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The mountain revival
Vermonter.com has an article about the connection that Deep purple formed in the 1980s with the quaint ski resort town of Stowe, Vermont. With input from Colin Hart, and some locals what befriended the band. The piece is well illustrated with photos, some of which may have never been published before.
In the tranquil mountains of Stowe, Vermont, an unexpected musical revival took place that would reshape rock history. In 1984, one of hard rock’s most influential bands, Deep Purple, chose our unassuming New England ski town as the birthplace of their remarkable comeback.
Far from the prying eyes of the music industry and surrounded by Vermont’s serene landscape, the “Mark II” lineup reunited after an eight-year hiatus to create what would become their platinum-selling album “Perfect Strangers.”
Continue reading in Vermonter.com.
Thanks to Tobias Janaschke for the heads-up.
Pictured: the “Horizons” property in Stowe, where Perfect Strangers album was recorded using Le Mobile studio truck manned by Nick Blagona. The recording sessions started on July 10, 1984, and continued for six weeks.
Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing
Look at those legs. Karin, control yourself, he he he. It was obviously warm weather at the time. Gillan still has his mane here, what happened between there and Australia? Maybe he thought he would be too feral for us out here, I don’t know. There are a few good photos in that article, thanks for posting. Cheers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yuv1KXU1gw0&t=25s
April 10th, 2025 at 07:15@1
😂😂 MacGregor I am indeed controlling myself 🤣
Thanks for the video, I guess Uwe has some comments regarding full grown men showing off legs in shorts outside one’s private sphere 😉
April 10th, 2025 at 13:02Re ‘Boring Alice’ in ‘Space Truckin’, I have read it was about Alice Cooper….
April 10th, 2025 at 13:13So no boring female this time ☺️
Honor-bound to the defense of Vincent Furnier aka Alice Cooper, I am the destroyer of internet myths, Karin: Ian doesn’t sing “boring Alice”, but rather “borealis” as in aurora borealis, very much a Scandinavian phenomenon so I’ve heard and a regular part of the pagan rituals popular there:
https://www.thoughtco.com/thmb/n75rlMjuACcJiPnvuaTkn3JN0XQ=/1500×0/filters:no_upscale():max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/GettyImages-948709288-5c8492f246e0fb00013364fb.jpg
Ian & Vince are good buddies (polish your German!):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5JZg9SgL_9Y&t=457s
They have even both performed in the same musical, albeit in different roles …
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BnxwP8vLRg
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That Vermont piece is some great in-depth research, very well done! I had forgotten that Perfect Strangers was recorded in Stowe too, identifying it mostly with the unhappy THOBL sessions.
I like Vermont people, they’re fearless, have brains and an immaculate taste in winter wear.
https://pyxis.nymag.com/v1/imgs/aeb/79e/1f1032ddd075e380efe88a14ac7b9efdc1-bernie-mittens.2x.rsocial.w600.jpg
April 10th, 2025 at 15:00What a fantastic article 👏 brilliantly written and brings the memories straight back .
Karin…its not about Alice Cooper! Promise …him and the band are great friends .
April 10th, 2025 at 15:25I believe it just refers to some boring people in general in the music business …a bit like ‘ Moronica..queen of the biz ‘ ( Any fule kno that )
@ 4&5
Arrrhhhh man!
I knew I ought to have written that down, put it in my safe, and never forget where I heard it the first time!
I promise you dear friends that I have read Ian himself commenting on Boring Alice as taunting Alice Cooper!
“Ian & Vince are good buddies (polish your German!)” – yeah I know Uwe!😊
“Karin…its not about Alice Cooper! Promise …him and the band are great friends” – I know Steve ☺️
But dear Uwe and Steve, I love to taunt my friends mercilessly over and over again! So I thought Ian did the same thing here..
When I, in the nearest future, have several hours where I don’t have to work, drink coffee, walk my doglet or take care of René, I promise I will look for the statement 👀
And Uwe, unfortunately the first link doesn’t work 😊
April 10th, 2025 at 19:22I would love to see it, as we indeed have spectacular sightings around where I live!
