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Sense of groove
Hot on the heels of his predecessor, Glenn Hughes’ top 6 list appears in Louder Sound:
Burn (Burn, 1974)
“We were at Clearwell Castle when Ritchie said: ‘We should write song called Burn.’ He had the idea of the title already. The five of us wrote that song together in the Castle’s crypt in the key of ‘G’; Jon’s Bach instrumental, inserting the riff… it felt magical. Burn is such a great, dramatic rock track. It stops, starts, turns around, and there’s the Bach influence and vocal harmonies. It was completely different to anything that Deep Purple had ever done before. It ticked all the boxes of those that questioned whether the new line-up could work.”
Continue reading in Louder Sound.
Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing
“We were at Clearwell Castle when Ritchie said: ‘We should write a song called Burn.’ He had the idea of the title already. The five of us wrote that song together in the Castle’s crypt in the key of ‘G’; Jon’s Bach instrumental, inserting the riff … it felt magical.”
Sigh, someone should tell Glenn that there is a guitarist in Tasmania (name escapes me for a moment) who is very vocal about the song’s key being actually, wait for it, in Bb Major?
And I always thought they chose the key to give the unnamed co-writer some credit via his initial …
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fytAhauleu0
[Seriously, G minor recommends itself for Burn because that way the very fast and nimble double string riff can be moost conveniently played using the D and G string empty.]
**********************************************************************************
“Ritchie later referred to our songs as ‘shoeshine music’, but it’s important for me to state that he played so well on them. I do know that Ritchie wanted Mk III of Purple to be a different genre than Mk II, so whether or not Stormbringer was shoeshine music, well… I guess he got his wish. And by the way, the band played so well on these particular songs.”
IT’S WHAT I ALWAYS TELL YOU you (adopts whining voice) “Ritchie-hired-him-in-good-conscience-and-then-that-awful-Glenn-started-playing-and-writing-funky-all-of-the-sudden, mean, mean, mean!”-crybabies, Blackmore, the ole seance’ist, summoned the ghost he later on feigned surprise about. Glenn had funky groove tattooed all over his Brummie skin, it was akin to Emerson, Lake & Palmer replacing Keith Emerson with Stevie Wonder (WoLP?) and then Greg Lake and Carl Palmer complaining: “But then Stevie brought all these funky songs out of nowhere to our sessions and we weren’t ready for it!”
Good that we can lay that myth to rest now.
May 16th, 2024 at 23:06Yo,
So I’m lured-in to comment because of this remark from Uwe lol !…
qt.”Sigh, someone should tell Glenn that there is a guitarist in Tasmania (name escapes me for a moment) who is very vocal about the song’s key being actually, wait for it, in Bb Major” ?…
*** Yes indeed, Bb is the first Major scale choice you can use, in fact, it’s what RB solos with mostly. Other possibilities that work, but will sound less fitting are F, & Eb…And in the live arena, RB would flirt with the G-harmonic minor scale with his introduction noodles after the tune-up…
Proof is in the pudding however, so put Burn on your player, pick up your guitar, & play the above mentioned scales through the tune, & see how well G-major works lol !
For those with a politically-correct POV, & wish to hear the tune described as being in G-min, need only ask themselves what the “home key is”…
Peace !
May 17th, 2024 at 08:11Public service announcement for our younger, more innocent readers: In ALL relevant parts of this world – a region fully surrounded by water and already perilously close to Antarctica maybe excepted -, the key of 🔥 Burn 🔥 is G minor – G as in GGGGGGGreGGGGGGGster, key deceptor extraordinaire!
Uwe
May 17th, 2024 at 13:05– resident lurer –
My Learned Friend Uwe @3…..I have sought out the ancient tomes buried within the murky depths of my dusty, cob-webbed crypt and have happened upon the official Warner Bros. Publications Inc. sheet music book copyrighted 1974 Purple (USA) Music, Inc. and I have turned to page thirteen of the blessed text. Indeed Sir, upon that foxed and faded page entitled “Burn” is verily written below, the incription, “Fast Tempo” and “Gm”.
May 17th, 2024 at 16:07ist das irgendein insider-witz von leuten, die sich seit jahren freundschaftlich (?) beharken? man braucht nun wirklich noch nicht einmal eine gitarre in die hand zu nehmen – man kann einfach HÖREN, daß es g-moll ist.
May 17th, 2024 at 20:14Who the f**k cares about the key – it is a great song …… period!!!
May 17th, 2024 at 21:59Bring it on, Gregster relishes adversity!
It’s all in good fun. And of course one has to make allowances for Tasmania’s unusual geographical location, who knows what keys they hear there. 😜
Krister is right – it‘s a great song and if it was in the key of Z!
May 17th, 2024 at 23:14„Ist das irgendein insider-witz von leuten, die sich seit jahren freundschaftlich (?) beharken?“
Isses! ☝️😎
May 17th, 2024 at 23:25Yo,
Yes it’s true, it’s all about having a sense-of-humor ! And it might just get you through this presentation from Glenn, which happens to be one of Uwe’s favourites…
How about you ?…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7VNYi0tTYI
Peace !
May 18th, 2024 at 01:03Love Don’t Mean a Thing… what a great track, huh? Not talked about enough, I think. Paicey and Glenn, what a combo!
May 18th, 2024 at 05:42@9 That’s not the GH I saw in Feb……..I was trying to put those “nails on a chalkboard” out of my mind LOL
Peace!
