60s of XX century became especially important for rock music, because it was at this time that such bands as the Rolling Stones, The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd were born. And a special place was taken by Deep Purple - the legendary rock band of "dark purple tones". She has taken a special place on the stage. The most important thing to say about Deep Purple is that their discography is too diverse to be unambiguous. The path of the musicians was winding and covered with thorns, which were very difficult to overcome.
general information
What is known about the Deep Purple team today? The band's discography is full of surprises, so each album deserves special attention due to its special uniqueness. Many remember the band precisely because of the guitar solos of Ritchie Blackmore and the organ parts of Jon Lord, and they think that this is where the potential of Deep Purple ends. Music gives this a complete refutation, because even after the departure of the leaders, the team did not break up and recorded several discs. Together, the group was able to achieve resounding success on the world stage and earn the status of "the cult rock band of all time."
From "Carousel" to "dark purple"
The history of the formation of the collective contains a chain of some inexplicable events, without which there would be no Deep Purple. The discography does not contain records of the founder of the group. The explanation for this is this: in 1966, drummer Chris Curtis wanted to create a band called "Roundabout" (Roundabout), in which the members would change each other, resembling a carousel. He later met the organist Jon Lord, who had good playing experience and was also incredibly talented.
At Lord's invitation, Ritchie Blackmore, an experienced guitarist who came from Germany, joined the band. Chris Curtis himself soon disappeared, thereby putting an end to his musical career, and leaving the band members to themselves. Only 2 years later, the musicians were able to release their first album. That was the start of Deep Purple's career. The complete discography dates back to 1968.
Discography for all times
Here are the first songs:
- Shades of Deep Purple (1968). The group was then managed by Jon Lord. With his submission, drummer Ian Pace, vocalist Rod Evans and bass guitarist Nick Simper were invited to the band.
- The Book of Taliesyn (1968). The composition of the group remained unchanged. The title of the album comes from "The Book of Taliesin".
- Deep Purple (April) (1969). It was difficult to call this record weak, but she never managed to achieve success in her homeland. It was low popularity that contributed to the split, which is why Evans and Simper were fired from the group.
- Deep Purple In Rock (1970). The group was rehabilitated, and the famous drummer of that time, Mick Underwood, helped her in this. With Ritchie Blackmore, they were old friends. On the advice of Underwood, the "dark purple" sounded "high voice", Ian Gillan became the new vocalist. Bass player Roger Glover also joined them. The success of the album was overwhelming, Deep Purple entered the ranks of the popular rock bands of the time.
- Fireball (1971). Throughout 1971, the group gave many concerts in different cities, their concerts became in demand.
- Machine Head (1972). The musicians were inspired to create this album by a trip to Switzerland.
- Who Do We Think We Are (1973). The last album of the 70s, recorded by the "golden composition".
- Burn (1974). As a result of the discord, Ian Gillan and Roger Glover left the band. It was not easy to replace such skillful musicians, but soon David Coverdale became the new vocalist, and Glenn Hughes took the place of the bass player. This composition was recorded a new album.
- Stormbringer (1974). After the recording of Burn and before the band's reunion in 1984, only two albums were recorded.
- Come Taste The Band (1975). Tommy Bolin, who replaced Ritchie Blackmore, participated in the recording of this disc. These albums did not bring the group the former popularity, and in 1976 the band announced the breakup. But only in order to be reborn again in 1984 with a "golden line-up": Gillan and Glover returned to the group.
- Perfect Strangers (1984). The new album of the revived Deep Purple was enthusiastically received by fans.
- The House of Blue Light (1987). After recording a new triumphal record, Ian Gillan left the group again. Then Ritchie Blackmore invited Joe Lynn Turner, the famous vocalist.
- Slaves & Masters (1990). The album was recorded by a new line-up, with Joe Lynn Turner.
- The Battle Rages On… (1993). The record was recorded for the band's 25th anniversary. The recording was attended by Ian Gillan, who by that time again decided to return to the team.
- Purpendicular (1996). The still popular group now performed with a new line-up. Having lost interest in the team, Ritchie Blackmore left Deep Purple, and Steve Morse came in his place.
