A lifespan of a couple of years
The official DP Youtube channel has published a contemporary documentary about the project known as PAL.
Thanks to Akemi Ono for the heads up.
![[hand]](/hs-pics/portraits/hands/gillan5.jpg)
![[face]](/hs-pics/portraits/faces/morse2.jpg)
The official DP Youtube channel has published a contemporary documentary about the project known as PAL.
Thanks to Akemi Ono for the heads up.
Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing
Una visión de cómo se coció PAL a mi me encanta este disco.
January 13th, 2018 at 22:41I wanna thank the person who posted this one.
Love it
Gives a nice insight of what Jon and Ian did between Deep Purple and Whitesnake.
Thanx
Cheers
January 13th, 2018 at 23:11Simply incredible. One of the best band ever. Great album. Great musicians. Great frienship. Just a pity we did not get more of them. But I am so grateful I know this album since my brother bought it in 1977. Find the CD about 25 years ago and it’s on the top 3 of my album of all time. Incredible music.
January 14th, 2018 at 07:03Long live DP family.
A totally cooking version of ‘Ghost Story’ from the Birmingham Odeon.Not sure if Bernie Marsden got that lead break in on stage in London?
January 14th, 2018 at 11:15Awesome!!! They were so young…and I was only 21 and i couldn’t wait for the LP although it wasn’t DP it sounds better to me now…
January 14th, 2018 at 13:05Like this! Malice in Wonderland is a classic album!
January 14th, 2018 at 19:23Nice!…
January 14th, 2018 at 19:32This has been officially released.
January 14th, 2018 at 23:09A very agreeable evening at the Bham Odeon a long time ago and excellent lyrics!
January 15th, 2018 at 00:10From 21:35 to 22:51 it sounds very similar to Paul Shaffer & the CBS Orchestra’s theme song for the Late Night with David Letterman show (1993-2015). It would be interesting to learn if Shaffer & Co. might have gotten some of their inspiration from Paice Ashton and Lord’s 1977 performances.
January 15th, 2018 at 01:54A clear example of what Ritchie must have seen and felt in the last few months with DP Mk3. There seem to be no purpose or clear direction and band members just having too much fun in the job. I guess it’s a similar story with Gillan band during the same period. Too much to drink and too much fun writing music with no clear direction or purpose. I would love to see a recording session by Rainbow when Dio joined this new formed band. I bet you it was more serious than this.
January 15th, 2018 at 09:40Great find…….one of my favourite bands………..Malice In Wonderland for me is nothing short of a masterpiece……..!!!!
January 15th, 2018 at 19:04So much talents, Ian, Tony,Jon, Bernie, Martin Birch … with Tony was never bored:). Watched this documentary on Yugoslav television 1978
January 16th, 2018 at 17:42Doesn’t everyone already own this DVD? It was released years ago
January 17th, 2018 at 04:10A band with tons of sadly unrealized potential. And if Coverdale would have joined as he was invited to (making CLAP out of PAL), they would have surmounted the frontman issue (Tony Ashton was unwilling to take that role) too (and Coverdale’s music would have had some brains for once).
Malice in Wonderland is together with Bolin’s Private Eyes and IGB’s Clear Air Turbulence among my favourite post-76 split work of the Purple family.
Add Hughes’ Play me Out.
January 17th, 2018 at 13:48This came out as a DVD I think from the Deep Purple Appreciation Society. It was a really nice piece with great inserts too. I was happy to get it at the time. The Malice album is a great musical effort and Ian Paice is killer on it. Mater piece album that was ahead of its time. I am a big supporter of Glenn Hughes but he made a comment like the Malice album was not an artistic success and that REALLY bothered me because it most certainly was. I think it was his “Play me out” album that he was comparing it to.
January 17th, 2018 at 16:03Have not seen this ever. Great working with PAL.
January 17th, 2018 at 16:21This came as a bit of a shock early on a California morning ! Wondered what had happened to this !