May 18th, 2024 at 10:08PAL, our friend @ it again
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03f0Xn5Pbuw&ab_channel=paiceashtonlord
May 18th, 2024 at 20:29I know his falsetto is an acquired taste, but it is MY TASTE! When I first heard him do Georgia On My Mind on a Long Beach ’75 boot, I was floored. It’s one hell of a performance for me though it might be hell to others. 😁
May 18th, 2024 at 21:05“Love Don’t Mean a Thing… what a great track, huh? Not talked about enough, I think. Paicey and Glenn, what a combo!”
True, VD, it’s a cool number. The whole “The Stormbringer album was way too funky!”-accusation is blown way out of all proportions if you look at the track list:
1. Stormbringer (flat-out heavy rock, even a proto-heavy metal track, some funk accents in Glenn’s bass playing no one heard or recognized as such at the time)
2. Love Don’t Mean A Thing (alright, that one IS funky)
3. Holy Man (essentially a ballad with some Stevie Wonder grooves in the chorus if you’re really stretching it)
4. Hold On (a shuffle, more West Coast music than funk)
5. Lady Double Dealer (one of those rock’n’roll pastiches Purple liked to do once in a while already with Mk II to channel their inner Little Richard, even Glenn doesn’t play funky here)
6. You Can’t Do It Right (With the One You Love) (ok, funk again)
7. High Ball Shooter (a hard rock number, good fun, but wouldn’t have felt out of place on a Foghat album either, zero funk really)
8. The Gypsy (proto-Rainbow #1, Glenn is not as heavy-handed as most Rainbow bassists would have been, but calling his bass playing on that track funky is an overstatement)
9. Soldier of Fortune (ballad, proto-Rainbow #2, zilch funk)
So the whole album of nine tracks features two (!) truly funky tracks (two-and-a-half if you’re strict) which in 1975 was nothing unusual – off the top of my head I could name you albums from Led Zep or Uriah Heep from around the same time that contained just as many or even more funked-up numbers, let’s not even talk about a band like Trapeze (even without Glenn, so you can’t blame him!):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5Fp6ShBiqo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_k2XEmQSPeE
Remember that in the mid-70ies so many hard rock bands dabbled with funk:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHcYFxU4fMo
“Wild Cherry was a hard rock cover band, but with the advent and popularity of the disco era, the group found it increasingly difficult to book gigs. Most promoters had little interest in rock bands when dance acts were far more lucrative. (Lead guiarist and singer Robert) Parissi attempted to persuade his bandmates to incorporate dance tunes into their sets, but they resisted as they did not want to be tagged with the stigma of being “disco”. While playing at the 2001 Club on the North Side of Pittsburgh to a predominantly black audience, a patron said to band member Beitle during a break, “Are you going to play some funky music, white boys?” Parissi grabbed a pen and order pad and wrote the song in about five minutes. The lyrics literally describe the predicament of a hard rock band adjusting to the disco era.”
My (Metal) God, even Priest flirted with funk at the time!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_2tjzG9TN8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TddtYPOBdOg
May 18th, 2024 at 23:02Yo,
Leiber Uwe said…
qt.”I know his falsetto is an acquired taste, but it is MY TASTE! When I first heard him do Georgia On My Mind on a Long Beach ’75 boot, I was floored. It’s one hell of a performance for me though it might be hell to others”. 😁
***I suggest it perfectly reflects many reasons why DP crumbled in the mid-1970’s…
1. The lack-of-respect from GH to DP’s most recognized tunes, namely SotW…
2. It clearly displays why RB couldn’t leave the band quick enough…
3. And it reveals why MK-IV didn’t last, as it drove poor Tommy over-the-edge & into severe substance abuse…
And it also reveals to not take your reviews too seriously either Leiber Uwe, though an outstanding contributor & resource you are.
Trust your own ears people, & your own POV is always the correct one 🙂 !
Peace !
May 19th, 2024 at 00:59Here´s the right place to write that STORMBRINGER is my most favourite album of DP. I really hope (all) fans sooner or later (finally) realize how extraordinary this piece of work really is.
May 19th, 2024 at 07:32No matter what Ritchie says and how big BURN shadow covers this album – this album keeps blow my mind after 50 years and always will.
All three MkIII albums are brilliant, but this very one lies so deep in my heart.
14@
May 19th, 2024 at 14:28Dear professor-rector of music Herr Uwe,I will be free to write
The song from the first Rainbow album “Snake Charmer” was that far from funky music. Craig Gruber’s funky bass (great play) must be liked by Glenn.
You are Uwe the bassist.. I don’t know if you will agree with me? I think that Gruber is the best bass player of Rainbow until the appearance of Roger Glover in 1979 ..and you know his influence on the Black Sabbath album
Haven and Hell”. (Gruber + RJD and Martin Birch) Heaven and Hell as a continuation of the Rainbow story.. (the song “Wising Well” is slowly funky, not a classic BS song. otherwise, for me, one of the three best songs on the album, an outstanding performance by Geezer Butler and Bill Ward)
“1. The lack-of-respect from GH to DP’s most recognized tunes, namely SotW …”
That’s nonsense and myth-building, lieber Gregster, you can accuse Glenn of showing disrespect by too much coke before 70ies live gigs or by funking on bass too much in live frenzy, but SOTW of all songs he played 90% like Roger did (if anything, he played less notes than Roger on that particular track) and he sang the verses without histrionics.
As for the “Georgia On My Mind” or “Dance To The Rock’n’Roll”-addendums, Purple always added or interpolated songs to their own pieces whether it was “Paint It Black” to Paicey’s drum solo or “Rock Me Baby” into “Mistreated”. When Glenn would do “Georgia On My Mind”, SOTW’s solo and verses plus the coda had all been played (the repeated first verse sung in unison by DC and Glenn taking the place of verse no 3 as was usual with Mk III and IV), Glenn’s vocal show-off improvisations (you’re allowed to show off when you’re filling stadiums, it’s part of the expected drama) were a new musical piece glued on to the end of SOTW.
