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Quite carried away
A vintage article about Roger Glover and his then upcoming project Butterfly Ball. This originally appeared in Sounds on November 9, 1974.
Glover has a ball
By Pete Makowski
Roger Glover is a satisfied person nowadays. Since his departure from Deep Purple, Glover has steadily been building up a good reputation as a record producer and now his new venture, “The Butterfly Ball”, will gain him respect as a musician and composer.
“I always felt that people expected certain kinds of things from me,” said Roger, “when I was approached to do this project, I thought `shall I do something really heavy and rocky, or shall I do the complete opposite`. Then I decided to do exactly what I felt was right, not just live up to everyone else’s expectations.”
Continue reading in My Things — Music history for those who are able to read.
Bonus: review of the Royal Albert Hall live performance from Sounds, October 25, 1975:
What a pleasantly different experience! After all the doubts and warnings of impending disaster `The Butterfly Ball` live was just about as good as it possibly could have been oratorio-style without the costumes and full trapplings of a dramatic production.
A full orchestra sounding in high spirits put a brassy weight behind most of the numbers. The rock band, including a gaggle of keyboard players and Eddie Jobson in joyful form on the electric violin, made it all a lot more raunchy than the rather precious imagery of the `Ball`s` sundry packaging would suggest. And the infinite queue of eager lead singers suggested an opulence of talent such as is too rarely gathered together on a British stage. The musical edifice sustaining all this, last year`s Mr R. Ex-Purple Glover`s album is nice rather than magnificent, but there were times when most of the Albert Hall and your reviewer got quite carried away.
Continue reading in the same blog.
Thanks to Geir Myklebust for digitizing these and to Uwe Hornung for the heads-up.
Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing
I wish I could see this concert without the cartoon characters. Is there really no original video somewhere?
October 20th, 2024 at 21:44My heart just skipped a beat:
Roger Glover is a satisfied person nowadays. Since his departure from Deep Purple…..
When I came to myself again, and had stopped breathing in the little brown paper bag I saw the year – 1974! PHEEW 😃
On Facebook there are some cruel and completely heartless people who now and then put copies in from some sport-papers claiming some from Deep Purple are dead or in other way prevented from playing or singing again.
October 20th, 2024 at 23:14But in this magnificent place I would never suggest lies being spread, so the first line really kicked my socks off!
Now I’ve them back on and can enjoy a late night coffee, knowing that I have an entire week of vacation in front of me 😃
Because ALL you guys did not chip in with Roger’s crowd funding attempt a few years ago to have the live concert of Butterfly Ball released in full, we’re likely to never see and hear it.
Live with your immeasurable guilt, may it devour your entrails!
October 21st, 2024 at 00:10Nino, here’s the complete gig …
https://youtu.be/bSEW_4c2o1Y
Not much cartoon parts, but lots of pantomime pieces interspersed – but I never minded those, they were 70s artsy and real period pieces. Considering what a shambles this staging could have potentially been, it turned out brilliant.
If people had done their homework here and signed up when they were asked, we could now hold a nice boxed set of the whole thing in our hands, remixed, remastered, Blu-ray, a booklet with pictures and with extensive liner notes from the man who created it all.
October 21st, 2024 at 00:28Nino…https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bSEW_4c2o1Y
October 21st, 2024 at 02:56Karin, you are of course too young to remember any of this, but you are aware of the guy who sings at 52:58 and that this particular performance was his return to singing live after a long hiatus following his departure from DP?
Members of his soon to be formed future band were also present at this gig. So you might say that satisfied Roger was instrumental for his buddy’s return to the stage.
October 21st, 2024 at 11:16The title “Glover has a ball” 😁 does remind me of this little ditty here …
“Hitler has only got one ball,
Göring has two, but very small,
Himmler is rather sim’lar,
But poor old Goebbels has no balls at all!”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKp6uD1JAdc
For the sake of historical accuracy, the descriptions are garbled: It was Göring who only had one ball, the other one was shot off at the failed 1923 Beer Hall Putsch in Munich, a wound first-aid-treated by a Jewish doctor, saving Göring’s life from bleeding to death. (In a rare showing of compassion/gratitude, Göring would see to it more than 10 years later that the doctor and his family could leave the Reich unscathed.) The painkilling treatment Göring underwent as he fled German criminal prosecution with his wound for the failed coup rendered him morphine-addicted until his days in post-war Nürnberg detention where he detoxed under Allied supervision.
PS: The testicle sacrifice for Germany’s national glory did not leave him infertile, he conceived his daughter Edda in 1937 with what was left.
So now you know.
