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Absolutely first rate
Norway Rock Magazine reviews Deep Purple’s performance at the Notodden Blues Festival this past Friday, August 2:
Deep Purple received the kind of reception you would expect – Hovigs Hangar, the giant popup inflatable tent in the corner of Torvet, was full. They are touring their new record “=1”, from which we would hear four tracks. However, it was the classic material that people had mostly come to hear – it was the old stuff which got the best reception. The fact that they have a new album after such a long career is tribute, for the undersigned, to two things, both of which were obvious during the show. First, the band are still enjoying what they do – they are not eking out their long careers. Second, and perhaps making a contribution to that enjoyment, is their lineup. Keyboardist Don Airey joined in 2002, replacing Jon Lord, and in 2022 Simon McBride replaced Steve Morse as a full member of the band after 28 years. The energy of these two musicians made the show and they have undoubtedly kept the band fresh and sharp.
Read more in norwayrock.net.
Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing
Yo,
It’s always good to read positive reviews, & even more surprising to read about Don & Simon…
But DP is a 5/5 equal-member line-up, & 5/5 = 1…
Peace !
August 5th, 2024 at 02:47“McBride’s guitar solo came early in the set, near seven minutes of highly technical, fast, but also musical playing. We had swells and trills followed by arpeggios of extraordinary dexterity, like a Paganini capriccio, building faster and faster until he eased into a soaring lyrical passage which brought the rest of the band back in for “Uncommon Man”. Poor Yngwie, up in his neck of the woods too, oh dear he would be beyond all control one would think. That could or should have been his job, his cameo, his moment. Oh well time to pass the torch on Malmsteen. There is a new kid on the block. It harks back 30 years, to a memory of reading somewhere that Malmsteen presumed the Purple gig would be his. Was he joking, who can tell. Was the comment taken out of context, we don’t know. Not to worry. To quote Ian Gillan’s lyric. Uwe should be impressed, hopefully.
August 5th, 2024 at 03:30“Time it does not matter But time is all we have To think about, think about
Road, it has no end Crossroads every turn So it goes, so it goes
Once you sang A simple song Got confused Went on too long
Why does the promise fade You lie on the bed you make
Stranger than fiction Further from the truth Beyond imagination Those seeds have taken root”
Wild as a dream could be”
A good review by the way, I forgot about saying that in my first comment thinking it was Malmsteen in the band there for a second, he he he. As everyone knows, as soon as Niccolo Paganini is mentioned…………! Up there in Edvard Grieg’s country as mentioned. Peer Gynt, Hooray. A distant relation of mine, perhaps………. well I might as well claim that, you can say anything these days & still get away with it. Thanks for the review, it sounds like it was a good concert & all. Cheers.
August 5th, 2024 at 04:22really nice review and nice photos.
God always bless Little Ian, the engine of the machine!
August 5th, 2024 at 07:17MacGregor @ 2&3, indeed Simon continues to impress spectacularly. I had a sense he was going places when I first saw video clips of his playing in Don Airey’s band a few years ago. I never imagined he would end up in Purple back then, but as it turns out, he is a perfect fit. And, seems up in Norden, where they have had their fair share of guitar heroes, they are also well impressed by Simon’s guitar virtuosity. Bragi, the Norse god of music, whose task is to serenade fallen warriors into Valhalla, is very pleased also! Skål!!!
August 5th, 2024 at 12:31the only thing that is out of place on stage is that Simon has a young face compared to the others… guys!😅
August 5th, 2024 at 18:50Settle down, all ye ‘suddenly-turned-Nordic-mythology-fans’, are we now gonna strip naked and man-dance whale-oiled in pagan bliss around a bonfire? 😁
It was good that no one ever asked Yngwie to take the place of Blackmore (no idea if he would have done it and it certainly wouldn’t have lasted for long), it would have been cabaret. Kinda like Prince replacing Vanity (6)
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/7c/55/b2/7c55b2e3e7821d5353597a40987a6081.gif
with Apollonia (6 … or shouldn’t that have been 7?), that didn’t work out either. Some people cannot be replaced by their likeness.
https://i.makeagif.com/media/5-19-2016/pNgAQT.gif
That was a lovely (and informed) review from that Hottentot Blues Festival or whatever it was called. 😎
August 5th, 2024 at 19:51@ 5 – good comment DeeperPurps. Yes and I do also wonder what Bragi & his old man Odin think of Yngwie as he is one of the same ilk. Is that why Malmsteen is so ‘radical’ in his ways, do the Deities prefer a bit of mischief. Well we know they do & Simon might be too well behaved & that hair style has to go. I do think he will need to alter that somewhat if he wants to enter Valhalla. However my main concern here at THS is the SENTINEL, aka Uwe. Being from Germany & we know the connection there to northern countries, how do the Norse Gods deal with him. Especially now he has been elevated to a ‘higher’ rank, who was the wise guy who did that? Cheers.
