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Author’s Top 10 Jon Lord performances on record
While we wait for Before We Forget – the forthcoming biography on Jon Lord – its author, Ovais Naqvi, offers his personal Top 10 favourite recorded performances by Jon Lord – and explains his choices.
Learn more about the book: Before We Forget – the story of Jon Lord.
1. Deep Purple: Knocking at Your Back Door (Perfect Strangers, 1984)
Jon’s intro to the track and to the album still gives me the thrills that “Deep Purple are back!” I bought the cassette of the album the day it came out in October 1984. I still think it’s one of the all-time great song intros. It’s in “rubato” (free time) and apparently JL put it together on the spot in Stowe, Vermont, while the album was being recorded in the mobile studio. It’s just awe-inspiring. No one else I can think of in the music world could do something that “big”, on demand, on the spot. The intro is film soundtrack quality music creation by someone clearly deeply schooled.
2. Deep Purple: Flight of the Rat (Deep Purple in Rock, 1970)
Blackmore somehow always implied later than he wanted to go down a heavy rock path in 1969/70 while JL wanted to do only orchestral stuff. One listen to Jon’s work on In Rock tells you what BS that is. Jon cuts out the Leslies, takes the Hammond straight it into the Marshalls and blows every other keyboard player off the stage for decades. Just the solo on this track in incendiary, malicious and full of unpredictable danger. He tears up the Hammond textbook on this album alone. He clearly wants to prove something to Blackmore and to the world in general and boy, does he prove it.
3. Deep Purple: Highway Star (Made In Japan, 1972)
Purple remains a live band first and foremost. I just saw them in Dubai last November and they still cut it live. Jon’s solo on this version of Highway Star is as dynamic and metallic as it gets. It’s edgy, kinetic and totally riveting over 50 years later. It’s lost none of its edge and all the digital, MIDI, sampling and recording technology of the last five decades can’t recreate or improve on the sheer mayhem of what Jon does here. Totally impromptu and improvised. Madness.
4. Deep Purple: Burn (Burn, 1974)
Jon’s solo, like the Highway Star studio one, is “worked out” as opposed to entirely improvised, hence the Bach and the contrapuntal lines of Hammond and ARP synths. The organ solo reintroduced the Leslies into the JL set up on this album for first time since 1970 and it shows in an airier and maybe proggier approach to the sound and playing. It’s a masterful Hammond solo and I still listen to it certainly a couple of times a month.
5. Deep Purple: Hold On (Stormbringer, 1974)
It is the second Deep Purple album that year and a shift in musical direction. They get funkier, turn Blackmore off completely, but play some effortlessly genre-free music, like Stormbringer, and Hold On, in this case a slice of funk that features a sublime Lord solo on the Fender/Rhodes MK I 73 Suitcase version. It’s as funky as anything out there from American bands of the era and showcases Lord’s musical vocabulary and vast musical memory.
6. Jon Lord: Gigue (Sarabande, 1976)
A great, stirring orchestral piece featuring the Philharmonia Hungarica, with a fabulous guitar solo from Andy Summers (later of The Police) and an extended Hammond solo from JL that somehow sounds like nothing Lord has played before or since. I think God gave him an Access All Areas (AAA) Hammond organ pass at birth because he really could go anywhere on the instrument. It’s very likely completely improvised since he and Martin Birch drove to the Stadthalle in Oer-Erkenschwick (near Dortmund) straight from the Come Taste the Band recording in Munich in early-September 1975. (That’s a 700 km drive from one side of Germany to the other).
7. Deep Purple: This Time Around/Owed to G (Come Taste the Band, 1975)
The first half is a Lord/Hughes composition created on the spot in Munich in August 1975. If this was by any other band, it would be a rock and pop standard, just as Stairway to Heaven or Careless Whisper are. It’s a great example of the industry’s musical prejudices that it’s not, but Glenn’s singing and Jon’s playing are spectacular and epic. The piano is fabulous, but it’s the swirling ARP Odyssey 2800 Mk I synth sounds that make this totally special and atmospheric. Again, Jon will have created the sonic backdrop on this track on the fly. Mindblowing arranging capabilities, the secret sauce he brought to all the bands he was in. He would have made a great producer (had he wanted to go that way).
8. Paice Ashton Lord: Remember the Good Times (Malice in Wonderland, 1977)
By now, JL had discovered the Hohner Clavinet D6 and it features in later period Purple after 1975 and in PAL and Whitesnake. Ernst Zacharias, the German engineer who invented it, created the instrument to recreate Bach’s clavichord sounds and instead it became a funk rhythm machine par excellence, as deployed to great effect by players like Chick Corea and Stevie Wonder. Lord got heavily into it and it’s all over this track – tune into the super funky outro Lord plays. Lord could truly play anything – and sound completely authentic in any such genre.