January 17th, 2018 at 19:39Had to have a mid morning cocktail ! Never, ever play cards with Bernie Marsden.
Thank’s to Colin Hart.
Rob Cooksey.
@ 16
During Hughes/Thrall he also bad mouthes Deep Purple
“Smoke on the water” et all that, that wasnt me.
Saw him perform it in AHOY, Rotterdam, 2007, thats for sure.
January 28th, 2018 at 20:38I think he did it in Australia 2017 as well?
Hopefully now BCC is back on the road he will come around to do the DP set in Europe as well, but if BCC flies this time I m not so sure he will.
Adel@11: That is one way of putting it.
Another way of putting it might be that Mk3, PAL, IGB/Gillan and even early Whitesnake were creative collectives while Rainbow was the vision of one man, singlemindedly relentless but confined, designed to squash an audience into submission, but at the same time curiously lifeless. Non-swinging groove, comic book sword & scorcery escapist lyrics … I could go on (yes, I saw them in their prime often enough).
Rainbow was so many things, but foremost it was always less than Deep Purple in any department. That is why anything from Rainbow Rising sounds these days more dated and old-fashioned than anything off, say, Stormbringer.
January 30th, 2018 at 20:27uwe hornung @20
January 31st, 2018 at 13:37I totally agree that Rainbow was never a free flowing band with Ritchie having the first and the last word on the musician contribution. He hated the over extended jamming in recorded songs and he focused on songs with clear start and a finish unless he wanted to overindulge in his contribution like for example in Catch the Rainbow.
Having said that any extended jamming sessions by great missions can’t end up put together as a great collections of good songs unless there are good materials coupled with good lyrics sang in good voice. Those three elements were never presents at the heart of what Ian Gillan band or Paice Aston Lord recordings or maybe in small quantities. Clearly they were so chilled and relaxed with no added pressure compared to the very nervous pressurised and very serious recording sessions by Rainbow.
uwe @ 20 – I wouldn’t call the early Whitesnake or Gillan bands ‘creative collectives’. Both Coverdale & Gillan’s bands! Yes they needed to write with other musicians, as they don’t play instruments per say, that is about as ‘collective’ as it was, it appears! Same as Blackmore writes with a vocalist as he doesn’t sing! As to the ‘comic book’ lyrics, well enough said there me thinks! Dio is far more interesting as a lyric writer! A storyteller he was indeed! As to the songs, well as many know, they are totally different entities! Rainbow with Dio have some grand songs that left DP behind on many levels! Stargazer, Gates of Babylon, Rainbow Eyes, Tarot Woman, Light in The Black, Kill the King, Catch The Rainbow etc, etc! Never heard any thing similar on previous DP. Blackmore moving forward as ever! Each to their own, but seriously any need to ‘swing’ is not negotiated after the ‘funk’ element of MK3!
February 1st, 2018 at 09:54Rainbow was a hard rock band! In many ways a step up after DP! Definitely NOT ‘curiously lifeless”? Cheers.
Don’t know if you are aware but, Lifespan was the support film to either Monty Python and Holy Grail or Life Of Brian at the cinema.
February 6th, 2018 at 22:25Hi MacGregor, what’s with all the exclamation marks?… Are you feeling a little over excited?…. Chillax, mate.
February 8th, 2018 at 03:49You eternal Rainbowsters, you! LOL Blackmore’s solo outfit was always too Germanic for me – I’m allowed to say that. If a band like the Scorpions sounds more relaxed than Blackmore’s neo-barbarians, then the world is turned upside down.
Gillan (the band) I have to defend, they really took chances (Whitesnake not so much, Coverdale’s music taste is even more conservative and unyielding than Blackmore’s) and their influences were diverse, the musicians not relegated to just backing Ian Gillan. I also liked their punkish energy, for every throwaway track hastily recorded there is something brilliant in their oeuvre. The whole studio album of Double Trouble is magic (no pun intended), great songwriting, witty and playful lyrics plus John McCoy’s robotic, yet immediately attention-grabbing bass playing. Every player left an imprint with Gillan. You’ll be hard-pressed to tell me what kind of imprints Jimmy Bain, Bob Daisley, Bobby Rondinelli and David Rosenthal left with Rainbow – none of them a bad musician (think of Daisley’s influence on the early Ozzy albums), but stunted with Rainbow.
