It’s that time of the week — time for another freshly restored classic Gillan video Continue Reading »

Black Country Communion has posted a video of he band’s past live performances, including one in March 2024 on board of the Keeping The Blues Alive At Sea cruise. Continue Reading »

Louder Sound teases Gillan’s interview appearing in the current (#337) issue of the Classic Rock magazine. The interview largely deals with Gillan the band years, and the teaser is the story that most of us have heard before — of Blackmore trying to recruit Gillan to sing for Rainbow.

The reason I had left Deep Purple was that they were moving into a kind of territory [later filled by Rainbow]. I didn’t want that. I wanted a group with grit, excitement and edge. Also one that had balls. That’s no reflection on Ritchie, who was a fantastic, amazing guitar player – in fact I said: ‘You can come and play in my band if you want’ – but Ritchie has firm ideas about how things should be, and there were things that we disagreed on.

Read more in Louder Sound.

Release of restored Gillan promo videos continues on what looks like a weekly schedule. This week, it is Restless Continue Reading »

Simon McBride’s new album is due to be released on March 14 via Edel/earMUSIC. It is called Recordings 2020-2025, but contrary to what it may seem, does not include any of the tracks already released during these years (such as on his 2020 Trouble EP, or 2022 The Fighter album).

Track listing:

1. Uniform Of Youth
2. Kids Wanna Rock
3. Ordinary World
4. Grandma’s Hands
5. I Gotta Move
6. Lovesong
7. Dead In The Water
8. Gimme Something Good
9. Don’t Dare
10. Heartbraker
11. The Stealer
12. Hell Waters Rising
13. Dead Man Walking
14. Fat Pockets
15. So Much Love To Give

Covers on the album include: Ordinary World — Duran Duran, Uniform Of Youth — Mr. Mister, Kids Wanna Rock — Bryan Adams, and The Stealer — Free. The rest appear to be original material.

Ordinary World has been posted to accompany the announcement:

Thanks to Blabbermouth for the info, and to snarkmeister Uwe for the correction.

Guitar Player reprints online a story of how Ritchie Blackmore got the “loudest amp Marshall ever made”.

In his Deep Purple days, Ritchie Blackmore was known for two things: his habit of torturing his Fender Stratocasters and his love of volume. But getting an amp as loud as he wanted took particular skills and talents. It also took perseverance on Blackmore’s part to convince the only man he knew could do it: Jim Marshall.

“I knew him as a friend, because I used to buy my guitars from him,” Blackmore told Guitar Player in 2018. “He was a drum teacher, and he had a music shop in Ealing. Mitch Mitchell [of the Jimi Hendrix Experience] used to work there.”

As Marshall moved into amp making, he opened a factory in Bletchley. “Jim was a very nice man,” Blackmore said. “His office was down the road from the factory, but he would always come in when I was in there, because he could hear me blasting away. He would say, ‘I knew you were here!’ ”

Continue reading in Guitar Player.

Louder Sound reprints online a feature on Gillan’s Magic, arguing it is a conceptual album of sorts in nature.

Of the three major offshoots that emerged after the break-up of Deep Purple in 1976, Gillan (the band, not the man) was certainly the most musically daring. And Gillan’s most daring album just might be their last: 1982’s Magic.

Yes, the keyboard-heavy record carries a glossy, polished sheen; yes, it contains a pair of obvious stabs into ‘hit single’ territory; and yes, the off-the-rails kinetic chemistry of the Bernie Torme years is largely absent. But it’s not the music that makes makes Magic Gillan’s most fascinating record; it’s the words.

Truth be told, Magic could and should be looked at in hindsight as a concept album, as the lyrics throughout revolve around a common theme: Gillan (the man, not the band) was laying out his future plans right before our very eyes, misdirecting our attention with another album’s worth of musical hocus pocus while planning the greatest magic trick of all: making himself disappear.

Continue reading in Louder Sound.

Thanks to Uwe for the heads-up.

The latest issue (February-March 2025) of the Rock Candy magazine has a feature on the “Deep Purple maestro’s other band” Gillan. We have no idea on the details, so please report if there’s something interesting in there.

In other unrelated news, Dear Mr Fantasy – A Celebration for Jim Capaldi Featuring the Music of Jim Capaldi & Traffic, featuring contributions from Jon Lord on several tracks is being reissued on Cherry Red Records as 2CD/Blu-ray. It had been previously available on CD and DVD, so the addition of Blu-ray format is kinda new.

2CD / Blu-Ray video release of this special concert staged at the Roundhouse in London on 21st January 2007 to celebrate the life and music of Traffic co-founder and acclaimed solo artist Jim Capaldi. Aside from his work with Steve Winwood and Chris Wood in Traffic, (a band inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2004), Jim also worked with many other artists and was a successful solo performer in his own right.

A wonderful house band was joined by a stellar line-up of musicians to perform their favourite Traffic and Jim Capaldi songs including STEVE WINWOOD, PAUL WELLER, PETE TOWNSHEND, JOE WALSH, YUSUF / CAT STEVENS, GARY MOORE, BILL WYMAN, JON LORD, DENNIS LOCORRIERE, SIMON KIRKE and many others who performed to a full house.

Originally issued in 2007, this new Esoteric Recordings edition gathers together the concert recordings on two CDs and a multi-region Blu-ray video of the concert film, issued in this format for the first time, in a clam shell box set.

Thanks to our editor emeritus Benny Holmström on both counts.

City of Münster, Germany, publishes this historic photo.

Deep Purple in the window of city history

The Deep Purple concert on December 4, 1970 in the Halle Münsterland was completely sold out. Numerous disappointed fans without tickets then tried to storm the entrance to the hall. Only a massive police operation prevented them from entering. The photo shows the five band members, whose album “Deep Purple in Rock”, released in September, topped the charts in Germany for twelve weeks, with journalists before the concert. Guitarist Ritchie Blackmore is holding his Fender Stratocaster in his hands.

The photograph can be viewed in large format in the window of the city museum on Salzstrasse from December 8.

Image: Deep Purple before their performance in Münster, 1970. Photo: Westfälische Nachrichten. Publication with this press release is free of charge.

Thanks to Deep Purple Tour Page for the heads-up.

You guessed it right — yet another classic Gillan video has been restored and posted to the intertubes.

Living for the City Continue Reading »