Posted by Nick on Wednesday, March 6th, 2024,
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Thanks for posting the interview. I dropped in to that site yesterday but it obviously wasn’t there then, a site I visit daily, much like here. Another good interview with Ian Paice. Cheers.
Great interview, but then aren’t all Paicey interviews?
@11:23 – It’s interesting that Ian says “Glenn was far busier with the notes than Roger is … so that meant there was less room for me to do stuff”. I know what he means, but as matter of fact: Roger played and plays more notes than Glenn, because he provides that pulsing carpet whereas Glenn has this tendency to swoop down and single out one or just a few notes (more often than not: minor 7ths and octaves) and concentrate on them in an often contrapuntal way. So Glenn plays less notes, but with more attitude and the will to make them stand out, he’s more attention-grabbing in what he plays than Roger.
Paicey then goes on to describe Roger as “a wonderful foundation bass player, he sets that thing for me to sit on” and that is exactly the point: Roger’s flowing style provides a bed for Paicey to do his acrobatics. With Glenn as his rhythm section brethren, Ian too became less busy, but at the same time more succinct and effective in what he did. Less flashy Buddy Rich rolls, but using space for more dramatic effect and delivering killer fills where it really counts. Plus his brilliant bass drum work of course.
@20:12 – “Status Quo are a nightmare to follow” – that drew a smile to my face. I’ve seen DP follow Status Quo and, yes, they had to up their ante that night. I’ve seen the same thing happen to Cheap Trick, Uriah Heep, Whitesnake and ZZ Top when playing with Quo on the same bill. It’s easy to smile about Quo’s apparently never changing recipe, but damn hard to meet their energy level, infectious melodies, spirit of community and deadpan humor when playing live.
But admiration goes both ways: Francis Rossi has said that he really doesn’t like heavy rock all that much, Bonnet era Rainbow being the salient exception. And he stated that in the mid-70ies “Rick (Parfitt) and Alan (Lancaster) all of the sudden wished to pattern us after Deep Purple which they had seen a few times, those mighty unison riffs Purple did – it began to worry me, it was too dark for us”. And he’s right, the heaviest Status Quo album ever, the 1974 released “Quo” saw grand riff-o-rama by Parfitt and Lancaster who wrote most of the songs on that one album, sidelining Rossi a bit.
The part at 03:14 where lead guitar, rhythm guitar and bass play the riff in unison (and with meter changes interspersed) is really “DP, circa In Rock era” by numbers. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. 😎
The problem with the DP set is that you get a dip in energy from the 4th to the 7th song. That’s maybe because they play Lazy, uncommon man, when a blind man cries and so on.
So any band with a live energy set list will win the day.
That’s not a crime but music is not about energy it’s about musical content and DP wins the day easily because the musical brain simulation you get for the whole live set.
Rhythm-sections are often difficult to discern, since every song is different, & so the players play differently each time. Throw in new members & that dynamic changes once again. You can only be general in reviews, as the dynamic is in a constant state-of-flux.
Only what’s recorded can be examined, since you can play-it-back again & again. And generally, that was DP’s strength, where you hear the peaks & troughs of a tune were a little different each night. We can only be very general in our assumptions.
That said, “Little Feat” have a new 9-track album appearing in mid-May for those interested called “Sam’s Place”…Yes, the truly exalted Ritchie Hayward left us a little-while ago now, but the band keeps grooving onwards & upwards, & there’s no doubt that this band had by far one-of-the-best rhythm-sections-ever, & this new release features the lead singing input from Sam, “I am the man” Clayton, who remains the key ingredient in that Little Feat rhythm-section as conga-player (& drummer). Sam sings quite well, with a deep, resonant, authentic blues tone, reminiscent of the late, great, Louis Armstrong, so expect a gritty & earthy blues album here…( And Fred Tackett is a multi-instrumentalist, known for his Miles-like trumpeting, so who knows what surprises may exist within )…
![[hand]](/hs-pics/portraits/hands/gillan7.jpg)
![[face]](/hs-pics/portraits/faces/airey2.jpg)
Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing
Thanks for posting the interview. I dropped in to that site yesterday but it obviously wasn’t there then, a site I visit daily, much like here. Another good interview with Ian Paice. Cheers.
