Hidden passion touching a spark
Cult favourite Anya made it back into the setlist for the first time since what… 1995-ish? Here it is performed on July 15, 2022, at the Peißnitzinsel in Halle, Germany:
Thanks to Tobias Janaschke for the heads up and to Silber7 for the video.
I’d wager a guess that Simon wanted to play that song because he perhaps liked the track.
The best song from their unhappiest album.
July 17th, 2022 at 19:53Not too shabby! Simon good as expected.
July 17th, 2022 at 21:08Fantastic!
July 17th, 2022 at 21:14Great Band!
Great Gillan!
Great Simon!
Certain band members of DP have always said there are some good songs on TBRO, it does have the classic Purple ingredients this track. It doesn’t surprise me to see them performing it, a good song is a good song no matter what. The title track off that album also & one or two others. This song would sound better with a Stratocaster though, call me old school. Good to hear this. Cheers.
July 17th, 2022 at 21:42Remember: Gillan, Airey and McBride also played that song live on tour together in 2016 (available on the various “Contractual Obligation” releases).
July 17th, 2022 at 22:09Do they tune down some of the classic songs to make it easier for Ian Gillan to sing? If so, why do they still playing Highway Star in it’s original key? He struggles with that more and more as time goes by.
July 17th, 2022 at 23:25I believe Ritchie would be pleased.
July 17th, 2022 at 23:36They took the bullit fast train but it give more substance to the song. More speed impose by Mr Paice is very nice. Anya for the 10 th anniversary of Jon passing… Rip Jon.
July 18th, 2022 at 04:52And long live to the DP family.
That’s good…well done!” Anya” classic song DP with “The Battle Rages On…” like “Perfect Strangers has two classics DP ..title track of the album and “Knocking at Your Back Door” so “The Battle Rages On…” title track and “Anya “.
July 18th, 2022 at 07:39Anya reminds me in one part of Paul McCartney & Wings “Live And Let Die”..excellent guitar melody phrase by Ritchie, Gillan sings very well
and
of course the title “The Battle Rages On…”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QqQ6ntrUEQI
Ritchie and Jon….a special bond … (2.43-3.56)
Mark@6: Yes they do, nearly all bands their vintage grade (or close to it) do. The intro to Perfect Strangers these days sounds a little pasted onbecause it is still in the original key, but the actual song following it is not. WABMC has been lowered too.
I would guess that Big Ian alone decides whether keys are changed and if he feels he is still up to one – such as Highway Star – they don’t change it.
Kiss throughout their career have always tuned a halfstep lower. Judas Priest started doing that when Halford returned to them, these days some songs in their set are even lower than that. Zep caught a lot of flak at their O2 reunion for playing songs in lower keys to accomodate Plant. I thought that criticism silly, while every key has a certain impact on how a song sounds, nearly all songs can be played in more than one key (of course they sound different then, but not necessarily worse).
I would love Purple to still do Child In Time once in a while – in a lower key and without the arduous (for Ian G.) falsetto screams. It’s fine to adjust your music to what you can still credibly deliver from a certain age onwards.
July 18th, 2022 at 12:16They should change the name to Gillan, Glover and Paice…..
July 18th, 2022 at 12:51Tetrarammatony@11: But then that is nothing new, Mk II has – as regards the songwriting – always been as much Gillan/Glover as it was Blackmore.
Deep Purple is not just Ritchie and never was. He was always a major force, but never a sole one. And left to his own devices in Rainbow and Blackmore’s Night, he was either struggling or lost interest in rock. You could see his return to DP (and his second departure from them – with only a fleeting and half-hearted attempt to revive Rainbow before settling in with BN) as a self-realization that as rock bands go, DP was his optimal musical home and that he either does rock music with them or not at all.
July 18th, 2022 at 14:25@11
July 18th, 2022 at 14:46Welcome back to planet Earth,
We missed you the last 20 years so please don’t depart our planet ever again.
Peace ✌️
And 2 hired guns…..
July 18th, 2022 at 16:17Don’t know why some people want to knock this.
It’s a great version of that song and they still put on a great show which given their age is remarkable.
July 18th, 2022 at 19:39Last I heard, all of the original DP were “hired” by Tony Edwards and John Coletta too. It’s not like Mk I were friends from grammar school or had grown up in the same council house estate. For a quintet of hired guns manufactured by two entrepreneurs who knew nothing about the music business, DP didn’t do to shabbily.