Nothing disrespectful about it.
And you’re not seriously saying that Glenn’s behaviour had anything to do with Tommy’s drug demise, are you? Tommy had an addictive personality long before DP, it was already an issue with James Gang and the reason why inter-band relationships deteriorated there after just one album – with the sophomore “Miami” being already recorded in the death throes of the group. Deep Purple was bad for Tommy because for the first time in his career he could afford to buy as many drugs as he wanted – and being the inquisitve type he sure wanted to try a lot. But Glenn didn’t decide over Tommy’s pay check.
May 19th, 2024 at 17:12@16 Three Mk.III albums?
May 19th, 2024 at 19:10@16 Coverdian
Over the years I’ve grown to really like and appreciate Stormbringer, especially Blackmore’s solo on Hold On- imo, one of his finest. Very underrated. I’ve heard this solo was done in one take. Awesome tale if it’s true.
Glenn’s Bass playing is super on this album. Love his playing. Always have done.
You can’t do it right being my favourite track on the album mainly because of Glenn’s Bass work.
The Gypsy for some reason reminds me of early Rainbow, and wouldn’t have sounded out of place on the debut album.
I remember buying it in my early teens and finding it a gargantuan let down after acquiring the Burn album and Live in London. I was hoping for more of the same. At the time I thought Stormbringer was like a wet fart.
But, even after nearly 30 (was it really that long ago?!!), I still find Coverdale’s slurring of the vocals on the opening lines, not to mention Glenn’s OTT vocals in a particular part of High Ball Shooter, grate on my ears and cringeworthy.
Aside from these minute gripes, I really enjoy it. I suppose it’s good to hear your favourite band branching out a little.
May 20th, 2024 at 09:37LOL !!!
Leiber Uwe wrote…
qt.1″Glenn’s vocal show-off improvisations (you’re allowed to show off when you’re filling stadiums, it’s part of the expected drama) were a new musical piece glued on to the end of SOTW”.
qt.2 “Nothing disrespectful about it”.
qt. 3″And you’re not seriously saying that Glenn’s behaviour had anything to do with Tommy’s drug demise, are you”?…
qt.4″Tommy had an addictive personality long before DP”…
***
R1. One man’s showing-off is another man’s shyte…
R2. He destroyed again & again DP’s most famous tune, that IS disrespectful imo.
R3. Glenn’s behaviour during professional shows would make anyone on-stage with him take more drugs, to help with the pain…
R4. Tommy likely listened-back to SotW from the Longbeach 1976 show, & simply took-too-much sedative, to get-over the GH addendums that you speak about…Anyone would, had they been subjected to these “wtf “moments night-after-night…
That said, all these GH “addendum” moments can be, & have been edited away by myself, to enhance the quality & enjoyment of these shows ( Graz, Paris & Longbeach’76 )…Life is good 🙂 !
Peace !
May 20th, 2024 at 10:03I dunno, but the Mk IV Budokan ‘bad arm”-version of SOTW has really grown to my heart.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pgXZrujDESw
– I like the jaunty way Tommy introduces the riff, not precise and stern, but with a Keith Richards groove.
– The way Tommy shakes his hip to Ian’s snare is to die for. 😄
– I like Tommy’s gender-fluid to effeminate skipping about on stage – as expected guitar god moves on stage go, he was really ahead of his time – and his syncopated way of rhythm playing which gels nicely with Jon’s organ.
– His guitar solo is minimalist that night, but works well with some nice Bolin’esque flourishes and trademark licks especially towards the end.
– Glenn sings the secend verse well and I always liked how he and DC join for the first verse again as the last verse (skipping the true third verse), though admittedly it doesn’t fit the story-telling line of the song.
– The coda is nicely jammy with great Jon Lord solo snippets, inspired rhythm guitar playing by Tommy and groovy call & response exchanges between Glenn and Ian.
I’d call the whole performance spirited! In a good way. Yes, they are not frozen in awe of how Mk II did it and give the song their very own slant, but the rendition is far from lame or without commitment.
Mk II (truest version, naturally), Mk III (meanest version) and Mk IV (most playful version) are simply different kettle of fish, but I like hearing all three playing SOTW.
Of course the Budokan version segued into a Glenn jam too, they simply spliced that part away for the Last Concert album and the accompanying live footage. I’m not aware that either DP Mk III or IV ever played SOTW without it (unless perhaps on that initial “testing the waters” mini tour in late 1973 when Burn (the album) hadn’t even been released). I also don’t think that Ritchie ever heard Glenn do Georgia On My Mind – that was only introduced for the Mk IV world tour. Though Glenn didn’t do it every time, I have a faint memory of Glenn breaking instead into a Carpenters tune 😁 on one particular Mk IV gig, it might have been a Florida one, I’m not sure.
May 20th, 2024 at 16:13Stathis, I think Coverdian counts in Made in Europe too as the third Mk III album, a lot of people do. To me the track choice on that album always seemed like a belated effort by the Purple management to placate those fans with “only heavy hitters” who had felt that Purple had branched out too much on Stormbringer and Come Taste The band (needless to say, I liked that branching out). Made in Europe is basically the hardest and most energetic tracks off Burn and Stormbringer lobbed – somewhat lovelessly – together, I always found the album a little imbalanced and obsessively relentless because of it. It still got to a respectable #10 in Germany (but only a shameful #148 in the US Billboard charts, evidencing how quickly DP had fallen from grace with the American public from 1973/early 1974 when they ruled the world to late 1976).
