114K on the clock

While researching the Machine Head book one of the rabbit holes we spent far too long down were the band’s personal cars.  It was determined that Jon drove himself down to Montreux in his careworn 1969 Jaguar E-Type 2+2.  Given the iconic status of the E Type we figured it ought to be easy to find out what happened to this but despite the efforts of the owners club who reckoned it had not been scrapped, it took some finding.  When we did, the current owner, who was restoring it, didn’t have a clue about this part of the car’s history.  He did however tell us it would be for sale eventually, and has now chosen to put it up for auction.  It looks effing wonderful as you can see above (or tease yourself at the auction site below, the link is at the bottom). 

Above – you can hardly get better provenance! He has restored it back to black, it was cream when Jon owned it (which I think I would prefer, although the temptation to spray it purple must be high.).  The sellers Evoke Classics are really bigging this up due to the immaculate restoration job and unless you have six figures burning a hole in your back pocket (maybe you sold Matt Hancock a load of dodgy napkins a while back) don’t even go there!  If of course you do, we expect a visit!   A “my other vehicle is the Rolling Stones Mobile” sticker would also go a treat on the back window.

The sale was spotted by Gary Critcher.  Photos courtesy Evoke. Extra research Stephen Clare.

1969 Jaguar Series 2 E-Type 2+2

Since You Been mucked about with

If you are not a fan of the MCU films then this may have passed you by, the trailer for the third Guardians of The Galaxy movie. These days companies put a huge amount of effort into their online trailers and this one is no exception. And as much work goes into just the right soundtrack. Here the producers decided that what would fit the bill best was Rainbow’s 1979 smash Since You Been Gone!

In common with many other vintage rock tunes chosen for this purpose the producers also decided to beef it up to fit the loud cinema soundtrack systems. Here though that beefing up has largely meant chucking most of it away altogether! Graham Bonnet’s amazing vocal remains, a fair bit of guitar, after which we start to struggle to recognise much. Cozy has left the room. Roger and Don likewise as far as we can tell.
And as for being a ‘nice little earner’ we mustn’t forget it was a cover version originally anyway (Russ Ballard 1976). Still it may well drive traffic to the Rainbow version (the trailer aired during a recent big American sports final) and fractions of cents will wing their way to somebody as a result. It is often the case that the music used for trailers does not make it across into the movie so we’ll have to see. But given DTB are big fans of the first two Guardian films they will report back when it hits cinemas in May.
And no, Ritchie hasn’t undergone a Madonna like transformation above, that’s Russ playing with Candice and co. in 2017. Thanks to the ever vigilant Tim Summers for pointing us to the story.

A200 anyone?

Good to see Glenn Hughes is on the ball, preparing to tour in celebration of Burn’s 50th anniversary, albeit only in sunny Spain so far.  As sharper minds than us have pointed out (hi Tim), GH has in fact already played the bulk of the album on previous Remembering DP jaunts.  Still he rarely disappoints live so should be a good night out.  And maybe he will have a go at A200 to complete the set?!  Thanks to Steve Clare for the flyer. 

Donkey ride dream

I have made all the caption comments on that mad photo of Roger Glover in the stable live now, so you can read them by checking them under the post (relinked below). I had a chuckle at them all but think if we were awarding a prize then “The golden light above you is NOT the star of Bethlehem” from Raj would likely win it! Said in a kind of Pythonesque Life Of Brian voice of course…!

https://darkerthanblue.wordpress.com/2022/12/19/away-in-a-manger/

Tribute band?

Blimey.  It’s hardly the world’s best kept secret that Metallica are quite fond of a Deep Purple tune, but this new single pushes the envelope a bit – though we cannot rule out them having cleared it with Ritchie’s legal team first!  Anyway have a go and see how long it takes you to spot it.  No prizes!

If you find listening to that much modern Metallica a struggle (and it is quite lacklustre to be honest) then ping on to around 3.25.  The video itself is really nicely done though, a text book of how grown up rockers don’t need to make prats of themselves for MTV.  If MTV is even a thing any more.

Thanks to Tim Summers.

55 and counting

A bit more cheerier news as Deep Purple have announced batches of live shows for the new year. It includes America, Japan and Europe (with some regular venues and a few festivals, nothing in the UK so far) across Feb to July. A lot of the shows also offer VIP Upgrades which include:

• Meet n Greet (sic) with band member (will not include Ian Gillan)
• Photo Op with band members (will not include Ian Gillan)
• 1 Personal Item autographed
• Exclusive VIP Merchandise – To Be Determined
• Commemorative laminate & lanyard engraved with the price you paid for all this

Dates are on our 2023 Deep Purple Diary now started! Thanks to Mark Maddock.

Jeff Beck

Now there’s a supergroup we’d loved to have seen.