9. Deep Purple: Almost Human (Total Abandon, Live in Australia ’99, 1999)
The song is decent, but Lord extemporises into a near Calypso-style solo on the Hammond that is probably 48 bars or so, but takes the song into a completely different musical zone (the feel reminds me of Soul Limbo by Booker T. & The MGs, used as the theme music for 1970/80s BBC TV Test match cricket coverage!). By now, the JL Hammond has a lighter sound to it throughout the 1990s – maybe he was a bit done with “heavy” and wanted to take his sound elsewhere and to chill out a bit (and give his hearing a rest). It’s a fabulous solo that nearly has Lord dancing as he’s playing it. A brilliant example of pure improvisational bliss where the player is in a “flow state” and totally disconnected from what his hands are doing.
10. Jon Lord: Andante (Concerto for Group and Orchestra, 2012)
JL’s last ever performance on record. He was wracked with illness by this stage, but showed up at Abbey Road in August 2011 to record his organ solo under the watchful eye of his great collaborator and by this stage, musical guardian angel, Paul Mann. He plays the solo on the famed Studio Two Hammond RT-3 organ, which dates from 1962 and was played by the likes of The Beatles and Pink Floyd. It’s all on video and both breathtaking and painful to see how much effort and concentration goes into what he’s doing. He sounds like Jon Lord to the last and Paul still talks about it with awe and admiration. What a fitting end to an extraordinary musical life.
Before We Forget by Ovais Naqvi hits UK stores in April. Right now, pre-orders are available for a 250 copies only edition signed by Paul Mann and the author through https://beforeweforget.store/
Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing
I would rank his keyboard solo in “Rat Bat Blue” first, followed by “Burn” and “Highway Star”. But my alltime favorite album from Jon is “Sarabande”. I think it is his masterpiece. Looking forward to the book!
January 7th, 2026 at 22:18Nice choice, but somewhat obvious except for maybe Flight of the Rat. I personally agree with all of it, but would have stuck in “Rosa‘s Cantina“ somewhere.
January 8th, 2026 at 01:11The author probably knows this already, but the intro to KAYBD was actually used in the soundtrack to a forgettable film from 1986, “Biggles.”
January 8th, 2026 at 03:17A few interesting points from Ovais. “Blackmore somehow always implied later than he wanted to go down a heavy rock path in 1969/70 while JL wanted to do only orchestral stuff”. Blackmore and the other musicians, Ian Gillan was another, wasn’t he one who also wanted to go down the heavy rock path. We could probably place Glover and Paice in there too. Regarding the KAYBD intro, “No one else I can think of in the music world could do something that “big”, on demand, on the spot”. Each to their own. It is a grand opening, dramatic in its delivery. Cheers.
January 8th, 2026 at 03:50I’ll be the first to add to the list!
Rat Bat Blue. An extraordinary solo in an extraordinary song.
January 8th, 2026 at 05:51The intro to You Fool No One from the California Jam. So much energy.
“Knocking at Your Back Door” : “The intro is film soundtrack quality music creation by someone clearly deeply schooled”
KAYBD was actually used in the film Biggles https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biggles_(film)
January 8th, 2026 at 07:31Nice to have this, he sounds passionate enough for Jon’s music to call him a ‘friend’ 🙂
Out of the 10 choices, the most surprising for me is “Hold on”, because it is a tune I always have associated to the great guitar solo and not as much as the organ work. But he does have a point
January 8th, 2026 at 11:08Re KAYBD…..wonder why no credit then?
January 8th, 2026 at 13:29@5
David, Rat Bat Blue is indeed an excellent moment. I think it is highly influenced by Bach here (a little after 1:30) :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVAPgZyXPNE
I would add many, but Lalena is a personal favourite from studio works
January 8th, 2026 at 15:08It’s always interesting to read a list of favorites of others – no one has a corner on what is “the best,” but everyone has a right to their favorites. This is a good list, but personally I would give a slight nod to “Hard Lovin’ Man” for my In Rock choice (though FOTR is a close second) and also prefer “High Ball Shooter” to “Hold On” on Stormbringer. And I much prefer Jon’s solo intro to “Lazy” on Abandon to his solo on “Almost Human.” I agree with Uwe on “Rosa’s Cantina” from Purpendicular, and “Rat Bat Blue” deserves to be there somewhere. But I strongly applaud the choice of Jon’s solo on “Andante” from the studio version of the Concerto. It is extremely moving, particularly if you can watch the video of it, which I can’t find on youtube but is included in the 2 CD edition of the studio recording of the Concerto. Pretty hard to limit your list to 10 favorites – Jon left a wealth of superb solos to explore and enjoy.
January 8th, 2026 at 15:18Ahem!
All of In Rock first!
Then: All of Machine Head + Who Do We (really*)Think We Are + Fireball
Finally: The Battle Rages On + House of Blue Light + Perfect Strangers + =1
– imho and all that 😃
I really don’t like to split up albums, I have always seen them as works of art that needed to be together 🤩
*didn’t we miss a ‘really’ somewhere in that title?
