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Re: Deep Purple (no Who)



On Fri, 10 May 1996, Chris Hinkle wrote:

> Lev,
> Re:
> 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
> 
> What albums?  You mean the ones before Gillan and Glover joined?  I used to
> listen to DP a lot before I got into the Who.  Saw them once on their '85
> tour - good show.  (Even saw Gillan fronting Black Sabbath a year or so
> before that.  They played Smoke on the Water as an encore.)  I'd say DP
> contributed about as much to the Spinal Tap mythos as did the Who.

Yes, the first 3 albums with Rod Evans (v) and Nick Simper (b).  There 
probably isn't a single band that couldn't do a credible cover of Smoke 
on the Water.  I would say that there are maybe 2 or 3 bands that could 
come close to the DP versions of Hush, Kentucky Woman, or Hey Joe.  And I 
haven't heard those bands yet.  Unfortunately, I seem to be in a small 
majority as regards those first Purple albums; they haven't even been 
released in full on CD here in the States.  (There's a great Japanese 
compilation that I got used in LA called Purple Passages that has about 
half of those first three albums).

It's basically the same thing as I like about the Who that I like about 
Deep Purple:  at their best, they were thoroughly inimitable.  For the 
Who, that's both musically and lyrically, for Deep Purple, it's just 
musically, while for someone like John Fogerty, it's lyrically but not 
necessarily musically.

Sorry for the mostly non-Who ramblings.

--LP.