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Phoenix Rising preview
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Phoenix Rising is due to be released on Blue-ray, DVD, CD and vinyl on May 20.
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I think is from This Time Around – Live in Tokyo ’75
May 10th, 2011 at 19:58Not exactly a treat for those who’ve heard it, which probably makes up nearly everyone reading here. Nice cookie though. 🙂
May 11th, 2011 at 00:47I down-loaded the audio. Well, the nicest thing I can say is it is Deep Purple Mach IV with all the worts….lousy guitar playing and an over bearing Glen Hughes. It amazes me how Purple fans can like this. It was totally disrespectful to the Deep Purple name and their millions of fans. Mach IV live sounded like a crap garrage band and it is amazing that anyone thinks otherwise. I do think the video with the stories – sans music – will be interesting because Purple was a huge name.
May 12th, 2011 at 22:56Are you sure your name is Ron and not D1ck.
May 14th, 2011 at 21:10@3
Predictable bollocks from a jaundiced ‘fan’ who can’t accept that Purple moved forward in 1975…this line-up was way ahead of its time and still sounds fresh and contemporary today.
A crap garage band eh? Paice and Lord were at their career best by this stage, Tommy had plenty of great moments on the tour and delivered the goods on the very fine CTTB…Glenn Hughes, a great showman, bass player and AMAZING singer who could/can reach out to a wide eclectic audience, and Coverdale, who was by this time established as a rock god for his performances on Burn, Stormbringer and Mistreated. This line-up had the potential to be the biggest band in the world!
We all know the story about Tommy and his arm in Japan..and yes there are ‘tighter’ performances (e.g. Long Beach) but this is a very interesting and compelling performance (and includes a bit of ‘Dance To The Rock’n’Roll’ – the best song Purple never properly recorded) that should attract a good number of new (of varying ages), un-washed-up music fans who are happy to be around in 2011, instead of lamenting the passing of 1972!
May 15th, 2011 at 20:12And yet Ron, classic rock magazine gave the re-issue a 10/10.
Perhaps the more one dumbs down the music, the better the rating these days.
May 15th, 2011 at 22:48I am a Purple fan all my life and I have seen, heard, loved and hated some music of the best band ever.
I can imagine the reaction of Ron because I feel the same on Purple during this period. I know Paicy and Lord were involved but come on guys, this is not the Purple as the Purple with Blackers and Gillan. They were not bad (I wouldn’t name them a garageband) but they were not THE hardrock band we fell in love with. Be honest….
May 16th, 2011 at 17:42@3
What’s a “garrage”???? – is that somewhere deaf dinosaurs sit and listen to Ritchie all day, cursing Mr Hughes for being SO talented it eats them up inside. Maybe you ARE Ritchie in disguise. Or his mum.
Hughes was a young, relatively inexperienced lad at the time (as was Cover-version), but went on to straighten out his life and career – to write and play some of the best post-Purple material ever released. Inspirational. His live shows are stunning, even this one (in parts!).
So you’d rather watch a washed up gnome play a lute at the bottom of his garden than see the very relevant BCC (or solo Hughes), featuring one of the greatest live voices ever.
Yeh, ok, Purple certainly helped Glenn’s career, but it also nearly finished him. He gave a lot to the band at a time of implosion. I was sad to Ian/Roger leave at the time, but I remember my enormous grin when that 12″ platter hit the deck in 74. Blackers was soon planning his departure and fundamentally caused the rot, not Hughes.
It amazes me that you’re so closed to Mk3 & Mk4 – a very different Purple but superb all the same. CTTB stands up today, maybe more than it originally did. Ahead of its time indeed TH. In hindsight, maybe they would have been better dropping the Gillan/Blackmore material from the shows, but obviously couldn’t, as this is what DP fans wanted to hear. Pity, cos another album would have no doubt been stunning, all problems aside.
You seem to overlook that this period saw a decline in other bands too, probably all drugs n’ booze related – but most recovered.
I’m a massive Blackmore fan (well, I was), but also a massive Hughes fan, in fact, most of the ex-members (apart from the obvious). Hughes is not “over-bearing”, he’s a very genuine guy, more than happy to chat to fans at the show. When did Ritchie EVER do that??? You were lucky if he could be bothered playing some nights (ruined the Birmingham show in 93, the selfish so & so).