Ps: Uwe: you mocked me relentlessly because I quoted someone from YT who said that the new album would be released at Ian’s b.day, because you said how completely ridiculous it would be to release an album while the buying audience were on holiday!
Well, when was =1 released?!
– man I’m good several months later 😄😄
January 8th, 2026 at 15:30Jon’s technical mastery and musical expression brought him into the ranks of rock greats who possessed the greatest talent to leave behind music, music full of freedom supported by classical harmonic, rhythmic and melodic solutions. Lord was a great romantic at heart who excelled in the full freedom of his imagination
He was a master of support. He had the skills to play like Emerson, Wakeman but he preferred to avoid it, instead using his skills to orchestrate complex, layered accompaniments.
First from him …in my memory
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8XT4u_Hr0W8
January 8th, 2026 at 16:22Too many to name- mine include : No No No & Demons Eye
January 8th, 2026 at 17:33No one played like Jon Lord!
I finally have found someone who paid attention to the Hold On keyboard solo. I’ve always found it awesome and never really understood what was so special about Ritchie’s solo in that song.
Another big fav of mine is Jon’s solo on Touch Away.
January 8th, 2026 at 18:10The Dancing Girls riff (WS – S&S).
January 8th, 2026 at 18:45I would add A:200 into the mix.
January 8th, 2026 at 19:46Another sublime Jon solo: on “No No No,” including the brilliant hand-off from Ritchie.
January 8th, 2026 at 20:06@ 11 – =1? I didn’t realise Jon was involved with that album Karin?????????? Unless he was spiritually there or dropped in from the other side perhaps. Cheers.
January 8th, 2026 at 20:49The most memorable thing I’ve ever heard Jon play is the intro of the studio version of Child in Time – magical tone and masterful phrasing … unmatched!
January 8th, 2026 at 21:25@18
Well MacGregor what can I say?😃😄
I can hear his influence the same way Paul McCartney could hear his Linda in the choir on a newly made record, after she was dead !
Sometimes people just live on in our hearts, and even though it isn’t possible, I can hear Jon in =1!
Yeah, I know it is Don, but there are certain moments there 😊
(And no I don’t believe in ghosts!)
I do appreciate Don very much, but for me there is no one like Jon Lord. He had this certain quality that is so hard to describe and define 😊
January 8th, 2026 at 21:41Jon’s work on The Battle Rages On is hardly ever praised. The title track,Anya,A Time To Kill and the 2 solos in Solitaire are among my favorites.
January 8th, 2026 at 21:50@ 21- yes indeed, TBRO, I just listened to those songs yesterday. The three MKII reunion albums are wonderful for Jon Lord’s keyboard work, among other things as well. Cheers.
January 8th, 2026 at 22:45I love these comments! A Top 10 is quite tricky in itself and I’ve done a Top 20 Solos in the book and still didn’t quite manage to fit in every favoured piece. It’s quite remarkable how much facility he had as a creator of internal melody and as an improvisational force. It’s really where he scores above pretty much anyone else in rock in my view. The “Dancing Girls” solo from S&S is fabulous, as is “Nobody’s Home” from PS and of course, “Nasty Piece of Work” from TBRO. “Rat Bat Blue” is of course in my book solo list. A real hidden Lord gem, by the way, is “She’s a Woman” by Eddie Hardin & friends from “Wizard’s Convention”. Jimmy Helms is on vocals, he’s incredible and is still around. The piano and solos are split between JL and Rick van der Linden and JL takes Accompaniment Verse I and Solo Verse II. Even his solo on the Whitesnake track with the very same title is a synth monster. “Gambler” from SII is another fabulous intro and solo. He always played down his work in Whitesnake, but made his presence felt on some great song intros and solos. He almost perfected an art he had already mastered in that period. One can go on forever about his ability to contribute to a song without hogging other people’s credit…..a natural team player.
January 9th, 2026 at 01:20Place in Line has always been one of my favourites, in fact probably my most played DP song.
Both Ritchie & Jon’s solos are superb.
January 9th, 2026 at 03:35@ 21: absolutely! Also “Ramshackle Man” with the growling tone throughout but especially the solo with its brilliant moment of silence.
January 9th, 2026 at 03:50God Bless us with Jon Lord
My Top 10 favorites Jon’s works with Purple (in order, studio only excluding instrumentals)
1. Highway Star
2. Hard Lovin Man (I thank Mark 8 for bringing this song live again!)
3. A Touch Away
4. Kentucky Woman (that intro and solo)
5. The Aviator
6. Anya
7. A Gypsy’s Kiss
8. Strangeways (I love this more than KAYBD)
9. Almost Human
10.Love Child
To answer @14, Blackmore’s guitar solo in Hold On perhaps wasn’t a spectacle, but it was ‘delicious’ melodies, came as the right solo for the song. Something like Harrison’s solo on Let it Be. Both are not guitar songs and written by someone else, but they as guitarists could put the right and tasty guitar melodies to complete the songs. We know Blackmore wasn’t in the right mood during Stormbringer, but he could still come up with nice melodies there
I’m not sure many Purple fans will regard Hold On if there was no guitar solo on it. To me it was a Glenn Hughes ‘tribute’ to Stevie Wonder.