October 21st, 2024 at 15:52@6
Yes I do know that 😊
I read it in Ian’s autobiography that after his motorcycle adventure, and wasn’t there something with a very nice hotel?, Roger asked for his help and Ian says it reminded him of how much he missed singing.
It always warms my heart when people are nice to each other 🥰 and again according to the autobiography Roger is the brother Ian didn’t get 😊
October 21st, 2024 at 17:00when I think of this masterpiece I always think of the very talented Eddie Hardin, whose The Wizard’s convention is a great album very enveloping and perfectly arranged….
when I have guests for dinner Wizard’s is an album that always makes 100% of people say “how beautiful, what is this?”
It’s a shame that Eddie Hardin (and also Tony Ashton) didn’t have all the success he deserved!
October 21st, 2024 at 23:15I think Eddie Hardin had a reasonable mid-level career with the Spencer Davis Group (he was basically the Steve Winwood replacement and played there together with Pete York and Ray Fenwick), then with the duo Hardin & York (which were very popular in Germany) before going solo + his collaborations such as the Butterfly Ball, Wizards’ Convention and Wind in the Willows. I always liked his voice and songwriting too. [Pete York had a similar background and didn’t even write or sing, yet established himself in Germany as a go-to-drummer and “I was there”-pop history raconteur and TV personality.]
Tony Ashton simply didn’t really want fame, his failure at fronting PAL painfully showed that (I don’t think that PAL’s music and image was ever cut out to conquer the world, but they surely could have gone further than they did). Either Ian Paice or Jon Lord once quipped that Tony was great before audiences, “but they better not encompass more than 300 people”. That limits how far you can go.
October 22nd, 2024 at 12:51@3
Uwe, the crowd funding attempt was not by Roger, but by Tony Klinger. I think that Roger stopped it.
October 22nd, 2024 at 19:37The nicest songs on the BB album are co-written with Glover & Eddie Hardin, according to the album credits, excepting Sitting In A Dream which is Glover alone. Also a couple co-written with R J Dio & Mickey Lee Soule. Side two is far superior to side one for song quality. A rather good effort from Roger Glover & definitely his best ‘solo’ work to my ears. I have supported the album by buying the original vinyl & then the cd with the additional tracks & booklet. Surely all the extra bells & whistles are not needed. Cheers.
October 22nd, 2024 at 20:40In the DP song Bleeding Obvious, there’s a passage from about 3:09 to 4:05 that reminds me of The Butterfly Ball album. Is it just me, or does anybody else hear it, or get that impression as well?.
October 23rd, 2024 at 02:27Here, I found something, Eddie Hardin and Ray Fenwick reliving past Spencer Davis Group glories in 2008:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19iD7_Sff1k
Ray Fenwick was a vastly underrated guitarist, I really liked his work with IGB, incredibly tasteful. The early 70ies version of the Spencer Davis Group was a far cry from the 60s line-up and actually quite a hard-rocking outfit.
Here’s another late version of the Spencer Davis Group featuring left to right Eddie Hardin, Spencer Davis himself, Colin Hodgkinson & Miller Anderson – sorry, I don’t know who the drummer is, he’s not Pete York!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q44SDgKa8pc
October 23rd, 2024 at 03:23@10
October 23rd, 2024 at 09:06How was the concert 🤩🤩🤩
Countryman Jörg @3: Oh, das wusste ich nicht about Roger intervening. Why? I know that in the past he has said that it would be horror clearing all the rights due to the participating orchestra. I received a message at the time stating that not enough people had signed up, that is why I assumed … But maybe they were just trying to save face.
Still, isn’t it about time this sees a formal release? It won’t be selling vast quantities, but if they do a lavish box set, enough baby boomers like me will be prepared to shill out for it.
October 23rd, 2024 at 17:25Not here, Karin, there might be people watching.
October 23rd, 2024 at 17:27#13 John
Yes, I had written that it reminded me of something from Jesus Christ Superstar, but in fact also Butterfly Ball,
and in general the taste we feel at that point is “rock opera” style
#14 Uwe
It thrills me to see these fantastic musicians with reading glasses and civilian clothes playing great, we must never forget the beautiful pages of music they have written with their professionalism
October 23rd, 2024 at 23:00John 13 (sounds like a Bible quote 😂): Yeah, I hear parallels to Aranea, that beautiful song by the likewise beautiful hippie girl —> Judi Kuhl —> Roger’s first wife Judi Glover —> Gillian Glover’s mum (undeniable likeness).
https://youtu.be/PYnmxuXqig4
Roger’s memories of the last attempt to release the Butterfly Ball Live event on DVD are somewhat marred by frustration, I understand that the media company’s decision of putting Glenn Hughes on the face of the DVD and spine did not entirely help matters!
