Deep Purple

I am probably the only metalhead alive who can't get into Deep Purple I just find them bland IMO, ok don't get me wrong they are extremely talented musicians and they play a highly important role on being one of the pioneers of heavy metal and how they influenced the genre, Ritchie Blackmoore is undoutably an excellent guitarist and so is Ian gillain an excellent singer. I had a listen to the album machine head, even though there were songs that I really dug like Highway star, Space truckin'and the well known smoke on the water. What I found really off putting is the keyboards dominate the mix and play riffs the guitarist should be playing and what I find more outrageous is the keyboardist uses distortion the way a guitarist does which to me is CHEATING and even worse its distortion from the keyboard is louder than the distortion from the guitar. The guitarist should dominate the mix when it comes to full blown distortion not the smurfing keyboardist. Anyway thankfully Ritchie Blackmore when he's in Rainbow dominates the mix more and actually wrote better riffs for that band IMO, with Ian Gillain I prefer his solo stuff from the early 80s and the album he did with black sabbath to anything he did with Deep Purple. I saw Deep Purple live 8 years ago and I fell asleep throughout the show and everyone in the audience was constantly pressuring the band to play smoke on the water and I only enjoyed watching them live whilst I heard the songs smoke on the water and Highway Star.

Olafsto wrote:

I know I know, maybe their music might grow on me over time and I'll have a listen to the David Coverdale era of Deep Purple.

I may be mistaken but most of Deep Purples early 70's stuff was a Hammond organ played through a Leslie Cabinet. Not quite the same type of cabinet a guitar player would even play through though some have. Jon Lord was the "prodigy" from a musical standpoint in Purple and the most schooled in the art of playing his particular instrument. I know it's just opinion but what he did in Purple was revolutionary in using what was mainly a church instrument and applying classical and heavy elements in ways never imagined before. You mentioned Rainbow, where Ritchie went after splitting from Purple. I say check out the stuff Purple did after Ritchie split. You have blues. classical, and jazz melding together with the vocals of both Hughes and Coverdale and the guitar interplay between Lord and Bolin took a left turn that was a bit more dynamic than what Lord and Blackmore did before (IMHO)

James B. wrote:

I may be mistaken but most of Deep Purples early 70's stuff was a Hammond organ played through a Leslie Cabinet. Not quite the same type of cabinet a guitar player would even play through though some have. Jon Lord was the "prodigy" from a musical standpoint in Purple and the most schooled in the art of playing his particular instrument. I know it's just opinion but what he did in Purple was revolutionary in using what was mainly a church instrument and applying classical and heavy elements in ways never imagined before. You mentioned Rainbow, where Ritchie went after splitting from Purple. I say check out the stuff Purple did after Ritchie split. You have blues. classical, and jazz melding together with the vocals of both Hughes and Coverdale and the guitar interplay between Lord and Bolin took a left turn that was a bit more dynamic than what Lord and Blackmore did before (IMHO)

Very well then, its just when I saw Deep Purple live, the keyboardist on stage just came across like he was using a keyboard through a marshall guitar amp. I may not be a fan of Jon Lord's keyboard stuff but realistically he is on the same level as the keyboardist from Yes when it comes to talent undoutably. Will check out the DC era of Deep Purple cheers

fingers wrote:

James B. wrote:

I may be mistaken but most of Deep Purples early 70's stuff was a Hammond organ played through a Leslie Cabinet. Not quite the same type of cabinet a guitar player would even play through though some have. Jon Lord was the "prodigy" from a musical standpoint in Purple and the most schooled in the art of playing his particular instrument. I know it's just opinion but what he did in Purple was revolutionary in using what was mainly a church instrument and applying classical and heavy elements in ways never imagined before. You mentioned Rainbow, where Ritchie went after splitting from Purple. I say check out the stuff Purple did after Ritchie split. You have blues. classical, and jazz melding together with the vocals of both Hughes and Coverdale and the guitar interplay between Lord and Bolin took a left turn that was a bit more dynamic than what Lord and Blackmore did before (IMHO)

Very well then, its just when I saw Deep Purple live, the keyboardist on stage just came across like he was using a keyboard through a marshall guitar amp. I may not be a fan of Jon Lord's keyboard stuff but realistically he is on the same level as the keyboardist from Yes. Will check out the DC era of Deep Purple cheers

It's kewl man....I havn't see them since 1985. Definitliy check out the Coverdale era stuff. I am not too big a fan of keyboards period myself. It is a time and a place kinda instument to me.

