for £13. All formats can be preordered via Bandcamp.

Thanks to BraveWords for the info.