Music That Transports You

Now and then when I see her face
She takes me away to that special place
And if I'd stare too long
I'd probably break down and cry

Sometimes it is a face, sometimes it is a fragrance, and sometimes it is music that takes us to that special place.  I was recently reminded of just such a piece, and it opened up for me a fantastic new line of music.

I was recently watching this documentary on legendary guitarist Ritchie Blackmore, who rose to world-wide fame as one of the founders of Deep Purple.  Following his departure from Purple, he established Rainbow, another classic rock act that showed us the incomparable talent of vocalist Ronnie James Dio.

 

 

I had long known that following Rainbow Blackmore had formed Blackmore's Night with his wife, Candice Night, and that this group was focused on the sounds of traditional folk and Renaissance music.  Although that might seem quite the departure for the man who gave us the immortal riff in "Smoke On The Water," hints of this direction can be heard in tracks like "Soldier of Fortune" on the 1974 Stormbringer album.  Despite having known about Blackmore's direction, I had never listened to much of Blackmore's Night until I finished watching the documentary on his life.  All I can say is that the delay in listening to this band was a huge mistake.

In the documentary Blackmore talked about the influence of the late 16th century song "Greensleeves" on him when he was a boy.  I was struck speechless.  Over the years I had been singing the variant lyrics "What Child Is This" to this tune and had more or less forgotten how striking the original "Greensleeves" had been to me as a boy as well.  At some point in elementary school or early junior high, I was introduced to "Greensleeves," and it touched a very deep place within me.  It would not be saying too much to say that it awakened me to emotions that can only be described as haunting, melancholy, and wistful.  It introduced to me at that young age the possibility of a past and the aching and longing for what had been.  Somehow I acquired a discarded school choir book and was thrilled to find that song in it and can still remember through "misty, water-colored memories" the picture of a minstrel that accompanied the lyrics and music.

So I went in search of Blackmore's Night online and began with their rendition of "Greensleeves."  I cannot recall the last time I listened to the same song four or five times in row.  Blackmore's playing and the vocals of Candice Night, which may be perhaps the purest sounds I have ever heard, transported me to another time and place, and I knew I had to hear more.

  

Since then I have listened to snippets from all of their albums and have begun to settle in to listening to them completely and with attention.  Their songs are exquisite and beautiful and haunting.  They take you places rather than shout messages in your face.  And it is neat to listen while realizing that the guitarist behind these tunes and the musical director for this band is none other than Ritchie Blackmore, who once smashed a television camera with the neck of his guitar during a live broadcast.

Deep White Purple Snake

Take a bunch of '70s hard rock songs, 'Snake 'em up a bit, and what do you get?  You get a killer collection called The Purple Album by the one and only Whitesnake.  When I heard about this project by David Coverdale in 2015, I could not have been more excited.  I'm a huge fan of Deep Purple, especially the Mark III lineup that introduced Coverdale to the world in 1973, and an as big or bigger fan of Whitesnake.  The two albums he recorded with that lineup (Ritchie Blackmore on guitar; Jon Lord on organ/keyboard; Ian Paice on drums; Glenn Hughes on bass), Burn and Stormbringer, are classic '70s albums and two of my favorites.  He recorded one more album with the Mark IV lineup (Tommy Bolin on guitar), its only release, called Come Taste The Band.

According to Coverdale, his desire was to take some of the great tracks from these albums and give them the Whitesnake flair.  Some did not love the result, but many of us did.  One thing the album proves is how these songs have held up over time.  Coverdale has said that some of the members of Whitesnake remarked that the songs could have been written yesterday, and this album shows that to be true.

Those who are serious Deep Purple fans cannot help comparing and contrasting the new versions with the originals.  I even made a playlist on my phone called "Deep White Purple Snake" in which I put all of the songs, alternating the original with the new version so I could listen to each one back to back.  If The Purple Album alone proves the quality of the originals, hearing the originals against the remakes takes away all doubt.  The original recordings were simply superb, and this is due in no small part to the contributions of Jon Lord on organ and keyboard.  There is nothing in the world like his playing, and while some of those parts have been taken over by guitars on The Purple Album, the sound of the Hammond organ is unequaled and irreplaceable.

That said, the "'snaked up" versions are a treat as well.  Consider this rendition of the 1974 classic "Stormbringer."

No, it is not the original, nor should it be since that was not the aim of this project.  The Purple Album was not a release of remastered originals.  It was a re-recording with a different band, a re-recording envisioned and directed by one of the principal creators of the songs, David Coverdale.  I can enjoy his three albums with Deep Purple from the 1970s and this album from 2015.  Give it a listen.  It will blow you away.