Why Saarbrücken has not been released yet is still anyone’s guess.
May 20th, 2024 at 16:33“I also don’t think that Ritchie ever heard Glenn do Georgia On My Mind – that was only introduced for the Mk IV world tour.”
I just noticed that Simon Robinson in his booklet notes to Live in London/Kilburn CLAIMS that Glenn does ‘Georgia On My Mind’ after SOTW on that recording … Believing I needed to listen more often to my own CDs 😂 and maybe publicly apologize here, I gave it a spin and for the life of me can’t hear anything other than Glenn doing some of his usual soulish ad-libbing over Jon’s organ chords, but that’s not really ‘Georgia’ at all …
Speaking of Live in London/Kilburn, why is it that this fine live album, depicting Mk III in full flight & glory, hardly ever gets mentioned here? Did it fall release-wise through all the cracks? Were no container boxes of it from wrecked ships washed on Tasmanian shores to be scavenged/gathered by the DP-starved indigenous population on the beaches?
I wasn’t a great fan of Made in Europe when that came out in late 1976 (you could hear that Ritchie was in his mind already somewhere else as the other four valiantly soldiered on), but I was elated by the quality of the 1982 vinyl release of Live in London! I also already had it on CD from Japan long before it finally saw a belated European CD release – now as an expanded double disc – in 2007 (nicely remastered by Peter Mew). To my ears the band sounds much fresher, tighter and enthusiastic (even frantic in places) on that gig than they did at the end of Mk III’s lifespan about a year later. DC’s and Glenn’s twin vocals shine more too. In my book it beats both the slightly ramshackle/rough Cal Jam recording and the already somewhat jaded Made in Europe source gigs (which still showed Purple performing at the peak of their abilities, but not everyone’s heart was still in it). That said, Made in Europe migh have the edge over Live in London/Kilburn in sheer recording quality (due to the use of once again the Rolling Stones Mobile), but just by a touch, in fact I find the latter live recording sounding more organic and less abrasive.
Any lovers of Live in London/Kilburn out there then? It’s worth having for Jon’s great introduction of Glenn and David alone as well as his “And my name is … Rick Emerson!”-quip.
May 20th, 2024 at 19:23Ivica, the “professor/rector” 🧐 sayeth:
Good ears! Craig Gruber had a funk groove and that showed all over the Rainbow debut, so much I fear that it cost him his job and he got Ritchie’s pointed boot for it. Maybe Ritchie at that point was fed up with funky bassists, Jimmy Bain’s bass playing certainly had more in common with Glen(n) Matlock than Hughes (or Craig Gruber for that matter). I think at that point Ritchie wanted a root note shredder compatible with Cozy – until he thought otherwise of course and decided that Jimmy’s bass skills were – surprise! – limited after a year or so.
Bob Daisley was an excellent bass player, but you don’t really hear that on LLRnR because he only played on three tracks and at very short notice, being asked to stay close to Ritchie’s guide bass tracks. (His strongest bass playing can be heard with Widowmaker, Ozzy and Mothers Army.)
We all know how good Roger can be, but if truth be told I was a little disappointed of his bass playing on Down To Earth at the time. Why? It was nowhere near as expressive as on WDWTWA nor as sonically prominent (Rickenbacker with Purple as opposed to Gibson Thunderbird on DTE). There were of course a couple of reasons for this:
– Roger hadn’t been playing bass regularly for six years years when he joined the DTE sessions, he was plain rusty and not at the fluid peak of 1973. You can hear it on the album too. No worries, he would relearn eventually.
– Two words: Cozy Powell. I know Cozy is loved here, but the fact is that he left little room for a bassist to breathe. I think of all the DP Family bassists, only John McCoy would have stood a chance against him. Even Neil Murray dumbed down his style considerably when he played with Cozy (and is on record that Ian’s style left him the most room, while playing with Cozy was more of a physical experience).
– There was a tendency from the start to the end of the 70ies to dumb bass playing down and relegate it more and more to simply follow the drums. As drums became more prominent, bass playing became less prominent and free in rock. Blame Disco, it was a general trend. Listen to what the bass would do in, say, a Mountain or Alice Cooper Group song and then to what it does in AC/DC or Judas Priest today.
A busy, loose and boisterous bass line in a Top Ten hit such as here
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JaYTNsS_m2w
was by the late 70ies pretty much unthinkable.
– Rainbow was Ritchie’s band. Ritchie wanted Rainbow to sound more like Foreigner. Foreigner (= Mick Jones) fired their first bassist Ed Gagliardi – a busy and creative player – after their second album and hired Rick Wills who did as required, stick to the root note!
Wikipeia QUOTE
For Head Games, bassist Ed Gagliardi was replaced by Englishman Rick Wills. In his autobiography, Juke Box Hero (named after the seminal Foreigner song), Gramm explains why the band parted ways with Gagliardi: “He was a little headstrong and had his own ideas that weren’t always compatible with what we were trying to accomplish. Ed was obstinate at times, playing the song the way he wanted to play it rather than the way it was drawn up. Jones often had to stop sessions to get Ed back on track. After a while it became tiresome and slowed down the recording process.”