Quote :

What I found really off putting is the keyboards dominate the mix and play riffs the guitarist should be playing and what I find more outrageous is the keyboardist uses distortion the way a guitarist does which to me is CHEATING and even worse its distortion from the keyboard is louder than the distortion from the guitar. The guitarist should dominate the mix when it comes to full blown distortion not the smurfing keyboardist.

The sound of Deep Purple is the mixture of the guitar and Hammond organ, that's the whole point! Blackmore plays relatively cleanly on these albums, the grit is added by the organ. Jon Lord is a classically trained composer and keyboardist....he doesn't "cheat". Lord ran his organ through a Leslie cabinet and a Marshall amp.

Purple is interesting BECAUSE they don't sound like every other hard rock band, the organ gives the music it's own flavor. Most metal bands use keyboards in a "supporting role", thankfully Purple lets it be an equal participant.

S.D. wrote:

Quote :

What I found really off putting is the keyboards dominate the mix and play riffs the guitarist should be playing and what I find more outrageous is the keyboardist uses distortion the way a guitarist does which to me is CHEATING and even worse its distortion from the keyboard is louder than the distortion from the guitar. The guitarist should dominate the mix when it comes to full blown distortion not the smurfing keyboardist.

The sound of Deep Purple is the mixture of the guitar and Hammond organ, that's the whole point! Blackmore plays relatively cleanly on these albums, the grit is added by the organ. Jon Lord is a classically trained composer and keyboardist....he doesn't "cheat". Lord ran his organ through a Leslie cabinet and a Marshall amp.

Purple is interesting BECAUSE they don't sound like every other hard rock band, the organ gives the music it's own flavor. Most metal bands use keyboards in a "supporting role", thankfully Purple lets it be an equal participant.

They got way more interesting when Tommy Bolin joined

I'm a huge Rainbow fan and have also gotten into Deep Purple over time.

My personal favorites:

Burn
Perfect Strangers
Slaves and Masters (Often called a Rainbow album and indeed does sound like one)
The Battle Rages On (Seems very much at times like a precursor to the masterpiece Stranger in Us All)

Frankly, I love Deep Purple and though I don't listen to them often, when the mood strikes I can't get enough

I'm not the biggest fan of the early stuff either, but I love most of their other albums. Start with 'Burn' and go from there, but skip 'The House of Blue Light' and 'Slaves and Masters'

Personally I am a die hard Deep Purple fan, I enjoyed their live shows and most of their materials as well. Ian Gillan, I consider to be the best rock singer ever. To each their own, I guess you might grow into them eventually, good luck.

Deep Purple, easily in one of my top ten bands, love them thru all their incarnations and they very rarely played it safe

James B. wrote:

S.D. wrote:

Quote :

What I found really off putting is the keyboards dominate the mix and play riffs the guitarist should be playing and what I find more outrageous is the keyboardist uses distortion the way a guitarist does which to me is CHEATING and even worse its distortion from the keyboard is louder than the distortion from the guitar. The guitarist should dominate the mix when it comes to full blown distortion not the smurfing keyboardist.

The sound of Deep Purple is the mixture of the guitar and Hammond organ, that's the whole point! Blackmore plays relatively cleanly on these albums, the grit is added by the organ. Jon Lord is a classically trained composer and keyboardist....he doesn't "cheat". Lord ran his organ through a Leslie cabinet and a Marshall amp.

Purple is interesting BECAUSE they don't sound like every other hard rock band, the organ gives the music it's own flavor. Most metal bands use keyboards in a "supporting role", thankfully Purple lets it be an equal participant.

They got way more interesting when Tommy Bolin joined

But they lasted only one year and one album...

I'm going to see them live next month. It should be a great show.

I never gave Deep Purple a chance outside of the 70's hits until the past few years, but they have some great stuff! In Rock is a classic Metal album! Richie's playing influenced so many people. Hard Lovin Woman is a PERFECT example of who to mix keys and guitar.