Maybe Ritchie should release a biography too? “Woke up this morning, in a mood, sacked a band member, sulked about Gillan/Hughes/Coverdale/Glover, sacked a band member, bought a wig, vowed never to play the solo in Highway Star ever again, smashed a guitar, sulked a bit more, went to bed…”
If any of the Mk4 line up now gets on my wick at times, its Mr Shoe-shop man, now he should give over.
Tommy was a lousy player eh? Why not LISTEN. You’ll be telling me Jimmy Page only plays 3 chords next. Move over to a Rainbow website…. You Fool No One!!!!
May 16th, 2011 at 21:55It’s good to watch it in better quality , but I’m quite dissapointed no new Japan concert material has been added. They managed to find more songs on This Time Around . Plus the bonus material on the cd , most people already have, already own the Longbeach cd. What’s the point of the interviews & story of mark 4. Already heard about Jakarta , Bolin’s arm & why they broke up. Would like it if they released a box set with the some of the bootlegs. The Miami 76 gig was a very good one.
May 18th, 2011 at 08:13Guys,
Yes my name is Ron and not “Dick.” Very lame attempts at insults by some of the posters to this string aside, I am passionate about this issue because I am a Purple fan and I have ears! It can not be disputed that the tour to support CTTB is an ugly stain on the Purple legacy and was a complete fraud. That crap was not Deep Purple and the band sounded like a $5 bar band that did not have time to learn the material. It had to be embarrasing for Coverdale, Lord and Paice (Paice and Lord have basically said this) to be associated with this effort.
Mach IV was ahead of their times….incredible nonsense! Listen to lazy, burn, highway star live done by this group. Tommie could not even play the main riff in Burn correctly and needed heavy distortion to cover it up. Its a guitar song with an unforgetable riff and with Mach IV the guitar was so fuzzed and distorted (to cover the mistakes) that it lacked any of the original power. Tommie could not play the riff to Lazy. He screwed it up every time and no it was not his interpretation of the song. Lazy went from being an incredible organ – guitar duel to over the top singing by glen, blatant mistakes by Tommie and a lot of compensating by poor Jon who must have been wondering what the hell he was doing with these guys every night. Tommie could not play it or most likely did not care to do it right. Highway star was also a joke. The lead suitar solos to most of the songs were awful. It was really bad. I know Tommie was a fine player but was not well. But, Glen does not get a pass. I do stand by this — Glenn’s singing and Tommie’s inability to play the songs professionally (or correctly) was outright disrespect to the fans who paid to see them live and to the BAND with the legendary name of DEEP PURPLE!
Come Taste the Band — I give it 3 of 5 stars. Good album. I disagree with Ian Gillian and I view it as a Purple album. But, trend setter, “ahead of its time,” or influencial — a big NO WAY. The fact is their fans paid money to hear the band made famous by In Rock, Machine Head, Made in Japan, Fireball, Burn and not because CTTB was burning up the charts or because Glen Hughes is the voice of rock (another joke..right?.
Glen Hughes….the self promoting and self titled “Voice of Rock” who thinks he should be in the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame. That’s another story.
One last point, I’m not saying these guys had to be clones of Mach II or even Mach III. Artistic interpretation of the songs played well would have been very exciting. Unfortunately, Hughes and Tommie had no clue that they were two years removed from the biggest band in the world and were in their own world.
May 22nd, 2011 at 11:28Nige, I’m not cursing Hughes for being so talented. All these guys are talented. I curse him for what he did in Purple after Blackmore left. BTW, I think Coverdale is awesome and Burn/Cal Jam era stuff incredible. Its Bolin and Hughes and don’t put words in my mouth – I said nothing about Page. And, just because I am honest about Mach IV is no reason to “Move Over” to a Rainbow page. I saw as show from the 93 tour in Frankfurt…soldout…12,000 fans…front row…awesome show.
Grow up!
May 22nd, 2011 at 12:54Some of RON’s points are spot on….Sort of.
