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On the front page of Sunday papers
In anticipation of the Deep Purple North American tour on the double bill with Yes, Ian Gillan spoke to the Ultimate Classic Rock:
It’s great to see Deep Purple hitting the road with Yes. What sort of bond was there between the two groups back in the day?
There wasn’t much of a bond. [Laughs] We were doing a festival [in] Plumpton, the first rock, jazz and blues festival that became the Reading Festival, run by Jack Barrie at the Marquee [Club in London]. He’d put on some absolutely great bands. Of course, we’d worked with most of them in those days. It was fantastic. They were all good in their own way – but I think Yes were a bit miffed, because they wanted to close the show and it wasn’t in their contract. It was [in our contract] that Deep Purple would close the show, so they refused to leave the hotel room. Jack said, “Guys, would you mind going on a bit earlier? I don’t want to push you but it would help me and it would help the crowd.” “Yeah sure, okay, no worries.” Then, Ritchie [Blackmore] decided that if we weren’t going to close, nobody was. He ordered some gasoline to be brought in. He threw it all over the equipment and then had the roadie light a broom, which had a petrol-soaked rag on the end of it to ignite the lot. Of course, it did ignite – because the fumes just exploded. Within a half-hour, there were blue lights flashing. The police, the fire brigade and ambulances were all coming in and there was complete chaos. Everything was on the front page of the Sunday papers the next morning and it was all quite rock ‘n’ roll. [Laughs]
Continue reading in Ultimate Classic Rock.
Thanks to Blabbermouth for the heads-up.
Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing
Way to go, Ritchie, it’s the only way to keep those nasty Proggies in check.
August 12th, 2024 at 21:25More Blackmore pyromania…..seems the die was cast well before CalJam 74.
August 12th, 2024 at 22:36So, Ritchie said no to Yes.
August 12th, 2024 at 22:38one of the most beautiful stories in the history of Purple.
August 12th, 2024 at 23:26Ritchie was a master at these things too.
Whoof !!!…
August 12th, 2024 at 23:31And I just thought it was because Ritchie indicated that Jon Anderson had a somewhat feminine voice. Another story of him and the lighting of petrol!
August 13th, 2024 at 00:13“It is if you’re trying to impose a sound. If you just let it flow naturally: If it’s organic, it’s wonderful. You know, back in the day when I had my first recording contracts, one of the things that I noticed was that the old-style engineers, when the gear was set up in the room, they’d come around and literally and metaphorically throw blankets over everything. They’d put a blanket over the drum kit or pads – anything to flatten the sound. All sound engineers back in the ’60s wanted the performers to have a completely flat sound so that they could then manipulate it in the control room and give it the edge or the presence or the reverberation or the balance that they wanted and make it exciting in their way. But what that does is, it neutralized the personality of the performers.” Blankets, blankets? Now I am confused, I thought that is what is happening today. Hmmmmmmmmmm, time for a reset me thinks. Sorry, I couldn’t resist, I walked away at first, but me being me, I have to have a laugh occasionally. Well at least I thought it was funny. Sad indeed, ho hum, such is life. Regarding blankets in the studio I was watching an older Eddie Kramer video where he is setting up the drums for recording. And right at 3.30 minutes he picks up a blanket. I freaked, no Eddie no don’t do it I thought out aloud. Thankfully he placed it over & around the external kick drum mike to eliminate spillage. Man, that was close! Cheers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ku-BozPSpps
August 13th, 2024 at 00:44Hey, it’s not like members of DP and YES haven’t made music together before!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eF_bHXuZ5KI
(Big Ian, Ritchie, Chris Squire & Geoff Downes)
Litte Ian also played in 1974 on an album of American jazz sax player Eddie Harris which featured Chris Squire, Tony Kaye and Alan White as well, but they didn’t play on the same tracks.