Hearing Beck’s Bolero end the Today radio 4 news programme the other day, followed by the time pips, was surreal. My personal list of favourite British rock guitarists has just lost another name. For the first decade of this century Jeff Beck was top of that list, the minute he walked into the techno arena and took it apart with Who Else in fact, one of my most played records ever.

What I also liked with Jeff B. was that he just enjoyed trying things (how many recall him working on The Comic Strip Presents for example), then cleared off back to tinker with his cars. Playing was always top notch, even when the material itself didn’t always connect to me (I gave away that terrible Loud Hailer album, and the less said about working with Depp the better). But when it did…

I first saw him with BB&A in the 70s, urged on by my brother (who was learning guitar, it’s a wonder he carried on after that, and we got their autographs too). Beck was sometimes far too deferential on stage for me, and would let guests take over a set (as we saw some years ago with Jan Hammer). But the utterly incredible Guitar Shop tour remains one of my best live gig experiences. Ever.

And Purple wise he was one of the few players Blackmore admired and looked up to, witness the Yardbirds cover on the first Rainbow album (though I am not sure what this single was featuring him, Beck and produced by Page that Blackmore mentioned in his tribute was – the experts suggest it remains unreleased). Years later Ritchie remembered a chat he’d with Jeff wanting to know what he thought of new kid on the block, Jimi Hendrix, and the reply that his playing hit you ‘Straight Between the Eyes’ stuck with him. Beck turned up to watch Purple Mk 3’s London debut too, much to Ritchie’s mortification as there were tech issues with his equipment. And of course Cozy Powell had worked with The Jeff Beck Group for several years in the very early Seventies which Ritchie didn’t forget.
Coverdale was even quicker to twitter his thoughts, and as some have pointed out to me, all three of his ‘how to move on without Ritchie’ list are now no more.
Beck was voted #5 of all time greatest guitarists ever by Rolling Stone, and said something along the lines of: “#5?! Well, then I’m off to the garden to play with Blackmore”. Blackmore had been voted at number 50…

Funnily enough, the first disc I turned to by way of a personal listening tribute was Donovan’s vintage Goo Goo Barabajagal, where Beck just bubbles along with such menace…

Thanks to everyone who chipped in on this.

C5 show not about bargain brits…

DP on the telly over Xmas, and it was new material and not behind the netfix and sky paywalls? Good old Channel 5 (home to “Get Your Tatts Out”) put together Britain’s Favourite Rock Songs. Ian’s G and P (and the other two! Roger was under doctors orders at the time with the lurgi) were interviewed about rock in general and then a finale all about Smoke. The interviews were done during the recent UK tour.
I don’t recall getting a ballot paper myself but would have voted for it anyway. C5 does claim to run a catch up service if you can get it to work, it garners just 1.2 stars on Trust Pilot (I tried to open an ITVX one recently, to be told [a] I already had one which I don’t, and [b] even if I did it won’t run on a Mac…).

Thanks to everyone who stumbled (metaphorically or literally) on the show and let us know. Here’s the direct link courtesy Tim Summers and he did us some screen grabs attached above too. Still trying to get used to not seeing Steve Morse there. Talking of whom, Steve Clare notes The Steve Morse Band are doing some shows as a trio in America in February (first time in a decade), details on stevemorse.com

https://www.channel5.com/show/britain-s-favourite-rock-songs (channel5.com)

Warning, it’s nearly two hours long.

Finally. It seemed far too personal, so we left off mentioning the sad news of Ian Gillan’s wife Bron’s death a few weeks ago. Anyone who has been through this situation will feel for him. It’s difficult when you spend much of your life in the public eye, but IG has now made a public statement on her passing through his site, which those who have read it say is extremely moving. I couldn’t get beyond the third sentence. SR.

https://gillan.com/friends74.html?fbclid=IwAR18Ecf9oyMzK7NUMxKw_ZPpTcalZJniR006_Mn9wrN8wfNiwZ7395DRIG8

Away in a manger…

“If those three wise men don’t turn up soon, I’m for the pub…”

No we have absolutely no idea what is going on here, unless Roger was auditioning for a Blackmore’s Nite video. But what say you send us your best caption and we’ll print our favourites (so keep it er printable!) in a couple of weeks? My thanks to Pericle for letting us borrow the snap.

And indeed thanks to everyone who has helped and commented and sent us bits of news over the past year. Simon and Ann have been caught up in The Great Stannington Gas Flood lately but after a week huddled around the multi fuel stove have got the heating up and running again (albeit with the thermostat turned down). Let’s hope for better times for everyone in 2023. And a toot of the car horn for all those key workers shivering on picket lines.

Rock and candy

Coming to a dentist’s waiting room near you soon, nothing massively earth shattering content wise according to subscribers (mostly vintage interviews – sadly the other two mainstays of this era are no longer with us) but a good over-view say those who have read it. I didn’t know there were several Blackmore clones running around out there but we live and learn! Issue 35 if you are counting. Thanks to Tim Summers for the info.