We spend some time each year at the Trapps in Stowe, which is the Northeast’s cross-country skiing mecca. Every once in a while I’ll see folks walking around town wearing DP shirts, presumably on a pilgrimage, but I’ve never started conversations with any of them. I did have the pleasure of meeting the affable Roger Marcoux several years ago, so much of what’s in this article wasn’t news to me. Still, enjoyed reading it.
As for Alice, I believe she was a real person the band knew who was, er, anything but boring. I infer this from a comment made by IG on the “Classic Albums: The Making of Machine Head” video.
April 10th, 2025 at 21:05I can’t believe you all give credence to that “boring Alice” thing, the original Machine Head gatefold vinyl came with a folded lyric sheet and there it was in purple and white: “We danced around with borealis.” The sentence alludes to “dancing Northern Lights” – in ancient times the natural phenomenon was perceived as the spirits of the ancestors dancing in the night skies.
It’s not about any “Alice” or person at all. Ian first sings about “rocking the Milky Way” (not the candy bar!) and then about what the sunspots of a star (in this case our Sun ☀️) can cause:
“Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs):
CMEs are massive clouds of charged particles ejected from the Sun. These CMEs can travel through space and eventually reach Earth.
Auroras:
When CMEs interact with Earth’s magnetosphere, they can cause auroras (also known as the Northern Lights and Southern Lights). The charged particles from the CMEs interact with the Earth’s atmosphere, causing the atoms and molecules to become excited and emit light, resulting in the colorful auroral displays.”
Ian wrote the song in late 1971, ‘Love It To Death’, Alice’s first commercial breakthrough album after breaking free from Frank Zappa’s record label had only been released in March that same year, I severely doubt that Ian by then even knew who Alice Cooper was, much less would have deemed him “boring” or a “bore”. In 1971, the Alice Cooper Group was cutting edge and decidedly underground. Given Ian’s love for Arthur Brown, I’m pretty sure he would have dug Auntie Alice’s music.
What’s next? That Knocking At Your Back Door advocates sodomy?! 🤯 The anus boggles …
April 10th, 2025 at 21:23Karin
Again, it is just confirmation of what a great lyricist Mr Gillan is …he’s having a little play on words ..’ Borealis’ …and Boring Alice !! …as we both know…the man is an absolute genius!..in fact, Any fule kno that !
Alice Cooper used to present a rock show here in the U.K …and he always used to introduce D.P as one of his favourite bands …
April 10th, 2025 at 21:36https://youtu.be/n4oUaErqr6s?si=9W9fhAFNiXQUD2Hx
Ritchie in the 1960s with The Outlaws …check out his moves!?
April 10th, 2025 at 21:41And the late , great Mick Underwood on drums 🥁…just think, if it wasn’t for him, we wouldn’t be having all these wonderful chats …RIP
Ian Gillan singing Space Truckin’ live would have lead from one thing to the other no doubt. It isn’t just the original lyric Uwe, that some good folk here are necessarily alluding to. Gillan just likes a little comedy a times, there are many out there who do the same. Word play, wit and quick thinking and a penchant for a good laugh at times, depending on the situation. We danced around boring Alice……………Cheers.
April 10th, 2025 at 21:57After posting earlier today, I found an e-mail I sent to some fellow Purple fans following a conversation I had with Roger Marcoux in Stowe, Vermont, in 2016. Some of you may find the info interesting, so I’m posting it now. I’ve edited it for length. Apologies to Roger M. if I got anything wrong:
My family has been visiting Stowe annually since 2000, when my wife found an ad with a coupon for a three-night stay at the Trapp Family Lodge. We fell in love with the area and eventually purchased a fractional ownership.
I was long aware of Deep Purple’s connection to Stowe, that the “reunion” albums “Perfect Strangers” and “House of Blue Light” were recorded there. Over the years, I’ve noticed a few people wearing Deep Purple T-shirts, but figured they were nutty fans — even nuttier than I am, that is — on pilgrimages. “Best avoid,’’ I thought, and did just that.
Last summer, Stowe magazine, a quality semi-annual publication, ran a piece on Deep Purple’s stays in Stowe, in which Roger Marcoux was quoted. I e-mailed the writer, telling her that I am a fan of the band and the town, and thanking her for writing the piece. She forwarded the e-mail to Roger, and before I’d heard back from the writer I received an e-mail from Roger offering to get together for a beer. We were finally able to make that happen over the weekend.
