By the candlelight
Ritchie Blackmore talks about guitar players that influenced him in his early years — Big Jim Sullivan and Joe Moretti.
![[hand]](/hs-pics/portraits/hands/gillan8.jpg)
![[face]](/hs-pics/portraits/faces/mcbride2.jpg)
Ritchie Blackmore talks about guitar players that influenced him in his early years — Big Jim Sullivan and Joe Moretti.
Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing
Can we expect the children here to know who Sister Rosetta Tharpe is? I think not:
https://youtu.be/Y9a49oFalZE
https://youtu.be/jOrhjgt-_Qc
Sorry, couldn’t find anything where she sings about Orcs and wizards. 😎
October 23rd, 2024 at 20:50Thanks for the Blackmore ‘tales from the crypt’ stories, always amusing. Plugged straight into the wall socket, classic. Cheers.
October 23rd, 2024 at 20:54Considering that young Ritchie’s parents had him trained as a radio electrician at Heathrow Airport, his early experiments with electricity ⚡️ beckon the question whether that would have really been his true calling. Better play guitar then.
Childhood trauma can of course persist well into adulthood, Ritchie’s penchant for a past age when electricity was still an unresolved mystery to man does shine in a different (candle)light now, he obviously tries to keep out of electrickery’s harm’s way, the ole Catweazle!
https://youtu.be/J1ho8di4ywQ
https://youtu.be/wjeQKiSwm5E
But then it’s maybe all for the better, to a German engineer the definition of hell is after all a place where all mechanics and engineers are Brits with Imperial Size measurement tools. 🤣 Progress sometimes only inches forward.
October 24th, 2024 at 00:54Interesting story of Joe Moretti & his journey through the 50’s & 60’s. A lot of big name musicians coming & going too & Joe was Scottish, a Glaswegian. There you go. Cheers.
https://recordcollectormag.com/articles/the-greatest-british-guitarist-youve-heard-but-never-heard-of
October 24th, 2024 at 06:07Is RB officially retired from music now.
October 24th, 2024 at 06:31He seems to do more talk than writing or playing.
Is there any life left in him musically performing or has he hung up his boots.
Peace ✌️
Not knowimg about Rosetta should ban you from any music related site anyway.
October 24th, 2024 at 11:11Admittedly, I had no idea who Joe Moretti was, so I researched, you live to learn after all. Here he is playing guitar with Gene Vincent in what even appears to be a 1960 TV live performance, some tasty licks too:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mkeNlJhEeI
And this is him too, uncredited as a session guitarist, that solo at 01:24 is pretty stellar for also 1960:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UHOf6-7JKQ
For those of you for whom the name Johnny Kidd rings a bell: This is NOT the much later Pirates line-up featuring Nick Simper, NOT even the mid-phase one with Brit guitar legend Mick Green (he who influenced Wilko Johnson of Dr Feelgood so much with his combined ‘rhythm & lead guitar at the same time’-style). Mick only joined the Pirates in 1962.
Moretti was a handsome fellow, what would the UK have done without the sons and daughters of its Italian immigrants such as Joe Moretti, Francis Rossi, Tony Iommi, Jim Capaldi, Chris Rea and – wait for it – Lita Ford?
Runaways-Lita Ford, the Long Beach blonde?
https://media1.tenor.com/m/BdEQJRlSWn4AAAAC/runaways-lita-ford.gif
Sì, naturalmente, I didn’t know this myself, but she was born in London to her Brit dad Harry and her Italian mom Isabella, the family only moved to California later when lil’ Lita Rossana was in second grade. This puts her later liaison with doom riff merchant Antonio Iommi into a different light: Was this supposed to turn into one of those prearranged Italian weddings?! Semplicemente incredibili! 🤯
October 24th, 2024 at 15:33Given how he just left us, how could I have forgotten Paul Di’Anno from the list of Italo-Brit musicians? Saw him twice with early Maiden …
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afBRj58PYSI
Che la terra ti sia lieve …
October 24th, 2024 at 17:40Herr MacGregor, that is a great article on Moretti, vielen lieben Dank for digging it out.