Little Ian rather had to settle playing with some unknown guy who had once been with the Yardbirds I believe …
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VlbFDr_GmQk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Ig1al6xgIA
And here are the Yesmen backing Eddie Harris:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Ig1al6xgIA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FnOO5WH2VN4
August 13th, 2024 at 01:47Lest we forget: Ian Gillan, Steve Howe & Rick Wakeman (being his usual jubilant + over-ornamental self 😎):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5PVfLUmiaE0
Not Big Ian’s first attempt at the song either!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNgygG04md8
August 13th, 2024 at 01:57Now that I have sort of recovered from all those blankets, although it is still winter here in Taswegian land so I will keep a couple out for the moment. I have never heard that story before in regards to Yes & Blackmore’s appalling attitude. Who does he think he is? I mean it was ok at the Cal Jam, fair enough but to do that to Yes. Obviously it was back in the early 70’s, so I suppose Blackers was just throwing a few toys out of his pram. Is that the moment where he had the initial idea for the Cal Jam? Maybe he thought it was Yes co headlining at the Cal Jam & not ELP? Cheers.
August 13th, 2024 at 02:51Thanks Uwe for the Light My Fire covers. A short song & that ‘Yes’ influenced one should have been kept short, not to worry. Gillan’s vocal is good on that. He isn’t a bad singer when he puts his mind to it. Those Ed Harris ones are avant-garde indeed. I wasn’t aware of any of these collaborations. I usually avoid the modern day collaborations of certain people playing songs from the past. Some can be good but many to my ears do not work out well. I definitely do avoid full album tributes. Like Dream Theatre doing Made in Japan. Or Billy Sherwood & others performing The Wall. Machine Head, no thanks. My ears are still virgin (not sullied) when it comes to that sort of thing. Cheers.
August 13th, 2024 at 06:07This article does mention Yes not playing but mentions the burning albeit just the monitors:
https://www.udiscovermusic.com/stories/plumpton-festival/#:~:text=The%201970%20festival&text=Then%20there%20was%20Deep%20Purple,their%20monitors%20during%20their%20performance.
This has more info: https://www.ukrockfestivals.com/plumpton-fest-1970.html
Looks like Yes played as there photo and audio evidence and they played on Sunday where as Purps played Saturday I believe.
Possibly Juicy Fruit didn’t play after Purps:
“Maybe my memory is going but I do seem to remember deep purple setting fire to the stage because the organisers wouldn’t let them play on into juicy lucy’s slot although they hadn’t turned up.I’m probably wrong on this score,but the rumour on the street at the time gave this as one reason for the festival moving to Reading.”
“Good concert though, highlighted by Deep Purple setting fire to the stage back-cloth (presumably planned).”
https://www.ukrockfestivals.com/plumpton-fest-1970.html
But this looks to be the best account:
https://www.facebook.com/deeppurple6876/photos/this-week-in-1970-with-deep-purple-mark-2deep-purple-amplifiers-ablaze-and-flyin/839074347577695/?paipv=0&eav=AfZOyjU8u4CBqZIUJtk9pkToW2PSqyKxLfLlAddwBtZiLcqGpwBxHAACNCMINvu7x0E&_rdr
“Deep Purple, amplifiers ablaze and flying off the stage, gave the Plumpton Festival a violent end on Sunday night. It was the most devastating performance at a festival that won’t go down as a Woodstock or Bath – but the comparative few who were there to witness so many good sounds, will remember it as the easiest to enjoy. Purple’s power blasted the N.J.F.’s modest P.A. (modest, compared to the mountains of speakers at the giant events) and their individual brilliance was partly lost in a mess of sound. They worked hard and, effort wise, they were at their dynamic best. But time beat them and solos on “Wring That Neck” were cut short, drummer Ian Pace didn’t get one at all! They finished with “Mandrake Root”, the strobe light giving a particularly evil effect. Ian Gillan fell off stage; Ritchie Blackmore played the guitar with his boots, and, with frightening impact, his amps burst into vivid orange flames. Maybe that was planned, maybe it wasn’t, but a man with an extinguisher was close at hand as the fire flicked dangerously near the back-cloth. Blackmore rebuilt the pile of burnt-out amps – then kicked them down again, equipment plunging off the stage. Deep Purple may not have had the loudest ovation; they were at their best as a startling stage act, not at their best musically because of the sound problems. And, anyway, a lot of people were too shattered to be able to do anything but gape in shocked silence. Juicy Lucy declined to play in the 20 minutes that remained after the Blackmore explosion. And it would have been extremely difficult to follow. Plumpton may not have been a financial success, the attendance figures are nothing to shout about, but it presented a fine selection of our not-quite-so-well-known groups instead of a top-heavy line-up of big names. It was a happy festival – the afternoon sets basically soft, relaxed and folky. The atmosphere was so casual that, as Ritchie Blackmore noted, it was ‘almost like a garden fete’.” Roy Shipston/Disc And Music Echo”!