UNQUOTE
– Roger joined Rainbow as a producer and co-writer initially, not as a bassist. It was intended to find another bassist, but of course Ritchie never did because people were either too jazzy for him (Clive Chaman), didn’t play with a pick (Mark Clarke), not experienced enough as a bassist (Jack Green) or couldn’t be bothered to join given Ritchie’s hire & fire notoriety (John Glascock). So in the end Roger stepped in (initially for studio purposes only), before other Rainbow members pleaded with Ritchie to offer Roger the job – which Ritchie only did after checking with Cozy (who was ok with Roger). As a result, much of the bass playing on DTE is just an afterthought or what ‘Roger the Producer’ thought was left for ‘Roger the Bassist’ to play.
May 20th, 2024 at 20:12Yo,
Herr Uwe mentioned…
qt.“I also don’t think that Ritchie ever heard Glenn do Georgia On My Mind – that was only introduced for the Mk IV world tour.”
*** It’s there alright, Paris, Graz, & likely a whole host of shows during Mk-III, likely more-so after the release of Stormbringer, (the shoe-shine album) as that’s when everything appeared to turn to shyte, though I consider all GH addendum in the live arena repulsive & disrespectful, regardless of the tune played.
He should have been fired, & a suitable replacement found.
Peace !
May 21st, 2024 at 06:53@24 Ok then. A quick mention: DP – Live in London
I do like it too, Uwe, but have to says that it doesn’t stand a chance comkpared to MiE for me. I mean … BURN and MISTREATED from MiE just cannot be beaten IMHO. The ultimate versions, if only for the funky interplay with the riff on BURN that RB does and the Rock Me Baby aadition DC delivers. Never has he sounded any better. And as you said, the overall sound is better anyway. And while the London show shows the band a bit rough in 75 they sounded like a well oiled machine but still not too clean, just perfect in my book. So sorry, Live in Lonon comes in second.
May 21st, 2024 at 07:13“There was a tendency from the start to the end of the 70ies to dumb bass playing down and relegate it more and more to simply follow the drums. As drums became more prominent, bass playing became less prominent and free in rock. Blame Disco, it was a general trend.” Whew, for a second there I thought it was going to be the drummers fault (again)! Seriously though Uwe, John Glascock was a full time member of Tull from 1976 until his unfortunate passing from heart related issues in 1979. Where was he going to fit in with Rainbow or was that Blackmore’s thinking that he would? Glascock (aka brittle dick as Anderson often quipped) was too busy a player for that style of Rainbow, hit singles etc (1979/80. I have been watching a couple of Tull concerts lately (don’t sigh, their not too bad a band after all) & Glascock is superb, a good bass sound also. He was enjoying it in Tull I would imagine, bless him. Cheers
May 21st, 2024 at 07:47Glenn’s showcasing his vocals with “Georgia”, while very good, was simply not Purple especially with SOTW imo.
May 21st, 2024 at 10:34He is out there now doing his Burn tour and doing quite well and I get another chance to see him this fall, all is forgiven LOL after all he is keeping MK III/IV alive!
Herr MacGregor, Ritchie himself has admitted to trying to poach John Glascock while he was already with JT. Ritchie knew his playing from Carmen (which Ritchie professed to be “one of the best bands around” in a latish 70ies interview and which had openend for JT on a tour, Jon Glascock thus catching Ian Anderson’s eye and ear).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6KQQ2da_5lY
AND he had seen Glascock with JT at that one gig where Ritchie had gotten his hands on front row seats to impress his then girlfriend (Shoshana?), with a mischievous Ian Anderson, after spotting him in the audience, commencing to sit on Ritchie’s legs to play a lap dance flute solo to him, with Ritchie valiantly trying to act composed while his girlfriend watched. 😂 (Blackmore himself recounted that incident in good humor.)
Blackmore was schizoid as regards bassists: His endless quest was for someone good enough to more or less replicate everything he did on guitar one octave lower, yet at the same time play a more traditional, root note oriented rock bass during the songs. Plus the guy had to use a pick and not play with a middish, jazz-fusion sound. I agree, John Glascock’s style and sound would not have fitted the bill.
The best bass player Rainbow ever had was likely Bob Daisley. Ritchie never said a bad word about his playing (unlike about Jimmy Bain who fell from grace eventually), yet did not rehire him for the DTE sessions for whatever reason. This is not to put down Roger who is a wonderful bass player, but Roger’s natural habitat is playing with DP and, especially, alongside Little Ian. Roger never managed to shine with Rainbow in my ears, neither Powell nor Rondinelli nor Burgi ever gelled with Roger like Litte Ian, and that’s a fact!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RagJs3TCv9w
“He (GH) should have been fired, & a suitable replacement found.”
Be careful what you wish for, lieber Gregster, so if I understand you correctly, your preference would have been an Mk II sans Gillan, but with DC instead. Let’s explore your alternative universe a little:
– There would have been no Holy Man, Getting Tighter, This Time Around and You Keep On Moving in the songwriting department of Mk III and IV; don’t know about you, but to me that seems a hefty loss in DP’s body of work.
– Coverdale’s/Hughes’ charismatic twin lead vocal attack wouldn’t have been heard. Now you might say that someone else could have been found to sing with DC, but the record is not very encouraging on this: Post-DP, DC never again found someone whose voice matched as compellingly with his as Glenn’s. Geffen even ordered DC to get in Glenn as a session singer during the recording of Slip Of The Tongue because of that realization.
– Moreover: No Glenn would have also meant that Little Ian would have lacked the inspiration/influence to develop his drumming post-Mk II which means we would have never heard like Ian drummed from Burn to Malice in Wonderland – in my humble view the apex of his various drumming phases.