And didn’t Herr Blackmore work with “hired guns” in Rainbow throughout? IIRC, he was the only one who ever had a record deal.
July 18th, 2022 at 20:42Simon is doing well.
July 18th, 2022 at 20:49I really like The Battle Rages On album and was disappointed that they dropped those songs aftet that tour. I suppose it may bring back bad memories from Ritchies volatile departure. But Anya as well as a few others are really good live.
July 18th, 2022 at 23:14Thanks for the Anya song here & tripping me back into 1993 & TBRO album. I played it just now for the first time in a long while & really enjoyed the 7 songs I like. The title track is quite progressive in certain ways & a killer riff & song indeed. Always enjoyed Purple’s version of the ‘Spotlight Kid’ song A Twist In The Tail. Anya, Talk About Love, Time To Kill, Solitaire & Nasty Piece Of Work are great also. Some ‘commercial’ sounding vocals at times on many of those songs. Classic reunion DP & their second strongest album after THOBL. Funny how both albums were marked with the proverbial tensions isn’t it? It seems to work in some strange way, well for the songwriting & recording in the studio perhaps. WDWTWA was a similar vibe also & another wonderful album. Cheers.
July 19th, 2022 at 01:38Best (live) vocals on that song I’ve ever heard Gillan do. He sounds great. I like that song. I also like “A Time to Kill” off The Battle Rages On, but Ian told me several years ago that Ritchie didn’t like it. I suspect what Ritchie didn’t like was the title of it. Anyway, a good jam there on Anya.
July 19th, 2022 at 03:08I can’t believe that people thing a YouTube clip filmed from a mobile phone is the make or break of a band.
July 19th, 2022 at 03:49Anya is such a powerful song with an amazing classical side to it and it’s a great way to honour our beloved Jon Lord 10 year departure anniversary from our planet Earth.
The band is fearless and they can do what they like and that’s so refreshing from the old permanent set list.
Peace ✌️
@Uwe / 16: I totally agree!
@Uwe / 1: I totally disagree! 😉
TBRO has a lot more going for it than S&M or Now What have IMHO.
July 19th, 2022 at 08:56Max, I didn’t say that TBRO is junk (it isn’t), it just sounds so unhappy and strained. And cold. The pure songwriting has moments.
I perfectly understand if someone says that the Slaves & Masters experience was for him/her so traumatic that any release with Ian back in the fold was a relief. I know that Joe Lynn Turner’s contribution was divisive, but I thought Slaves & Masters had an organic feel as an album – before the rot set in on tour.
Lest we forget, TBRO is the only Mk II album where Ian had zero musical input other than putting new vocal melodies over music that had been recorded without his participation – music largely written by Ritchie with another vocalist in mind. Instead Ian comes in with his sense of off-the-wall vocal melodies that are not always the most commercial and of course refuses to replicate any of Joe’s AOR’ish melodies. The result is at times interesting and at other times it grates or sounds lifeless. We all know that Ritchie wasn’t happy with Ian’s contributions on TBRO and that Ian had long ceased giving a damn what Ritchie thinks or wants.
And everyone is free to have his reservations about the Steve Morse era and Ezrin’s influence, but to me Now What?! sounds imbued with a group spirit. It’s the sound of a band at ease with itself, yet not complacent.
July 19th, 2022 at 10:16I followed on after listening to TBRO album today with watching the dvd of the CHOHW concert. Just viewing TBRO songs plus Perfect Strangers, wonderful performances. The band is on song & the only slight disappointment with that concerts sound is Glover’s bass is too low in the mix. Although I wasn’t listening to the concert on my hifi setup, just a few smaller speakers. Otherwise bravo indeed. Cheers.
