Martin Barre’s drummer Darby Todd has his first solo album out, called The Real1ty 0f Zer0s and 0nes. Don Airey and Simon McBride are both featured on the album, along with a variety of other prog and fusion luminaries. Don has contributed to the track called Ahh… Mr. Bond, and Simon to I’m Tweaked / Attack Of The 20 Lb Pizza and Manic Depression. You can listen to the samples and purchase the album from Darby’s website.

Thanks to Reinhard Lackner for the info.

A handful of US dates centered around the cruise appearance in February 2023 went on sale today, November 18. Caveat: none of these have been confirmed by the band’s management at the time of this writing. These dates are now confirmed.

In other tour news, Japanese dates in March 2023, as well as a couple of European festival appearances next summer, are confirmed and also on sale.

Full details in our calendar.

Not every Gillan’s interview in Spain turned out into a thinly veiled exchange of insults, as this example from Rock FM can attest. It also curiously shows that Big Ian seems to have a working understanding of spoken Spanish, albeit prefers to answer in his native tongue.

You can see the interview at rockfm.fm. It is well worth 25 minutes of your time.

Thanks to Alejandro for the info.

Ian Paice is featured on the new Arthur Brown album Monster’s Ball. He is among the guest musicians on the album and contributed drums to the opening track Lucifer Sam. Continue Reading »

Ian Gillan appeared on a Spanish talk show La Resistencia, managing to overcome at the end some hilarious and some not so much language barriers. Continue Reading »

Roger Glover got in touch and asked us to post this message on the passing of Dan McCafferty:

The news that Dan has died hits hard. A friend of over fifty years, we shared many a tour and much studio time. With his mischievous smile and, endowed with a unique voice of grit and whisky, he came across as a tough character, which belied his gentle heart. He will be missed by his family, friends, and fans. His indelible contribution as Nazareth’s lead singer will live on. But now dear friend, may you rest in peace.

Roger Glover
November 2022

Thanks to Martin for the facilitation.

Ian Paice’s Drumtribe resumes (hopefully) regular programming after a touring break with a studio drum cam of Après Vous off Now What?! Continue Reading »

Cherry Red records in the UK (which apparently is now the home of Purple Records imprint) is releasing a 6CD Trapeze box set on February 24, 2023. The set consists of the first three Trapeze albums circa 1970-72, recorded for the Threshold label, a previously unreleased 1973 live set recorded in Dallas, Texas, along with the London Borderline show from 1992.

There is no word if the original albums are remastered in any way.

Track Listing:

DISC ONE
TRAPEZE (1970)

1. It’s Only A Dream
2. The Giant’s Dead Hoorah!
3. Over
4. Nancy Gray
5. Medley: Fairytale/Verily Verily/Fairytale
6. It’s My Life
7. Am I
8. Suicide
9. Wings
10. Another Day
11. Send Me No More Letters
12. It’s Only A Dream

DISC TWO
MEDUSA (1970)

1. Black Cloud
2. Jury
3. Your Love Is Alright
4. Touch My Life
5. Seafull
6. Makes You Wanna Cry
7. Medusa

DISC THREE
YOU ARE THE MUSIC… WE’RE JUST THE BAND (1972)

1. Keepin’ Time
2. Coast To Coast
3. What Is A Woman’s Role
4. Way Back To The Bone
5. Feelin’ So Much Better Now
6. Will Our Love End
7. Loser
8. You Are The Music

DISC FOUR
LIVE IN DALLAS – PART 1 (1973)
Recorded live at the Majestic Theatre, Dallas, Texas, USA, 27th April 1973
Previously Unreleased

1. Way Back To The Bone
2. You Are The Music
3. Jury
4. Seafull
5. Your Love Is Alright

DISC FIVE
LIVE IN DALLAS – PART 2 (1973)

1. Medusa
2. Black Cloud
3. Keepin’ Time
4. Touch My Life

DISC SIX
WELCOME TO THE REAL WORLD – LIVE (1992)
Recorded live at The Borderline, London, 16th May 1992

1. You Are The Music
2. Way Back To The Bone
3. Welcome To The Real World
4. Coast To Coast
5. Midnight Flyer
6. Homeland
7. Touch My Life
8. Your Love Is Alright
9. Black Cloud

The set can be pre-ordered directly from the label for a rather reasonable sum of £30.99 + shipping.

