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Going to the edge of the cliff
Glenn Hughes recently spoke to Face Culture about his upcoming autobiography Deep Purple & Beyond: Scenes from the Life of a Rock Star.
The book will be launched tomorrow, May 12, in London. The “deluxe” (at £550) and “signature” (at £300) editions are available immediately and can be ordered through the publisher. Paperback edition is due on October 15, 2011.
Thanks to Daniel Bengtsson for the info.
Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing
Glen Hughes is definitely talented. As a life long Purple fan, I feel he did a lot to hurt the Purple brand and is certainly over-the top on promoting his purple connection. He is far more out there than anyone else. On a recent episode of the Metal Show which Glen was on, the question they voted on was which “Purple line up is the best — Mach II or Mach III?” They all pandered to Glen (disgusting that even Eddie Trunk did not have the integrity) and said Mach III. Suprisingly, Hughes said Mach II and refused to throw a bone at mach II which made the band super-stars. Mach II had In Rock, Fireball, Machine Head, Made In Japan and Who do We Think we are — all classics. Burn was great but Stormbringer, though interesting, was not to that level.
May 12th, 2011 at 23:08I think I will enjoy this book when I read it. I ABSOLUTELY ADMIRE AND RESPECT Glenn for his comeback, but he won’t get much sympathy from me. While I don’t think he wants or needs any, he had no one to blame but himself for his downfall. The late 70’s and early 80’s were a wild time in a lot of peoples lives and not knowing how money and fame will effect a “young man”, I will not judge him. I looked up to DP so much as a 20 year old my memories will always be good ones. I will read the book as a much older and wiser man and probably laugh and say OMG a few times but will not be shocked. I am just glad Glenn Hughes is still around to tell it. Good luck on the US tour, I am going to see DP in Chicago instead of BCC in St.Louis (can’t afford both :(). The Purps are still the horse that pulls the wagon for me.
May 13th, 2011 at 02:23Sorry…meant to say Glenn said Mach III was better than Mach II. He did this without hesitation. I thought it was tasteless that he could not say a nice word about Mach II.
May 13th, 2011 at 14:27It’s a myth that Glenn – or Tommy for that matter were the cause of DP’s demise. IG and RG leaving was the beginning of the end for the band in 1973 regardless of how good (not great) Burn was – due mainly to a revitalised RB. That that success didn’t last beyond that first mkIII album – Stormbringer being “interesting” at best – should highlight that point. RB leaving was the final nail in the coffin. It must also be remembered that Glenn was only being himself. He was chosen to join the band as a bassist/lead vocalist. The band (mainly Blackmore) should have seen the funk leanings in Glenn when they saw him live with Trapeze. Moving on to Tommy, even though CTTB was a great album (far better than Stormbringer and in some respects better than Burn) it was NOT Deep Purple. In short the 1970’s success of DP was all due to the mkII line-up and the hard work they put in 1969-1973. As soon as that was broken it was all downhill.
Stop beating on Glenn and Tommy. If you want someone to blame for DP’s demise in the 70’s look no further than Blackmore for pushing out Gillan and Glover and in no small part Lord and Paice for going along with it.
May 13th, 2011 at 17:32#1 Could not agree more with you RON – you have summed up my feelings perfectly. Whilst GH is a talent, his self-promotion relative to his Purple days can be pretty annoying. His increasing influence on Purple in Stormbringer was, for my taste, the major contributory factor to a pile of dross. His recent appearance on BBC Radio 2, introduced as ‘the bassist in Deep Purple’, really got me going! Having said all this, quite like the recent Black Country Communion stuff. But for me at least, he is NOT Purple. Cheers.