Back in 1984, Roger was a 25-year-old Stowe cop, a musician, a music equipment geek, and a huge Deep Purple fan, not necessarily in that order. More important, he was a soccer player who still played recreationally. The band, their families, and entourages moved into homes off the beaten path in Stowe, which is saying something because downtown Stowe itself is off the beaten path. Their home away from home was an English inn and pub owned at the time by a fellow Englishman. The band befriended the owner, who was made aware of their requests to find people who could keep groupies and drug dealers away from the band, and who could round up enough soccer players so that the band could play 11 v. 11 games. He figured Roger could do both. Suffice it to say, Roger had to pinch himself when the owner invited him to the pub and he soon found himself drinking with Blackmore at the bar.
Flash-forward to the other day. Roger shows up at our door with about 100 Kodak photos from the 1980s in one hand and bearing a present — Ian Paice’s well-beaten drumsticks used during the recording of the “House of Blue Light”— in the other. He’s a great guy, which probably also helped him become a member of the band’s inner circle. He grew up on a farm, married a farmer’s daughter — I resisted asking if he ever stood under her bedroom window, throwing up a brick — and like yours truly is a father of twins. Here are some highlights from our conversation:
He said he once broke Ian Gillan’s toe during a soccer game.
Other than Jon Lord, they were all good soccer players, but Ritchie was the best. Nonetheless, Blackmore would have Roger pick the teams and request/demand that the best players were on his team so that his team would always win. Somehow I was not surprised to hear this.
When one of Lord’s synths malfunctioned, they didn’t miss a beat because Roger owned the same instrument. He drove home, brought his back, and the session resumed. Roger also got to jam with the band when Jon was late for rehearsals, which he said often started at 9 p.m. Lucky bastard. He was also allowed to be around while the band jammed. He was stunned at their chops and how effortless it all seemed.
He helped provide musical entertainment at Gillan’s wedding, which took place when the band was in Stowe.
Roger went to work for the DEA not long after “Perfect Strangers” was recorded. In 1986, when the band returned to Stowe, he helped pull off a huge coke bust of a notorious New England dealer who had arrived in the area. The band weren’t into drugs, other than alcohol, but perhaps some in their entourage were.
His said that Blackmore was in his own world, but he got along with him, perhaps because “I never asked for an autograph.’’ He never saw friction between Blackmore and Gillan, and believes things went south during the tours that followed the recording of “House of Blue Light.’’
April 11th, 2025 at 03:31@8
Uwe, I guess Ian is very well-known for his changing words in his songs as it suits him 😊
I promise you, I have – with my own ears – heard him sing! We’ve been around the boring Alice ☺️
April 11th, 2025 at 04:42@9
April 11th, 2025 at 04:49Exactly Steve, and isn’t it magnificent to be in the presence of a true genius 😍💜💜💜
@7
“As for Alice, I believe she was a real person the band knew who was, er, anything but boring. I infer this from a comment made by IG on the “Classic Albums: The Making of Machine Head” video.”
The plot thickens Uwe 😉
Thanks George M 👍🏼
April 11th, 2025 at 05:10But don’t you see that from your porch every night, Karin, up there with the reindeer, moose and snow owls where you live in eternal darkness half year round?
https://images.app.goo.gl/AiB382JLgegPyTu88
“I promise you, I have – with my own ears – heard him sing! We’ve been around the boring Alice ☺️”
NOW THAT I don’t doubt at all, Ian wouldn’t let the opportunity for a pun go to waste when playing live. ☝️😂
But it wasn’t the original meaning of the lyric. Moreover, in 1971/72, Alice was a man with an evident drinking problem, but hardly boring, more morbidly fascinating …
https://youtu.be/jXZcJojTucg
April 11th, 2025 at 10:07George M
April 11th, 2025 at 10:49Thanks for taking the time to post all that . I love hearing stuff like that
“Nonetheless, Blackmore would have Roger pick the teams and request/demand that the best players were on his team so that his team would always win. Somehow I was not surprised to hear this.”
