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The 2020 album in Rocks magazine
Deep Purple and their upcoming new album is the cover story of the issue #75 (February 2020) of Rocks magazine out from Germany. Machine translation of the promo blurb reads:
Deep Purple (Exclusive!)
When Infinite came out in spring 2017 and Deep Purple embarked on a concert tour with the meaningful motto “The Long Goodbye”, the time seemed to have come to say goodbye to the hard rock giants, whose glorious history preceded half a century in England. The band has now surprisingly announced their 21st studio album – and talked about it exclusively with ROCKS. We were able to hear seven new songs in advance and conduct extensive interviews with Ian Gillan, Ian Paice, Steve Morse and producer Bob Ezrin. What lies ahead for us in spring is in our cover story.
Thanks to Deep Purple Tour Page for the heads up.
Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing
Great!!
February 13th, 2020 at 16:40Vivement ce nouvel album et vivement le 30 juin à Paris ! Merciiii Deep Purple…
February 13th, 2020 at 16:40when the album “deep purple geriatrics” ????
February 13th, 2020 at 19:41Yeaaaaho!
Can’t wait.
Can’t believe it.
Yeah!
February 13th, 2020 at 22:18Now what?! INFINITE, I am guessing the next theme will be a bit down to earth. Maybe this time they will be more in touch with the Dinosaurs age. 🤔🤔🤔
February 14th, 2020 at 03:15Sorry guys I still think nothing beats the crazy musical lyrics and material on the Bananas Album. God forgive you Mr Bradford.
Please……….don’t let the title of the new album be Whooosh !!
February 14th, 2020 at 14:51It would be nice to get a firm release date.
Stop those annoying 20 sec Ezrin & Glover clips on FaceBook.
Just tell us when we can buy the thing !
Can’t Wait! Hopefully a Canadian tour to support the album!!
February 14th, 2020 at 15:22And why not? : – )
A trinity of Bob Ezrin albums is a fine and fitting way to bow out, it brings closure. He was always among my favorite producers. And with all due respect to Martin Birch who was pivotal for Deep Purple’s 70ies success and sound, I always wonder how the band would have sounded in the hands of a real producer like Ezrin as opposed to Birch, who was more of an “enhanced engineer”. Not something Ritchie, disdaining any strong-willed influence except his own of course, would have ever wanted, but interesting thought nonetheless.
Who’d have fathomed in 1994, when Steve joined, that the band would still exist 26 years later with pretty much the same line up (Jon’s departure from the fold was inevitable given what he wanted from his later life; his premature death tragic) and – soon – seven albums under their belts? I’m happy for them.
Like probably to most people here, In Rock, Machine Head, Burn and – yes! – Come Taste The Band are eternal treasures to me from DP’s Sturm & Drang 70ies heydays, but Steve and later on Don have been good for and to the “senior citizen DP” we have all known (and hopefully loved) in the last three decades.
And when will the magnificent Purpendicular be finally re-released in a worthy format as a three CD remaster, Kevin Shirley remix plus outtakes and alternative versions?!
February 14th, 2020 at 16:27If I were Peter Parker, then I’m sure I’d say “Hey, my spider-sense is tingling!”.
February 14th, 2020 at 23:48Funny, how things change. All those years, THS got all the info directly from the band firsthand, now nothing is shared but one has to stumble upon the news somewhere else.
February 15th, 2020 at 02:04It seems, the titles of the seven tracks are as follows:
Throw My Bones
February 15th, 2020 at 08:17No Need To Shout
Nothing At All
The Long Way Round
The Power Of The Moon
What The What
Man Alive
Can’t believe in my sixties these guys can still excite me! Can’t wait ! Have my tickets for Birmingham and Leeds already ! Bring it on guys ! One last time ??
February 16th, 2020 at 17:03Anyone willing to take a guess at what the title of the new album might be?.
February 16th, 2020 at 21:11How about this:
“Is That The Time?”. ⌛ 😎
Sweet Child, it aint Time!