- Abandon (1998). Last album recorded with Jon Lord. In 2002, he decided to perform solo and left the group.
The new generation of Deep Purple
Collections of the 2000s:
- Bananas (2003). The departed Lord was replaced on keyboards by Don Airey, who also plays in the current line-up of the band. Bananas is the first album recorded with his participation. The record was warmly received by the public, the only thing that fans did not like was the name of the album. Alas, Jon Lord successfully soloed with his work for only 10 years. Unfortunately, oncology put an end to his life and work. However, what he did over the years lives on in Deep Purple. The discography at the beginning of the 21st century was replenished with two albums, which are invariably popular.
- Rapture of the Deep (2005) and Now What?! (2013). This anniversary album was released for the band's 45th anniversary. Today, Deep Purple tours constantly, and in 2017 they organized a three-year world tour, which should end in 2020.
- Infinite (2017). The last, 20th album in a row is called "Infinity".
After "infinity" what remains Deep Purple? The discography includes 20 studio albums. And yet, even the members of the group themselves do not know what will happen next. In any case, they intend to move only forward, to infinity.
The English group "Deep Purple" ("Bright Purple") was formed in 1968. Original line-up: Ritchie Blackmore (b. 1945, guitar), Jon Lord (b. 1941, keyboards), Ian Paice (b. 1948, drums), Nick Simper (b. 1945, bass) guitar) and Rod Evans (b. 1947, vocals).
Two former members of the German-based Roundabout band, guitarist Ritchie Blackmore and educated organist Jon Lord, returned to their native London in 1968 and there assembled a line-up that was destined to become one of the three hard rock legends. The triumvirate "Led Zeppelin" - "Black Sabbath" - "Deep Purple" and to this day is considered an unsurpassed phenomenon in the history of world rock music!!! At first, however, "Deep Purple" were focused on a very commercial pump-rock, and that's probably why their first three albums were known only in the US. In the meantime, the "turnaround" discs "Led Zeppelin-2" (1969) and "Black Sabbath" (1970) were released, announcing the birth of a new style to the world. A powerful wave of enthusiasm and interest in hard rock made Blackmore think about his future fate As a result of his reflections, the singer and bassist of the original line-up were replaced (replaced by Ian Gillan, vocals, b. 1945 and Roger Glover, bass guitar, b. 1945 - both from the group "6th episode") and drastically changed the manner of performance in the direction of "heavier" sound.
"In the Rock" (1970) - the album that became the third "swallow" of powerful hard rock in world rock music - went on sale in October 1970 and repeated the success of the groups "LZ" and "BS" in the international market. The original concept of the sound, built on the fusion of heavy guitar riffs with "a la baroque" organ parts, lifted "Deep Purple" to the very top of popularity and led to a host of followers and imitators. After "In Rock", the no less powerful and attractive programs "Meteor" (1971) and "Machine Head" (1972) followed, which, in turn, also shocked the world with the originality of the performers' thinking and the unpredictability of the development of musical themes. .
The recession was outlined in the program "Who are we?" (1973): commercial notes appear here for the first time, and the arrangements of the songs are no longer so refined. This was enough for friends Gillan and Glover to leave the group, as, according to Gillan, the creative atmosphere in the group disappeared. Indeed, in 1974, Deep Purple spent even less time working in the studio, traveling a lot, playing football. New musicians - singer David Coverdale (b. 1951) and singing bass guitarist Glenn Hughes (b. 1952) - did not bring any innovative ideas with them, and with the release of the disc "Petrel" it became clear that the former the heights of "Deep Purple" in the updated composition can no longer be reached.
Lead composer Blackmore complained that his opinion was no longer listened to, and as a result, without further claims to copyright (which, by right, in most cases belonged to him), in early 1975 he left the team. He organized a new project "Rainbow". By that time, Gillan began his solo career, and Roger Glover was mainly engaged in producing activities (in those years he led Nazareth). In fact, "Deep Purple" were left without leaders, and critics predicted that this "ship", which was left without a "captain", would soon collapse. And so it happened. American guitarist Tommy Bolin failed to become a worthy replacement for Blackmore; "things" from the 1975 album ("Come Taste The Band"), written by him in collaboration with Coverdale, turned out to be nothing more than a parody of the "old" style of the group, and soon Yon Lord announced the breakup.