January 9th, 2026 at 04:33Like many of you, I too feel that Rat Bat Blue deserves mention. Hell, that whole album is underrated. It’s a very close tie with In Rock for my #1 Purple album. It blew my 12 year-old mind the first time I heard it. It took me a while to realize that RB’s presence on that album was much sparser compared to their previous recordings.
January 9th, 2026 at 08:38Happy to read that others also admire the “Almost Human” live solo. Improvisational genius at work. On the whole, I think “In Rock” was great for its time but other than “Child in Time” it’s the DP LP I’ve listened to the least in the 21st century. Having said that, the organ interlude after the cacophonous intro followed by the call-and-response friendly duel with Ritchie on “Speed King” is another Jon Lord highlight. Purple at its finest. The band was at its best when his keyboards were prominent. His solo work is memorable as well. “Pictured Within” often brings a tear to the eye.
January 9th, 2026 at 15:39Reading through all the comments and all the varied great work that JL produced just highlights what a great musician he was.
January 9th, 2026 at 16:29I will add mine into the mix, the intro and solo on Lazy from MIJ, still gives me goose bumps after 50 years of listening to it!
I’ve always thought his contribution to Ain’t Gonna Cry No More was both simple and essential. elevating a good song to greatness and I love his work on songs like The Aviator and A touch Away but his best, complete album has to be Malice in Wonderland, something I know he was proud of and I think is a jewel in the Purple crown.
I remember John Sykes saying that Jon’s Hammond sound dated Whitesnake. I think he was wrong, it actually took it to a higher level in a very different way to his Purple work. Looking forward to this book.
January 9th, 2026 at 17:02Not a spectacle, but delicious, that is a great way of summing up Blackers’ terse solo on Hold On, Andre S!
January 9th, 2026 at 19:06To choose one solo per LP, going only from DP’s original 1968-76 run, my picks would be:
Hush
Kentucky Woman
Lalena
Hard Loving Man
No No No
Never Before
Woman From Tokyo
Burn
High Ball Shooter
You Keep On Moving
WFT over Rat Bat Blue, because, awesome though the RBB solo is, the fast part sounds artificial.
January 9th, 2026 at 19:28As if they slowed the tape down to record it.
If JL really played it at that speed – amazing!
The fast part in Jon‘s solo in RBB IS artificial. Tape was speeded up, he regretted doing the effect in hindsight because he could never replicate it live and called it “cheating“. I didn’t mind, it was a sound effect that to me never meant “to sound real”.
I believe Jon was at the time inspired by the Wendy/Walter Carlos soundtrack to Stanley Kubrick’s Clockwork Orange, especially that speeded up bedroom scene where Alex takes the two girls he met in the record shop to task with the ole in-out, in-out, a scene prude YouTube doesn’t dare show to this day hence here only the music to it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=si6S8b2TBCM
Clockwork Orange was released in late 1971/early 1972 in the US and the UK, so the timing just about fits for it to have had an impact on Jon recording WDWTWA later in 1972.
January 10th, 2026 at 10:29Skippy, as far as I know the solo in RBB runs at higher speed indeed. It sure sounds like that and I seem to remember JL admitted it openly. I’d vote for Smooth Dancer anyway….
January 10th, 2026 at 10:46Mark, I remember that too. It adds perfectly to what I think John Sykes was like. And of course WS never were the same without JL. As DC said ‘you cannot just replace JL’.
January 10th, 2026 at 10:51Good point mentioning Ain’t gonna cry no more. Simple but effective indeed. Ain’t that genius? Some fine work with WS…Take me with you live. Mean Business.
And PAL is a juwel indeed.
Don’t Break My Heart Again (WS).
January 10th, 2026 at 12:33I’d have to add the first song on the first Purple Album, “And the Address”! The Hammond build up to start of the song and his solo are excellent!!!
January 10th, 2026 at 12:33Ritchie’s session days returning to the fore, in regard to the Hold On guitar solo on the Stormbringer album. Walk in, hear the song, play the solo, walk out. Mind you on Rat Bat Blue he couldn’t come up with or be bothered to play a guitar solo, so it gave Jon Lord a chance to play out of his skin. Although if that was back in Ritchie’s session days, he would be out of work, so to speak. The joy of being ‘self employed’. Cheers.
January 10th, 2026 at 18:51“I remember John Sykes saying that Jon’s Hammond sound dated Whitesnake.“
So do I – he was at all times full of testosterone and shit in equal measures. Jon should habe buried him under his Hammond.