May 13th, 2011 at 19:38In this man’s humble opinion, not even Ritchie Blackmore can top Glenn’s arrogance. I am sure that others have differing views – but that is mine. I love all of DP’s work with the exception of the Hughes – Coverdale days. Mark I Deep Purple is so under-rated and so is today’s “Mark” (whatever they are now – I can’t keep up). The latter day DP gets no airplay on radio in the States, as far as I know, and so-called “classic rock radio” is the guilty party. They occasionally play “Hush,” “My Woman from Tokyo,” and, of course, “SOTW.” One would think that is all they have done.
May 14th, 2011 at 15:32To all previous Perspective posts,
Well, GREAT perspectives!
N’uff said…
Peace,
Ted
May 14th, 2011 at 17:39God…would this guy just go away…insignificant in the overall scope of Deep Purple. One just needs to look at him, he looks like a dying old woman. Tying to make $$$ off the fans…pathetic.
May 15th, 2011 at 04:53I was just about to say: Well I am so sick and tired from this guy show offs of Deep Purple connection.
Well, hopefully, we will not hear same from Nick Fyffe, and read his books, memories, or what, ever in future… 😉
Note to Glen Huges: I admire you work and talent… But! Enough is enough. Do your work and stop bulling.
May 15th, 2011 at 12:31*what,ever = whatever,
May 15th, 2011 at 12:32The guy is in his own world. Anybody knows that the only right singer for Deep Purple is Ian Gillan, regardless of any other good singers they had, and one of the many pieces of proof is the fact that they did not have any kind of big success without him singing. MkIII and mkIV did the best they could, but didn’t even enjoy one third the kind of success, although they didn’t have as long to make any effort to surpass mkII, it is what it is. As for mkV, since when does a complete flop even eclipse the gunuine article? MkI, well that is about the only comp Ian Gillan could possibly have there, and still yet nobody goes around praising Rod over Ian. Facts are facts, deal with it.
May 15th, 2011 at 22:02Btw, neither here nor there to me, but for once I’m posting here in hopes that someone is reading, like so many others do here. It could very well be that Glenn sees this, and for dissing on the real deal that gave him his big opportunity in life that he threw by the wayside for so long, he deserves honest and harsh criticism for his PR antics. MkIII = deserving of a small place in rock history. MkII = deserving of a huge place in rock history… the common denominator is Ian Gillan.
May 15th, 2011 at 22:08The man is one hell of a musician. But I already thought some time ago when watching an interview with him that he can be very crazy at times – I think “over the top” describes it best. I believe he knows that.
Regarding the price of the book, I have a question for you people:
Isn’t it insane to sell it for (at least) 300 pounds? I mean, what the heck? I had to look thrice till I believed it … Opinions?
May 16th, 2011 at 17:19GH = BIG EGO
May 16th, 2011 at 18:26I listen Gillan singing on the new OUT OF MY MIND and I listen (I listened..)GH on the 1st BCC…
May 16th, 2011 at 18:30well, everybody say that GH’s voice is more fresh that Gillan’s….that he is the voice..perhaps is it but sure that Gillan sings better than GH….melodies are more interesting than stupid screamings: GH is not able to use is fortune..Gillan knows how to use the right.
The common denominator WAS Ian Gillan.
Nowadays DP is completely nowhere even compared with MK 4 or V.
Well, maybe within those 30 tracks(I think that story popped up in the past as well)Ian Gillan appearantly has in his head.
Well, DUTCH teletext wrote that yesterday.
A releasedate is yet unknown.
Damn, I had set my expextations for this summer, a double album wich showed all styles DP has explored since 1967.
Albumtitle : The Purple Tower Of Babylon.
May 16th, 2011 at 22:26I am a big fan of Glenn’s, and love both Mark II and Mark III, and in all honesty i think Mark III is the definitive line up.
But Made in England is right. It was Purple’s choice to invite Glenn into the band, and obviously they had seen him perform with Trapeze so no surprises there with regards to his style of music.Why blame Glenn. Blackmore has a history before and after this lineup change of wanting to change personnel and musical direction.
And of course he is going to say that his version was better, it was more HIS style of music, and HE was involved. Terrible to think well of yourself and your own performance. And it was all very light hearted.