David Stone has to be thanked though for creating the background chord structure in the Gates of Babylon guitar solo part (uncredited of course), still the harmonically most challenging few minutes over which Herr Blackmore laid a solo ever (and he did so with aplomb!). I would have loved to hear more of that.
February 16th, 2018 at 23:15And the funk element in Mk III was utterly brilliant, Herr MacGregor, go listen to some Trapeze for punishment and cleansing! ; – )
February 16th, 2018 at 23:19Sir Blackwood Richmore @ 24 – I wasn’t even aware I had used that many exclamations. No, not over excited, just stating my opinion, all good. Hope you are not getting too analytical there, but thanks for pointing that out. Cheers.
February 17th, 2018 at 23:08uwe@25- Yes, Trapeze would be a form of punishment for me, Ha! In regards to the Gillan band, I owned all those albums throughout the 80’s, enjoyed them at that time & enjoyed the live performance in 1983. A little disappointed Torme wasn’t there on guitar, but overall a full on gig it was!
February 18th, 2018 at 00:06Gillan’s approach to his band would be a lot more relaxed not doubt than Blackmore’s is to his! Colin Towns was the key in my opinion during that period of Gillan. A decent songwriter & collaborating with Gillan, hence the quality of many of the songs. From memory Big John McCoy was involved in songs at times also. All very good musicians. For me it didn’t have that next level to it, meaning it didn’t stay with me & I don’t rate it as highly as other bands. I still listen occasionally to a few tracks online for enjoyment though. The songs & feel overall I guess is what I mean! With Blackmore he has a fair idea as to what he wants. Other contemporaries from that era did as well. Pete Townshend, Roger Waters, Ian Anderson, Mike Oldfield etc. Getting certain musicians to collaborate with is one thing, having them perform a certain way is another. In regards to Bob Daisley, wasn’t he brought in late to the LLR&R sessions? Blackmore played bass guitar on a few tunes on that album. By the time Rainbow had changed direction to the more commercial style, I would presume there would be less room for a certain flamboyance, for want of a better word. I hear Cozy Powell R J Dio, Tony Carey & Don Airey with their influences. I hear Glover’s influence as a songwriter & of course Bonnet & Turner as vocalists. It depends on the song & arrangement & what the individuals agenda entails at that time! Blackmore allegedly had a reputation over the years for not liking a player being ‘too busy’. Looking at his musical history, the bass guitarists are in the back ground so to speak, excepting Hughes of course. Even some of the keyboard players.
Yes the David Stone piece is wonderful & perhaps he should have had a credit there, but who can tell why some musicians don’t end up on the final list of a songs arrangement. There are a few reasons why this can happen. Cheers.
To me DT and Magic were the least interesting albums of Gillan (the band).
Gers didn’ have much influence on the music on DT, there’s only one memorable guitarsolo. After Torme’s departure a lot of the inspiration left also. No wonder that after Magic the magic (no pun intended) was gone. The charm of Gillan (band) was the diversity of the players and the chaos they often created.
I saw Rainbow in their early days and that was sheer magic. Never saw DP before because I was too young. Blackmore was on fire and a singer that could rival Gillan in his best days. You can tell about Bain and Carey what you want, but Blackmore always came up with great musicians. Rainbow were almost as good as DP. After the arrival of Turner it went downhill fast. To me Rainbow were during those early tours better as DP after the reunion.
Not every player in Gillan left an imprint. What about Byrd, Genocky, Barnacle and even Underwood and Gers.
February 18th, 2018 at 21:47Gillan and Coverdale needed musicians that could write a tune.
Blackmore needed a singer for his tunes (and lyrics) and capable musicians to create his songs.