July 19th, 2022 at 11:59@23: Hrm, you can say a lot of things about S&M but where did you get “organic” from? To my ears it’s the most machine like and static sounding album in the catalogue. At times I’ve wondered how much of it was programmed…
July 19th, 2022 at 17:35Regarding the recording of TBRO, wasn’t it some backing tracks & ideas that were there in some form before Gillan rejoined. To me that would be plenty of time for him to rearrange things to suit. I can never ever hear those songs performed by another vocalist, naming JLT as the supposed one, but who could tell who they may have had in mind? Probably a similar situation to ‘Cinema’ or Yes with Trevor Rabin & his songs for that debut album. When Jon Anderson rejoined the band the melodies, certain lyrics & arrangements were modified to suit the lead vocalist in many situations. The melodies are then recognisable & help to create stronger songs to suit the brand or I should say band. Didn’t Glover say when they knew Gillan was returning, he started changing the songs to suit & Gillan then would have finished that scenario nicely me thinks.. With DP at that time, Blackmore would have been pissed about Gillan rejoining, so he may disagree with certain things just for the sake of it. That is the problem with a stand off in many different situations. The Battle Rages On indeed, for a while at least at the time & to me it has always sounded like a classic reunion DP album. What a relief it was to get Gillan back & crank out some decent sounding DP songs again. THOBL gets the same response from Blackmore doesn’t it. It is not a good album, crap etc. Probably more to do with the situation at the time, so he just dismisses it. Deep Rainbow for me does sound pedestrian, not hard rock & sterile in many ways. With Gillan not there & Blackmore getting his way, Blackers says it is a great album. Cheers.
July 19th, 2022 at 21:38Hi Guys
July 19th, 2022 at 21:59My understanding that the songs on The battle rages on was already written with JLT in mind and the production company insisted on bringing Ian Gillian back so they can tour for their anniversary.
So did Ian Gillan do much writing on the album or not.
Also I remember Roger Glover saying in an interview that he is very proud that he finished the production on this album because of the circumstances surrounding it.
Peace ✌️
I knew somebody who was an intern at Bearsville studios when TBRO was being recorded. Whether you like them or not is a matter of taste, but both TBRO and S&M have a good live feel to them as the band recorded a lot of the music/backing tracks live in the studio. JLT was in the studio working when my friend was in the studio for TBRO.
Obviously, Gillan had to re-work melodies with Glover and add his vocals after the fact, but the music itself is interesting and to me, it stands up far better than HOBL, which sounds dated and stuck in the 80’s with synthesizers and not enough Hammond.
I think the title track and Anya are worth the price of admission on it. Some other decent cuts and while it may not be Purple’s best record, I enjoy most of it.
My 2 Cents,
Frank
July 20th, 2022 at 01:49I remember Atlantic City 2007. DP was coming out for the encore and it seemed like everything was hazy. They tore into “The Battle Rages On.” GREAT performance of that song. At the end of it Gillan says, ” Some things will never change.”
July 20th, 2022 at 02:42TBRO album credits ‘all songs written by Blackmore, Gillan & Glover’ except ; TBRO song, Blackmore, Gillan, Lord & Paice. Anya & Nasty Piece of Work written by Blackmore, Gillan, Glover & Lord. That is all we can go on I suspect. Unless someone has something more substantial we may never know. A songwriting lead vocalist usually has a fair bit of say on compositions most of the time. Sure they may not have occasionally & are content on singing someones else’s drivel (JLT’s words, not mine, he he). Seriously though I can hear Gillan all over those songs, always have. I just cannot imagine Gillan taking a back seat. He would have been very determined to stamp his mark as usual & so he should. He was never going to leave that band again either. Plus he would have wanted to annoy you know who, wouldn’t he? Oh all the drama! Stay tuned for another exciting episode, well we all did & we know what happened. Cheers.
July 20th, 2022 at 06:50I think the standing out fact in all of this is that music never lies.
July 20th, 2022 at 09:56TBRO and Anya are so powerful and grand and they are reaching out to more audience than ever.
Ian Paice was asking in an interview recently during the Covid lockdown about his favourite DP songs and his reply was ‘I always look back on the songs that my drumming was so perfect that I can’t change anything about if I look back on it and TBRO was one of the songs as it was so hard to put together and they nearly give up on it then all of sudden a spark happened and it did work. Something along those lines not word for word.
I think every DP album has a song or two that is crying out to be appreciated more by fans.
For example the house of blue light has the track ‘The Spanish archer’ it’s crying out to sung live but I don’t think it was ever performed live.
Trust your ears and never focus on an album cover and all the hype that goes with it.
Good Music always wins in time.
