Deep Purple
When the name Deep Purple comes up most people immediately think “Smoke On The Water.” The thing is, Deep Purple had a long, accomplished career before and after that song.
Early Deep Purple could be described as a covers band with Prog Rock tendencies.
Hush
The covers included “Hush,” a major hit, “River Deep, Mountain High” (Ike & Tina Turner),” “Help!” (The Beatles) and “We Can Work It Out” (The Beatles again).
Pop singer Neil Diamond commented that Deep Purple’s version of his “Kentucky Woman” wasn’t even the same song.
Even though they’d had successful tours, nothing major had occurred. Changes were in order.
Founding members, keyboardist Jon Lord, drummer Ian Paice and guitarist extraordinaire Ritchie Blackmore ousted vocalist Rod Evans and bassist Nicky Simper and replaced them with Ian Gillan and Roger Glover, respectively.
The band, which had always composed songs, now relied solely on their own material.
The “Mark II” line-up recorded “Deep Purple In Rock” and “Fireball.” Both albums were moderate successes. They didn’t do as well as they should have because the band had to cancel two tours due to illness.
The next set was scheduled to be recorded at a swank club/hotel in Montreaux, Switzerland. But upon their arrival the building they were going to use burned to the ground during a Frank Zappa & The Mothers Of Invention concert. So Deep Purple were forced to lay down tracks in the hallway of an old, abandoned hotel.
Machine Head
“Smoke On The Water” documented the creation of the “Machine Head” album which was Deep Purple’s creative and commercial peak.
Released in ’72, “Machine Head” had the 12-bar “Lazy,” the riff slashing “Space Truckin’,” the frantic “Highway Star” and the aforementioned “Smoke On The Water.”
Space Truckin’
The song’s riff was inspired by the theme for the Batman TV program.
“Who Do We Think We Are,” with the magnificent “Woman From Tokyo,” was followed by the live set “Made In Japan,” containing the definitive version of “Smoke On The Water,” extended Deep Purple’s popularity.
The band did not want “Made In Japan” released outside Japan and they wanted full rights to the tapes, but it was released worldwide anyway reaching #6 on the Billboard 200.
And that’s when the group began to disintegrate.
My Woman From Tokyo
Deep Purple was one of the Rock bands to perform in Japan and wrote the song as a tribute.
Smoke On The Water Live – Japan
Burn Live
Gillan left claiming exhaustion. Glover pursued producing.
Hearing thar Deep Purple was looking for a singer David Coverdale, whose band had opened for Deep Purple, submitted a demo tape.
Later, Blackmore launched Rainbow while Lord and Paice signed on with Whitesnake – fronted by Coverdale.
Perfect Strangers
A decade after the group’s most popular line-up splintered, they reunited for the “Perfect Strangers” album and tour. Three years later, “House Of Blue Lights” was released. That project severed Blackmore’s association with the group.
Former Dixies Dregs/Kansas guitarist Steve Morse replaced Blackmore in ’94 and stayed until ’22 when his departure was prompted by his wife Janine’s illness.
Deep Purple’s “=1,” with the tracks “Portable Door” and “Pictures Of You” dropped in ’24. It’ was Deep Purple’s first effort featuring guitarist Simon McBride, who joined two years prior following Morse’s departure.
Portable Door
Pictures Of You
“Many of the songs… were written in the first sessions and literally came together in 5 or 10 minutes. It all was so easy and natural,” noted McBride.
“Throughout Deep Purple’s history, our best songs have always been those that were written in no time at all,” added Gillan.
The band’s twenty-fourth studio album, “SPLAT!,” was their sixth collaboration with Bob Ezrin, who produced every Deep Purple album since 2013’s “Now What?”
The set featured the lead single “Arrogant Boy” and “Diablo.” Gillan said “’Diablo’ is all about taking chances. Just for once in your life, do something exciting, step out of the mold, take that curious bend in the road instead of sticking to the highway and do something that will, for the rest of your life, either guide or warn you.”
“’Arrogant Boy’ is the story of Billy who couldn’t read or write. He is unhappy with things, so he speaks up, and finds a way of irritating, one way or another, the elite,” shared Gillian.
SPLAT!
Diablo
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