February 16th, 2020 at 23:41YET
The album title is “Whoosh!”, release in April 2020!
February 17th, 2020 at 07:27In the age of albums not selling, I’m surprised there has been no comments about Infinite going “Gold” in a Germany. Both Now What and Now Infinite achieved this standard. I think it’s amazing. According to Wikipedia, Purple was awarded 9 gold records combined for those two albums…. 5 for a infinite and 4 for Now What. Throw in Infinite going top 10 and Now What going top 20 in UK charts. It’s very impressive purely from a business point of view.
Having said that, Purple does need to revamp their live show. It’s stale. Its largely always the same regardless to what the band members claim. It’s visually mediocre. I go to lots of shows from all kinds of bands. It wouldn’t take much investment to significantly up their game. The “sound” is incredible. They still sound great.
February 17th, 2020 at 13:25after ritchie blackmore is for me synonymous with musical emptiness, indeed the compositions no longer sound deep purple … moreover the group should have changed their name because the two remaining people and founder of the group only did ” surf “on the past fame of this fantastic group in the heyday (1967/1993) …. short for me totally uninteresting besides I never came back to see them on tour after the departure of ritchie ….
February 17th, 2020 at 18:58Love it or hate it the name is indeed Whoosh. It was good enough for beginning of Fireball so why not😁
February 17th, 2020 at 19:37BLACKWOOD RICHMORE @13
February 17th, 2020 at 20:24MY GUESS for the title
‘Going Underground But Ladies First!!’
🤔🤔🤔
@ 18 David. Terrible name. It brings to mind the sound of a flushing toilet !! Just my opinion, of course.
February 18th, 2020 at 12:47#8 Martin Birch – producer extraordinaire – Try Long Live Rock and Roll, Assault Attack, Seventh Son, Piece of Mind, Heaven and Hell, Mob Rules, Malice to name a few. Not a real producer my arse.
Fantastic to have some positive news on a new album, here’s hoping we can get our filthy mitts on it before the next leg of the UK tour.
February 18th, 2020 at 13:52Listen to the 20 second soundclip when Gillan says whoosh-whoosh in one of the songs spooky lyrics. It really is not that terrible imho.
February 18th, 2020 at 15:22maurane@17,
Why are you even up here in THS cloud then?
Peace,
February 18th, 2020 at 18:27Ted
@17 – It’s been 26 years! Get over it already. Also, if they sounded the same then you would be complaining that their sound hasn’t changed in 50 years!
That is your loss not seeing them because Richie left. It doesn’t matter, you are probably one of those fans who just sits there arms folded with total attitude breaking down every segment of every song performed.
FUN WOW!!!
February 18th, 2020 at 20:18Uwe @8
February 19th, 2020 at 10:48Martin Birch was the sixth member of DP according to Mk2. Please watch Machine Head classic album doucumentry to see how each member band praised him.
If it wasn’t for him none of the Mk2 albums would sound the same. The guy is a genius. I wish I could say the same for Mr Bradford on his work on the Bananas Album which had the best musical material of the current line up but the production is nothing short of the stuff you flush down the toilet whoosh….
supeeeeeeeer, Can’t wait !
February 19th, 2020 at 15:29I’m not knocking Martin Birch, but he was an – excellent – engineer first and foremost. He made Deep Purple sound great (I so much prefer the sound of Purple albums to Led Zeppelin, you wouldn’t believe it), but he didn’t shape their music the way George Martin did with the Beatles or Bob Ezrin did with the classic Alice Cooper Group or with the Peter Gabriel solo albums and the latter day work of Pink Floyd.
There are producers and there are producers. If you want to tell the difference between an engineer-producer and a producer-producer then listen to Rock’n’Roll Over (produced by Eddie Kramer) and Destroyer (produced by Bob Ezrin), both by Kiss. Then tell me what is (merely) a well-sounding rock record and what is a cinemascopic piece of art.