For the next eight years, the Deep Purple group did not exist. Successfully worked with "Rainbow" Ritchie Blackmore, performed a little less powerfully with his group Ian Gillan, formed "Whitesnake" David Coverdale. The idea to revive the "Deep Purple" sample of 1970 belongs to Blackmore and Gillan: they came to it independently of each other, and in 1984 the album "Perfect Strangers" was released. More than three million copies were sold and it seemed that they would never part again. However, the next album appeared only two and a half years later ("The House Of Blue Light", 1987), and although it turned out great, a year later Gillan left Deep Purple again and returned to solo activities.
In the USSR, the company "Melody" released two albums "Deep Purple": a collection of the best songs of 1970-1972 and the program disc "House of Blue Light" (1987).
Ian Gillan visited the USSR on tour in the spring of 1990.
Group Producers: Roger Glover, Martin Burch.
Recording studios: Abbey Road (London); Musicland (Munich), etc.
Sound engineers: Martin Burch, Nick Blagona, Angelo Arcuri.
The albums were released under the flags of the firms "EMI", "Harvest", "Purple" and "Polydor".
The new Deep Purple singer in 1990 was Blackmore's "old" Rainbow colleague Joe Lynn Turner.
Whether Richie gives his approval to this project or not, I don't give a damn.
Rod Evans, August 1980
Many are wondering where the original Deep Purple vocalist Rod Evans has gone. We regularly see members of deep purple, both canonical and passing lineups, on combs in the Russian outback from year to year. But the vocalist of the first line-up, who occupies an unshakable third place after Mk II and Mk III, Rod Evans, we completely lost from the radar. Few purveyors know the hard-hitting story of Deep People's fake 1980 line-up, just before the big reunion. Perfect Strangers, which they tried to erase from the history of the group.
Fake Deep Purple. From left to right: Dick Jurgens (drums) - Tony Flynn (guitars) - Tom De Rivera (bass) - Geoff Emery (keyboards) - Rod Evans (vocals)
The official story in dry facts goes like this.
Rod Evans / Jon Lord / Ritchie Blackmore
Nick Simper / Ian Paice
Rod Evans was one of the founding members of Deep People when the band was still rising to the heights of rock and roll glory in 1968-69. After recording the first three albums Shades Of Deep Purple, The Book Of Taliesyn And deep purple, Rod, together with bassist Nick Simper, left the ensemble and went for a better share in the USA, where in 1971 he released a solo single Hard To Be Without You / You Can´t Love A Child Like A Woman after which he decided to take part in the new American band Captain Beyond, founded by members of Iron Butterfly and Johnny Winter. Having released two releases: the eponymous Captain Beyond in 1972 and Sufficentley Breathless in 1973, but without achieving commercial success, the group broke up. Rod decided to give up music, returned to his studies as a doctor and even became director of the respiratory therapy department.
Rod Evans
Until 1980, when a glib manager contacted him with an obsession with reforming Deep Purple, which had collapsed by that time. Just before that, his company had already tried to cut the babos off easy by creating a new Steppenwolf along with original members Goldie McJohn and Nick St. Nicholas, but John Kay intervened in time and revoked the rights to the title.
Captain Beyond - I Can't Feel Nothin' (Live '71)
From May to September 1980, the "renewed" Deep People played several shows in Mexico, the United States, and Canada before being shut down by the "old" Deep People's management lawyers. As it turned out, Rod Evans was the only person in charge of this group, while the rest of the group were just hired musicians. And that's why it was Rod Evans who was the only one who fell on the whole machine of justice.
It is noteworthy that the famous agency William Morris from Los Angeles bought into this project, paid for the concert tour and even offered a contract to record the album with Warner Curb Records (a sub-label of Warner Brothers). For the record, which was scheduled for release in November 1980, several things were even recorded. These recordings were lost, only the names of a couple of tracks survived: Blood Blister and Brum Doogie.
The group's show in Mexico City was captured for posterity by Mexican television, but only a fragment with Smoke On The Water has come down to our days.