Peace ✌️
Another version
July 20th, 2022 at 14:24Deep Purple – Guitare en Scène – 17/07/2022
https://youtu.be/kWx2rlhZb54?t=2032
at 0:33:52
For me, all Purple albums are precious. Even S&M, which arguably sounds more Rainbow for obvious reasons, had a couple of decent tunes.
Now, what I cant stand is Candy Night warbling & destroying Soldier of Fortune 🤦
July 20th, 2022 at 17:18All of the music of TBRO was recorded with Joe Lynn Turner’s voice already added when Jon, Paicey and Roger forced Gillan back into the band against the banjo player’s wishes. Ian just got to sing over the instrumental tracks anew and developed his own vocal melodies. Ritchie communicated to management that he had only one request, namely that Ian sing what became “A Time To Kill” the way Joe had done it. For some reason, managment never conveyed this to Ian and he never listened to the original featuring Joe, but created his own (rather Gillanesque) vocal line with which Ritchie was totally dissatisfied, thinking Ian had done it to aggravate him (he hadn’t). That already sowed the seeds of what later culminated on tour. Communication breakdown!
Svante @25: S&M (the album, not the practice!) might be boring to you and I get it when you say it sounds to you like Purple on sleepy autopilot, but Roger lauded in an interview at the time how easy, natural and uncontrived it had all come together. King of Dreams for instance was a cut and paste job from a lengthy jam of the band (which they could never quite recreate live). At the time, Roger contrasted the experience with THOBL, which he felt was a stiff and difficult album (btw I prefer THOBL to either PerStr, S&M or TBRO). So S&M might be tensionless (indeed it is), but it’s not really programmed-sounding to me (there are some programmed synth sounds on it that haven’t aged well though; in synth use, Jon Lord was never a Colin Towns or Eddie Jobson).
I’d describe S&M as ‘DP meets Dire Straits’ (and the Hammersmith gig I saw had that feel too), it sounds relaxed to me, perhaps too relaxed.
But all three JLT-era Rainbow albums sound stiffer to me than anything on S&M. Now whip me!
July 20th, 2022 at 19:12My personal favorite on TBRO – aside from the obvious Anya and its self-borrowed ‘Stranded’ riff – is this here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltI_wvHwb-k
A work of accident: Ian didn’t know whether to sing it low or high and when both vocal tracks were played to him together by mistake, he liked the result and kept it that way. Ritchie most likely disagreed, the instrumental backing is very Rainbow’ish and wouldn’t have sounded out of place on Stranger In Us All, you can just envisage what Doogie White would have sung over it. Yet Ian chose a melody that could have come straight off GILLAN’s (the band) Magic album.
I take the fact that Ritchie played neither the solo in the middle nor the one at the end, but ‘selflessly’ (through the years his most prominent trait …) left BOTH to Jon as a sign of (not so) silent protest. Perhaps they should have called the album TTTOOTPA (Throwing The Toys Out Of The Pram Again), that would have also saved us from that god-awful conjoined dragon twin cover. Instead we could have had a toddler with a pilgrim hat dressed in black and chucking a baby Strat over his shoulder … I disgress!!!
July 20th, 2022 at 21:32I vaguely remembered another vocalist post Deep Rainbow & before Gillan’s return & here he is. Scroll about half way down the page for his comments on the 3 songs he worked on with Glover & Blackmore. Mike DiMeo his name is & I guess the copyright thing didn’t need to apply with other lead vocalists, either because they didn’t have a writing credit or were possibly paid out or were not relevant in the first place. Anyway Gillan reigns supreme on TBRO & that is the album as we know it. Cheers.
https://rnruniverse.proboards.com/thread/10829/mike-dimeo-riot-lizards-masterplan
July 20th, 2022 at 23:49Dan @33
July 21st, 2022 at 00:04Totally agree and well said
Peace ✌️
Uwe Hornung @34
July 21st, 2022 at 00:11Wow, JLT must have been so pissed off of the way he got treated. I mean to record songs and then found out that your voice has been wiped by another singer.
Poor guy
Peace ✌️
Wish I were there…..
July 21st, 2022 at 00:40Ooh that’s exciting, I do love that song.
