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The Frank Sinatra of rock´n´roll
A 1981 vintage Jon Lord interview, where he talks about the bogus Purple, Gillan’s departure from the band, Tommy Bolin, prospects for a reunion, Tony Ashton, an upcoming solo album, and the Frank Sinatra of rock´n´roll. The interview is published with a warning that no part can be quoted without permission, so we can’t offer you a teaser. You can read it here.
Thanks to Uwe Hornung for the heads-up.
Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing
“Ritchie suddenly decided that he didn´t like Ian Gillan´s voice, which was silly…” – Jon Lord
That’s not how copyright law works.
January 25th, 2025 at 05:05Ok then, Jon Lord said it bluntly!
Ian G was a primadonna, and so was Ritchie.
Aren’t all great musicians and singers primadonna-like in some aspects?
January 25th, 2025 at 13:08Ritchie wanted a bluesier, more Paul Rodgers-oriented voice by 1972 and less outlandish vocal melodies, that is hardly a secret. He also had more input (which he liked to have) in the vocal melodies of Mk III as opposed to Mk II where Ian Gillan basically sang how and what he liked over the music.
DC, GH and RJD are all fine singers who can craft a good melody but have you ever really heard them sing a vocal line that is utterly surprising and off-the-wall? An album like Born Again is full of that stuff, so is a lot of IGB and GILLAN material. But Ritchie didn’t like surprises unless he was the one behind them.
January 25th, 2025 at 14:38nice interview of the Maestro, where he highlights what we were saying some time ago about Ritchie’s evolution with Rainbow post-Dio era..
when Cozy came out all conflicts ended and Ritchie married FM music, but he never evolved again.
If the MK II would have taken that damned 6 month vacation, maybe history would have been different.
when Simon Phillips and Tony Ashton are mentioned in an interview, I always think about what incredible musicians they were and that only with Lord & Paice could they collaborate (that is, Iommi, Emerson or Bonzo would never have woven external collaborations of the richness of the Purples)
January 25th, 2025 at 21:16It probably should say ‘Ritchie grew tired of all the Gillan screaming’, not to mention a few others things. But Jon Lord was being diplomatic as ever & good on him for that. Hindsight again and the irony of it all with Blackmore originally wanting a ‘screamer’ when he was looking for a new lead vocalist in 1969. If only all good things came in moderation eh? Cheers.
January 25th, 2025 at 23:14@ 4 -“when Simon Phillips and Tony Ashton are mentioned in an interview, I always think about what incredible musicians they were and that only with Lord & Paice could they collaborate (that is, Iommi, Emerson or Bonzo would never have woven external collaborations of the richness of the Purples)”. Hmmmm. not to be too pedantic Fla76, but Simon Phillips still is a superb musician and his CV say it all.. He hasn’t left the building as yet. Bonzo? Not sure what you mean, he was only around for 10 years or so and we know where most of that time was spent. Regarding Keith Emerson, he did more than most in his collaborations within the ELP band. Unlike Jon Lord who was much more busy outside the band Deep Purple. A big difference and Emerson also did do solo & other collaborations. Rick Wakeman was also much busier outside of his collaborations within Yes. With Tony Iommi it is much more restricted, that is to do with his style etc. I am not so sure about Tony Ashton either. It is what we enjoy or do not enjoy, again. Horses for courses it seems. Cheers.
January 26th, 2025 at 02:08Unsinn, Herr MacGregor, Big Ian screamed less and less with every new Mk II album, his most screaming was on In Rock, WDWTWA had almost none. He grew out of it. There was no screaming on his abandoned solo work post his 1973 split either and IGB was devoid of it as well. Actually, it was the formation of GILLAN that saw him return to his trademark screaming again. The last album that contained a lot of screaming by him was Born Again – more than 40 years ago.
Ritchie didn’t like that he couldn’t control or intimidate Big Ian and that Ian’s vocal melodies often defied convention, that’s all.
January 26th, 2025 at 04:34#6 MacGregor
yes I know well that Simon Phillips is still playing!
my thought was about collaborations with particular characters, people who are not just rock musicians, but who are true artists of a higher level.
another one that I put in this circle of artists was Eddie Hardin
January 26th, 2025 at 15:58Uwe, TOOLBOX sure has a lot of trademark screams too … IG said something to the effect that he promised to scream all over it as the more poppy approach of Naked Thunder didn’t work very well saleswise. TOOLBOX is among the many most underrated albums from the Purple family. It’s a timeless classic to me.
As for DC, GH und RJD – I agree mostly. But GH has some rather strange attempts on some of his solo work, doesn’t he. And RJD I seem to remember had his moments with prog lines too… on those DIO-albums noone would buy in the 90s. I didn’t like them so listend to the stuuf no more than once or twice – but some vocal lines were a bit out of the comfort zone I believe.