August 5th, 2024 at 22:25German occupation forces gave (or rather: left) Frida to Norway and then to Sweden —> ABBA —> the WORLD … In all due modesty, I believe that we have herewith made a lasting cultural contribution to the realm of the Nordic Gods , jawohl!
August 5th, 2024 at 23:08STOP PRESS !!!
Straight from the horse’s/hingst’s mouth/kjeft, His Nordic Godness Loki’s uncensored reaction to getting Yngwie to replace Ritchie, world-premiered here on the holy pages of the Highwæy Står …
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/b8/98/6f/b8986f643fc599b44a2610910b4a5c81.gif
August 5th, 2024 at 23:45An interesting analysis of Deep Purple’s new album was made on a Brazilian YouTube channel called “Punchcast”.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAZd2yMqOVE
August 6th, 2024 at 00:36This might sound odd but I am convinced that if they have used a different cover and a different name this album could have done better commercially.
August 6th, 2024 at 09:04Having said that I am quite happy with the musical content and the production.
I would be very happy if they close the chapter now when it comes to new material as they achieved everything musically.
Peace ✌️
Here’s a setlist I’d like to see, and hear:
Show Me
Portable Door
Lazy Sod
Woman From Tokyo
Fools — Morse-Lord-era version
Nothing At All
Let The Good Times Roll
Lazy
… And the Address — Mark 1 version
No Money to Burn, or, I’m Saying Nothin’
I’ll Catch You
Perfect Strangers
Highway Star
Encores:
Hush
Smoke
August 6th, 2024 at 11:40Uwe @7….thank you for shaking me back to my senses!! For a minute there I was going down the same perilous path already heavily trod by Percy and his acolytes.
MacGregor @8….yes Yngwie, special case indeed. And The Sentinel! I dare say Loki may have had a hand in many things!
Oops there I go again…..I think it’s time I consult Dr. Lao.
August 6th, 2024 at 13:32Horses for courses, I love the minimalism of the cover. It oozes self-confidence and understatement.
August 6th, 2024 at 16:02Uwe @7….thank you for shaking me back to my senses!! For a minute there I was going down the same perilous path already heavily trod by Percy and his acolytes.
DeeperViking or however you identify now: Someone had to, it was getting øut øf hånd raskt.
https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Pathfinder02a.jpg
August 6th, 2024 at 16:54Can you hear the drums Fernando @11: Muito obrigado, but my Portugese is rusty, what does it say em suma?
August 6th, 2024 at 17:30An excellent review indeed. I was glad to see that it referred to “Uncommon Man” as one of the classics–it deserves the accolade.
@ 13: They should definitely open with “Show Me.” We can dream! But I’m worried that when I see them later this month in the US they’ll lose most of the new songs and revert to performing Machine Head.
August 6th, 2024 at 19:03Hi Uwe @17. In the video he highly praises the new album and only made one observation regarding the sound of Roger Glover’s bass. He thought it was a little covered up because (maybe) of the keyboards. And in some songs he found the drums to have the same problem as the other instruments. But he also says it could be his hearing problem. He mentioned two songs with the style of the Morse era and considered the track “Bleeding Obvius” to be his favorite on the album.
August 6th, 2024 at 23:03Peace & Love to everyone on the site.
Yo,
@10…
Ritchie who ??????
I like Loki…Perhaps this Ritchie person represents Baldr ???
Peace !
August 7th, 2024 at 00:30@ 18: One of the reasons I stopped going to their US concerts was that they rarely played Morse-era tunes. I recall watching a circa 1972 video on YouTube during which Gillan introduces “Highway Star” as a song that could be their regular opener for some time. When he said that, I’m guessing he didn’t think that time period would last for more than a half-century. They played it late in the show early in the Morse era. I thought that worked better. They should be brave and play more of the new stuff in the US, although for me most of the Morse-era LPs are more cohesive and musically interesting than =1. Nonetheless, grateful that the lads are still putting out albums.
