Once listed by the Guinness Book of World Records as the loudest rock band, Deep Purple rocked the charts in the early 70's, continuing on into the 80's. Initially they had different band members without great success, their biggest hit being the cover version of the Joe South’s penned “Hush”
We pick up the story in 1970 once Ian Gillan (he of Jesus Christ Superstar fame) and Richard Glover had joined Deep Purple. At that time the line-up was Ian Gillan(Vocals), Richie Blackmore (Guitar), Ian Paice (drums) and Jon Lord (Organ / Keyboards). For me this was always the definitive Deep Purple
Let us get their most famous number out of the way… what guitar player has not learnt these chords
Smoke on the Water
In 1970 this quartet’s debut album was recorded with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and it flopped. At this time Blackmore took over and the band turned to a more guitar driven sound, with the eerie interweaving organ sounds producing a distinctive Deep Purple brand
The second album they released in 1970 was for me their best! Deep Purple In Rock which set them firmly on rock lovers radar with tracks such as Speed King, Child in Time and Flight of the Rat. ‘In Rock’ sold over a million albums although no singles were released from this album. The follow up album Fireball was released in 1971 and contained the hit Strange Kind of Woman
turn up that volume …….. Speed King
Child in time recorded live in 1972…… keep that volume hard right and appreciate Gillan’s vocals
From Fireball, Strange kind of Woman….
The band planned to record their third album at the casino in Montreux but alas the place burnt down during a Frank Zappa concert. Nonetheless this mayhap inspired their biggest hit of all time, Smoke on the Water which featured on their Machine Head album which went multi-platinum and made the top five on the US Album charts.
In 1973 following the release of their fourth album Who Do We Think We Are continuous arguments between Blackmore and Gillan ended up with the latter pushed out of the band. Glover soon followed and David Coverdale again joined the band as vocalist and Glenn Hughes came in as bassist.
In 1974 Richie Blackmore left to form Rainbow and thereafter the band chopped and changed personnel with varying degrees of success. In 1984 the classic quartet of Blackmore, Gillan, Lord and Paice once again joined forces to record Perfect Strangers. The album went platinum, and the opening track heavily featured Blackmores guitar and Paice’s heavy drumming
Knocking at your Backdoor
We end with a Deep Purple classic Highway Star
When considering the massive bands I still wish to cover I must admit that compiling this blog I may be overstating Deep Purple’s case by calling them Legends. Nonetheless they live on even if only through Smoke on the Water
I am featuring artists from the 60’s and 70’s from diverse genre’s over the next few months. If you love music … FOLLOW and take the journey with me..it is going to be one thrilling ride !! Furthermore I will only be featuring artists from MY vinyl collection, and I shall start all of the posts with a photo of an album cover to authenticate
This post only requires Steem Power
Credits:
http://www.rollingstone.com/music/artists/deep-purple/biography
http://www.allmusic.com/album/perfect-strangers-mw0000650060
https://en.wikipedia.org/
And of course Youtube !!!
Previous Music Legends
Leonard Cohen
The Doors
Bob Dylan
The Rolling Stones
60’s Protest Artists
Janis Joplin
Jimi Hendrix
Neil Young