January 26th, 2025 at 16:33You have failed to mention the most important aspect Uwe. Live performance and Gillan didn’t back off at all there it seems and it is embarrassing in that aspect. We are all aware of the ‘soapbox’ dramas of everything else, but that over the top screaming was, well when we were young we thought it was the bees knees. We still did in the early 80’s at a Gillan gig & even DP. As the years peel off the layers though it is rather annoying lot of the time, with any vocalist. Cheers.
January 26th, 2025 at 21:28@ 8- Fla76 – Simon Phillips was very prolific from the late 1970’s and continuing on throughout the 1980’s. I initially came across him because of this involvement with Pete Townshend & Mike Oldfield. Then we had the majestic Bach Onto This from Jon Lord’s Before I Forget album. Great music indeed to my ears. He then joined Toto in the early 90’s, so he knuckled down there a little & wouldn’t have had to worry about anything other than turning up. A bit like Steve Morse when he joined Purple. Concentrate on the music only for a while & let someone else do all the other things. All stellar musicians indeed. Cheers.
January 27th, 2025 at 02:32You’re right, Max, Toolbox was the last “screamer” album by IG. That was also the tour where his popularity was precariously dwindling, I saw him in a former cinema theater out in the boondocks, a place I could not have imagined to ever be the venue for a gig of an ex-DP in Germany. The performance was actually quite good and ferocious – Ian’s spandex pants not so much, at then 46 or so, approaching his sixth decade (really, AndreA! 🤗 ) -, but he was no doubt commercially floundering at that point. Post-Nirvana, a 70s heavy rock heyday warhorse like Ian couldn’t get arrested (though Toolbox did in fact offer some grungy grittiness).
January 27th, 2025 at 13:00How can you NOT mention Simon Phillips here, Herr MacGregor:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YmD4qZj0lNY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TddtYPOBdOg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8MQyI-JTkRM
Unfuckingivable. Indeed, you commit sin after sin …
January 27th, 2025 at 15:35#10 MacGregor
Before I Forget a little masterpiece “for Lord fans only” (paraphrasing Gillan)
#9 Max
January 27th, 2025 at 23:15Toolbox is really a great album, for the screams, the sounds and the mix of the album and the quality of the riffs and vocal lines.
It’s really disconcerting after Gillan’s Accidentally and Naked T.
I think it’s the most screaming album I’ve ever heard (and I’ve heard a lot of metal albums)
I think it’s a good album, but it also sounds a little forced/desperate, Ian’s valiant effort to document he’s still current. Chris Tsangarides’ (the man behind the merciless sound of Priest’s Painkiller album) had a hell of a lot to do why that recording turned out so heavy. It’s his trademark production style.
I was a bit bemused by it at the time and thought: Ok, so GILLAN’s relentless sonic assault didn’t really reap commercial success, yet we apply the same recipe 10 years later again in a wholly changed market? Sounds like a (bad) plan! Ian was never going to be Nu Metal.
Toolbox sold terribly and the tour saw the venues downsized once more from the already sobering Naked Thunder Tour, especially in established markets. That is why Ian and his management began touring in places most bands usually didn’t go.
The album was a last wounded lion’s roar before Ian returned to the Purple fold as their prodigal son. And that is where he belonged. Since then, all his solo albums have been low-key, cottage industry affairs, mildly entertaining and pleasant, yes, but largely pointless. Toolbox was his last “serious” solo album.
January 28th, 2025 at 13:25The late Leonard Haze reminisces about his time touring with Ian on the Toolbox Tour:
https://somethingelsereviews.com/2015/02/11/ian-gillan-toolbox-bus/
I wasn’t aware of the tour bus incident with Steve Morris. I only knew of the official reason for his departure, i.e. not being outgoing enough on stage. I always took that with a pinch of salt: Did Tony Iommi ever move about a lot on stage with Black Sabbath?
I do agree with Leonard that DP is Big Ian‘s spiritual home.
January 28th, 2025 at 17:27@16
If I may add something from the world famous autobiography of Mr Gillan:
Steve Morris got sacked because apparently he stood more still on the scene that the pyramids in Gaza! (Something similar to what you said 😃)
I don’t agree at all! I have seen the pyramids and they are way more stunned than the great guitarist!
Just look at his phenomenal footwork here:
https://youtu.be/4dFQdvYh59A?si=krKi7dfhUvglh1RO
In this video I honestly think that Steve Morris was way better than the moody fella in black suede ☺️
January 28th, 2025 at 20:35It’s not just the mustache, Steve Morris’ stage demeanor shares a lot with Tony Iommi, 😁 I only realize that now.
I think he felt uncomfortable on the Toolbox Tour projecting an image for the harder, rougher music they played then (without keyboards, a first in Ian’s career back then since the days BEFORE Episode Six!), that just wasn’t him even though he could do it technically and write in that vein. But in his heart of hearts, Steve Morris is an AOR and melodic rocker, not a heavy metal guy. Just listen to what he did with his band Heartland:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JAdyyZjA2m8&list=PLQWzvQi0c4UjUTKuAGMPg6lgXKjZCmGtQ
That’s well-done music, but it’s pure AOR.
