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No point trying to compete
Total Guitar magazine has a feature on Simon McBride based around an interview with him:
When you’re in a role previously held by Messrs Blackmore and Morse, how much does that play on your mind?
“You just have to be yourself, you know? If you try to think about what was before – and this applies to any situation – you’ll get a bit strangled musically. There’s no point trying to compete with Steve Morse or Ritchie Blackmore. I mean, nobody can do it better than them. Certainly not me! So my attitude is not to try to be like them.
“One of the things that the guys in the band like about me as a player is I do my own thing. I’m very respectful of the old songs because some of those parts that Ritchie and Steve played are huge parts of the songs, and there’s no way to change them. But for the writing sessions, it’s a combination of different influences from every member of the band. That’s what I’ve always loved about Deep Purple. There’s no rules when it comes to the songs.”
Read more in Total Guitar.
Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing
Yo,
Good interview imo, though nothing really new to learn that we already haven’t heard / read. But people will find the “new” tune offered worth searching out lol !
Peace !
August 27th, 2024 at 00:01Wonderful to hear McBride nail a few solo’s first take & then tell uncle Bob to forget it mate. That is it, that is all I am doing & it’s right on the money. This is a fine example of where producers can overstay their welcome at times. Blackmore would do the same me thinks, sod off, that IS the solo. Sometimes it works going for another take, most times it doesn’t from what we read over the years with other musicians & record producers. Many guitarists have said ‘if I don’t get it first take or maybe the second, that is it until later on or another day. Keeps everything fresh they say & good on them. And perhaps the blame can be put at some musicians giving or allowing the producer too much control. How often have we heard that one over the decades! Cheers.
August 27th, 2024 at 06:30With all due respect, he only plays one song from the Steve Morse Era which is Uncommon Man.
August 27th, 2024 at 07:17Thr majority is RB stuff.
I also would like to mention that when they started promoting Perpendicular in 96 they played on average 5 songs from that album which is similar to what they are doing with =1
To promote the new guitarist.
Without being cynical I guess by next year they will drop down to two songs or 3 at max. Live on stage.
Peace ✌️
Yo,
If uncle Bob thinks you can do better, because he hears the potential in you, it’s worth listening to & discussing imo. And if Simon says “That’s all I’ve got” then so-be-it…
Bob is an arranger also, so he knows music & how to write it down, & so does Simon. I’d suggest between the two-of-them, the most appropriate decisions were made, & the proof is in the pudding, where this album is awesome to say the least !
@3…They still play Hush which is Mk-I too. Perhaps with so-many studio albums in the vault, they could all pick a tune from each, consider the one’s where they’ve all agreed on the same tune, & then stream-line-it-down to a workable set-list…IG’s voice is still in very-good order, & he’s spent his life singing over / making melodies from tunes essentially made-up from the “cow-boy” chords, especially with Mk-II.
IG however often states that he wants a set-list that’s workable with & appreciates today’s-times also, which is why “Enya” replaces “Child in time”…And the success from the reissue of Machine Head has to affect this decision making process…No doubt Simon can cut playing through Steve’s tunes, but I bet he’s happier to play his own, & that other fellows tunes from Mk-II, what’s his name again ???…
It doesn’t matter what they play, so long as its played well, & they’re doing just that, going-out in a big-way, & on top of the game, hopefully for years to come !
Peace !
August 27th, 2024 at 09:01Probably by coincidence it turns out that they now play exactly one song from the MK I era (Hush), one from the Mk II reunion (Anya) and one from the Morse era (Uncommon Man), dividing the rest of the set between 70s Mk II and =1 material. So all eras which Big Ian doesn’t ignore (like Mk III, IV + V) are represented.
I’d like Sometimes I Feel Like Screaming to make a return to the set, it is sort of Steve’s Stairway To Heaven gift to Purple.