July 21st, 2022 at 19:09Adel @ 38: Purple’s “termination & dismissal culture” is horrible, Rod and Nick in 69, Roger in 73, Glenn and Tommy in 76, Ian at the end of the first reunion and Joe upon Ian’s return for the second one, each time the treatment of the departees was horrible and showed litttle grace. They really need(ed) a decent HR department. Gillan in 73 and Ritchie in 75 left at their own volition as did Jon, Paicey and David in 76, Jon’s 2002 departure with full honors was an exception to an otherwise callous practice.
Related: I recently read that when Journey were inducted into the RRHOF, Gregg Rolie (the original blues & jazz influenced keyboarder who also played on Santana’s early albums and who left Journey before their Don’t Stop Believin’ mega popularity phase driven by new keyboader & ex-Babys Jonathan Cain’s AOR skills took off) was originally not included by the powers that be. To which Neil Schon – the Journey mainstay guitarist through all line-ups – flatly said, if Gregg is not invited and inducted I’m not coming either, we formed this band together. He stood his ground and the Hall – initially aghast and peeved – relented in the end, voilà Rolie guested with the new/then current Journey line up at the ceremony, he’s the guy with the trademark ‘tache (seems to be a thing with keyboarders!):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXykpa8WyT0
No one within the DP camp stood up for Nick Simper like that. They could have. It was his bubbling bass line that made Hush so infectuous after all.
July 21st, 2022 at 21:16The never ending line ‘there has to be or should be a guitar solo’ is a strained one. If a guitarist or any other instrument player in fact, doesn’t hear a solo or doesn’t feel anything inspiring to warrant a solo, why bother with it? Hand it over to someone else. There are too many guitar solos in so much of rock music anyway to my ears. It is always interesting & inspiring in many ways to hear a different soloist adding there touch to something that they may never have had a chance to. Poor ole Blackers gets blamed for far too much at times. Give him a break, he needs it. One would think that Jon Lord would enjoy soloing over something that is ‘thrown’ at him. I could be wrong though. Cheers.
July 22nd, 2022 at 04:31I disagree (there’s a first he he he) & also agree (now there is a definite first, though not really) with Uwe’s recent comments @ 41. In regards to Hughes & Bolin ( I stated this not long ago) being unfairly treated at their respective terminations of their employment, they simply did not deserve to be treated graciously. They both treated DP with contempt & I don’t fall for any excuse at all. They didn’t care so why should anyone else care about them. All the other members of DP that were fired were treated poorly for not doing anything unjust it seems. Although that could be misinterpreted by certain people to attain justification as to why ‘they had to go’. Unfortunately it does happen a lot it seems with certain bands, it is disgraceful really how some people are treated like that. Unless certain band members have caused serious problems & ‘need to go’ that is. It does seem to depend on the situation of course.
July 22nd, 2022 at 07:15In regards to Nick Simper yes indeed, we have commented here before about his incredibly unjust omission from the Hall of Fame induction. What we don’t know for sure is, did anyone go into bat for him at all & that was not revealed in any way. Or did nobody at all stand up & say, this is not going to happen, sort it out or else. Someone should have & as Uwe said in regards to Journey, they did speak up & it proved positive. The Moody Blues did also with their original guitarist Denny Laine. That decision of Nick Simper’s omission will always irk me, it was unjust to the core. Vile even. Cheers.
Is it just me, or is Gillan starting to have trouble hearing himself?
I’ve noticed in all the live performances from this year that he’s starting to go noticeably off key/pitch – not with the screams, we know that’s beyond his abilities now – but in his lower to mid range, which he was perfectly capable of singing in key pre pandemic. It’s noticeable here when he starts singing the word Anya and goes noticeably off key. I’ve noticed it in almost all the live videos I’ve seen from this year
July 22nd, 2022 at 10:56.
Has anyone else noticed this? I really hope Ian isn’t loosing his hearing, that would be terrible…
Herr MacGregor, that Mike DiMeo (Riot, The Lizards – they’ve done good albums) interview you linked @36 is a treasure trove, vielen lieben Dank.
Would he have worked with DP? Not if Glover, Lord and Paice were trying to get away from sounding like Rainbow, he wouldn’t:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKvUkWXSUqU
He sounds like your typical drawing-by-numbers latter day Rainbow vocalist. Very much doing the expected – which seems to be to Ritchie’s liking. Not an experimental approach at all. You can hear that Doogie White was not far away from Ritchie’s grasp.
