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Such a strange vibration

Yahoo! Entertainment (of all places) has a short piece about Deep Purple’s appearance at the legendary Fillmore club in San Francisco in November 1968.

The nascent British rock outfit had made their American album chart debut in September of that year with their first LP, Shades Of Deep Purple. The record had reached its peak of No.24 two weeks before the Fillmore shows, and was now edging down from 31 to 32 as they stepped onto the stage for the first of four consecutive dates, as the supporting act for local psychedelic rock heroes It’s A Beautiful Day. The bill also included the newly-formed San Francisco soul-jazz-rock outfit Cold Blood.

Continue reading in Yahoo!.

We don’t know if Bombay Calling was performed at these shows, but it’s very possible. If that’s so, we can pinpoint when Child in Time was conceived.



7 Comments to “Such a strange vibration”:

  1. 1
    Uwe Hornung says:

    It’s highly likely that the song was already played back then, David LaFlamme of IABD had been performing the song co-written with Vince Wallace for a while and well before the inception of IABD and the release of their debut album.

    “We should not forget that Deep Purple were friends with the folks in IABD. They had been on the same bill at Fillmore West in San Francisco in late 1968, where it is likely they would have first heard the track. In April 1969 IABD supported Deep Purple on several more US dates. They may even have given Purple a copy of their new album, which they would have had advance copies of at the time. This is likely the time Jon referred to when he later said that he first heard the album in America and was fascinated by the strings on the Bombay Calling song. Nick Simper (original Purple bassist, 1968-69) remembered that Purple Mk 1 did “kick around” the Bombay Calling riff at one time, suggesting that a song using that particular idea could have emerged a lot sooner than it did.”

    “It is worth noting that there is further controversy surrounding where Bombay Calling actually comes from. On the IABD album the song was credited to Vince Wallace and David LaFlamme. LaFlamme is, of course, the singer/violin player in IABD. Vince Wallace is a jazz saxophonist who has claimed he wrote the full song back in 1962 and showed it to LaFlamme in 1966. The earliest released recording of Wallace playing Bombay Calling seems to be the one on the Vince Wallace Plays Vince Wallace album, released on AMP Records in 1974 or 1976, several years later. The fact that he was credited on the first IABD album at all does seem to verify his involvement and gives some credence to his claim. That could mean that Vince Wallace is actually the man behind the iconic keyboard riff in Child In Time.”

    https://norselandsrock.com/deep-purple-its-a-beautiful-day/

    You can hear origins of the melody played on sax at 01:50 and at 03:57 (where they also make the tell-tale chord change they leave out the first time round):

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CzLS_TjmTqw

    So when the Air Jazz Quartet did a great Jazz version of Child in Time decades later, everthing had kinda gone full circle!

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mL2XownD9eI

  2. 2
    Nick Soveiko says:

    Uwe @1: that norselands article quotes our own research from 2007 almost word for word without any attribution

    https://www.thehighwaystar.com/thsblog/2007/10/08/its-a-beautiful-deep-purple-day/

  3. 3
    Rock Voorne says:

    IMHO the 3rd album by DEEP PURPLE is highly overseen.

    A variety of styles, Evans delivering wonderfull lyrics, a great rythmsection(Never understood why Simper had to leave, maybe it was to lure Gillan in with more concviction, great songs like April, Blind, Chasing Shadows, The Painter/Fault Line, a loverly Lalena…. Whats not tolike?

    Right now I ve almost forgotten most Morse era songs except for Purpendicular an Bananas, this one has been played to death.

    I m a member of the Rod Evans Appreciation Society.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=grvmB4q19g8&ab_channel=DeepPurple-Topic

  4. 4
    Uwe Hornung says:

    “Uwe @1: that norselands article quotes our own research from 2007 almost word for word without any attribution …”

    Shall I sue’m then, Nick?! Stealing from The Highwaygospel … ; – )

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fqLh3OcwvyI

  5. 5
    Gregster says:

    @1 Really good post there ! IABD is a great record too, & still would be quite enjoyable for anyone to listen to…” I’m so wasted, I don’t if I can take it “…Great band to have been able to record that tune so well. ( No spoilers from me ).

    @3 Great tunes…It is good to have such a vast catalog of many different styles to refer back to & enjoy, that’s still growing !

    Peace !

  6. 6
    Rock Voorne says:

    @ 5

    I did not even mention all great tracks!!!!

  7. 7
    IvoSan says:

    4 dates at the Fillmore and none was recorded? shaking my head

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