August 7th, 2024 at 02:49Drums-hearing Fernando: Danke!
Roger actually has more than one bass sound on =1, it’s one of Bob Ezrin’s peculiarities: While Roger in his producer role would most often retain one bass sound for a whole album, Bob changes from song to song.
My ears are of course attuned to digging out the bass from any mix (but even I have issues with Rainbow Rising for instance), just as Herr MacGregor can do the same with drums, but I hear Roger well in all of Ezrin’s productions. He’s not always crisp (that 70ies to-die-for gnarly Rickenbacker sound is long gone in any case), but always audible and actually especially so on the new album (where there is even a bit of old Rickenbacker’ish glory showing up in places).
That is what I’m Ezrin indebted to actually, he returned Roger to a prominent role in the Purple mix. “Roger the producer” was never good for “Roger the bassist” (and he has admitted as much), being the modest man he is, his bass sometimes became a mere afterthought in the mix because he was so busy making everyone else sound good. As old Alice Cooper Group albums evidence, Bob Ezrin always had an ear for bass (Dennis Dunaway was an innovative and melodic bassist) and made it stand out.
August 7th, 2024 at 14:11RG he produced a lot of good stuff.
August 7th, 2024 at 14:20Above all Perfect Strangers and The House Of Blue Light…
Gregster @20: Loki/Tom Hiddleston was the only reason to expose yourself voluntarily to the many pompous inanities of the overwrought (and overlong) Marvel Universe – and then they go kill him off
https://qph.cf2.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-5323be4b1a4420c751cfd3bdc5ea64ac
while his simpleton brother lives on! 😪 If your only weapon/tool is an outsize hammer, then nearly everything looks like a nail.
I’ve never forgiven them that. That and what they did to war veteran Dr Connors/The Lizard (who just wanted to regenerate his arm left on the battlefield a little)
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/91/Lizard_%28Curt_Connors%29.jpg
taking away his long pointed reptile snout and making him look like friggin’ Ben Grimm’s/The Thing’s scaly brother/an adult Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle …
https://qph.cf2.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-461f092d533bca61b4cde1fc52f7f6ee-lq
Spider-Man’s most textured opponent villain (along with Doc Octopus and the Green Goblin, of course) deserved better. With great power comes great responsibility and they really ruined the Lizard for me.
August 7th, 2024 at 16:20@ 7 The Birka Vikings turned up in full last night in Stockholm. 18000 strong actually and they raved about Purple big time. Or as they are also known.. the Rus.
August 7th, 2024 at 16:45Yo,
@19 said…
qt.” – Regarding the sound of Roger Glover’s bass. He thought it was a little covered up because (maybe) of the keyboards. And in some songs he found the drums to have the same problem as the other instruments. But he also says it COULD BE HIS HEARING PROBLEM”.
Rest assured Sir, that it’s pretty-hard, even impossible to mess-up a mix or production, & it’s been that way for over 40-years, since the digital world & computers ensured that you can SEE what your meant to be HEARING. Correct balance of sound is a mouse-click-away, depending on compression-type & speed used, including spectrum analysis for your EQ. The final mix & volume levels are however manually possible of course, which is why IG’s vocals tend to be in the forefront of what we hear, as requested by the band most likely.
At the end-of-the-day, your own ears, & especially the equipment type played through directly affect what you listen to & do, or do not enjoy.
Never, ever, believe a review on sound quality or production by anybody, unless they can back-it-up with stating what they listened through, by listing their equipment. And that goes for folks in here or other musical-sites especially. Even RG admits to a hearing issue, so that should speak volumes, but what did he listen through ???…And if someone in here has hearing issues & a Frankenstein stereo system made of bits & pieces of this & that, well, you could miss-out on a great listening opportunity because you followed the advice of a flawed review, even though the reviewer may being genuine in his reviews…If the listening experience described isn’t backed-up by what the listening medium was, walk away like it was used toilet-paper.
It costs lots of $$$ to go through the production process from start to finish, & quality is guaranteed, such that you will hear a recording sounding fine through most, if not all mediums. That’s what’s been paid for.