Please can someone invent a time machine!
August 13th, 2024 at 06:41I was not there, but having done some digging.
Yes played immediately before Purple and bootleg recordings exist,
Purple were listed as headliners
Apparently it was Juicy Lucy – featuring Micky Moody- who were due on after Purple. I am not sure why.
Also, it was the Sunday. So it presumably made the Monday papers.
August 13th, 2024 at 07:38Always Ritchie ..he will always be guilty as long as he lives..haha. He didn’t need drugs, alcohol for stimulation, he was naturally gifted.
August 13th, 2024 at 07:49What a story !!!!.. this time neither the man for Cameron, nor his singer, but a progressive band (like ELP)
Keep the stories coming..nice read
@6 Ian does have a feminine voice. Recently I have started listening to Yes more and occasionally play ‘Tales’ as ambient music. Before that, though, his voice was virtually unfamiliar to me. When I heard this song, I honestly thought it was a lady singing, not a lad:
https://youtu.be/_ki3Wh7PFTg
@8 And the biggest DP/Yes collaboration of ’em all: Ian and Steve together on a rap record:
August 13th, 2024 at 08:09Deep Purple drummer Ian Paice and Yes guitarist Steve Howe — two Rock and Roll Hall of Fame members — appear on the late rapper DMX’s recent song “X Moves”.
https://loudwire.com/dmx-x-moves-lyrics/
@ 12- thank you for all that information, much appreciated. Also @13 -thanks for the ‘Juicy Lucy’ info as well. What a terrible name for a band. Fair dinkum, I had better not go there. Mathew @ 12, your attention to detail is right up there with our resident purveyor of facts & figures Uwe Hornung. Perhaps even better than Uwe, mind you I would say that just to remind him to not rest on his laurels or he WILL be dethroned. That video was interesting in that the band on at the end had a drummer playing the left hand hi hat & ride cymbal & the right hand on the snare (just drummer talk, again). Also the band just before that & the singer had that face mask on which is very similar to what Peter Gabriel used a little later on in Genesis. Loved the commentary at the end about the crowd being passive, orderly & calm & then, ‘don’t know what the younger generation is coming to’ remark. Deep Purple & the staged fire performance by the sound of it & Gillan falling off stage. In regards to Yes, that is a little earlier than I thought it may have been. Before they were well known in many aspects & with Peter Banks on guitar. Some great bands there. Thanks again. Cheers.
August 13th, 2024 at 09:02Now it’s more understandable what people mean when they say that Purple were a dangerous band in the 70s. (Besides the musical side of the band)
August 13th, 2024 at 13:40So THAT IS what YES’ ‘Fist Of Fire’ was about! 😂 Undoubtedly, it left an impression on their tender psyches.
‘Carry forth as a guardian to kingdom come
With your daggers of the spirit
Let the dagger run with the fist of fire
Be the master now as the darkness of ages past’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SgA8oTEyDrw&t=3s
I think except for Jethro Tull, Ritchie didn’t like prog bands, ELP, YES … the list grows longer.
August 13th, 2024 at 14:44“Apparently it was Juicy Lucy – featuring Micky Moody- who were due on after Purple. I am not sure why.”
Easy, Marcus, Juicy Luicy were in 1970 a very popular band, perhaps more popular than DP, at least in the first half of year, they had had a top twenty hit with Who Do You Love
Glenn Ross Campbell
ahead of Black Night and were – unlike Purple – the darlings of critics (NME), their founder, American born steel guitarist Glenn Ross Campbell (not the C&W singer/songwriter/guitarist Glenn Campbell), was revered among UK musicians
August 13th, 2024 at 15:02“Apparently it was Juicy Lucy – featuring Micky Moody- who were due on after Purple. I am not sure why.”