Deep Purple (bogus)
Reviews of the group's performances were, to put it mildly, not very good. Pyrotechnics, sequins, chainsaws, lasers, sound problems, performance problems, total failure. The group was booed, and some concerts ended in a pogrom.
Deep Purple in Quebec. Corbeau takes over the show.
Caption: ex-guitarist Ritchie Blackmore will be notified of the appearance of a band that defames his name!
Tuesday, August 12, 1:00 p.m.: Having learned that all the tickets for the show were sold, the age limit dropped from fourteen to twelve, still without tickets, I decided to leave Montreal and move towards the Capitol Theater. The concert hall was located in old Quebec and could accommodate one and a half to a thousand people.
Quebec, 5 pm: Fortunately, the theater is only 8 minutes walk from the station building. Some people have already asked for an extra ticket. Depending on their luck, it cost them $15, $20, $25, and even $50 for a ticket with an initial cost of $9.5 to $12.5. At that moment, no one knew who from the old line-up would play that evening.
7:00 pm: I was allowed to go and "within the walls" to meet the concert organizer Robert Boulet and the band's roadie. They gave me the much-awaited clarity - the group consisted of the first Deep Purple vocalist Rod Evans (from the time of the Hush hit). After his involvement with Captain Beyond, he decided to restart the ship in February 1980 with Tony Flynn (ex-Steppenwolf) on lead guitar, Jeff Emery (ex-Steppenwolf and Iron Butterfly), keyboards and backing vocals, Dick Jurgens (ex-Association) on drums and Tom de Riviera, bass and backing vocals. After the show, they go on tour in the US, then Japan and finally Europe. The new album is scheduled for release in October.
Warm up, Corbeau band. 15 minutes past ten: The band takes the stage and puts on a great show. The guitarist Jean Miller is especially good. Vocalist Marho and her two backing vocalists are also good. The audience reacted very well.
New Deep Purple: After a long hiatus, "new Deep Purple" with Rod Evans starts at 11pm. The reaction is different, conversations begin that the poster is a hoax. From the very beginning, there were problems with the sound on "Highway Star". The vocalist's microphone works 1 time out of ten. The guitarist is a true caricature of Blackmore in terms of his playing and appearance. There's more glitter in the drummer than it knocks out of the cymbals, the organist seems to miss his mother. The band continues with "Might Just Take Your Life" from Burn. The next thing from the time Evans was in the lineup. This piece is the only one in the setlist and it is instrumental. The guitarist delivers a long solo full of cliches. He is replaced by a keyboard player with the worst organ solo I've heard in the last 10 years. At that moment, Lorda must have gone through syncope. "Space Truckin" is also instrumental as the mics are still not working. The drum solo elicits a disapproving hum from the audience. On the fifth track, "Woman From Tokyo", you can finally hear some vocals. But this is the last thing. The guitarist states that if we do not want to see them, they will be forced to leave the hall. They played 30 minutes or 90 minutes according to the contract. Various objects begin to fly onto the stage. The audience is outraged and demands a refund. One guy decides to set fire to the sweater he bought at the entrance for $7. The police arrive at the concert and evacuate everyone present.
In conclusion: This is "Bummer 80", I hope there will be no more of them. I went towards Montreal with twenty or five young people in a state of total shock. The people of Quebec are waiting for an explanation from the promoters. Eric Jean, a frustrated reader, returns to Lac Saint-Jean.
Conclusion: TOTAL DISAPPOINTMENT.
Yves Monast, 1980
Corbeau-Ailleurs "Live" 81
On October 3, 1980, Rod Evans and company were ordered to pay $168,000 in legal fees and $504,000 in fines. After that, Rod disappeared from the music business and no longer communicated with reporters.
In addition to the above fines, Rod Evans forfeited royalties from the sales of the first three Deep Purple albums.
But this is a story for the newspapers. And here is the story in the words of those involved.