I’m not saying that 70ies Purple would have worked with a strong outside producer – I don’t believe Ritchie would have had it. I think the last strong producer type figure he worked with was Joe Meek. ; – )
Oh, and in case you were wondering: The tell-tale bass parts of both Detroit Rock City and Another Brick In The Wall were not written by Gene Simmons and Roger Waters respectively, but by Bob Ezrin. That is what producers-producers do.
February 19th, 2020 at 23:53For the record: Martin Birch made Purple sound great, but he did not make them push musical boundaries. He is not that type of a producer, just ask Neil Murray, who loved the bass sound Martin got out of him (the early Whitesnake albums are master classes in creative rock bass playing), but says that Martin didn’t push the band hard enough.
Bob Ezrin is the first real character producer the band has worked with, coupling producer artistic input with sonic engineering capability. All his predecessors were either mainly brilliant engineers (e.g. Martin Birch, Roger Glover) or – while equipped with a musical influence – lacking in sonic abilities (Derek Lawrence, Michael Bradford).
That is not taking anything away from Martin Birch’s pivotal contribution to how Purple SOUNDED in the 70ies. And I love his work on MSG’S Assault Attack and BÖC’s Cültosaurus Erectus and Fire OF Unknown Origin as well.
February 20th, 2020 at 00:08Adel. I agree 100%! The production and mix on Bananas and Rapture are pathetic.
February 20th, 2020 at 00:26@17 I was just like you till about 1997-98 when I opened up the first BN LP and gave it a whirl. I realized quickly this stuff is not my thing and Ritchie has lost me.
Bereft that there would be no more new music I would like I decided to give Purpendicular and Abandon a listen. I now kick myself for not trying them just because Ritchie wasn’t involved. I’m a huge fan of Mark Morse era now and even went back and listened to CTTB that I had purposefully avoided for decades. It’s good stuff although not my favorite.
There is life without Blackers.
February 20th, 2020 at 12:29Ted The Mechanic says:…..
I’m here for any info on CD or video releases with Ritchie …. the rest doesn’t interest me!
February 20th, 2020 at 19:27cordially
I have been waiting for someone to mention Bob Ezrin as a ‘songwriting’ producer in this debate about Martin Birch & Bob Ezrin. I presume that is what uwe means.
February 21st, 2020 at 02:22Ezrin gets involved in the song, if he is allowed to of course. Some artists do not want an outside influence at all, some are keen for some extra input & some ‘need’ that outside extra input when it come to a finished song or album! For my two cents worth, I always liked Martin Birch in his role on so many of those classic albums from artists who I really enjoy. I like Ezrin also, although I am not as familiar with his producing with others, only Pink Floyd & Deep Purple’s Now What album. He has a fine reputation that I do not doubt at all. Cheers.
@31 You can be helped, Maurane:
Little Ian beautifully and succinctly summed up Ritchie’s career (post his second Purple split) already some years ago:
“Ritchie is now playing acoustic folk music with his girlfriend and they are being managed by her mother – so I’m sure it’s all very professional!”
You really don’t need to know much more than that. They dress up as minstrels and like their audience to do so too. They have also been releasing the same album for the last 23 years – so if you liked the first one and are not too demanding in your musical tastes, you’re all set. As they are.
February 21st, 2020 at 03:16Returning to my comment on the Ezrin & Birch producer / engineer comments. There is a huge difference in both roles, well usually there is. Birch moving from engineer into production was a transition that they all probably felt comfortable with & he succeeded. Some are good at one role & others good at the other.