– Finally: Neither Burn nor Stormbringer nor Come Taste The Band would have sounded remotely like they do in the absence of Glenn’s bass style. You are forgiven for forgetting/ignoring that, lieber Gregster, as a guitarist a certain amount of musical autism is of course by necessity your predicament. 🥰 Roger couldn’t have achieved that and while other funky bass players might have been available in 1973, the field is relatively quickly narrowed down if you want someone who plays funky AND heavy. John Gustafson and Paul Martinez might have worked – though the former was likely already too jazzy and middish-sounding with his WAL Mk I bass (that is all over the IGB albums).
Still so sure that Mk III & IV without Glenn would have been a good idea?
https://cdn-image.bonedo.de/wp-media-folder-bonedo/2024/01/glenn-hughes-orange-o-bass-1-1024×614.jpg
May 21st, 2024 at 18:51“Glenn’s showcasing his vocals with “Georgia”, while very good, was simply not Purple especially with SOTW imo.”
Define “Purple” for me, lieber Stoffer! 😉 My definition of “Purple” is guitar & organ tandem (= “gorgan”)-driven rock WITH various additions through the eras. During Mk I it was psychedelia, Mk II brought in Gillan’s tenor voice and solidified the rhythm section, Mk III + IV invited Blues, Funk & Soul influences (an Americanisation of sorts). Georgia On My Mind would have sounded out of place during an Mk II gig, but I thought it fitted fine in an Mk IV performance. The instrumentalists in Purple always had solo spots, the only thing new with Mk III & IV was that Glenn as bassist/co-lead vocalist now claimed one too whereas before it had only been the original triumvirate*** of Ritchie, Jon and Ian.
I listened to the double CD of the 75 Budokan gig yesterday and today and I have to say that gig would have made me very happy to see and hear, it was a pleasantly varied, grand rock show (with some blasé self-indulgence and over-saturation, but, hey, that is the mid-70ies for you!): Mk II and Mik III material, some of it played in full, some in teasers, a whole bunch of the new album, all faithful + spirited renditions, funk excursions (Glenn’s and Tommy’s synchronized note-bending during the Gettin’ Tighter jam is a real highlight) and no less than four (!) ballads (Georgia, Soldier of Fortune, This Time Around and You Keep On Moving) without the gig losing steam plus the alltime best version of Tommy’s Wild Dogs. And some shit-hot jamming throughout. What’s not to like?!
***Speaking of triumvirates, anybody remember my Landsleute here and their mix of ELP, YES and SUPERTRAMP influences?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6sjU0VyJHU&list=PL7lIKquEdbl-e19Qk2LdOR18cj74eS4Ql
May 21st, 2024 at 19:27There is little doubt that at times especially back then that Blackmore probably wasn’t sure what he wanted. All over the shop & why on earth would someone playing in a solid & successful band leave that to enter the vipers pit. Glascock would have never left Tull for poor ole Ritchie, not matter how much Blacker’s thought that he could poach him, if that was ever his intention. Blackmore went to a few Tull gigs back on the 1970’s, he admired them a lot. Regarding the bass guitarist & drummer conundrum, yes it does bode well for a link in that department. There are many successful combinations, as you said Glover & Paice. Chris Squire & Alan White, Bill Bruford & Tony Levin, Geddy Lee & Neil Peart & so on. It is called the engine room for a reason, nice & solid, reliable & creative etc. However there has to be experiments in certain aspects, to find the right combination. Look at Yes with Bruford & Squire, a wonderful connection but there was something missing. Reliability, that the musicians need get along. The Paice, Ashton & Lord live concert is superb for Ian Paice aficionados, he is on fire there & the filming is wonderful & also the sound. The ELP sounding band Triumvirat sound too much like ELP for my ears. Thanks for the link, interesting to hear in that sense. Cheers.
May 21st, 2024 at 22:07@ Uwe
I seem to recall another band from Germany, darn whats the name?
A guy singing about watching TV?
A band riding in a tank?
Oops, not a tank.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWT6k64XBl0&ab_channel=eichencneichencn
May 21st, 2024 at 22:15LOL !
Look-out Stoffer…And I mostly agree with your comment, apart from how GH sings Georgia…
qt.”Glenn’s showcasing his vocals with “Georgia”, while very good, was simply not Purple especially with SOTW imo.
He is out there now doing his Burn tour and doing quite well and I get another chance to see him this fall, all is forgiven LOL after all he is keeping MK III/IV alive”!
*** Yes indeed he’s keeping-it-alive, & certainly he likely remembers that it was his antics that killed-it-off in the first-place.
Peace !
May 21st, 2024 at 22:43@ 30 – I forgot to reply to the comment of Ian Anderson sitting on Blackmore’s lap & playing the flute. That is hilarious & I haven’t heard that before. Blackmore taking his missus to a Tull gig could possibly be an off putting experience, for women in particular. Anderson & his over the top so called humour in regards to the male libido & all. The Tull gigs I have been watching are from the glorious mid to late 70’s. Does humour belong in music? Well we have already been there in regards to if, when & how. Anyway good to see the Minstrels were out & about then, there are similarities in what both bands do in some aspects. Especially their influences from the rather similar era’s. Thanks for the humour. Cheers.
May 22nd, 2024 at 00:12LOL
Herr Uwe said, (& this is funny btw)…
qt.”1.Finally: Neither Burn nor Stormbringer nor Come Taste The Band would have sounded remotely like they do in the absence of Glenn’s bass style.
