Does that top come off?

Several download sites have got clips of songs from the Now What album on, though you need to sign in to some to get a free listen!  I’ve vowed not to listen to any more low-fi previews and try to keep an open mind for the album, but the less-strong willed are reporting a better than expected set overall with only a couple of fillers, and citing Vincent Price as a stand-out track.  Let us know what you think via the New Album page. DTB do apologise over the lamentable situation regards the single. Despite getting in early with a decent order, we were told to get stuffed basically. And even then, of the miserable 25 copies of the CD single we were allocated, only ten arrived. Brilliant planning all round guys.

Glenn Hughes is starting to put things together on a new solo album following the irretrievable breakdown of Black Country Communion, and it will be in a rockier vein.

EMI are cashing in on the Whitesnake tour next month by rejigging the Box Of Snakes set into a Little Box Of Snakes er box. Read the details on the Coverdale page. Finally, we did mention that Coverdale reckoned he still had his California Jam stage t-shirt. He has now posted a photo to prove it! A real collectors piece, and an embroidered top he wore on many of the 1974 dates.

Three live albums to go

Whitesnake have planned a busy release schedule this year, with Made In Japan being just the tip of a three live release album schedule (followed by another deluxe edition of back-catalogue). More details on the David Coverdale page.  Meanwhile, we have a photo on the site of DC himself when he was doing his signing of the California Jam Photo Biography late last year, plus he has managed to get Blackmore to sign his copy.  Look and Learn at the California Jam book page.

Signed in black

RS Publishers tell me that they have ONE copy of the California Jam Photo Biography signed by all FIVE members of Mk 3, which will be auctioned later this year for charity. You can see a photo and read more on this story on the Cal Jam book page. We’re also told that the four signature edition is now very close to being sold out, so if anyone out there is still dithering, don’t wait much longer.

Rock Radio

Amidst the build up to the new album, a bit of archive action with a look back at The California Jam from Classic Rock Radio. This web based station is airing a one hour radio special on Saturday 2nd March at 6pm and Sunday 3rd March at 6pm (after which it will be available on the station’s listen again facility). The show is talking about the gig and the recent California Jam Photo Biography, with clips from the set and presenter Jon Kirkman interviewing the author (whoever that is!). Although only a small operation CRR is getting an awful lot of followers thanks to them actually a) knowing their stuff and b) playing material not off the normal playlists. Rocket scientists pay attention!
www.classicrockradio.eu

Into 2013

Best wishes to everyone for the coming year, and let’s hope April lives up to expectations. I had thought the band might make the most of the time of year to post a five minute audio trailer for the album over the Xmas break – what a great way to gee everyone along. But then I woke up…!
DTB are getting back into the swing of things after a fraught run up to the Christmas break. The phone lines up our neck of the woods are never great. One had already gone down a few weeks ago and was proving a struggle to repair, then the other line went the week before Xmas – leaving us with no phone, no internet and no credit card access. Happily it was reinstated after a couple of days but it did backlog the office orders. The other line was finally repaired as well – but they forgot to tell us! One bit of good news out of it all was that the BT engineer told us fibre optic is now installed in the locale and we should get this in a few months. Not that the Government is funding it. The money is coming from the EU development budget. So any UKIPers who try and doorstep us will get a mouthful!
Anyhow, working through the weekend we did get all the orders out before Xmas but we do apologise if some were a bit late. Also struggling against the elements was the California Jam book. Literally on one occasion when in that ice-storm we had a forklift truck carrying cases skidded and dropped the lot. Then, everyone concerned having bust several guts to get the book finished, the big problem came with the vinyl; having decided to press in the UK the plant let the publisher down, delivered just 100 copies and then closed a week before Xmas. The only fair option was to dig back and ship the oldest orders out first, and the other copies will go this month once the vinyl problem is sorted out.
After all that we needed cheering up, but didn’t expect Blackmore to be the one to provide the laughs. Tim Summers caught Mr. & Mrs. Blackmore on a radio interview recently. He was asked the rather bizarre question of ‘Which singer that you’ve worked with in the past does Candice most remind you of?’ Blackmore quickly came back with ‘Coverdale, because she’s always shouting at me and calling me Baby’! Good to see he’s not lost his sense of humour altogether. It does beg the question is she always exhorting him to take up cigarettes as well? (“I said Smoke!”).  Sorry.
Keith Sharp was out doing his Xmas shopping in Primark and spotted this gem on sale there between the Hendrix and Stones skinny tops. Size – very small.

The US label Friday Music have done a ‘deluxe’ reissue of Slaves & Masters on CD (due Feb). I’m not a fan of their editions at all. This promises ‘remastering’, which if their other efforts are anything to go by, will be awful.
For some light relief, check out this new Brazilian TV advert which uses a cover version of Highway Star as the backing music. Thanks to Roberto Souza for the heads up. The agency have done two versions of the track, one a female vocal pop take, the other more like the original, then switch between the two as the graphics go from Sin City type urban imagery to more colourful comic book stuff. Hard to explain, so have a look! Who makes JAC cars (or why anyone would want to buy one) I’ve no idea.

http://carros.uol.com.br/noticias/redacao/2012/12/12/jac-j2-deixa-faustao-de-lado-e-aposta-em-deep-purple-para-atrair-jovens.htm

Update – the rock rendition is actually Glenn Hughes, and it’s the one on that patchy tribute album ReMachined from last year!