January 28th, 2025 at 22:57A young Simon Phillips can be heard on White Snake.as well. Just listen to Celebration, Goldie’s Place or the title track…ace drmming all over that thing!
January 29th, 2025 at 14:48@18
“That’s well-done music, but it’s pure AOR.” – and completely nice 😊
But I wonder why Steve Morris wasn’t enough for Ian G, because a lot of Ian’s productions aren’t that hard rocking!
January 29th, 2025 at 17:43And you know when you are preparing a meal, when you mix sour with sweetness, the result is almost always better than if you only have bitter and sour taste! I guess the same is true for music. Ian loved to scream his head off, well that was ok, but a bit honey in between isn’t too bad.
To tell the truth, Big Ian’s career outside of DP was anything BUT consistent or compelling. When he’s not with the mothership, he either gets lazy or flounders. From pop to heavy metal to oldies he’s done a lot of things, but with little artistic or commercial vision. It’s not that I dislike his outside-DP work, there are some real gems on every album, but the approach is mostly scattershot.
It is ironically what already Episode Six suffered from. Maybe Big Ian’s music tastes are too eclectic for him to focus properly.
January 29th, 2025 at 18:52Agree regarding Ian Gillan’s overall ‘solo’ and outside of DP output. As we have witnessed, he needs exemplary musicians around him. He is a little lost without them it seems. That is ok though, there are many musicians like that, it is that old chemistry thing again. Cheers.
January 29th, 2025 at 21:33Ian’s major achievements outside of DP are for me Jesus Christ Superstar (for unbridled vocal performance), Clear Air Turbulence (for stringent originality), Glory Road/Double Trouble (for songwriting quality + band execution), Born Again (ingenious and idiosyncratic in its weird combination that somehow worked against all odds) and Accidentally On Purpose (for, again, songwriting quality + variation this time).
That’s not a bad outcome overall, but there was much mediocrity too and you sometimes get the feeling that a lot of the fine albums were works of coincidence rather than intent. And they were all recorded at least (nearly) four decades or more ago.
January 30th, 2025 at 14:19Ian Gillan still did ok as most lead vocalists do when branching out from their main band. They are always going to have a selection of hit and miss material, trying different things on all fronts. I don’t know of any that have had a solid appeal to me in that situation. There are some really good songs here & there at times, a fair bit of not so good and some music really different etc. Some may say, what about Phil Collins, Peter Gabriel, Sting, Jon Anderson, Ozzy etc etc. But I find a lot of their material so so, sure it was commercially more popular, but a lot of their music doesn’t have what they had with their main band in many aspects. Different times, different musicians they were working with and a different outlook in many ways as it should be. It is a form of evolving though, most of those artists never return to their mothership, a few do. Cheers.
January 30th, 2025 at 22:05@23
We may not agree on the alleged hotness of certain actresses; but your assessment of Big Ian’s solo work is pretty much spot on with mine. Especially AOP which gets played at least once a week.
January 31st, 2025 at 01:43Well … Toolbox is a timeless classic for me. And let’s not forget One Eye to Morrocco that contains some differnt-from-the-obvious material, especially the title track that really surprised some people, when you told them it’s IG. The only album of his I can’t really appreciate is Dreamcatcher. Some good songs there but I cannot for the life of me get used to all that machine drumming tin soldier demo sound.
January 31st, 2025 at 11:07@26
February 1st, 2025 at 06:38Re Dreamcatcher: I’ve always thought of it as a loveletter to his wife 😌
A lot of Big Ian’s solo albums are just whimsical postcards from a certain moment in time. A short glimpse of how he felt right then and there. Snapshots. I have a certain sympathy for the low key production and recording quality he often settles for (as well as the often mediocre song material) – he wants things to sound fresh and natural and of the moment -, but it doesn’t exactly make for lasting masterpieces. His solo albums are not really made for anyone else but DP fans who like his voice and gobble up anything he serves them. Or can you tell me one Ian Gillan solo album that introduced him to new markets or consumer groups? I don’t see an artistic trajectory in his solo work like I see in Robert Plant’s solo work.
February 2nd, 2025 at 00:38@28
“His solo albums are not really made for anyone else but DP fans who like his voice and gobble up anything he serves them.” – 🤣🤣
February 2nd, 2025 at 10:37And WE LOVE IT! every bit of it!
No, I can’t Uwe. They’re for Gillan fans only.
Do love them anyway.
February 2nd, 2025 at 21:52I do too, but I’m already dyed in the wool purple! No conversion attempts necessary.
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/proxy/5r5T9Y-yPeS2jViVIQEB44ehAdT1jdXXvRj49xzzHMpIlRFPbe3d9AwwcmfNaGamE1UbtQMR84vML9G4m5OqHgvWWXAcjq4c0TmyQAbPg0GaM27fHA
February 2nd, 2025 at 23:09