And personally I never cared much for Hush – in any version. It has a groove and Jon’s solo original studio solo was something (plus hilariously overlong for a single!), but the chorus is incredibly banal to me, very 60s in a naïve, dated way. If DP had continued on that path, I’d never have become a fan. But I understand why they continue to play it, it is a crowd pleaser, even more radio-accessible than SOTW and by now identified by the wider public with Gillan: I’ve never met a casual listener with knowledge of the song who would have been aware of the fact that it is not Big Ian singing the original studio version though Rod Evans’ delivery was completely different.
Re producers asking for another take: It’s not that rare. Roger (in his producer role) asked Cozy to do another take of SYBG on the Down To Earth sessions, Cozy refused because he hated the song for Rainbow (he changed his mind when it became a hit of course 😎), which is why, according to Roger Glover, “the drums sound a little stiff on the final version, it could have been so much better”. And Ritchie refused to ever grace Mitzi Dupree with a final, “serious” take of his guitar playing because he disliked the number, what you hear on THOBL is what Roger resurrected of Ritchie’s playing from jam recordings that eventually led to the song.
And then there are producers who are sometimes a voice of reason: If it wasn’t for Ron Nevison’s intervention ever-perfectionist Flying V…underkind Michael S would have re-recorded/studio-overdubbed all solos on UFO’s live opus Strangers In The Night. He did it on one track and was so pleased with the outcome, he wanted to do it on all of them, Nevison refused and Michael threw another one of his täntrüms and went AWOL.
August 27th, 2024 at 14:16Interesting comment about Sometimes I Feel Like Screaming being included in todays setlist. I do think that song, as majestic as it is, does go on too long. A bit like a few classics, the repeated melody line keeps returning etc. About 2 minutes less & it would be grander me thinks. Hush is the song that started it all, so I guess it gets a VIS treatment. It has that feel good vibe of the 60’s about it, but it probably wouldn’t matter if it wasn’t in the set. I wouldn’t worry at all about that happening. Black Night also at times, that represents the start of MKII in a ‘hit’ song way. It is always a fine line. How many later day songs are going to get people up & bopping & singing along, if that is what people like to do later in the concert? All good. Cheers.
August 27th, 2024 at 22:04Yo,
@5…Jon’s solo in “Hush” is one of his most inspired imo. It’s a great introductory lesson in music theory for peoples ears to chew-up & hunger for more, especially when he walks up the Major-scale tones step-for-step, & all that excitement & anticipation through each mode builds to the final cadence, where we rejoin the blues again. And though a cover, it’s played very well, & the band made-it-their-own…And it was rewarded with possibly the best gift any man could ever ask for or receive, an evening at Heff’s mansion. It doesn’t get better than that.
As for “Mitzy Dupree”, though an inspired story-telling-tune with humour, you can tell that RB wasn’t interested at all by his really, really poor introduction, which I’ve always wondered “Surely this needed to be redone, its quite terrible” ?…Jon does save it however, but there’s no denying its not-quite-right.
Peace !
August 27th, 2024 at 23:58All good idea’s of course and SILS would be a welcome addition, I would like to see the show end with KAYBD and Space Truckin with Smoke and Hush as encores…drop Black Night as it plods along too slowly but absolutely keep the new stuff it sounds great and fits well!!
August 28th, 2024 at 10:13“As for “Mitzy Dupree”, though an inspired story-telling-tune with humour, you can tell that RB wasn’t interested at all by his really, really poor introduction, which I’ve always wondered “Surely this needed to be redone, its quite terrible” ?…Jon does save it however, but there’s no denying its not-quite-right.“
A to the point analysis, lieber Gregster, it always sounded like an outtake and Ritchie’s guitar half-assed on it, but its charm drew me in. And Jon gave all to compensate.
August 28th, 2024 at 13:46Unrelated here, but a very interesting video about the roots and formation of DP:
August 29th, 2024 at 21:50https://youtu.be/jO_PJQShhrI?si=WHQVASPXnVOdY2Hb
A fun info is that apparently this show was the first show Simon McBride did with the Don Airey band back in 2015 (in Moscow?) and even more interesting that Nick Simper also did a guest appearence during “Black Night” (strange choise of song including Nick though I think).