January 10th, 2026 at 20:35# 26 Andre, I agree with “Love Child,” especially some of the live versions where Jon really went off.
Another Jon highlight on CTTB is “You Keep On Movin,” a solo that is not the most dazzling display of virtuosity but just so musical, so tasty, so soulful.
January 10th, 2026 at 20:56Regarding John Sykes allegedly saying that, in a way he was correct. Whitesnake were evolving or to put it succinctly, shedding their skin at that stage. The Hammond organ, as grand as it can be at times, was from the ‘dated’ 1960’s to the early 70’s. It does sort of take music back to that era when you hear it, even by the mid 80’s. Just the same as a Fender Stratocaster does. With technology advancing so quickly, some good and a lot bad, the 1980’s was the dreaded 80’s for a reason, let’s not mention ‘hair metal’, oops, too late. It’s all music, someone said that. Keef Richards wasn’t it? Cheers.
January 10th, 2026 at 21:07@40
“You Keep On Movin,” a solo that is not the most dazzling display of virtuosity but just so musical, so tasty, so soulful.”
So true… especially when he played it live.
January 11th, 2026 at 00:25@32: Inspired by Skippy’s best-of Mark I though IV studio LP list, here’s mine, with Jon’s songwriting contributions sometimes counting for more than his solos.
Hush — the swinging solo helped put DP on the map
Anthem — In hint of what was to come, Jon wrote and scored classical section
April — ditto
Speed King — calming interlude and call-and-response duel with RB are DP at its best
Fireball — Jon in spotlight with two frenetic solos
Lazy — indelible intro and solo
Rat Bat Blue — hey, he came up with the notes, even if he “cheated.”
Burn — majestic
Hold On — funky side of JL
This Time Around/Owed to G — yet another shade of Deep Purple
Second place list:
And the Address
January 11th, 2026 at 01:24Kentucky Woman
Blind
Child in Time
No No No
Pictures of Home
First Day Jam
Might Just Take Your Life
High Ball Shooter
You Keep on Moving
Agree with all of the above. Gotta slip in Sneaky Private Lee and his solo on Total Abandon Live.
January 11th, 2026 at 01:51The organ as an instrument was already around when John Sykes’ ancestors were still illiterate and filthily scurrying and scavenging around in the woods getting high on mushrooms and it is still around today while Sykes’ effects-drenched guitar wall of sound is so archaic and of its (comparatively short!) time it only triggers dry laughs in the present.
You tell me what sounds more timeless, Sykes’ guitar layers of varying slightly distuned shades of 1987 or this here from 1992
https://youtu.be/bfHsF6FKgb4
with one hell of a solo at 04:10 which by all means could have ejaculated from Jon’s precious organ!
Sykes was a bigmouth who didn’t know how to behave, a UK Ted Nugent, except that the Motorcity Madman would not have said something as inane about the organ’s role in rhythmic music.
https://youtu.be/mrUH9pGk90w
Rant over.
January 11th, 2026 at 02:57@33 & 34 – interesting. Thanks for the info!
@37 – yes, JL’s solo in “And The Address” is amazing. Ritchie’s, too. Great way to kick off a career.
January 11th, 2026 at 03:00A curio, I know, but I liked Jon’s piano and prominent mellotron playing here:
https://youtu.be/Qt2AYtXCwnA
What I didn’t know was that this is actually the first commercial release of the song ever>/b>, Boz Burrell’s cover preceding both the release of the number by Bob Dylan, who penned it, and by The Band, who made the song famous. Lookee here:
The earliest official release of the song was by English musician Boz Burrell under the name Boz, whose version was
released as a single on May 3, 1968, on Columbia.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Shall_Be_Released
And no Autotune or pitch correction with The Band either …
https://youtu.be/iuRQXjwsaHo
January 11th, 2026 at 03:27@33
“The fast part in Jon‘s solo in RBB IS artificial. Tape was speeded up, he regretted doing the effect in hindsight because he could never replicate it live and called it “cheating“. I didn’t mind, it was a sound effect that to me never meant “to sound real”.”
I wonder if that’s true regarding Fault line & no One Came as well… both with the organ track played backwards.
I don’t mind the sped up portion of RBB either. Music is an expression of one’s creativity, a form of art. Whether or not it can be replicated in a live setting shouldn’t be relevant. Take Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody for instance…
January 11th, 2026 at 06:59Keeping the Jon Lord flame burning brightly along with Tony Ashton and Bernie Marsden. I have just found a very good condition dvd of the PAL concert filmed live from the BBC, the 2007 release. Hooray indeed. A couple of weeks and it should be in my innocent little hands. Hard to find these days and all the way from the USA via the ebay fraternity. I watch it often online, so it will be grand to have a hard copy of it. Thanks again to Uwe for keeping the faith and for making me feel incredibly guilty at not having the album cd and the live dvd in my collection. I wonder if Karin feels that guilt in regard to not having enough Ian Gillan related music in her collection. The IGB collection awaits and will that suffice? Or will the coffers open up and her credit card takes a hammering pursuing ALL things Gillan. Time will tell. Cheers.