Thanks to our editor emeritus Benny Holmström for the info.

We have announced the 50th anniversary of Made in Japan and associated commemorative events taking place in the country. Our Japanese correspondent went to one of those and reports.

Legend of Rock – Deep Purple Mark 2 50th anniversary of Made in Japan

Date: November 5, 2022
Venue: EX Theater Roppongi (Tokyo)
Performer: Deep Purple Mark 2 tribute band
Vocals: Ray (Blindman)
Lead guitar: Norifumi Shima (Concerto Moon)
Bass guitar: Leo Kiyoshi Utsunomiya (Oil/Jesus/Cloud Forest)
Keyboard: Jill Okagaki (Terra Rosa/Aphrodite)
Drums: Hirotsugu Honma (Naked Machine, Flatbacker, Ezo)

I thoroughly enjoyed the commemoration event of Deep Purple’s 50th anniversary of Made in Japan this past weekend in Tokyo. The band was specially put together from musicians who have performed in various bands for a long time in the hard rock scene in Japan. So this was not a band that performs regularly as a Deep Purple tribute band. The musicians performed with great respect, energy, and precision, all the way from the guitar, keyboard, drum solos to the MC and great vocals of Ian Gillan.

The songs were played as performed in the Budokan on August 17, 1972. Here is the setlist:

Highway Star
Smoke on the Water
Child in Time
The Mule
Strange Kind of Woman
Lazy
Space Truckin’
(encore)
Black Night
Speed King

Before the concert started, the theater manager, who is also a great Deep Purple fan, revealed some interesting facts about the 1972 Japan tour.

Apparently, the tour was originally scheduled for May 1972, but was delayed to August due to Ritchie’s health situation. The manager showed the original ticket from the show. I was too far to observe the detail, but he explained that the ticket had the original May date, which was struck out with a black pen and the August date was printed later.

The manager also explained that for the 2022 show, they tried as much as possible to get equipment from the original era. They also tried to recreate the original atmosphere with a replica of the 1972 Deep Purple logo on the backdrop, the sign in front of the stage, as well as the flag of Japan, which hung on the ceiling of the theater. (The Budokan was originally built as a martial arts stadium and always has the flag of Japan hung from the ceiling.) The vocalist also explained during the show that some of the equipment was provided by the fans. For example, the microphone he was using was the same model that was used by Ian Gillan. A fan acquired the microphone from some auction site. And two microphones were used, bound by a tape. The bass guitar was also the same model as the Rickenbacker that Roger used during the original show.

My husband’s friend was there for the 1972 show, and is always bragging that he is in the picture of the record jacket. My husband was invited to go together, but did not go, and regrets it to this very day. I also did not have the luck to be there in 1972, but I am very happy I went to the 2022 show.

review by Akemi Ono

A 25th anniversary edition of Blackmore’s Night’s Shadow of the Moon will come out on March 10, 2023, via Edel/earMusic. This edition has been remixed and remastered from the original multitrack tapes. It will come out in the usual multitude of formats, from CD+DVD digipak at €19, to a €105 super deluxe package that includes CD+DVD digipak, 2LP gatefold vinyl, 7″ single, documentary DVD, replica of the Japanese tour book, replica of the tour poster, and replica of the 1997 tour t-shirt. The 2LP colour choices include black, clear, and yellow/black marble. The album can be pre-ordered via this link.

A lyric video for the title track has been released to coincide with the announcement.

Thanks to BraveWords for the info.