https://www.musik-sammler.de/cover/79000/78889_2_300.jpg
(The pic is heavily pixelated, but you can immediately tell that it is Glenn not Roger.)
https://www.discogs.com/release/16162150-Roger-Glover-The-Butterfly-Ball-A-Fun-Musical-Extravaganza/image/SW1hZ2U6NDk3MTcwMTI=
https://www.rogerglover.com/writings/messages-from-roger-glover/the-dvd-release-of-the-butterfly-ball-concert/
October 24th, 2024 at 11:31@16 As said, it is a guess, Uwe. The campaign was closed before the official end, so I thought that someone intervened
October 24th, 2024 at 14:50@16 And PS, Uwe, the mail that I got at that time was this one: “’Due to unforeseen licensing and legal issues we are no longer able to complete this campaign and produce the products offered therein as we intended. We are therefore closing the campaign with immediate effect and will refund all orders.” Just found it in another forum, where I posted it back in 2017.
October 24th, 2024 at 15:00Your memory is better than mine then, Jörg!
So the licensing issues prevail, darn.
October 24th, 2024 at 15:40@4 @5
October 25th, 2024 at 03:06Oh, thanks for the links, but I have a DVD (I suspect it’s pirated, but honestly bought from an online store – DVDLady 😁). But did Vincent Price really read his lyrics during the musicians’ performance? I’m not as irritated by these moles and frogs as I am by his voice during the performance 🫢.
Yes, he was there, Nino, and is supposed to have had a ball.
https://www.rogerglover.com/wp-content/uploads/00038.jpg
https://www.rogerglover.com/photos/roger-glover/the-butterfly-ball-show/
Roger was extremely chuffed at the time to have him.
Contrary to widely held belief, that is NOT Vincent Price doing the intro to Iron Maiden’s Number Of The Beast. The Maidens wanted him to do it initially, but he asked for a king’s ransom so they got an impersonator who sounded just like him.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxnN05vOuSM
I thought video makers for Purple’s Vincent Price clip did real well finding a young actor that looked credibly like him!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEWYRRaxFhU
October 25th, 2024 at 14:40We cannot mention Vincent P here without taking a peek again at this, “such power and dignity, unhampered by sentiment”, arachnophobe’s caution advised:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIeAVBTeuV8
Even as a kid I wasn’t scared of Vincent Price, but I thought he was hilarious, the kind of uncle I would have liked to have had! A lifelong Democrat too, what’s not to like?!
Always liked spiders too, sehr nützliche Tiere.
October 25th, 2024 at 15:41Louder Sound has this on the subject:
https://www.loudersound.com/features/roger-glover-butterfly-ball
October 25th, 2024 at 15:50@23
October 25th, 2024 at 16:14I have the exact same feeling Nino, but maybe his voice is meant to be a bit on the creepy side 😄
Here’s a different take from on the same subject, apparently from December 1975, although this one had an other Roger’s Hand in it:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvVInkWctBZsXxulbfAX1K7i5fV_JxG8x
So here’s info on the book itself, presented here for an audio release:
https://danyahmillerstoryteller.co.uk/project/the-butterfly-ball/
Then there’s this for some extra texture to amuse you!:
https://www.discogs.com/master/1484302-Alan-Aldridge-William-Plomer-Judi-Dench-Michael-Hordern-Rod-Edwards-Roger-Hand-The-Butterfly-Ball-An
https://www.amazon.com.au/BUTTERFLY-BALL-GRASSHOPPERS-FEAST-VARIOUS/dp/B001H7G1US
Our Mr Glover must have had some idea of this album’s existence. One wonders what his thoughts were about it, especially as it arrived so soon after his own magnificent efforts appeared on the music stores’ shelves?.
To be fair, I enjoyed this one as much as I enjoyed Roger Glover’s work. They are both very good!.
October 26th, 2024 at 03:24The Butterfly Ball is definitely a musical that could have ONLY been completed in the early 1970’s. That period of experimentation with no boundaries, progressive rock along with a few different words that some other people may use at certain times. In regards to ‘Twiggy’ who I still think is or was silly being wheeled out in many aspects. But marketing eh, from the powers that be. Bums on seats everyone. In regards to Vincent Price, yes it is hard to take him seriously in his more ‘serious’ roles as he has performed in many humorous cameos, Dr Phibes is a fine example. A bit like Christopher Lee who also was hard to take seriously in different roles & no doubt that that & also the genres they both appeared in, was why they were ‘shunned’ in many aspects by the so called Hollywood elitists. Not to worry, they both excelled at what they did & were both classy individuals. Cheers.
October 26th, 2024 at 05:45