Cal Jam book first preview

 

Photographs of the finished Deep Purple California Jam Photo Biography book spreads are on the site now, along with a review.

News and site updates

The special edition of the 2012 Concerto is shipping from DTB Online and elsewhere. Details of the edition on the site here. More Jon Lord news on the dedicated page here.

Coverdale explans all about his own range of wines in a new documentary, details and a link to the site here.

Martin Popoff’s two books on Purple are combined in a new German language edition, the cover can be seen here.

Details of the first of the revamped Deep Purple audio archive titles are appearing; this will be the Paris 1975 show plus a bonus interview and new packaging. I’m not sure how it will differ sonically but suspect it will be more or less the same audio (and let’s be honest, it was a great mix). We’ll cover the new editions on the site here.

The California Jam book is now on the litho presses and binding is set to commence later this week. Simon was down at the printers for much of last week and came back with a proof copy to review, so expect more soon. In the meantime details of the title here (and please note the signature edition is almost sold out).

EMI have deleted their recent Machine Head CD box set, Ann is contacting late customers who have been waiting. There was no indication from EMI that this was limited to one pressing, so it’s taken us by surprise. Copies are around with some other dealers but prices are going up. We’re also told that the special remaster of Down To Earth has gone.

Finally Roger Glover is now suggesting April as the likely release date for the new Deep Purple album.

If you missed our last site update, check it out now. If you’re wanting anything from the DTBOnline site in time for Christmas do get a wriggle on as supply lines are quite stretched at the moment! So it was with huge joy that Ann’s phone line went down yet again last week. BT are now saying a 300 yard stretch of cable serving several properties needs replacing. Her calls are being diverted to our other line…

Thought for the day. Dear George Osbourne, if we’re all in this together, how come I never see you in Poundland?

 

Cal Jam book update

Work on the California Jam book is nearly done, and having been invited down to the print facility last week and seen over half the book as proof pages I can say we were very impressed by the sheer variety of material as well as many of the incredible photographs, most of which have never been published before. What works for me is all the stuff you tend to forget about; shots of the stage going up, site plans, the huge crowds, helicopters landing the group members, etc. There is also loads of rare memorabilia; posters, press ads, tickets, passes, local news cuttings, reviews, tour schedules, and so on. Some rare rehearsal shots were found only two weeks ago and these show the band walking round the stage, muffled up against the cold, and checking the set-up. The guitar destruction scenes are intense, much more so somehow than the video. Up close you get to see everything that’s going on, with photographs from both the stage side, behind the guitar amps and out front. Extracts from letters detailing the camera damage and how this was sorted are also featured.
The publishers have now put some preview pages up on their site (although it should be noted these are earlier layouts and many have been altered since, but it gives you a flavour of the book). Follow the link here, but if you’re not used to ebook technology, then you need to hold the mouse down, and drag the pages across (the on-screen instruction confused me and others!). There will also be coverage in the pre-Christmas issue of Classic Rock magazine. Plans for the limited edition vinyl are also looking good. Rather than include the discs inside the book, the publishers are instead producing a hard back cased album which will sit alongside the book inside the slipcase. They have also gone the extra mile to ensure the vinyl is pressed in the UK. The discs will be in purple wax as well. The shot here will feature on the LP front, and shows just some of the speaker array on one one of the towers. Apparently the engineers measured levels of over 100dB a mile from the stage while they were checking it all out…

For earlier information on the book and ordering information check out the page on the site here.

http://www.rslimitededitions.com/deeppurplesample/book_normalscreen.html

Cal Jam Book Update

The news that the Deep Purple California Jam Photo Biography book has been signed by FOUR members of Deep Purple Mk 3 has been officially announced. You can read the update on our site here with a link through to the publishers.

New release round up

Original album front cover

A quick catch up of new releases which are coming thick and fast at the moment! Jon Lord‘s long lost solo album Before I Forget has miraculously resurfaced. It’s out via EMI later this month. Track listing is a bit shorter than the original debut CD edition on RPM way back in the early nineties. The album has been fetching high prices on the second-hand market for some time, and was even pirated in Australia a couple of years ago. Read more on the site here.
The EMI Machine Head release has been put back a while following ‘production’ issues. They will announce a new date soon.
The V/A Remachined tribute album is due out as a regular CD release in early October. It’s in a regular CD case (the magazine version has gone from most newsagents), but there is a limited vinyl edition which was a surprise.
Also out in October is a limited edition 2 pack Bluray set featuring Deep Purple’s Montreux sets from 2006 and 2011. It’s designed to tempt new converts to the format, after which it’s back to the separate discs. Not sure if my Betamax player will handle this new technology though, but good value for money in the run up to, no, I will not mention the C word (our nearest RSPB site had bloody cards on sale in August!). ….
All the above at the DTBOnline store now needless to say.
Do try and make your mind up about the California Jam Book asap, the limited edition is selling out fast. And as if having Jon sign the book wasn’t enough, there are more surprises to come on this, which we hope to be able to announce at the end of next week.

Lastly we are having real problems with the effing Tommy Bolin 3CD set. Apparently it is only being brought in on import, and the UK distributors decided not to bother with the 3CD edition at all, and only stock copies of the 5CD set. Ann is contacting customers who pre-ordered while we try and persuade the importers to change their minds!