So Moretti was on stuff like this too:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OpRRsEXl1KQ
(a much harder and rawer version from 1973 than what became a hit three years later for the Rollers, this still features ‘Nobby’ Clark on lead vocals and not Les McKeown, this original version flopped at the time)
And Kenny’s somewhat risque – homophobe’s alert: male butts a-bumpin’! – novelty dance hit:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_fkux6Ha9g
Plus, at least according to this site
https://musiciansolympus.blogspot.com/2012/03/joemoretti-guitar.html,
even this here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Av1CkwA5PWI
October 24th, 2024 at 20:29@ 9 – you are not wrong Uwe regarding not really knowing about Joe Moretti. I have seen his name mentioned over the years but I have never ever thought to look him up. Hence that article I found, ‘we have heard him, but we don’t know who he is’ etc. Shakin’ All Over & how many times have we heard that song in our younger days? The Italian heritage is a gifted one indeed. Two mighty fine guitarists who I had the privilege of playing with a lot, were both Italians. Another sensational guitarist was of German heritage. Sheeesh, what is it about these Europeans & what would they know about music. Seriously though the car involved in the accident that claimed Kidd’s life also had Nick Simper travelling in it, from what I read yesterday. I don’t recall hearing about that, although I could have read something somewhere eons ago, memory eh? Lita Ford a Brit, who would have thought that? Thanks for the Joe Moretti links. A lot of different & well known musicians worked with him at times, a talented individual. Cheers.
October 24th, 2024 at 23:29Yeah, Nick Simper survived the car crash – playing with Johnny Kidd was his dream come true, he idolized the guy though Kidd’s halcyon days were over by the time Nick joined him.
That final line-up didn’t get around to recording much, but this track here features – audibly – Nick’s bass playing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7_VRMAkYNw
Mind you, this came out in 1966, the year The Beatles released Revolver! This was music of the past by then while the Fab Four were the future. That is what Little Ian meant when he said that Nick even when with Purple was too much looking back and not forward.
Even to this day, Nick says that playing with Johnny Kidd was the highlight of his professional career as a musician, that is kind of telling.
October 25th, 2024 at 14:23Oh, sure! I love Moretti me too!
October 25th, 2024 at 15:13https://www.damoreno.ch/media/catalog/product/cache/5b5d7988e9af9f38308c6dd6deb78357/a/l/alcolici-novita-8001435500013_4b9xzk72zvsij30n.jpg
I just had a bottle of that recently while in Italy! I’m more of a red wine drinker, but I liked it.
October 26th, 2024 at 01:35@ 13
October 26th, 2024 at 10:42Uwe, I love red wine, more than white.
Cheers 🍷 🍷
So do I, I drink red wine with most any food while white wine is something I just get offered at a private invitation or at functions but wouldn’t think of opening a bottle of it at home. Also don’t care much for champagne or other sparkling stuff. But I I’m not a collector, I buy to devour and once it is all consumed, I buy anew.
October 26th, 2024 at 21:07@13 & 14
Hey guys, coffee isn’t half bad either 😄
October 26th, 2024 at 21:25Coffe only by moka
October 27th, 2024 at 10:48May Dionysus save us from these Scandinavian teetotalers and temperance movement ladies! The inherent failure of all Protestant beliefs to take a measured approach/stance to ever present sin. 😂
https://bsh.eduloop.de/mediawiki/images/bsh.eduloop.de/4/4d/Danish_poster.png
October 27th, 2024 at 15:03@17 I love coffee in all the different kinds there are 😄
@18 Hey! I’m not! I love a nice cool beer, and I’m not against nice wine in any way 😄 I just really really REALLY love coffee! It’s one of the stabel things in my life.
October 27th, 2024 at 16:53Do German gentlemen drink coffee at all?
Contrary to a widely held international belief the number one beverage of the German population is not beer but coffee. Beer consumption has been dwindling for decades, and it has become a real issue for German breweries.
October 27th, 2024 at 19:00The Danes are very adept at brewing a yellowish liquid deemed fit for human consumption which to the casual observer might resemble – under poor lighting – a real beer.
https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/91zh-QMW50L._AC_UF894,1000_QL80_.jpg
In the animal kingdom such behavior is commonly called mimicry, i.e. pretending to be something you’re really not.
https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQ_nefIeJAhXVm6tkS7fXMP1TGNyXpsHjH6og&s
You can’t do everything equally well, stick to salty liquorice/dubbelzoute drop, Karin! 😘
October 27th, 2024 at 20:43Interesting Ale and or Beer stories. Apparently Ian Anderson back in the 1970’s had a fondness for a certain German beer. Even when touring Australia he used to have a crate on the ready after each gig back stage, from what I have read. A Dutch guy I knew also craved a particular German beer. So it looks like the Germans did actually get something right after all, he he he. Myself I cannot stand the taste of any of it, no matter where it hailed from. Give me a Vodka any day & that in itself has landed me in potentially hot water, times gone by. ‘What do you mean you don’t like BEER, all Australian MEN drink beer’. Or ‘what are you a nancy boy or something, vodka is for girls’. The classic Aussie male yobbo, you can’t beat them can you? And that was well before Men At Work’s ‘Down Under’ song. Cheers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfR9iY5y94s
October 28th, 2024 at 01:55@21
Well well well….