2.You are forgiven for forgetting/ignoring that, lieber Gregster, as a guitarist a certain amount of musical autism is of course by necessity your predicament”…
***
R1. RB was strong-headed in that he only likes, & would hire a bass-player that uses a pick. Period. I’m sure he regrets ever hiring GH, as anyone who is totally honest with themselves would agree, that has ever gone through the trauma of listening to his addendum. The guy was young & foolish, & his on-going idiocy opened the door for RB to leave, & ultimately killed-off the band in the 1970’s
Nobody from DP has ever worked with GH since, DC included…
There are plenty of players that would have surpassed GH performances. His main drawcard was his use of a pick, & the ability to sing…( Thank-god back-up only mostly lol with DP )…
R2. I’m a multi-instrumentalist Uwe…I can play all the brass instruments with some proficiency, including French Horn & Trombone + trumpet…I had to learn keyboards as a 2nd instrument to receive my Diploma in Jazz & Pop. A guitar was a way to earn-a-living playing music, & I loved the CBS large headstock Fender Stratocaster’s, & those that played them well, as RB can at times, among a great many others too.
Peace !
May 22nd, 2024 at 07:10Herr Uwe my definition of Purple is essentially the same as yours = “gorgan” (I like that!) WITH various additions”. My comment was implying Glenn should have did his “Georgia” thing with different song (possibly one he had writing credit on) instead of during the anthem SOTW although what better time to showcase during Smoke with the crowd truly focused! I’m not denying his talent or his right to show off his incredible vocal range just maybe pick a different tune!
cheers
@34 keeping it alive/killed it off**** he was not alone unfortunately 🙁
May 22nd, 2024 at 11:33Where to start?
1. “There are plenty of players that would have surpassed GH performances. His main drawcard was his use of a pick, & the ability to sing …( Thank-god back-up only mostly lol with DP ) …”
Where does all this Tasmanian folklore come from? You’ll have a hard time finding a single bass player who doesn’t rate Glenn’s instrumental abilities.
In 1974 interviews Blackmore lauded Glenn’s syncopation skills as having changed the groove of the band for the new & better, even on a song as tried and trusted as SOTW (Ritchie thought at the time at least!). He hasn’t altered his appreciation of Glenn’s bass playing:
“Billboard: Glenn Hughes has said you invited him to be part of the new Rainbow but he declined. Is that true?
Ritchie Blackmore: Through a mutual friend, a conversation came up saying it would be good to have him in the band. I said, “Would he be up for being just the bass player and we would have another singer singing?” My mutual friend said “Of course. I’ve spoken to him and he’s up for it.” I said, “Fine — as long as he knows he isn’t the singer, that’s great.” Fast forward to day before rehearsals and we contacted Glenn to see when he was going to fly in, and he wasn’t aware that he wasn’t going to be the lead singer at all. So I understood his situation and I told him we would have to get someone else, and he was fine. We ended it amicably before it even started.”
Joe Satriani, used to people like Stuart Hamm, asked him to play bass on all tracks of his last solo album.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2eZ2aHzmyo
But you’re of course right, Satriani would really play with any non-descript bassist given half the chance, wouldn’t he?
Finally, former band buddy DC said about Glenn: “In my time with DP I never saw him practice bass once, yet he could nonchalantly repeat anything Blackmore would play to him. He was extremely quick and nimble.”
2. Mostly back-up vocals with Purple? On Burn (the album), generally seen as the pinnacle of Mk III’s work, Glenn sang half of the verses of Might Just Take Your Life, Sail Away, Lay Dow Stay Down, You Fool One and What’s Goin’ On Here + the bridges on Burn + co-sang the coda of Mistreated plus all the chosus parts on the record except for Mistreated. At least on my copy of Burn that is, dunno which one you have. 😑
On Stormbringer (the album), Glenn sang Holy Man alone as well as half of Love Don’t Mean A Thing, Hold On, You Can’t Do It Right and High Ball Shooter + the bridges of Stormbringer + co-lead singing all of Gypsy and the bridge part to Lady Double Dealer + the chorus parts of all songs with the exception of Soldier Of Fortune.
Not sure what your definition of “mostly back-up vocals” is, but it sounds a little like you have issues picking out Glenn’s voice on the studio albums (quite a few people didn’t actually realize how much Glenn sang at the time and attributed his vocals to DC too).
2. “Nobody from DP has ever worked with GH since, DC included …”
Another Tasmanian myth. Grab your headphones, lieber Gregster, and give the chorus parts of Judgment Day at 01:54 and 03:37 a listen:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5gQSfUywas
That’s Glenn with David. Geffen wanted his voice on the record.
And this is Glenn with a no-name Hammond player who played no role in DP’s history at all. Jon Lord must have been unavailable. 🤐
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9hAB9Oe_40
I could go on, that is not Ian Paice here then …
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=do_BgiF9y0U
And that’s not DC either of course …
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCj20ZsfRy8
And Ritchie never would have him as a bassist either (see above!).
**********************************************************************************
“Blackmore taking his missus to a Tull gig could possibly be an off-putting experience, for women in particular. Anderson & his over the top so called humour in regards to the male libido & all.”
Strangely, with the exception of Pink Floyd, Jethro Tull was always the one PROG act at my school which the girls dug. They couldn’t care less about ELP (except for the sappy Greg Lake ballads) and were largely unmoved by YES and Genesis, but the folk influence of JT appealed to them. My wife, a lifelong folkie, likes Tull better than I do. Up to now I always assumed in her favor that it had to do with the music, but I’ll ask her now to what, uhum, extension Herr Anderson’s crotch armor/codpiece played a role … 😎 I’ve always been skeptical about that “Size doesn’t matter …”-statement, you know how wimmin’ never say what they really think.
**********************************************************************************
“I seem to recall another band from Germany, darn whats the name?
A guy singing about watching TV?
A band riding in a tank?”