Easy, Marcus, in the first half of 1970, Juicy Lucy, founded in 1969 to much acclaim, were probably a more established act than (albeit by then fast rising) DP. They had already had a UK Top Twenty hit with Who Do You Love
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5sul-LtgY00
and their founder, American born, but London-living pedal steel guitarist Glenn Ross Campbell (≠ Glen – one ‘n’ – Campbell, the American C&W singer/guitarist/songwriter), was revered by musicians and critics alike for his previous work with cult band The Misunderstood
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ng513Jf2Klg
(he went on to play with inter alia Joe Cocker). Juicy Lucy were – unlike Purple – darlings of the music press (NME). And with their jammy Allman Bros’esque music could probably give even a young DP a decent run for their money in a festival environment.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_H2QbFIZ_w0
Glenn Ross Campbell is still at it, lives in New Zealand now:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HRL18QADYtk
August 13th, 2024 at 15:43Firestarter …
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/83/ae/9c/83ae9ce69ac05e9fb4d5d75932e1d73e.gif
August 13th, 2024 at 16:18Ian Paice said that he will keep playing as long as people don’t find me a shadow of myself.
August 13th, 2024 at 20:49That’s the right attitude when it comes to hanging up your boots.
I really hated the motion of the long goodbye tour business as it was more a commercial money spinner rather than a genuine attitude.
If you make retirement a long process then people will get fed up with it’s truthfulness.
Peace ✌️
@ 18 – Careful Uwe. Ritchie was friendly with Keith Emerson from way back in the day & respected him hugely. Another tick in the box for the demise of the Sentinel. Cheers.
August 13th, 2024 at 21:55@ 18 – forgetting that your post is what could be determined as ‘click bait’, I am impressed Uwe that you dug out the ABW&H album. Although that song is a poor one, but your observation of the lyrics I take on board. Not sure what Anderson was on about there, but then again he does have that reputation of sort regarding some of his lyrics. I used to skip the first two songs on that album & commence at track three. It hasn’t aged well though, too much of Wakeman’s ‘cheesy’ keyboards & Bruford’s electronic drums. At least it had much better ‘Yes’ style songs compared to the AOR Trevor Rabin dominated Big Generator farce. The 1980’s eh, have to love that decade, in certain aspects at least. Cheers.
August 13th, 2024 at 23:10@16 Many thanks for the kind words MacGregor but I doubt somehow that I will reach the dizzy heights of Uwe!
@21 Re the CalJam clip. I have watched this and listened to it many times and I’m pretty sure that Ian Paice does not miss a beat when the cabs explode.
August 14th, 2024 at 05:39I’m dizzy all the time, but even I do not really think that Anderson wrote about the Blackmore incident, he was probably trying to save aquatic mammals with the song, YES did that a lot when they ran out of Siberian Khatrus or whatever.
Herr MacGregor, a keen observer of my many prominent flaws, has kangaroo-bagged a point: True, Emerson and Purple were friendly (but not friendly enough to not want to upstage each other given the chance, but that is bands for you!), there is even a recorded The Nice/DP jam from 1969 or so at some open air festival, it used to be available on some bootlegs (from memory it was a pretty noisy affair), but I haven’t found it on YouTube. Anyway, here’s proof for Ritchie’s adoration of Keith Emerson (and also the Ian-Anderson-on-Ritchie’s-lap incident).
https://rockandrollgarage.com/the-4-frontmen-that-ritchie-blackmore-listed-as-favorites/
August 14th, 2024 at 13:26@ 26 – thanks for the link for the Keith Emerson, Tull, Queen & Hendrix comments from Blackmore. Regarding the complexity of Tull’s music & Martin Barre & the rest of the band attempting to remember everything. Martin has said over the years that the Passion Play album & era was very difficult to perform live. From Ian Anderson’s initial ‘send up’ of the progressive bands & the concept album with Thick as A Brick to precisely that. An over indulgence in itself. Sending up the send up. I suppose they were into Monty Python & all. Good comments that I have read somewhere before in regards to Emerson, Queen & Hendrix. Cheers.
August 14th, 2024 at 23:20Matthew B re the CalJam inferno and and Little Ian not missing a beat:
And I’m pretty sure they were rehearsing that one song of theirs, the one that goes “Smooooke on the Speeeedway, a fire on the stage …” 🤗
August 15th, 2024 at 13:24And 3 million out of work but that’s on the 2nd page.
August 20th, 2024 at 11:59