Haven’t you tried Carlsberg beer? ‘Probably the best…’?
Even though I’m no connoisseur in beer, it do taste formidable, but maybe that’s because I’m only used to the pale, watered down, diluted kinds 😄
What does Edith think of danish beer?☺️
October 28th, 2024 at 03:27Edith doesn’t like any beer from anywhere! She thinks it all tastes bitter.
I’m not much of a beer drinker. I sometimes just join in to be social, but anyone who knows me a bit is aware that I really prefer a glass of red wine.
Sure, I’ve had a Carlsberg, it’s an industry beer like many (in Germany too). Ok, but nothing more. I’m sure there must be smaller breweries in Denmark too that offer a more individualistic product. Most mass-produced beers taste alike and the current popular taste preferences aren’t really mine, I’m especially not a Pilsner fan, I like darker beers.
I recently had a Danish craft beer with liquorice taste and contrary to expectation it wasn’t bad at all.
And the German Reinheitsgebot which limits what ingredients a beer may have is a load of market protection bollocks to me, I’m perfectly fine with an Asian beer made from rice, that is in fact regularly my choice if I eat in an Asian restaurant. Red wine doesn’t really work with Chinese, Korean, Japanese or Thai food.
October 28th, 2024 at 16:50@24
‘a Danish craft beer with liquorice taste’
Some of our friends are actually brewing beer with that liquorice taste, it’s a very dark but still refreshing and gentle beer.
There are A LOT of private people in Denmark who make their own beer.
October 29th, 2024 at 07:19I still prefer coffee 😉
It is a fact of life that women only drink beer in commercials when wearing flowing white gowns on posh parties, but never in a real life.
In nearly 64 years of terrestrial existence, I have never met a woman that really prefers beer over all other alcoholic beverage – they just don’t exist.
And I don’t even blame them as I’m not a particular fan myself.
October 29th, 2024 at 14:42In my 57 years of living on this green earth I have NEVER seen a woman – or a man – wearing flowing white gowns – or white suits! Myself and everyone around me are wearing..
October 29th, 2024 at 17:09(Oh wait just listening til DP, from a concert the 23 October this year, where Ian G is singing ‘When a blind man cries’! Oohhhh man he still got it! 🤩)
Well, where was I?
Oh yes, clothing whilst drinking beer! Last time I guess it was swimwear!
@22
Alright then MacGregor, the vital question here is:
Do you like coffee? 🥰
October 29th, 2024 at 19:06“Alright then MacGregor, the vital question here is: Do you like coffee?”
The answer, liebe Karin, of course comes with some reservations: As long as it is brewed and brought by someone who is NOT clothed too revealingly: yes. Tassie boy’s favorite coffee brand is ‘Puritan Black’.
https://static.wixstatic.com/media/db6a05_e020ff97b4c2465f8caa5a67c6dd42ec~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_2500,h_1330,al_c/db6a05_e020ff97b4c2465f8caa5a67c6dd42ec~mv2.jpg
“Puritans were one of the few religious groups to embrace coffee quickly. In England, Puritans had long protested the widespread consumption of beer, which they saw as leading drinkers into sin. (In cities, beer had long been relied upon as a source of hydration – potable water was hard to come by.) So the rise of coffeehouses as a center of civic engagement and community was seen as a big win for the anti-alcohol lobby. Coffee’s known stimulating properties also fit in well with the espoused Protestant work ethic, leading to a wholehearted acceptance of the beverage.”
https://specialprojects.sprudge.com/?p=364
But do ‘put something on’ for Herr MacGregor, please, I fear the above-mentioned ‘swimwear’ is not gonna cut it, with all due respect to Dutch permissiveness, I have a hunch that he is not part of the ‘bikini barista’-customer segment AT ALL. I mean living in seclusion on an island and all that.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8f/Bottoms_Up_Expresso_%28Clovis%2C_California%29_bikini_barista_%284%29.jpg
https://bottomsupespresso.com/careers/
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b7/Espresso_Gone_Crazy_in_Gorst%2C_WA.jpg/1024px-Espresso_Gone_Crazy_in_Gorst%2C_WA.jpg
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1e/Bikini_Coffee_%28Hillsboro%2C_Oregon%29.jpg/1920px-Bikini_Coffee_%28Hillsboro%2C_Oregon%29.jpg
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/11/Pink_Pantherz_Expresso_%28Fremont%2C_California%29.jpg/1920px-Pink_Pantherz_Expresso_%28Fremont%2C_California%29.jpg
Do not thank me, Karin, it is my onerous task to dismantle cultural barriers and open new roads to mutual understanding & empathy wherever I go. Tassies need to be integrated too.