People claiming poor sound quality issues are more likely reflecting their own hearing loss & stereo-system quality / degradation than anything else, & blowing hot-air through their Portable-Door because they can, & that’s why they’re here lol.
Trust your own ears. If it sounds good, it is good. If not, ask if it’s yourself or poor equipment / settings that’s the issue…Always set EQ’s / Bass & Treble to the middle position. If you have to move from these settings to get a nice sound, it’s more indicative of poor equipment & / or hearing loss than anything else. When set to the middle settings EVERYTHING you play has an equal opportunity to display its sound qualities & biases. It’s the datum-point, period.
Peace !
August 8th, 2024 at 02:18Geniuses in the eighties…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A35KVqhkDKs
August 8th, 2024 at 06:40Gregster @26, you make some excellent points about sonics. I am often skeptical of reviews which question the quality of production. Agreed, most of it comes down to the equipment being used by the listener. But there have been certain cases in which the original settings were tinkered with, or were simply, just wrong. “Born Again” by Black Sabbath obviously had such issues. Another one which comes to mind is Purple’s “Rapture of the Deep”….seems to me the producer Micheal Bradford did something odd there because it really sounds flat and dead, no matter the equipment used. And that’s a real shame, as the album itself contains some of the Morse-era’s strongest material.
August 8th, 2024 at 14:21@ 25 – 18,000 rabid Vikings, supporting Deep Purple in todays world? That is a bit of a worry, although surely those Longships wouldn’t make it all the way to Tasmania? I am feeling a little concerned as I recently stated that I din’t like some of these new songs, I will alert the coast guard. Cheers.
August 9th, 2024 at 07:50@28…
Thank-you Sir ! And yes, people need to realize that you have to have a starting-point, or datum with your EQ’s, so that every recording gets a fair chance of appraisal. Who likes getting-up & changing EQ settings every new tune that’s played, since you’re missing-out on the listening experience ?…Some people like playing with dials I suppose lol !
No doubt some dud recordings from time-to-time sneak through for whatever reasons, & listening from this datum-point ( middle / neutral settings ) ensures you haven’t over-cooked anything by yourself, by mistake. Admittedly, these settings can initially tend to sound a little dry if you’ve always had things juiced-up, but your ears adjust almost straight away, & you will find that everything you play will have a fair chance of appraisal, & can be cranked-up louder too. And should you not like these settings, it may well be time to save-up for a new set of quality speakers, & / or amp. But have your ears checked-out & cleaned before needlessly spending big-dollars on a stereo upgrade.
And with all that said, if you do find a nice setting with your EQ, which with say a 5 + band-EQ, (which will almost always look like a smile when adjusted, with both lows & highs raised with the middle lowered from the notch ), & everything you play sounds good at that setting, then you’ve done well, & no need to do anything, as you’ve found the “sweet-spot”. It’s when constant resetting / adjusting for each new album played means likely trouble exists, & you have to find-out why, is it you or your equipment ?
And generally speaking, from the neutral settings, everything you play will sound fine regardless of volume levels played. The sweet-spot you found with your EQ dials usually disappears at different volume levels, & so you have to play around again, & what a waste-of-time imo.
Peace !
August 9th, 2024 at 22:55Did you put as much thought and money into the acoustic treatment of your room as well?
Saying that no one can have an opinion on how something sounds without having extensive knowledge about equipment and eq is a very elitist thing to say, IMO. If you listen through the same equipment every day, even if it’s a high end hi-fi setup or your phone speakers, anyone can decide what they like and how one recording relates to another.
And it’s all subjective anyway. There are no facts involved in what you think about how something sounds or of you like a composition. Only emotions.
If we would assume the way it sounds in the actual studio where it is mastered is the “right” way, you need to have the same equipment and the same room. Simply leaving all settings flat isn’t enough. And note mastered. The mix is done before the mastering so not even that is a relevant reference.
And any good mixer knows you have to make compromises to cater to all ways people listen to music. Back in the days it was easy when all you had to do was make sure your material was mono compatible. These days there are a lot of options where the audience listen to your mix and sometimes different masterings has to be done for different platforms.