January 11th, 2026 at 11:05@ 47- I stumbled upon that Boz version of that Dylan classic a few months ago while looking at Boz in regard to his earlier musical journey. A good version that is. Regarding The Band version, I have never heard that, thanks Uwe, wonderful. Cheers.
January 11th, 2026 at 11:36you clearly do not like the Sykes clan then Uwe………………Anyway that comment from John Sykes isn’t a surprise at all. The modern era, (forty years ago) was going full steam ahead. There were plenty of people back then and there are still to this day who say things along those lines. Especially when ‘the good old days’ are mentioned. I take those sort of comments with a grain of salt, who care what other musicians think anyway. Sykes was a young guitar slinger, he was ‘bullet proof’ or so many younger people think they are, we were all young at some stage. Did he still think that in his older years? Cheers.
January 11th, 2026 at 11:52Sykes did mature belatedly over the decades and I do regret that his undeniable talents never bore commercial fruit again. The Blue Murder debut with DC singing would have been one hell of a WS album putting Slip of the Tongue to shame as the labored corporate effort it was.
I’m sure that in later years he saw the Hammond’s role in rock, blues and soul music as what it was, already on Blue Murder’s second outing it was miraculously back:
https://youtu.be/kqD6sqQoov8
January 11th, 2026 at 13:20Come on lads. Go back to Smooth Dancer. Purely a live take from JL. And made in those disastrous circumstances in late 72. So he gave his input alright to the sinking ship.
January 11th, 2026 at 17:22Would have loved to hear it live, but it never happened.
@47 Read somewhere that DP’s management got the band members the session backing Boz as a way to earn some money before they started playing live.
But Derek Lawrence told a somewhat conflicting story, that Ritchie Blackmore – who had worked with Boz previously – brought Boz along to the session to try him out as a possible vocalist for DP.
In either case, likely recorded before the DP lineup had been finalised by the last two members to join, Rod and Ian P. Doesn’t sound like IP on drums.
Apparently a connection with the B. Feldman publishing house was what provided Boz the opportunity to bring his version of the song to market before anyone else. The same connection which later in 1968 also provided DP the (missed) opportunity to record and release “Lay Lady Lay” before Dylan’s own version had come out.
Wonder if Jon’s first wife was a member of that music publishing firm family.
Boz was rated highly among other musicians – considered as Roger Daltrey’s replacement when Rog briefly parted company with the Who in 1965. Maybe one day there will be a comprehensive anthology of his work.
Too bad Paul Rodgers nixed the inclusion of the Boz-sung demos from the deluxe version of Bad Co.’s “Desolation Angels.”
January 11th, 2026 at 19:36I have to throw ‘Gambler’ in here. One of my favourite Whitesnake songs since the first time I heard it and it profits to Jon’s playing big time.
January 11th, 2026 at 20:12I forgot that Paul Martinez had passed away, a sublime bass guitarist who I witnessed in action with Percy and his band, 1983. Sheila McKinlay one of the support vocalist passed in 2012, not many left of that wonderful PAL band.
January 11th, 2026 at 22:22@49
“I wonder if Karin feels that guilt in regard to not having enough Ian Gillan related music in her collection.”
Not a problem! Ian Gillan fills up a lot in my discotheque 😊
And I’m proud to say: also dvd’s!
January 11th, 2026 at 22:47Several have mentioned Rat Bat Blue. I think that is probsbly DP most underrated or underappreciated song. It’s my favorite riff.
I have to mention Lazy because that intro is the best sound that I’ve ever heard coming out of a keyboard.
Lastly Child in Time. I think that is probably every band members’ best recording.
January 12th, 2026 at 03:17@ 52 – I do remember Blue Murder, a somewhat ‘failed’ dare I say it, ‘super group’. A few other familiar musical names involved initially with their earlier lineups. So John did appreciate old school music after all, a rather good version of Itchycoo Park that is. I vaguely remembered that cover of it once I started listening to it. Carmine Appice, how many bands has that guy played with? He seems to be everywhere, particularly later on, from the 80’s onwards at the time. Tony ‘hair’ Franklin on bass guitar. I wonder how Blue Murder would have gone playing live with Sykes on lead vocals, as he wasn’t really a lead vocalist. Maybe that was why they seemed so desperate for a stand alone singer. His vocals sound ok on that cover song, but live in concert he may have struggled. Thanks for the Small Faces cover song. Cheers.
January 12th, 2026 at 06:56Finally, let’s get the truth out: Jon played on one of the most influential rock songs of all time, “You Really Got Me” by The Kinks in 1964. The song later had a strong influence on rock musicians, particularly in the heavy metal and punk rock genres.