October 29th, 2024 at 20:23Did I really write ”Dutch permissiveness” and not “Danish permissiveness”? Those are two wholly different things, utilgivelig! 😢
October 29th, 2024 at 21:03@29
Well, now I don’t know how one’s dressing for swimming in the world outside Denmark (Dutch 😂) but this is what I was thinking of:
https://images.app.goo.gl/VeZHFFjYnQTmMymr7
Quite practical if you are afraid of a sunburn, or mosquitoes!
October 29th, 2024 at 23:00@ 29 – Thanks ever so much Uwe & I will try to find that Tassie Devil coffee somewhere. That Pink Pantherz ‘California’ image of those guys waiting for their caffeine hit & it looks rather cold the way that they are all dressed. Not too many bikini clad ladies out & about in that image, he he he. @ 28 -yes Karin, quality coffee, but only a couple each day, maybe three. A nice cup of tea too, especially after reading some of Uwe’s comments, not to mention clicking on some of the links that he sends. Then a little lie down with a siesta after that cup of tea & then upon awakening all is good. Until I venture back here & read more comments again, it has become a ritual of sorts. Coffee, THS, Tea, Siesta & repeat. You could easily think that I should have something else better to do. Cheers.
October 29th, 2024 at 23:24@32
MacGregor, tea? Really??
I’m so so sorry Uwe’s comments hit you that hard 😱
Take it from someone who has been down the tea-route (me!) it’s not the right way to go 😂😂
October 30th, 2024 at 08:59Yeah, tea. Listening to Led Zep III, and reading a little Tolkien with a blanket over his legs and fragrance sticks heavy in the air – before retiring for his power naps. I can see it now – a scenario straight from hell.
October 30th, 2024 at 16:35@34
October 30th, 2024 at 21:31Chamomile tea has never killed anyone, maybe ruined their lives a bit, but no deaths ☺️
Isn’t tea something used for enemas mostly? I hear it works well.
October 30th, 2024 at 23:15“Quite practical if you are afraid of a sunburn …”
A rare occurrence in Denmark, pretty much all year round. 😐
October 30th, 2024 at 23:27@ 34- ha ha ha ha, oh that paints a picture indeed, not Tolkien though. I have access to them & have hd for many decades, but have never been tempted to delve into them. Many decades ago I did read The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley. Also a few Michael Moorcock sci fi stories. The Elric of Melnibone sagas, yes with Stormbringer his famous soul drinking sword. I cannot believe I am admitting this here, now you will know where all that RJ Dio lyrical fantasy influence hails from. I was young & most probably in another dimension of sorts, chemically influenced etc. I would say that wouldn’t I. I have to have some sort of excuse. Regarding Stormbringer, David Coverdale has denied ever being aware of that side of the name, from Moorcock’s books. It could be a coincidence, I don’t know. The link below is for Uwe, just in case he cannot resist a good read. Cheers.
https://jeroenthoughts.wordpress.com/2022/10/31/michael-moorcock-stormbringer-the-elric-saga-vol-2-review/
October 31st, 2024 at 06:29@37
October 31st, 2024 at 09:31Yeah, it’s a very practical country I live in 😄
Actually, I don’t mind Moorcock’s Sci Fi Fantasy tales that much, I really like BÖC’s ‘Veteran Of The Psychic Wars’ (what a great title!) for instance which was co-written by him together with Eric Bloom:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bIUKlVEvyTo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdE909-NqFA
He collaborated a few times with them:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wH-ZGtJIWaU
Well-written Sci Fi is alright by me – as long as it is not Star Wars Princess & Ewoks type crap. Space Odyssey is a brilliant film so are some of the 70s B movie greats like The Omega Man and Soylent Green or the Planet Of The Apes saga.
I’m actually also very fond of the two more recent DUNE films they have done.
November 1st, 2024 at 00:53@ 40 – cheers for that Veteran Of The Psychic Wars song by BOC, especially the extended live version, really enjoyed that. The Veteran Of A Thousand Psychic Wars line is from a spoken word narration on Hawkwind’s ‘Warrior On The Edge Of Time’ album. Moorcock himself narrating that & three spoken word tracks in all are on that album, with ‘Warrior’ containing that line within it. The other two are The Wizard Blew His Horn & Standing At The Edge. What an album that is, atmospheric indeed. I bought the 3 disc set that Steve Wilson remixed about 10 years ago. The re released album has an additional track by Lemmy called Motorhead & no need to wonder where that lead to. I only read a few books of Moorcock’s about 40 odd years ago & mainly because of the Hawkwind connection. I enjoyed them all, Dancers At the End of Time was another trilogy I remember reading. Thanks again. Cheers.
November 1st, 2024 at 09:57