August 10th, 2024 at 12:50I liked what Dweezil said about his remix of MH. He argued that most music is listened to these days over earbuds, but he didn’t want that sound, so they deliberated where people still here music most often in open space and arrived at: in the car! So that is what they did, the stereo remix of MH is optimized for car stereo – and indeed that is where it sounds wonderful.
August 10th, 2024 at 21:01Speaking of hearing problems, as the “Punchcast” reviewer linked in @11 apparently does…
No doubt one of the reasons none of the Purple guys are involved with record production any longer is that – like most old-school rockers – they all have significant hearing loss.
Paice talked about how his hearing “ain’t good” in a recent video, and his need for hearing aids.
Yet one recalls video of a press conference a few years ago where someone called out a question from the back of the room, and he was the only one of the three members present who could answer it. The others, Gillan and Glover, both shrugged to indicate they couldn’t hear it. Which may indicate that their ears are in even worse condition than IP’s.
A while back there was also a video of Gillan and Morse “talking” after a UK show. Standing about six feet apart, but shouting at each other as if separated by a football pitch.
Blackmore describes himself as “hard of hearing” and has at times struggled to get through an interview without his wife repeating the questions up close in his ear.
Even Nick Simper, whose musical career was reduced to a part-time job for many years, stated at the start of one interview conducted by telephone that he would need the interviewer to speak up, as his hearing wasn’t great.
Not a trivial issue, as the link between hearing loss and dementia is now fairly well established. Normally a disease of the elderly, one has to wonder if deafness may have been a factor of its early onset in, for example, unfortunate members of Mott the Hoople and AC/DC.
August 10th, 2024 at 23:04@ 33 – interesting comments about dementia & very plausible. Even Parkinson’s as hearing or ear issues can affect balance etc. So there also could very well be links there. Regarding Ian Paice not being as affected, drummers do get a benefit of sorts as the stacks of amps are in front of them, so to speak. Not behind them, depending on certain setups. Paice amongst others has not been blasted every night as if he was sitting in front of all that noise. Sorry to all you bass guitarists & lead & rhythm guitarists, it is rather noisy at times, that is why I have written this down for you all, just in case you say ‘I couldn’t hear you’. Although drummers do also suffer from the snare drum & cymbals, probably not to different from being a blacksmith in that regard. Harsh banging & crashing etc. Why do I always think of Lemmy when talking about noise issues? His answer to a comment about Motorhead revellers going deaf. ‘Well at least they will effing remember where & when it happened to them’. Classic Lemmy response. Regarding Ritchie & his hearing issues, yes I do remember him saying many years ago that the world has become too noisy. I know what he means on both fronts there. Cheers.
August 11th, 2024 at 11:29@31 said…
qt.”And any good mixer knows you have to make compromises to cater to all ways people listen to music”…
Exactly…This is why I always suggest set your EQ’s to zero or the notched position. It’s the starting point / datum point. And generally, everything will sound quite good from that position, at all volume levels.
***I do know of people with less-than-ordinary sounding Frankenstein equipment, with pre-programmed home-theatre amp settings being used, & with openly acknowledged hearing problems, offering-up reviews of albums & how they sound, that potentially influence others decisions…… This is not a good situation….I only wish to advise people to make-their own minds up & think/listen for themselves. If it sounds good, it is good. I offer reference set-points / datums to start your own assessments from.
This is not elitism, but rather someone offering a helping-hand / ear, & a level playing field to work from, so we all benefit & learn. And if you’re not going to list your equipment when making a formal review about an album & how it sounds on the WWW, then I suggest to anyone, walk away, & read something with more integrity. I certainly do. It’s good , even important to be able to express yourself & your likes & dislikes, but back-it-up with letting everyone know what you listened through to make your claims.
Peace !
August 11th, 2024 at 14:17@ 29 You never know if or when they will turn up. Being a Viking myself I have been all the way down to Bluff, NZ. Never Tasmania though. Even saw Purple in Sydney in 1984. The famous one with one of the fab four.
August 11th, 2024 at 17:13@ 29 If you have any grudge against the new Amazing album Purple have created, you will be very sorry..
August 12th, 2024 at 07:05@ 36 – excellent re the Sydney DP concert as I was also at that one. Yes the Vikings are rather good at stealth mode, they seem to appear out of nowhere & bang, then it is too late. Cheers.
August 12th, 2024 at 09:18:-)))
August 12th, 2024 at 19:05