If I am not disinformed, Nick and Don played together in Quatermass II.
https://youtu.be/NFF4kiRpsAk?si=k3VhxP6HOkfEGowA
August 31st, 2024 at 10:17@ 11- thanks for that Nick Simper live appearance performance, wonderful to see. Cheers.
September 1st, 2024 at 01:39Yo,
@11…
Thanks for the information. Nick Simper has always been just under the radar of more major musical success, & I’m glad that he kept-up his music after suffering a very disheartening blow along with Rod all those years ago from DP.
It proves he is first & foremost a musician that kept on wanting to grow & get better, & no-doubt he was rewarded too.
Peace !
September 1st, 2024 at 05:47I’ve always wondered about that too, but it might very well be that Ritchie even jammed the riff at one point with Mk I. In the 60s a lot of bands played around with it, making the riff ubiquitous:
1. Rick Nelson 1962 (supposedly the inventor of the riff):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSngzjqMF38
2. Liverpool Five 1966:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=glpbWpmJCjs
3. Blues Magoos1967 (reached #5 of the Billboard Charts in January 1967):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=noTV6s8JzTM
4. The Spectres aka Status Quo (with Alan Lancaster singing lead) February 1967:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyuiAvSCD4c
5. Leroy Thompson & The Villagers 1967:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6sfj722LNMs
6. Seclusions 1967:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ly4Kd9me00k
It’s no wonder that Ritchie had it buzzing around his head after a few beers at the pub after DP initially failed to come up with a suitable single for In Rock.
September 1st, 2024 at 21:40I agree with a lot of what is being said about producers. I feel Ezrin is a meddler. I think Morse is more on the perfectionist side of things and Ezrin constantly interferes with Morses soloing. I think Morse probably deferred more than telling Ezrin to shoving it up his butt. I believe Morse said that during the Whoosh recordings after the sessions were done Ezrin spliced a solo or two of Morse’s solos to make it fit how Bob wanted it. Absolutely ridiculous. If not for the excellent writing on Whoosh Ezrin’s mixing and production almost single handedly destroyed Whoosh. I think it was Glover who said after the Infinite sessions that Bob was important like when we are are arguing whether it should be a F# or B and Bob comes in and says F# – we then move on. I thought I was watching a cut scene from Spinal Tap. Sad. These guys need to grow up and get a backbone
September 2nd, 2024 at 16:14Yo,
@15…I just watched the DVD of “The Road to InFinite”, & have to say that Bobs role is mainly getting the best performance from everyone, that “suites the tune the best”…When you’re playing along doing your thing, it’s in-the-moment, & you’re juggling 2-things at a time, namely 1. What you’re playing & 2. What the others are doing. Not easy to do, & for the sake of putting the best down on the studio effort, Bob has to do what he does.
He’s been employed to extract the best from everyone, & even the subtle changes in tempo have an effect on what’s performed. His successes are legendary, & his work warrants respect, even if you don’t necessarily like his methods or personality.
Peace !
September 3rd, 2024 at 11:21I second my academic brethren Doctor Gregster’s sound statement of view !!!
Saying Bob Ezrin ‘meddles’ is like saying David Gilmour ‘overplayed’ on the Pink Floyd records, all of them, not just ‘Meddle’. 😎
You sonic savages and miserable mortals 🤣 DARE QUESTION A PRODUCTION GOD who bestowed hallowed tracks like
– Alice Cooper’s Eighteen, School’s Out, Welcome To My Nightmare & Only Women Bleed,
– Kiss’ Detroit Rock City, Shout It Out Loud, God Of Thunder & Beth,
– Peter Gabriel’s Solsbury Hill & Games Without Frontiers as well as
– Pink Floyd’s Another Brick In The Wall Pt. 2, Hey You & Comfortably Numb
upon the rock world?! You should be ashamed of yourself. 😋
He also single-handedly resurrected DP from the rut they had been in the Michael Bradford era.