Yes, when I saw him play in Frankfurt in 1988, he was “by coincidence” on the team drenched with Bundesliga veterans (which of course won). 😁 Ritchie is a competitive little character and he obviously won’t let that losers’ concept of “fair play” get in the way of a good win! Hence delaying the CalJam appearance and destroying half the stage to make it more difficult for ELP to get a similar reaction or giving the man at the mixing desk some extra bills to make sure that Ritchie’s Strat is louder in the mix than Jon’s Hammond – a little pathetic and on the Blackadder side of things if you ask me … 🙄
It just goes to show that behind all the intentionally off-putting mock-arrogance and self-confidence of Ritchie there lies a big heap of insecurity. You don’t do stuff like that if you’re not concerned that you need to always win to keep people impressed. Ritchie is a lousy loser – his defections from Purple have proven that again and again, it’s either his way or “toys out of the pram” and leaving in a huff. No commitment to the cause unless it matches his own 100%.
April 11th, 2025 at 12:30I got that lyric sheet too, Uwe. And I remember I even read about that borealis thing, I guess it was here on the HS years ago or maybe in Simon Robinson’s publications …
April 11th, 2025 at 14:07@16
“I promise you, I have – with my own ears – heard him sing! We’ve been around the boring Alice ☺️”
NOW THAT I don’t doubt at all, Ian wouldn’t let the opportunity for a pun go to waste when playing live. ☝️😂“
What!
Well what have we been arguing about then!?
April 11th, 2025 at 15:20@16
“But it wasn’t the original meaning of the lyric.”
Well Uwe, Solicitor Supreme, I never, as in NEVER assumed that was the original meaning of the lyrics!
I simply mentioned I have HEARD Ian sing ‘boring Alice’, and that I read somewhere he was pulling the leg of Alice Cooper! 😊☺️
April 11th, 2025 at 15:23“The plot thickens Uwe 😉”
At my age, anything that thickens is welcome news. 😎
April 11th, 2025 at 15:37#12 George M.
Thanks a lot for the interesting information!
do you have any others?
Well, I think I’ve always been very envious of the people of Stowe, and I would have loved to be one of them in 1984!!
April 11th, 2025 at 22:58“Well what have we been arguing about then!?”
Since when do you need a real reason to argue about anything, Karin honey?
Wimmin … 😑
April 12th, 2025 at 00:39@22
“At my age, anything that thickens is welcome news. 😎”
I’m almost afraid to ask what you mean, since every single time there is something I don’t understand, René always says: “well if you don’t understand it, it’s not innocent!”
But ok Uwe, I know you’re not like that, so what in the world there is pure and lovely do you mean?
April 12th, 2025 at 06:47Don’t be so inquisitive, Frau Verndal! 😎
April 12th, 2025 at 10:30Hi Karin
April 12th, 2025 at 11:15Just so you don’t get teased anymore and for the point of clarification, Borealis is the original lyric ( as was distributed in the album lyric sheet , way back )
Boring Alice is what he sometimes sings on stage for a bit of fun ( he could be singing about any old Alice that he knows ..you’ll have to ask the man himself) …and this source comes from the making of Machine Head documentary where he is sat down chatting with Ian Paice
@24
“Since when do you need a real reason to argue about anything, Karin honey?”
Well, likewise sweetie 😄😆
April 12th, 2025 at 11:23@27
Thank you so much Steve! 😊
And to make everything crystal clear: (this is especially for you Superior Solicitor!) I have NEVER said Ian had written ‘boring Alice’, I just said I had heard him sing ‘boring Alice’ !
“you’ll have to ask the man himself” – I would love to Steve! But where do I get hold of him?
April 12th, 2025 at 15:25I have several questions for the big man, some peculiar, some right down nosey and some just friendly! 🤭
@25: While I appreciate your throbbing curiosity in the matter, neugierige Karin, it really wouldn’t be appropriate for me to delve in further here – with Max letting his children read these pages and all. It would be tantamount to making juvenile jokes about Ian Gillan’s vocal predecessor’s first name.
I fear I have to be rigid on this.
April 12th, 2025 at 15:27@26
“Frau Verndal”
Uwe, please don’t call me that! My mum was named that…
And why can’t I ask questions?
Every single time you ask me a question, I answer truthfully 😇
April 12th, 2025 at 15:32