Deep Purple
Deep Purple,
along with Led Zeppelin, were heavy metal/heavy rock
pioneers in the late 1960s. British group Deep Purple
grew out of several '60s bands, including The Flowerpot
Men (the group that had the 1967 hit at the height of
flower power, 'Let's Go To San Francisco', and included
organist Jon Lord and bassist Nick Simper), and the
slightly later group, Roundabout (which featured
guitarist Ritchie Blackmore and Lord). Blackmore, Lord,
and Simper joined forces in 1968, augmented by Rod Evans
(vocals) and Ian Paice (drums), to form the first
incarnation of Deep Purple.
An instant success, Deep
Purple saw their single 'Hush' reach number four in the
US in '68, which was a year heavy rock really came to the
fore, with Led Zeppelin being formed that year, and also
being the year of The Beatles 'Helter Skelter' and Iron
Butterfly's 'In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida'. Deep Purple themselves,
were a support act on Cream's last tour, all of their
first few albums were well received, and, on the
eponymous 1969 'Deep Purple' album, the band employed a
symphony orchestra on some of the tracks.
The line-up was
about to change, however, with former Episode Six members
Ian Gillan and Roger Glover replacing Evans on vocals,
and Simper on bass, respectively.
Around this
time, Deep Purple, like a number of bands of the late '60s,
were becoming more expansive musically, and, with their
new line-up, their Jon Lord inspired classical meets rock
album, 'Concerto For Group And Orchestra', was performed
at the lofty surroundings of the Royal Albert Hall, with
Malcolm Arnold conducting the London Philharmonic
Orchestra. Thus, Deep Purple had proved, early on in
their careers, that they had more finesse than most of
the heavy rock bands which were to emerge in the 1970s
and 1980s. Deep Purple never really liked being labelled
heavy rock anyway, and, like Led Zeppelin, their music
was just as powerful as any heavy rock band around you'd
care to name, but these two giants of British rock were
also a damn sight more versatile, too.
Deep Purple's
success continued unabated until the mid-'70s, by which
time they had built up a reputation as one of the big
three of heavy rock bands - the others being Led Zeppelin
and Black Sabbath. In the early '70s Deep Purple produced
their two most famous songs, 'Black Night' (though as a
single not going down too well in the US, chartwise) and
(with, pretty much unquestionably, the most famous
opening guitar riff on any heavy rock song) 'Smoke On The
Water'.
A turbulent
couple of years for Deep Purple occurred from 1973
onwards, with both Gillan and Glover leaving the group,
and being replaced by vocalist David Coverdale (relatively
unknown up to that point), and Trapeze bassist Glenn
Hughes. They made their first appearances on the 1974
album, 'Burn', which continued the run of successful Deep
Purple albums. Coverdale and Hughes also continued the
Deep Purple tradition of embracing different forms of
music, and were bringing in funk and soul, especially on
the group's next album, 'Stormbringer'. Blackmore,
however, did not like the direction Deep Purple were
taking, and left to form Rainbow.
Ritchie Blackmore's departure proved to be a crushing
blow for the group, and they had really reached their
zenith, so there was only one way to go now. The tragic
American guitarist Tommy Bolin was brought in, but never
really did himself justice due to drug problems, problems
which were maybe exacerbated by the high expectations of
having to replace one of rock's best guitarists. 'Come
Taste The Band', from 1975, was Purple's last album
before their reformation in 1984.
Former members of Deep Purple were to find success with
Rainbow, Whitesnake, and Gillan - a rare occurrence of
the remnants of a top rock band being successful thrice
over.
In April, 1984, the most revered line-up of Deep Purple -
Gillan, Blackmore, Lord, Paice, and Glover - got together
again to record a new album, 'Perfect Strangers', and
play a world tour, both of which were successful. Things
were quite rosy until Gillan was fired in 1989, and
replaced by ex-Rainbow frontman Joe Lynn Turner. It
wasn't long before Gillan returned again, but tensions
had always run high between Blackmore and Gillan, and
this time Blackmore left, to be replaced by Joe Satriani
in 1994. Then when Satriani preferred to concentrate on
his solo career, Steve Morse stepped in, later in '94.
Deep Purple have gained respect in latter years for such
albums as 'Purpendicular', and even revisited the Royal
Albert Hall, to perform 'Concerto For Group And
Orchestra' again, in 1999. This time with the London
Symphony Orchestra. When Jon Lord quit the band to take
things a bit easier, in 2002, he was replaced by Don
Airey, who had good credentials, having played with
Rainbow and Whitesnake.
Now up to Mk VIII, Deep Purple, with stalwarts Gillan,
Glover, and Paice still in the band, made a resounding
impression at the Canadian leg of Live 8, and are true
rock 'n' roll survivors - being the longest lasting of
all the major heavy rock groups...though whisper it - as
they're not keen on being called heavy rock, of course!
- Paul
Rance/booksmusicfilmstv.com.
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!['Deep Purple - In Concert With The London Symphony Orchestra [2000]'](http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B00004I9P0.02._SCTHUMBZZZ_.jpg){kind=small}