I never owned a Deep Purple album until 2011 when I bought Machine Head...it rules.

dark avenger wrote:

But they lasted only one year and one album...

Still they were were way more interesting.

At their best they're amazing. But their catalog is spotty and they are WAY too self-indulgent. They love long jams, which was far more popular in the 60s. I don't think most folks have the attention span for this any more, especially in the hard rock/metal music scene.

Temple of Blood wrote:

At their best they're amazing. But their catalog is spotty and they are WAY too self-indulgent. They love long jams, which was far more popular in the 60s. I don't think most folks have the attention span for this any more, especially in the hard rock/metal music scene.

Speak for yourself, not all metal fans have short attention spans. I prefer bands that jam and improvise, duplicating your studio albums note for note in concert gets pretty damn dull after awhile.

Improvisation doesn't necessarily equal self-indulgence.

S.D. wrote:

Temple of Blood wrote:

At their best they're amazing. But their catalog is spotty and they are WAY too self-indulgent. They love long jams, which was far more popular in the 60s. I don't think most folks have the attention span for this any more, especially in the hard rock/metal music scene.

Improvisation doesn't necessarily equal self-indulgence.

This!

S.D. wrote:

Temple of Blood wrote:

At their best they're amazing. But their catalog is spotty and they are WAY too self-indulgent. They love long jams, which was far more popular in the 60s. I don't think most folks have the attention span for this any more, especially in the hard rock/metal music scene.

Speak for yourself, not all metal fans have short attention spans. I prefer bands that jam and improvise, duplicating your studio albums note for note in concert gets pretty damn dull after awhile.

...unless you like the song the way it is on the album.

There are plenty of bands that play their songs as closely to the studio albums as possible, that's fine, I'm not taking anything away from that.

Personally I find it more interesting when a band stretches out and tries new things.

I mean, if I want to hear a song "exactly" as it appears on the record then I'll save the money and won't leave the house, the record is always there.

But if I'm paying for an overpriced concert ticket I expect something "more" from the experience.

Shawn Of Fire wrote:

S.D. wrote:

Temple of Blood wrote:

At their best they're amazing. But their catalog is spotty and they are WAY too self-indulgent. They love long jams, which was far more popular in the 60s. I don't think most folks have the attention span for this any more, especially in the hard rock/metal music scene.

Speak for yourself, not all metal fans have short attention spans. I prefer bands that jam and improvise, duplicating your studio albums note for note in concert gets pretty damn dull after awhile.

...unless you like the song the way it is on the album.

Then maybe you should just listen to the album version?

S.D. wrote:

Purple is interesting BECAUSE they don't sound like every other hard rock band, the organ gives the music it's own flavor. Most metal bands use keyboards in a "supporting role", thankfully Purple lets it be an equal participant.

Totally agree. The only other band I can think of before Purple that brought the keyboards to the forefront as equal or even ahead of the guitar was the Doors, even though they obviously weren't metal, but the keys gave a certain heavy sound to it. I love the way Lord incorporated the Hammond in the heavy way that he did.

fingers wrote:

I am probably the only metalhead alive who can't get into Deep Purple I just find them bland IMO, ok don't get me wrong they are extremely talented musicians and they play a highly important role on being one of the pioneers of heavy metal and how they influenced the genre, Ritchie Blackmoore is undoutably an excellent guitarist and so is Ian gillain an excellent singer. I had a listen to the album machine head, even though there were songs that I really dug like Highway star, Space truckin'and the well known smoke on the water. What I found really off putting is the keyboards dominate the mix and play riffs the guitarist should be playing and what I find more outrageous is the keyboardist uses distortion the way a guitarist does which to me is CHEATING and even worse its distortion from the keyboard is louder than the distortion from the guitar. The guitarist should dominate the mix when it comes to full blown distortion not the smurfing keyboardist. Anyway thankfully Ritchie Blackmore when he's in Rainbow dominates the mix more and actually wrote better riffs for that band IMO, with Ian Gillain I prefer his solo stuff from the early 80s and the album he did with black sabbath to anything he did with Deep Purple. I saw Deep Purple live 8 years ago and I fell asleep throughout the show and everyone in the audience was constantly pressuring the band to play smoke on the water and I only enjoyed watching them live whilst I heard the songs smoke on the water and Highway Star.

nope. Your not the only one.