January 12th, 2026 at 10:02I must add much of my love to the “You Keep On Moving” studio version solo, I think it’s total grandeur, but still from the head, improvised and much more BIG, than rather flat Tommy Bolin’s response later in the track (as much as I love the man’s talent and works). But the track itself is a colossus at the end of the 1st Purple story chapter.
Is there, though, really no love for the ending part of “Malice In Wonderland?”. Really? Such a beautiful two for the price of one – first run on the rolling piano and then a grandeur switch to the Hammond and really going all the way on it, you’d wish that would go on for many bars more.
“Solitaire” – one of the most emotional and dark DP songs… Empty hearts and icy stares left the solo spots completely abandoned, hence the space for Jon’s absolute feast of brilliance. The fader apply at the end there is a crime on humanity.
And last but not least – the two intro runs to “Child In Time” verses in Granada Studios, July 1970… “Flight of the Bumble Bee” cited in the second run and one of the most fierce cadenzas Jon has ever played to close it – which sounds almost like rolling down the stairs and falling flat on the ass in the process, but head still intact on the corpse.
That Man was a GENIUS and I miss him, every day so much more.
January 12th, 2026 at 11:58Oh, and, how could I ever forget before I forgot!
Copenhagen, March 1st, 1972, one of the last “Child In Time” 17+ minute takes, where Ritchie shares the solo galllop with Jon. Lord takes the band down o mellow the pace and go absolutely genius in a long, pastoral, almost mass-in-church like run on the organ. I’ not sure if he’s citing something specific from classical there, but if he wasn’t – that might as well be the one of the brightest improvisation moments he’d ever had. Chills every time I hear it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QlKtc76u7u0&list=RDQlKtc76u7u0&start_radio=1
Takedown at 5:50 and then… just GENIUS
January 12th, 2026 at 12:08@60, I once got into a discussion with someone about this and, in an attempt to settle the matter, I actually called Jon to ask if he had really played on that song. The best he could say, to general frustration, was “I don’t remember”. He knew he had played on a Kinks session, (he once introduced me to Ray Davies at a rehearsal at John Henry’s) but didn’t think it was that one! So, that’s the best he could, or I can do. Case unproven!
January 12th, 2026 at 16:32In for some stick I may add Time to Kill.
I know a lot of folks rate it mediocre – I like the song, the lyrics and especially Jon’s solo…I wish it’d go on another 5 minutes….
January 12th, 2026 at 17:02@58 Speaking of the RBB riff, have a listen to this :
https://youtu.be/zdZjfmyHzBY?si=uYi3Y_prmIrOcBti
(Also surfacing later on at least a Beatles and a Led Zep track)
January 12th, 2026 at 17:27@62 Thorsun, this is indeed beautiful, thanks!
January 12th, 2026 at 19:35Some of my favourites that I (think I) did not see here. First 2 are studio and the rest 3 from live performances :
– “I’m gonna stop drinking” by PAL
Not flashy, but a subtle little requiem for the heavy drinker.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2ya-870eWA
– “Dead or Alive” by Deep Purple
One of his most neo-classical-heavy-metal moments, interplay with Ritchie, and it works so good
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TESpRDWaxj4
– “Wring that neck” by 1999 Royal Albert Hall
This song has given many great lengthy improvisations. But this shorter one is pure perfection.
(Of course little Ian manages to steal the show in the end)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBTc9kwHR80
– Intro on “When a blind man cries” Russia 1996
Such a great contact with the audience here
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GdFd6gRi8w
– “Gigue” by 2004 live.
This song is mentioned on the list of the author, but I wanted to point to this version
January 12th, 2026 at 20:19I love how he injects melodies from “Blue rondo à la Turk” and “West side story”.
This whole concert is spectacular.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3aW1pJeddg
@63 – Interesting. In a 1989 interview reproduced elsewhere on this site, Jon said that he did play on “You Really Got Me”:
“I played with Kinks several times. I even played the piano on “You Really Got Me.” I was paid five pounds for it.”
https://www.thehighwaystar.com/interviews/lord/jl19890100.html
Seem to recall that when Jon died and various music luminaries were sharing their memories, Ray Davies also said that JL was the piano player. A “social media” afficionado might be able to locate the relevant “tweet” or post.
However Davies also said, years earlier, that Arthur Greenslade had been the pianist.
The confusion may arise from the fact that the Kinks recorded the song three times at three different sessions, with the last version being the one that was released. It’s probable that different players took part in the various sessions.
January 13th, 2026 at 02:02Ray Davies has always said it wasn’t Jon, but someone else. And really, that background staccato piano tinkling hammering the chords in the second verse could have been played by anyone – you didn‘t even need an adept piano player for that. There is nothing in the least in it that might point to Jon‘s style.
January 13th, 2026 at 04:48@ 66 – Manic Miner, happy to serve! This is a super precious gem to me, still hardly noticed by most anybody.