"...and here's another one from our album Burn"
(Rod Evans presenting 'Might Just Take Your Life', Quebec, August 12, 1980)
"The show is disgusting, they don't cost a penny"
(Robert Boulet, Quebec concert organizer, 1980)
“This will be a new stage, as we need to change the music itself. This is more than what we want to do. What we're going to record will be 60 percent Deep People and 40 percent new. We don't want to repeat what the Who did on Tommy. This is a completely different concept. We want to write songs in our own style. And of course we will change the sound in accordance with the technologies used now, such as Polymoog (polyphonic analog synthesizer) and other studio effects, but, without any doubt, this will be a turn towards heavy metal.
(Rod Evans, Conecte magazine interview, June 1980, about a proposed new Deep Purple album)
“(We got the rights to Deep Purple) completely legally. I was the founding vocalist in the band and when I decided to start a new band with guitarist Tony Flynn we saw a great name thrown in and decided to use it. Before that, we talked to Ritchie Blackmore from Rainbow and the guys from Whitesnake. And they agreed."
(Rod Evans, Sonido magazine, June 1980)
“I think it's disgusting when a band has to stoop so low and perform under a false name. It's like some guys gonna put together a band and call it Led Zeppelin."
(Ritchie Blackmore, Rolling Stone magazine, 1980)
“We didn't really try to contact Ritchie. Whether Ritchie gives his blessing or not, I don't care, just like he does my blessing to make Rainbow. I mean, if he doesn't like it, I'm sorry, but we try."
(Rod Evans, Sounds magazine, August 1980)
“The group owns the federal trademark for all activities as Deep Purple. These two guys (R. Blackmore and R. Glover) who play Rainbow want it back. They see a successful project and want to be a part of it. But we look younger. All original members are now between 35 and 43 years old. The band has been dormant for a few years now but has now resurfaced."
(Ronald K., Los Angeles Promoter, 1980)
“Of course he (Rod) was not so naive, he thought: I’ll try and see what happens, but try to imagine what you yourself would say if everything suddenly went wrong? I can only blame Rod for stupidity. He should have guessed that he wouldn't walk away so easily with a fake Deep People. After all, he did everything in public."
“Rod Evans, the band's vocalist, owns the rights to the name. There are no prohibitions, no restraining decrees, no cash demands. Deep People will have to prove that they are Deep People. It will be confusing to list the names of the participants on the poster. This is not cheating. Deep People's breakup has not been announced. There was a constant rotation of participants in the group. The band plays all Deep People's hits."
(Bob Ringe, band agent, 1980)
“We didn’t get this money, it all went to the lawyers who got involved in this lawsuit… The only chance to stop this group was to sue Rod, since he was the only one receiving the money, the rest were working under a contract for hire… Rod was definitely involved in this along with some very bad people !"
(Ian Pace, 1996, quoted from Harmut Krekel's Captain Beyond fan site)
"Did you imagine that something like this could happen?" Jon Lord says with a laugh. “Those guys really played in the Long Beach arena under the name Deep People. They played "Smoke on the Water" and all we know about this gig is how they got kicked off the stage. Just imagine what would have happened if we hadn't stopped this fiasco? The next month there would be thirty bands called Led Zeppelin and another fifty called The Beatles. And the most unpleasant thing in this story is the damage to our reputation. If we decided to get back together and go on tour, people would say about us "yes, I saw them last year in Long Beach and they are not the same." The Deep People name means a lot to all rock 'n' roll fans and I would like to see that reputation continue."
(Jon Lord, Hit Parader magazine, February 1981)
“Rod called in 1980, I was not at home, and he asked my wife to call him back, which I, in wise foresight, did not.”
(Nick Simper, 2010)
“Not only Rod was sued, there was a whole organization behind the fake Deep People, which was more responsible, it was on her that most of the payment of this “huge pile of money” was assigned. In terms of money, what price would you yourself charge for your reputation and for the right not to sell something to the public in a fraudulent way? And you should also know that these people were repeatedly pointed out to be breaking the law, but they continued to do so. Suing them was the last measure of influence on these people. I was not happy at all that I had to testify in court against a man with whom I had previously worked. But whoever steals my wallet is only stealing money, and whoever steals my good name is stealing everything I have.”
(Jon Lord, 1998, quoted from Harmut Krekel's Captain Beyond fan site)