😁 RV, you have to get over those stereotypes! Convenient as it has historically sometimes been for surprise visits with neighbors to our Western borders, armoured verhicles on tracks are NOT AUTOMATICALLY the moffen’s preferred choice of travel! 🤣 (We’ve mostly given up on the parachute thing too, it does strain the ankles.)
Yes, Birth Control indeed, a band that owed quite a bit to DP and Rare Earth, that syncopated groove Hammond, Gamma Ray was in the 70ies a veritable dancefloor hit:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=teKIEUmMDLE
Twenty years later or so, someone would remember that infectious syncopated organ riff and it would in the summer of 1995 once again move butts worldwide …
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWaymcVmJ-A
All without any involvement of …
https://img.welt.de/img/geschichte/zweiter-weltkrieg/mobile129869622/9221629407-ci23x11-w1136/Propagadaaufnahme-mit-Koenigstigern.jpg
Those Tiger IIs/Königstiger with their battlefield weight of 70 tons and a flimsy 700 hp engine power were never nimble dancers in any case. 😎
May 22nd, 2024 at 15:51LOL !
Get over it Herr Uwe…The world was likely filled with around 5-6 Billion people at the time of Mk-III & Mk-IV. Plenty of bass-player choices if patience was allowed. I’m sure that GH was screened well at-the-time, but everyone makes mistakes…
And let’s not forget, that “generally”, most bassists as kids started playing guitar, but were relegated to bass because they weren’t considered good enough players. ( Sorry RG ).
He killed the band in the 1970’s…
qt. From Jon Lord to Ian Paice, regarding GH & their last performance …” That’s it, isn’t it ??? We can’t go on doing this to ourselves…Why are we doing this to ourselves”???…
Check-out Phoenix Rising for your own edification.
GH *ucked-it for all of us…And yes, even Tommy could still have been alive if circumstance & GH didn’t push Jon & Ian to make that decision.
Regardless of how much sincere bollox you post about GH, you’ll never change history, & GH will never really be spoken of fondly, if at all.
All he did through his career, was blow opportunity after opportunity.
It’s all here, watch & learn, face the truth 🙂 !!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHrz2Tc7ZaU
Next !
Peace !
May 22nd, 2024 at 22:33@ 38 – I must point out it is the in between song banter that Ian Anderson occasionally resorts to the bawdy jokes of a sort. So unless your good wife has attended a 1970’s concert where that was more frequent than later Tull, as was the cod piece & flute frivolities, she may still be innocent. Thankfully that wasn’t in the lyric to any songs until the 1989 Rock Island album opening song Kissing Willie. Maybe Anderson at that time was experiencing a ‘mid life crisis’ or something, terrible lyrics indeed. Maybe you could wear a cod piece & gesticulate erratically with a flute in your hands at the next BN gig Uwe? Cheers.
May 23rd, 2024 at 05:22“GH will never be spoken of fondly, if at all.”
Certainly not by you, lieber Gregster, adhering as you do to the monocausal pet theory – another one besides Ritchie’s alleged improvisational disabilities – that Glenn is to blame for pretty much everything: Ritchie leaving, DP disbanding and – wait for it – even Tommy dying of a multiple drug overdose. That’s a lot of influence for an in your book only so-so and easily replaceable instrumentalist playing an instrument that doesn’t really require any greater skill. Guitards, don’t you just lov’em … ❤️ Also their immaculate perception for what constitutes a good bassist and what doesn’t, I wonder: Have you ever sat down and listened to a Trapeze album front to back focusing on what Glenn did? It might be of revelatory nature.
Monocausal sets of beliefs – whether held by flat earthers or QAnon disciples – do of course sometimes suffer from their disconnect to reality which is why the fact that Tommy’s death followed a six-month drug rampage at a time when he was neither playing with Glenn nor seeing him socially must leave you as unperturbed as the many departures the Tommy Bolin Band faced as they went from one drummer and bassist to another, Michael “Narada” Walden and Reggie McBride all leaving in despair about Tommy’s – “the future’s uncertain, but the end is always near” (and clear …) – burgeoning drug intake.
Let’s agree to disagree.
May 23rd, 2024 at 13:52Codpieces? Erratic gesticulations? (Flesh?) Flute in hands? Kissing Willie? What is this, a Frank Zappa site?
MacGregor, you and your stunted development puerile brain clouded by smutty boy’s boarding school-reared sexual innuendo!
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/35/15/81/35158162016ace84c05b13c568bb8fb5.gif
I resemble your remarks unequivocally!
May 23rd, 2024 at 17:26Uwe
This time I really did mean no harm.
Maybe subliminal messages from my brain?
Dont think so, I think I should ve added that I probably mixed the BIRTHCONTROL cover photo with Uriah Heeps Salisbury.
I cant recall having used the word “Moffen”much.
I even wonder if I ever did.
Like jokes on Belgians our hate for anything German died decades ago imho.
Its still weird though living in a city that was once very beautiful getting bombed to hell way back.
I m not exactly, one of my own fucks ups, a fan of modern architecture.
I more than once shocked people from here saying wittingly “Maybe they should come back so that we can undo the damage we did ourselves after 1940”
I learned that the city had OCD in a way .
It already wanted to modernise the shit out of Rotterdam and already did damage.
But a lot of people seem to love this modern stuff. Some parts did get better but in general ….
Its not like I m going for a romantic stroll in the centre.
Yeah, with a bit of imagination on a hot night, some booze , different lights et all it kinda works.
That was 4 years ago, 2020 was a long sunny year.
And now it seems not to stop raining. Today was like a Moesson.
Its not new, many think so and want to implement things that make many of us very poor.
May 29th, 2024 at 23:41