Oh, and to have Sir Paul’s comment right after mine, what an honor!
@63 – Sir Paul – do you by the chance recognize if Jon refers to any specific classical track with that “church-y” part he plays in this Copenhagen 1972 “CiT” improvisation? This has bugged me for years, but obviously my knowledge is last to none here to recognize anything.
January 13th, 2026 at 07:38The good Arthur (Greenslade) of course had his hand in other pivotal songs of the era as well, writing the arrangement for this between-the-sheets-confession classic here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlpDf6XX_j0
Oh my, Jane was incredibly hot. And that’s not even talking her handbag.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birkin_bag
January 13th, 2026 at 09:49@64. I agree Max (up to a point) I don’t care for the verse but the chorus and solo’s are sublime and I love the way IG lays back just before Jon’s solo.
January 13th, 2026 at 11:13Ritchie‘s issue with Ian‘s version of a Time to Kill was that he had the JLT-sung original melody in his ear, which he liked, and made a request to management that Ian upon his return please sing it like that – just that one song. Which Ian of course didn’t do, but not out of spite – so he says – but because Ritchie‘s request was never transmitted to him by management. So he sang it in his own way (and not developing a chorus melody really independent of the underlying riff which Ian as we all know is sometimes wont to do) and Ritchie upon hearing it of course took it as a slight. Ian says he never even heard the original JLT melody.
Neither have I. So we‘ll never know whether Joe’s initial melody idea was any good (likely, though Joe is another conventional melodies singer like Paul Rodgers or Eric Martin who do have their very vocal fans even here however ☝️😎), serviceable for Ian’s style (doubtful), whether Ian ignored Ritchie’s wish willfully or whether the management simply didn’t want to rock the boat in an already precarious setting. No matter what went on, the amount of necessary grapevine secret diplomacy shows how Mk 2.3 right from the start didn’t have the best footing. In a functioning band you would have expected Ritchie to address Ian directly and ask him whether he would mind to sing a version of the song following Joe’s idea as an alternative take to his own version so the band could compare the outcomes. Easy enough, huh? But obviously not if you’re Ritchie and Ian plus their joint baggage. The whole incident was a harbinger of things to come.
I don’t have issues with Time To Kill performance-wise by the instrumentalists or even as regards Ian’s lyrics (anticipating conflict with Ritchie). My gripe is Ian – after an ok verse and a nice bridge – dries up creatively in the chorus part, unable to come up with a vocal melody that is either melodically or rhythmically removed from the chorus chords (which, to Ian’s defense, are so bland they could be from a Sammy Hagar song, so maybe he just didn‘t find that part inspiring). It doesn’t sound like he spent too much time on it either.
Both the Ritchie and the Jon solo are fine btw – one of the rare lnstances where Jon’s solo is longer than Ritchie’s! 😂
January 13th, 2026 at 18:57A similar scenario to the WDWTWA sessions. Although probably worse because of the Ian Gillan in and then out and then back in situation. I don’t blame any singer not wanting to sing another vocalists parts, that is only natural. I like the song Time to Kill, even though the chorus is a bit too ‘familiar’ in that ever so repeatable chorus sing along thing. So many have done that to death, it gets very boring doesn’t it. AOR style (AOR meaning Average Ordinary Rock), my take on that genre. Hang me and then lop off my head then, I just said it. The dreaded 80’s again, lets’ all do the same or similar thing, chorus wise. It would have been worse with JLT singing it. At least it has that Deep Purple feel, (80’s) reunion Purple that is. A wonderful melodic guitar solo and Jon Lord’s outro solo is sublime. Plenty to like in Time to Kill and let’s face it, Jon and little Ian and Roger Glover would have been oh so glad to get back to the bare bones of it all after the Deep Rainbow fiasco. We can hear the lift in melodies and playing and attitude on TBRO, compared to DR. Cheers.
January 13th, 2026 at 23:22My all time favourite piece by Jon is Pavane from the Sarabande album (definite shades of Oscar Petersen on that one) and in any top ten I’d have to include Lalena and You Keep On Moving as well as many of the more usual suspects such as Burn, Highway Star, Child In Time etc.
A definitive top 10 is pretty much impossible as so many would flip in and out of the list according to my mood.
January 14th, 2026 at 03:31leave aside all the awesome work on the ‘famous’ songs, even something like the poignant piano solo in between ‘fingers to the bone’
January 14th, 2026 at 03:50@75 Leon Mark Rodziewicz +1 for Pavane!
I was thinking on my short list above to add this version from rehearsal:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cL6ljr1TO9E
It does convey a nice and intimate feeling to me
January 14th, 2026 at 17:56@70. Just listened to it again. Great as it is, this sounds to me like Jon just improvising. If he’s referring to anything in particular, I don’t recognise it. Bears a lot of his usual hallmarks!
January 15th, 2026 at 06:35