I would have to agree regarding Hughes’s over indulgent ‘squealing antics’. But that has been stated by most here many times. I also agree regarding their versions of the MK2 tunes. Horrible. But, using this particular performance as the focal point of judging the band isn’t a good choice. There are some great performance out there. The Miami Bootleg is one of the finest. Tommy was a great player and when in good shape quite amazing. I think they did really good jobs on the MK3 and 4 tunes. They just didn’t have the right chops for the MK2 stuff. Mainly due to the Coverdale/Hughes attacks on the tunes. It just didn’t work. ‘Come Taste the Band’ is an outstanding studio recording and I still say it stacks up to any other Purple record. Unfortunately, the dope induced pairing of Hughes and Bolin took what should have been a truly positive line-up into a spiraling downhill collapse resulting the tragic death of Bolin. Sure would have loved to have heard a Clean and Sober show…….
Cheers
May 23rd, 2011 at 16:19He Ron,
another go at the “Deep Purple is only DP with Blackers in it”?
Give us a break!
There have been disastrous performances of all lineups, with the notable exception of probably the period between 1970 and 1972.
But you never know for sure. You sound like you have listened to a lot of MK IV concerts. Have you really? Or does your knowledge boil down to the obvious Budokan tapes?
The Long Beach concert taped on “Wings of A Russian Foxbat/King Biscuit Flower Hour” is a brilliant r’n’r show. They obviously feel more comfortable in performing MK III and MK IV songs, but they still do the MK II classics justice.
This show easily shreds a lot of other concerts that I’ve heard with Ritchie on guitar (e.g. the Düsseldorf and Saarbrücken tapes from the Stormbringer tour, or the dreadful “Hungary Days” to mention only 2)!
You might as well be angry with Ian, Roger and Ritchie for what they did to the classic DP. They left the ship in full blaze and glory, didn’t they?
May 24th, 2011 at 20:16So you should blame them, not those who deputized for them and tried to carry on.
Crazy Horst:
Where did I say DP exists only with Blackmore? It amazes me how you guys twist things. I liked both Satriani’s interpretations and Morse’s work with the Purple catalog. No clunkers from either. In fact, I will see Purple June 10th….five rows back! Morse respects the Purple sound and songs and does a great job.
I heard Last Concert in Japan, I saw the video, and also own the King Biscuit show. KB is a lot better than Japan. I agree there are a few interesting moments, but its still filled with Glen’s noise and Tommie’s…lets say…problem. Listen to Lazy….Tommie can not play the riff. Tommie’s playing makes me cringe as he butchers those great tunes. I did like Sormbringer – cools Hendrix twist by Tommie – but the solo—one of Tommie’s best I have heard with Purple live was still off. The guy could not play during his time in Purple, its obvious. Im sorry he died and I am sure he was a great players when healthy.
Again, CTTB was a good effort. I remember when it came out and I loved it. No complaints. I dont rate it as one of Purple’s best but frankly that is no big insult. I clearly rate In Rock, Machine Head and MIJ as classics that match up against anything made in the genre; Burn and Perfect Strangers as great comeback albums; I put CTTB in the third tier — still in great company (Fireball, WDWTWA, HOBL and even Bananas).
To compare Bolin to Blackmore is ridiculous. Blackmore catalog of work is incredible – amazing. Bolin was at the beginning and was never the bright-star Blackmore was.
The people I blame are management. For what ever reason, Purple’s managers underestimated the impact of Mach II and ran it into the ground.
May 25th, 2011 at 21:56Hey what?!
Did Roger leave the band?
May 26th, 2011 at 11:33No, I heard he had a family issue and was out a few shows. I heard a rumor his wife was pregnant but I really dont know if that is true.
May 26th, 2011 at 21:43@10 I want to move to your home town, buddy. It’s got to be worth it, as it costs only $5 to see bar bands as talented, innovative, and iconic as Deep Purple Mk.IV.!!
It seems to boil down to this for the ‘hardliners’: Mk.II, MkII, MkII or a pedantic, note-for-note rendition with no free musical interpretation whatsoever.
Simply put, MkIV sounds fresh and contemporary TODAY. I’m glad they threw out the rule book and wove their own colourful tapestry.