February 21st, 2020 at 04:47Regarding uwe’s comment in comparing Led Zeppelin to Purple back in the day. I have always though that the mistake Zeppelin made to a degree, was that Jimmy Page produced their albums. Many of them sound flat, no bottom end etc, even muddy for want of a better description. Sure there were wonderful engineers present no doubt at times, however I feel Zeppelin needed an outside producer adding something extra. Even being used as an alternative at times. Being in the band & involved in the songwriting, arranging & also producing the album, is it too much to handle at times? I seem to recall Roger Glover saying something along those lines years ago. An outside influence is needed, as long as there isn’t too much influence, if you know what I mean. But what would I know, I wasn’t there at all, who can tell how it all went down. As Rick Wakeman famously said about certain producers over the years, ‘I wouldn’t trust some of them with a food blender’! Something like that anyway. Cheers.
uwe hornung says:
as we say in french it is the infirmary that makes fun of the hospital …. the current music of deep purple looks nothing like the one played and composed in part by ritchie blackmore for all the songs …. ritchie blackmore had more success alone than the other members when they were solo … and ritchie revealed more unknown talents than the same current members of the group!
February 21st, 2020 at 07:39Birch was incredibly good in making DP sound in the studio like they sounded live. That always appealed to me: If you put on MiJ immediately after Machine Head, it doesn’t sound like a completely different band, it sounds like the Deep Purple from Machine Head live.
Now if you put on The Song Remains The Same after IV or Houses of the Holy you are forgiven to wonder who the hell is playing there! ; – ) Zep could never reproduce their studio sound live and they never caught their live sound in the studio.
And with Martin Birch you could at least hear the bass on Purple albums – that wasn’t always the case on Led Zep records.
February 21st, 2020 at 14:14I thought Birch did a credible job with Purple but the studio recordings didn’t really match up to the sound of the band live (‘In Rock’ came the closest), and Ritchie was never happy with his sound in the studio compared to live. Roger Glover’s production on ‘Abandon’ is terrific, probably the best sounding production he’s ever done.
As for not giving Purple a chance after Ritchie left, then why are you here commenting on any of this? ‘Purpendicular’ clearly has the best songs from the post-Blackmore era. I could never get into ‘Bananas’ or ‘Rapture…’ because the damn production was shite! @17 – well you are missing out. Don’t think of the albums as Deep Purple records, which shouldn’t be a problem because you don’t think of this lineup as Purple anyway. Listen to the sound of these truly great songs, don’t define it by it’s branding. You should be happy to listen to the two albums Jon was on, now that he has departed.
February 24th, 2020 at 14:46Birch’s cv has some seminal moments: Machine Head, MiJ, Rising, Number of the Beast, Heaven and Hell
Bob’s more prolific output is full of great work but nothing as significant; maybe Billion Dollar Babies and the Wall are mentionable but not as defining moments.
February 24th, 2020 at 15:50GRANDISSIMIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
February 25th, 2020 at 09:39Hi Uwe, what did the article actually say on the seven songs, if anything? Thanks.
February 25th, 2020 at 12:58@Maurane – All comments – I know you are in love with “Lionel” Ritchie Blackmore but c’mon man…
What heights of success did RB get to after DP? Rainbow? Fiddler on the roof? What exactly is it? Also commenting on the sound of DP – what era? The last 2 with RB sound more like Rainbow records than DP and nothing sounds like other records unless it was the same producer/engineer. But why am I explaining this – your ears are broken and you can’t tell the difference!!
February 25th, 2020 at 19:22Plus ca change – plus c’est la meme chose!!
Release date for Germany 20.06.2020 (source: Amazon, Napalm Records)
February 26th, 2020 at 14:54so to answer NWO the ritchie career is infinitely richer than the current group which claims to do in the line of deep purple …. of course blackmore’snight is not the same register nor the same objective of the different formations of rainbow !! the fact remains that this current group has kept the name “deep purple” so as not to sink into anonymity! count the number of times ritchie time in concerts … and maybe you will understand ??? after that is what I think and what other people think by reading the comments on you tube!
February 28th, 2020 at 18:58@ Maurane – Yes – youtube and social media – That’s where the truth lies!!! LMAO!!
March 2nd, 2020 at 18:28