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.

Purple Crush

Where others may sap the emotions, Deep Purple squeezes, then crushes the senses and afterwards it all seems like having been bludgeoned slowly into a condition of acquiescent insensibility. --Daily Telegraph, February, 1971

For me, Deep Purple will always be the Mark I through Mark IV lineups from 1968 to 1976.  Yes, they reformed in 1984 with the Mark II lineup and there have been various changes and new albums all the way to the present, but in my mind they will always be the quintessential '70s hard rock band.

Actually, "hard rock" does not fully describe Deep Purple.  It really does not come close.  Consider the three albums they released in 1968 and 1969, Shades of Deep Purple, The Book of Taliesyn, and Deep Purple.  These were the days of the Mark I lineup of Ritchie Blackmore (guitar), Jon Lord (organ), Ian Paice (drums), Rod Evans (vocals), and Nick Simper (bass).  Jon Lord's lush tapestry on the Hammond organ and harpsichord provides the perfect backdrop for the poetry of songs like "Blind," "The Painter," "April," "Listen, Learn, Read On," "Shield," and "Anthem."  Those are moody pieces that convey rich images in word and sound, and while no one who hears them could place them anywhere other than the '60s, they take us back to a time of rich lyrics and experimental music.

 

With the release of In Rock in 1970, the Mark II lineup took the sound in a new direction.  Ian Gillan brought in screaming vocals, and Roger Glover took on the bass duties.  This album is a monster, and while "Child In Time" may be the best known track, "Speed King" and "Into The Fire" are in-your-face sonic attacks.  The whole album is a hard rock masterpiece, which was followed up by 1971's Fireball, itself an interesting mix.  Along with heavy hitters like the title track and "Fools," you have the country-flavored "Anyone's Daughter" and dramatic pieces like "Strange Kind of Woman" and "No One Came."  "The Mule" even has moments when we hear the musical drama in Ian Gillan's voice that he brought to the stage later in Jesus Christ Superstar.

1972 brought the last of the Mark II albums with the inimitable Machine Head.  "Highway Star," "Smoke On The Water," "Lazy," and "Space Truckin'" are the most famous, but "Maybe I'm A Leo" is every bit as hard, and the lyrics to "Pictures Of Home" have found a place in the narrative of my own life from time to time.  "When A Blind Man Cries" ends the album in an exquisite style that makes you realize just how talented a vocalist Gillan is, which is saying something when he is working alongside giants like Lord and Blackmore.

The Mark III lineup with David Coverdale on vocals and Glenn Hughes on bass holds a special place for me.  Coverdale has one of the best voices in rock.  Period.  It has certainly changed over time and is more raw now that he is pushing 70, but I have loved everything he has ever sung.  The first album for this lineup, 1974's Burn, is another monster in the Deep Purple catalogue, including the killer opening/title track, the moody "Sail Away," and the blues-rock anthem "Mistreated."  That same year saw a funky shift in musical direction with the album Stormbringer, which would also be Blackmore's last before the band's reformation in the '80s.  You could easily see this as proto-Whitesnake, the band Coverdale formed in 1978.  In addition to the funky sound and what seems to be more influence from Hughes, the lyrics on songs like "Lady Double Dealer" and "High Ball Shooter" certainly look toward the, um, "romantic" lyrics of Whitesnake.

Come Taste The Band is the one and only release by the Mark IV lineup featuring Tommy Bolin on guitar.  Released in 1975, tracks like "Gettin' Tighter," "I Need Love," and "Love Child" have a distinct '70s sound and more of Hughes's prominent bass lines.

So there you have it, a quick look at the studio albums of classic Deep Purple.  Throw in the numerous live albums they put out in that era, and you will have a solid collection of foundational hard rock music.  And when you play any of them, be sure to crank them up all the way.  After all, this is the band that The Guinness Book of World Records declared was the loudest band in the world thanks to a 1972 concert at the Rainbow Theatre in London.  Their levels reached 117dB, and three audience members were knocked unconscious by the sonic waves.