Bob’s pedigree as a name producer is flawless:
https://www.goldminemag.com/music-history/top-20-albums-produced-by-bob-ezrin-ranked
It strikes me that most of you guys in the critics’ pit simply don’t want DP PRODUCED at all, you just want them engineered (otherwise uninterfered), which is essentially what Martin Birch, Roger Glover, Thom Panunzio and Michael Bradford all did. You cannot even be blamed for that because it is what you’ve grown accustomed to as DP fans. Before Bob took over the reins, DP’s last ‘real’ producer had been Derek Lawrence who admittedly had not been ideal for where Purple wanted to go, yet did at least have a sonic vision. (To be fair: He did later on shape the classic sounds of acts as varied as Wishbone Ash and Hot Chocolate in the 70s who both did not sound as dated as Mk I.)
I’m of course partial. Bob Ezrin was always – since I was a teenage Alice Cooper fan – my favorite 70ies producer (I never saw Martin Birch as that, ‘just’ a damn good engineer) and if you had asked me pre-Now What?! which producer Svengali*** figure I would like to work with DP before I kick the bucket, I would have immediately named him (and discounted any such possibility as remote, I was flabbergasted and jubilant when I heard of the unlikely combination).
***Bob, who is Jewish, will hopefully forgive me the use of the term ‘Svengali’ which much like ‘Shylock’ from The Merchant Of Venice has dubious origins
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trilby_(novel)
though it has long become a common term/description for influential figures in the entertainment world and hardly anyone using it is aware of the antisemitic connotations it is burdened with.
September 3rd, 2024 at 16:01@ 17 – certain aficionados commenting here regarding Ezrin’s poor production are NOT harking back to his glory days Uwe. Why do you keep mentioning his excellent work from the 70’s over over again? It IS this recent production, get it? My recommendation would be Eddie Kramer if he is still producing. An engineer slash producer who uses analogue to digital if possible & lets the music breathe. He keeps Pro Tools in it’s place apparently. Cheers.
https://mmusicmag.com/m/2015/07/eddie-kramer/
September 3rd, 2024 at 22:09@11, 14 – Nick said that Ritchie learned the “Summertime” / “We Ain’t Got Nothing Yet” riff from him. As he used it to warm up for the “Book Of Taliesyn” sessions:
“It was during this period that we began to hire a rehearsal room at the Red Lion pub in Acton High Street. We usually met for lunch at the local Chinese restaurant which was only yards from the pub. During our first rehearsal I began to experiment by playing through Richie’s fuzz box, a bespoke model which was put together by a local electrical genius. I began to run through a series of my favourite warm-up riffs when Richie suddenly yelled, “What was that? Play it again!”. “That” was a bass line that I had found on Ricky Nelson’s version of Summertime, and it excited Richie tremendously. “We can use that”, he explained. “Not really”, I said, ”It’s not original”. Ritchie, however, thought differently and filed it away for future use.”
https://www.nicksimper.net/nicks-story/chapters-18-25/chapter-22-the-tv-debut-and-taliesyn/
(Apparently Nick also cautioned the band against using the “Bombay Calling” riff, which they would later turn into “Child In Time”.)
However during the first weeks of the band’s existence, when they were scrambling to come up with an initial setlist, Nick didn’t put up much of a protest when Blackmore wanted to use an old riff from his Screaming Lord Sutch days as the basis for “Mandrake Root”…
And later found himself facing the uncomfortable prospect of testifying against his former bandmates, when Bill Parkinson (composer of the source material, “Lost Soul”) confronted them.
But was spared the ordeal when an out-of-court settlement was reached.
September 3rd, 2024 at 23:24@ 19 – yes I remember the Mandrake Root riff issue. That was a rather negative thing to do from Blackmore. That cursed magpie at it again.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=syM7ogDgiwU&t=15s
September 5th, 2024 at 00:52