“Bolin was never the bright-star that Blackmore was..” I had to laugh when I read that. It’s the kind of thing I often hear from Clapton fans when they talk about Jimi Hendrix.
May 27th, 2011 at 11:51Ron
It was pun intended.
I guess you made a typo when you mentioned Roger as a part of the trio that destroyed DP by leaving.
Although, ofcourse, one might be able to expand this view and say he destroyed DP by hiring his friend the PlainMan : )
May 27th, 2011 at 23:32I suppose its a matter of taste. I listen to Bolin and hear a sloppy player who can’t play the licks (live). I don’t buy it was his interpretation….it was too bad. Slash was stoned crazy at times with Guns and Roses but when he was on he was awesome. To compare Bolin to clapton, hendrix, blackmore is insane. Your opinion is MK IV sounded fresh and my opinion is they had some big problems with their sound. Purple MK IV was booed off the stage many times and deserved it . Im picking on Bolin a bit but the guy who really was over the top was Hughes.
To set the reocrd straight — Bolin was a takented guy and great guitar player— NO DOUBT! Im saying DP MK IV live due to Hughes’ noisey rants and Bolin’s adddiction embarrassed themselves more often than not and damaged the band’s legacy.
June 1st, 2011 at 00:42On the other hand…..
Blackmore says he and Tommy were friends(who are the other friends of Ritchie btw?)and that he gave the thumbs up for Tommy.
If RB says so, it must be right.
NOT???
Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.
He said he liked Cobain as well.
He did like ABBA.
He makes weird choices all along the way.
Example(Just a tiny one): he wanted to cover Dylans The Times Are A Changing.
Ok, Dylan cant sing, never could but I do have the strong impressions that he wrote many great songs from which the so called Blackmorising machine could benefit.
He is still the master on his instrument and sometimes delivers great songs, but…….
It all pales to the majestic heights around 1976.
There is probably a lot to make him debatable.
Its also in the genes I think.
When I spoke to Jurgen after an OTR gig he said they could NEVER not play Since You ve Been Gone!!!!
Stranded, Eyes Of Fire, Firedance,Tearing Out My Heart and Love s No Friend and more were neglected for SYBG : (
I now have listened to several bootlegs, INCL MIAMI!!!!,and ofcourse the official ones.
The album rocked but live it was a diseaster.
Who s fault was that then?
Could there be no intervenience by sane people like, ahem, the management or certain members of the band?
Was it the same mistake of 1972/1973?
In other words :
They chose to die in shame on stage while everything might have been saved by a rehab for the twins for example?
Were they really thinking :
MONEY!!!!!!
Instead of a healthy break for all concerned?
Ok, inbetween the ruins I steer my eager Purple ship through the excellence of Jon and Paicey that were never(Well, almost) better than on that tour.
Probably I m off everyones X mas list by now, hehehe.
Hell, I dont care.
June 2nd, 2011 at 00:10Never got any anyway and I m from Mars : )
@20
Interesting new name, Priest
June 3rd, 2011 at 21:14Tommy Bolin was the Miles Davis and John Coltrane of Deep Purple lineups. His playing to qoute Jon Lord was “Sublime” . Bolin’s solo career also demonstrates his playing and songwriting skills. Ironically for me his solo on Wild Dogs with this band on the Far East tour was his top solo. But I also love his take in Australia on Lazy and Stormbringer. The Longbeach gig show his chops on SOTW and Burn and Highway Star. The drumming and guitar countering between Paice and Bolin is very pleasant yet unpredicableness about it. History will point to Bolin’s playing on Spectrum, as his playing has garnered comments from Jeff Beck, Ray Davies, Jon Lord, Sir Ritchie Blackmore, etc. It is and always will be a landmark album. Today, CTTB still has that freshness vibe to it. The problem with Bolin was being consistant on every live gig, which he wasn’t. But for many jazzer and musicians having Bolin in the lineup took Deep Purple way beyond Machine Head and Smoke on the Water. Conversely, I feel Morse gives them this magic touch in the current lineup. A great band whatever the lineup. Randy California from Captain Beyond? Musically this band took so many directions — that’s the wonder of Deep Purple — it’s a different star lineup for all of us to enjoy. My bootleg tape from Australia shows what Jon Lord was talking about. “They loved Tommy in Australia.” Before Patsy Collins’ death — minus the drugs, as Patsy kept those type of things away from Bolin. DP had a stellar look and guitarist in the lineup. RIP Patsy Collins.