March 6th, 2024 at 21:23Great interview, but then aren’t all Paicey interviews?
@11:23 – It’s interesting that Ian says “Glenn was far busier with the notes than Roger is … so that meant there was less room for me to do stuff”. I know what he means, but as matter of fact: Roger played and plays more notes than Glenn, because he provides that pulsing carpet whereas Glenn has this tendency to swoop down and single out one or just a few notes (more often than not: minor 7ths and octaves) and concentrate on them in an often contrapuntal way. So Glenn plays less notes, but with more attitude and the will to make them stand out, he’s more attention-grabbing in what he plays than Roger.
Paicey then goes on to describe Roger as “a wonderful foundation bass player, he sets that thing for me to sit on” and that is exactly the point: Roger’s flowing style provides a bed for Paicey to do his acrobatics. With Glenn as his rhythm section brethren, Ian too became less busy, but at the same time more succinct and effective in what he did. Less flashy Buddy Rich rolls, but using space for more dramatic effect and delivering killer fills where it really counts. Plus his brilliant bass drum work of course.
@20:12 – “Status Quo are a nightmare to follow” – that drew a smile to my face. I’ve seen DP follow Status Quo and, yes, they had to up their ante that night. I’ve seen the same thing happen to Cheap Trick, Uriah Heep, Whitesnake and ZZ Top when playing with Quo on the same bill. It’s easy to smile about Quo’s apparently never changing recipe, but damn hard to meet their energy level, infectious melodies, spirit of community and deadpan humor when playing live.
But admiration goes both ways: Francis Rossi has said that he really doesn’t like heavy rock all that much, Bonnet era Rainbow being the salient exception. And he stated that in the mid-70ies “Rick (Parfitt) and Alan (Lancaster) all of the sudden wished to pattern us after Deep Purple which they had seen a few times, those mighty unison riffs Purple did – it began to worry me, it was too dark for us”. And he’s right, the heaviest Status Quo album ever, the 1974 released “Quo” saw grand riff-o-rama by Parfitt and Lancaster who wrote most of the songs on that one album, sidelining Rossi a bit.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWedyugALz4
The part at 03:14 where lead guitar, rhythm guitar and bass play the riff in unison (and with meter changes interspersed) is really “DP, circa In Rock era” by numbers. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. 😎
March 6th, 2024 at 22:14The problem with the DP set is that you get a dip in energy from the 4th to the 7th song. That’s maybe because they play Lazy, uncommon man, when a blind man cries and so on.
March 7th, 2024 at 15:04So any band with a live energy set list will win the day.
That’s not a crime but music is not about energy it’s about musical content and DP wins the day easily because the musical brain simulation you get for the whole live set.
Yo,
Rhythm-sections are often difficult to discern, since every song is different, & so the players play differently each time. Throw in new members & that dynamic changes once again. You can only be general in reviews, as the dynamic is in a constant state-of-flux.
Only what’s recorded can be examined, since you can play-it-back again & again. And generally, that was DP’s strength, where you hear the peaks & troughs of a tune were a little different each night. We can only be very general in our assumptions.
That said, “Little Feat” have a new 9-track album appearing in mid-May for those interested called “Sam’s Place”…Yes, the truly exalted Ritchie Hayward left us a little-while ago now, but the band keeps grooving onwards & upwards, & there’s no doubt that this band had by far one-of-the-best rhythm-sections-ever, & this new release features the lead singing input from Sam, “I am the man” Clayton, who remains the key ingredient in that Little Feat rhythm-section as conga-player (& drummer). Sam sings quite well, with a deep, resonant, authentic blues tone, reminiscent of the late, great, Louis Armstrong, so expect a gritty & earthy blues album here…( And Fred Tackett is a multi-instrumentalist, known for his Miles-like trumpeting, so who knows what surprises may exist within )…
Peace !
March 7th, 2024 at 22:26Great interview, nice questions, well done !!
March 9th, 2024 at 23:44