Re: Keith's cymbals

[Lev Polinsky <polinsky@husc.harvard.edu>]

On Thu, 9 May 1996, Jennifer L. Davies wrote:

>         Who's Ian Paice?

Ian Paice played drums for Deep Purple; the strongest part of his 
drumming was (though I'm no drumming expert) probably his rolls; he never 
really shone on record but the live album Made in Japan demonstrates why 
he was one of the better drummers in rock.  

Lev's take on DP:

Deep Purple were one of the first heavy metal bands; at their best, they 
had an overwhelming wall of sound coming at you, esp from Jon Lord's 
organ.  (Jon Lord is the only rock keyboards player I would pay to 
see.)  The guitarist, Richie Blackmore, was influenced by PT to some 
extent:  he claims that songs like ICE and MG made him feel freer to 
write simpler songs, and thence we got Smoke on the Water, which, after 
Louie Louie/Wild Thing, is the second easiest instantly recognizable 
riff to play on a guitar or a bass.  If you ask me, the band's most 
interesting, if not necessarily their best material, came from their 
first three albums, when Lord was essentially the leader; as Blackmore 
grabbed more of the power, there were some great songs, but the band 
became to sound a lot less unusual/interesting--just proto-stadium-rock.
Their work from 1977-1993 can be skipped, but the last album, 
Purpendicular, featuring a new guitarist (Steve Morse) is pretty good, 
though I've only listened to it thrice so far.  Also, DP was fronted 
(usually) by Ian Gillan, who (again, listen to MiJ) had an amazing voice 
and an even more amazing ability to duet with a guitar.

I'm not sure I shouldn't have sent this through private e-mail, but I 
figured what the heck.  Any other DP fans out there?

--LP.