June 4th, 2011 at 20:02Having read some of the comments on here, it gets rather sad and quite odd to see fellow Purple fans having a go at each other over typo’s and there opinion of a member or album and insulting names towards each other, we have an opinion and whether we like it or not agree with I think some things should be avoided . I agree with some of Ron’s comments about Tommy Bolin, his playing in the studio was superb, regardless of what album it was, he certainly improved and no doubt a follow up to CTTB would have been a killer. As we were not there and privy to see how each of the band members behaved on the road and can only read or hear what certain members say now, its a bit hard to take a open minded view as Tommy is not here to defend himself. I loved Tommy’s work on CTTB and and looked forward to that tour, the drug and other problems that festered certainly made for inconsistent shows and behaviour, which no doubt damaged the bands name but lets not forget other members such as Blackmore have had off nights but get glossed over, I am not running Ritchies contribution to the band down, but his lack of enthusiam at times, Birmingham 93 was one such example, there are many others.
Tommy’s playing was inconsistent yes, maybe unprofessional at times, but we have no idea what went on before to make him do that, drugs aside. ( I am not saying it was right by the way) the guitar sound, well, maybe he felt it it sounded fine to him and he liked it and wo are we to say, sorry Tommy,Ritchie, Steve, dont like that sound, can you change it. Tommy often said and you can read it that he never likes to play the song the same way every night as he wanted to keep it fresh and exciting. I dont like Ritchies guitar sound as it sounds tinny and Morse plays at 120 mph and at times lacks any subtlty for the solo’s whereas on other parts he is superb
We have to accept that there have been changes in the band, some we like, others not, I was really excited by the reunion back in 84, but the overall quality of the material has not measured up to the earlier material, now thats just my thoughts,I am not living in the past, I listened to the Blackmore reunion material and would think, heard that on XYZ Rainbow album and it would leave me cold, the Morse material is better, Purpendicular is the best album since they reformed.
a final thought, CTTB was and is a worthy Purple album, fitting in alongside In Rock and Fireball as the best Purple albums, I know Ian Gillan once said Fireball was his favourite Purple album so it cannot be that bad
June 11th, 2011 at 15:37The King Biscuit gig with Bolin on guitar is amazing. Furthermore, I would have to disagree with Ron on the King Biscuit version of LAZY & Burn. Tommy’s versions are absolutely over the TOP. Stormbringer takes on a whole new element. In a word, magical. The LIVE combo of Paice vs Bolin was stellar. A drummer and guitarist that weaved magic. Moreover, I’m one of the fans that liked the new takes or twists on a new and old tunes. Lastly, it is a matter of TASTE and that’s why they called it the Come Taste The Band. Ironically when I was watching Blackmore on the PS Tour with DP he played the LAZY riff very much like Tommy? Elite guitarist? Everyones got a list. Joni Mitchell, KD Tunstall, Montgomery, Django, Hendrix, Page, Beck, Clapton, SRV, BB King, Albert King, Rory Gallagher, Jennifer Batten, Bolin and Blackmore. But I’m sure the list could be longer or shorter. When the MK 4 lineup was “ON” it was an awesome show. As Jon Lord alluded to the AUSSIE portion of the tour in the Phoenix Rising DVD, “Tommy played like a GOD”. Ron, you should listen to the Nicky Horne Planet Rock Interview where Jon Lord talks at length about the good, bad and ugly of having Tommy Bolin in the band. In a word, enlightening. Lastly, how about a Randy Rhoads mix in this band? That would have been very cool. (And I’m sure he’d put his own spin on things. ) The same could be said for a Beck or Hendrix. You know , if you’d put a Hendrix in the lineup ,, it would have be so much more different than the predictable. The road less travelled and a new melody to a old song.
August 2nd, 2011 at 17:42