May 17th, 2011 at 09:13actually that is a typo! Meant to say mark II is THE definitive line up!!! Sorry!! Although i love Glenn and DC, Mark II is, and will always be, Definitive DP.
Although I have to say my favourite DP track is Burn,the greatest track to open an album with!
May 17th, 2011 at 14:04@Priest, you just don’t understand English very well, admit it! No big deal, but you can’t spin it according to your opinion, but thanks for sharing. They NEVER succeded without Ian except for their first hit single, the only success Glenn had with them was on Ian’s back, period. They paid him to join with money they made when Ian was singing. They made a good album and followed it with a semi-good album, that does not mean they succeeded on the name on their own merit, unless of course you can show me how much more either of those albums even went on to sell these days than the mkII albums, no comp at all there. You need to face the facts, forget about our opinions for a second. Looking up the word success might help too, it’s all in your mind.
May 18th, 2011 at 16:45Still love Glenn btw, but all that has to do with Deep Purple now is that is where I was reluctantly introduced to his at the time limited talent that he has gone on to vastly improve upon ever since, especially most recently. And I do like a lot of what has led up to this. I do not dispute the use of his talents now and I’m proud of him. But I’m not going to pretend he was even good for the growth of the name Deep Purple and it’s legacy compared to the Gillan factor. Opinion is irrelevant here, preferences, whatever, I’m talking about what happened, not what’s merely been preferred from it or not.
May 18th, 2011 at 16:54I ll never rate MK 3 above MK 2.
But BURN showed that that line up was a new band in it self.
Its better than everything combined with Morse.
Even CTTB is more DP than what has been tried with Morse.
Only Purpendicular might be something to see as a Purpelish sound.
But it looses when comparing the ROCKFACTOR in that album and BURN or Stormbringer.
And when Did the Morse era produce gems like Stormbringer or Soldier Of Fortune?
Even MK 5 produced classics like The Cut Runs Deep, Fire In The Basement and Truth Hurts.
True is that Glenn and David stood on shoulders of giants before.
Gillan is the miost succesfull one all the singers, no debate.
But that was during 69-73, not later on.
Although he had very strong moments in GILLAN, his voice was already detoriating in the early 80 s while Joe and Glenn still have a strong voice today.
Glenn and David were excellent on BURN and often dubious, espescially on the MK 2 stuff, on the live front.
Both Glenn and David had periods of excellence during their ” solo phase”.
Although Glenn made up for a lot in his body of work since 1992 he spoiled it on the live front again and again .
Frustrating the hell out of me because at the same gigs he had plenty of SUPERIOR moments at the same nights as well.
Another dubious fact is that he distanced himself end 70s, early 80 s very strongly by saying things like “Smoke and all that kinda stuff” is NOT me.
Time and time again he pronounced having found his definitive direction and then switched again from wanna be Mister Funk to Mister Rock.
Change in it self is very welcome to me, thats not the criticism.
But denouncing ones past and flipping all the time does not create an image one can take very seriously.
I have been listening to BCC II and I ve yet to come to evaluate it.
First impression is that the first one was stronger, but the first track ROCKS, and not to a lesser degree caused by a great hammonsolo!!!!
IMHO they try to hard to incorporate Led Zeppelin sounds into their own.
But, as I said, I have to listen more times.
Hell, wish Rod Evans would team up with Ritchie and Jon in probably their final hour.
May 19th, 2011 at 16:11Typo :
Stormbringer should have been CTTB in comparing the ROCKFACTOR”.
May 19th, 2011 at 16:12I have a promotional copy of the new Black Country Communion album. At least two tracks (‘The Outsider’ and ‘I Can See Your Spirit’) are 100% Deep Purple Mark III. It sounds BRILLIANT.
May 21st, 2011 at 16:25As for the interview: WHAT THE HELL IS HE TRYING TO SAY???