Ritchie should have never been allowed to get his hands on a Foreigner album, sigh. It gave him ideas that had no place in Purple’s off-beat-legacy or the music he should be playing.
@42: Don’t get me wrong, I am happy for every Jon Lord solo I hear, but the way Solitaire is constructed – very Ritchie-style – it practically cries out for one of his terse, elongated solos in the middle. I’m sure he was acting up. If Joe Lynn Turner had wailed over it, we’d have heard a solo (and probably a very good one at that), trust me. When Blackers skipped a solo with Purple, it was either protest or disinterest.
July 22nd, 2022 at 16:14Yes indeed Uwe, Blackmore was desperate to not end up with Gillan back in the band again. Stabbing at the dark he was. Yes it is a shame his moods affect his musical outlook at times. In regards to those deleted vocals on TBRO demos, either JLT or DiMeo, that is the first I have heard from either of those vocalists about that issue. Not that I have ever looked for that until a few days ago. I just had a vague memory of reading something decades ago about the post S&M album & another vocalist. I suppose it is the same as pre S&M with that guy (who’s name escapes me at present) Purple approached & he couldn’t take the job because of a contract already signed. Poor JLT, getting picked up initially on the rebound, a 2nd choice replacement & then dumped later on & having his vocals rubbed out. Those demos online of a few TBRO songs obviously are after vocals were deleted I would think. Best to get rid of any evidence I suppose. I agree with the Foreigner comments, Blackers was desperate for that success in the USA. Regarding Mike DiMeo he is also known for his Hammond organ playing. I have never heard of him but he seems a talented musician in many ways. Cheers.
July 22nd, 2022 at 22:06Just read that Steve Morse is retiring from the band. On the discussion above « how » players quit, this is on the Job Lord Model, with full honours, he certainly deserves them. I think I will now go and listen to Birds of Prey….
July 23rd, 2022 at 11:34Glenn and Tommy had sinned no doubt, but that for weeks after the joint decision of David, Jon und Ian to call it quits following that fateful Liverpool gig they were neither informed by their band buddies nor by the management that the band was over, was a cheap, vindictive shot. Glenn only found out after he had returned to England for a wedding celebration and asked when the band would be hitting the studio again, David told him there was no band anymore.
Tommy never had official word from either the management or Jon, Ian or David – Glenn brought the news back.
July 23rd, 2022 at 22:26” I suppose it is the same as pre S&M with that guy (who’s name escapes me at present) Purple approached & he couldn’t take the job because of a contract already signed.” I think you are referring to Jimi Jameson, RIP, of SURVIVOR fame who years later appeared at a weird event overhere in a “club” called Het Kasteel in Alphen aan den Rijn together with JLT.
https://www.podiuminfo.nl/concert/38490/Orleans-Friends/Het-Kasteel/
I spoke to him a bit at the bar and we both said it was a pity it never happened.
I saw JLT play guitar and he wasnt bad at it.
July 24th, 2022 at 20:29I asked him to play Tearing out my heart but he responded : “Too deep.”
I recall him doing Street of Dreams, I dont remember the rest of the setlist.
@ 49 – that’s him Jimi Jamison, not sure how that would have worked with Purple. He was a fine singer no doubt & powerful also. It would have been better than JLT though, that connection with Rainbow wan’t a good one for Purple. At least Jamison was an outsider.
July 24th, 2022 at 23:14He seems to have done well during his career. RIP
Having listened to a number of clips, Simon is doing a fine job and Mk IX should continue from the high standards set by the Bob Ezrin trilogy.
The question is, when does he get to bring in his own amps.
He has been using Steve Morse’s signature ENGL amps.
I thought he was usually a PRS player – both guitars and amps.
July 25th, 2022 at 13:29Simon sounds nothing like Steve even with the latter’s ENGL armada – much less effects, we all know how Steve had a lavish set up in his effect boards and racks that could have easily doubled as the command center of Cape Canaveral!
Steve was lots of things, but he certainly wasn’t plug and play. His sound was extremely processed. In comparison, Ritchie with his tape machine and treble booster was simplistic. Bolin’s guitar sound was quite effects-laden too, Echoplex, phasers, flangers … Tommy not only liked his substances but also his little toys.
July 28th, 2022 at 16:31