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The Ritchie Blackmore Story

The upcoming Ritchie Blackmore documentary appears to have undergone a facelift — it has been retitled from the quirky Uneasy Rider — The Talented Mr. Blackmore to more pedestrian The Ritchie Blackmore Story and release date has been pushed back to November 6.

It will come out on DVD, Blu-ray and digital download.

The documentary (at least, the Japanese edition) will include fragments of the following:

  • Concerto for Group and Orchestra (London, 1969)
  • Speed King (Beat Club, 1970)
  • Mandrake Root (French TV, 1970)
  • Child in Time (Granada TV, 1970)
  • Black Night (Live on TV, 1970)
  • Strange Kind of Woman (Live on TV, 1971)
  • Smoke on the Water (Hofstra, 1973)
  • Highway Star (Budokan, 1972)
  • Highway Star (Australia, 1984)
  • Space Truckin’ (Denmark, 1972)
  • Space Truckin’ (California Jam, 1974)
  • Mistreated (California Jam, 1974)
  • Burn (London, 1974)
  • Long Live Rock’n’Roll (Munich 1977)
  • 16th Century Greensleeves (Munich 1977)
  • Do You Close Your Eyes (Munich 1977)
  • Gates of Babylon (promo, 1978)
  • Since You’ve Been Gone (promo, 1979)
  • All Night Long (promo, 1980)
  • All Night Long (Donington, 1980)
  • Difficult to Cure (promo, 1981)
  • Street of Dreams (promo, 1983)
  • Perfect Strangers (promo, 1984)
  • Call of the Wild (promo, 1987)
  • King of Dreams (promo, 1990)
  • Battle Rages On (Birmingham, 1993)
  • Black Masquerade (Dusseldorf, 1995)
  • Play Minstrel Play (promo?)
  • Renaissance Fair (promo?)
  • Fires at Midnight (promo?)

In addition, there will be a 2DVD+2CD deluxe edition. The extra material will be the subtly elusive Rainbow Budokan 1984 show — Live In Tokyo, which to the best of my knowledge have been previously released in full only in Japan on laserdisc. The second DVD, along with both CDs, will contain this last Rainbow performance from March 14, 1984, right before the Purple reunion.

Live In Tokyo track list:

  1. Intro Medley
  2. Spotlight Kid
  3. Miss Mistreated
  4. I Surrender
  5. Can’t Happen Here
  6. Catch The Rainbow
  7. Power
  8. Keyboard Solo
  9. Street Of Dreams
  10. Fool For The Night
  11. Difficult To Cure (Beethoven’s Ninth)
  12. Guitar Solo
  13. Drum Solo
  14. Blues
  15. Medley: Stranded / Hey Joe
  16. Death Alley Driver
  17. Fire Dance
  18. Maybe Next Time
  19. Medley: All Night Long / Woman From Tokyo
  20. Lazy
  21. Since You’ve Been Gone
  22. Smoke On The Water

Japanese “super premium” limited edition in addition to the above will also include Live In Tokyo on 3LPs and two original design t-shirts.

The Ricthie Blackmore Story Japanese limited edition; image courtesy of Ward Records

Thanks to Blabbermouth, Ultimate Classic Rock, Ward Records, Lutz Reinert, and mr.trinity for the info.



18 Comments to “The Ritchie Blackmore Story”:

  1. 1
    Jim Collins says:

    Shouldn’t Black Masquerade be 1995, not 1985?

  2. 2
    John Harjo says:

    Correct !

  3. 3
    Val Feldman says:

    Looking forward to that Tokyo show

  4. 4
    LRT says:

    Could be worse, but I hope the Japan show is from master and not just the bootleg sold officially like the Donnington show included on the Down To Earth re-issue. Epic fail if so. The rest at least does intrigue.

  5. 5
    Deacon Crowley says:

    Thanx for clarifying. Too good to be true to have 2 docs coming out in 2 months time.

  6. 6
    Mark Taylor says:

    No mention of his pre Purple career and no footage of MK I line up!

  7. 7
    Ivica says:

    aaaaaaaaaaa

    “Wring That Neck ” Paris 1970 ????!!!!!!!

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXgvxg8StnI

  8. 8
    LRT says:

    Speed King is not Beat Club either. These are small gripes. The list of material doesn’t make this an immediate must buy.

  9. 9
    purpledaniel says:

    @ 5,
    what would be the second doc?

  10. 10
    Claus says:

    “Speed King” (1970) is from “Ich bin” (I am) , a personality show with Vicky Leandros , a well-known
    Greek singer, she won the ESC back in 1972 and for that show she won the Bronze Rose of Montreux:
    http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1283494/

  11. 11
    Johnny says:

    It’s spelled ‘Donington’, not ‘Donnington’.

    Bands have been playing there for over thirty-five years and people are still spelling it incorrectly!

  12. 12
    Johnny says:

    Deluxe Edition now listed on Amazon UK for under £35.

  13. 13
    Stratpack says:

    I see the one on Amazon UK is the 2xDVD/2CD version, anyone any idea where the 2xBluray/2CD version is being sold?

    Also, any ideas where the super premium version is being sold, can’t find it on HMV Japan.

  14. 14
    Johnny says:

    The price of the Deluxe Edition on Amazon UK has now dropped to under £25.

  15. 15
    dpmuc72 says:

    I received my deluxe edition yesterday. Nice item !
    Interesting documentary ! And the part concerning Ian Gillan naked and spiders in the bonus interviews is really funny !

  16. 16
    Johnny Main says:

    UK website MetalTalk have published a review of the ‘Ritchie Blackmore Story’ DVD here:
    http://metaltalk.net/columns2015/201523339.php

  17. 17
    Scott W. says:

    I have watched the DVD a few times now and recommend it to RB fans. Not a lot of new stories but the comparison of Jim Morrison and Ian Gillan ‘looks wise’ is a new one. I love the bonus bit about Gene Vincent and J. Lee Lewis as told by RB even though the stories have been in print and the Gene story was in the Kevin Spacey movie ‘Telstar” about Joe Meek. As far as the Tokyo dvd, I owned the Jap Laser Disk when it came out officially in the mid 80’s and do not recall the show image being so soft focus. But then we have been spoiled with Hi Def dvd images since then.

  18. 18
    mike says:

    Im still waiting for a release date of the deluxe edition here in the states-hopefully soon

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