From: "Jason O'Broin" <jobroin@madge.co.uk> Date: Mon, 19 Feb 1996 17:58:33 +0000 (GMT) Subject: _|_ tour and album comments
Some comments on the Reading gig and things Purpendicular in general.
I'll keep my comments on the Reading gig short as my views seem quite similar to Howard's.
Great gig. Really enjoyed myself. I decided to stay near the back for this one in order to get the full picture rather than bounce around near the front. There didn't seem to be much bouncing around as it was. Perhaps it will be different at Brixton.
Sound was excellent. I had some reservations when I first went in. Pan Ram reinforced that by having a particularly crap mix. Can't say I was impressed. Bring back Vixen, all is forgiven! Pan Ram were a very bad Queensryche cum Judas Priest cum Helloween. The bass drum really kicked (literally - I felt my blood flow was going to be driven by the drum rather than my heart at one point!!). I think I'll stay in the pub an extra hour at Brixton.
As I was saying... Purple's sound was excellent. The mix was spot on - you could hear everyone. I suppose it helps to be at the back rather than a metre or two from Blackmore's amps!
Set list was a welcome change. I'm extra pleased that they have removed SotW from the end of the set and stuck it in the middle. Very pleased to see that they purged most of standards. Highway Star makes a good end of encore song rather than start of show song. Great to see stuff from WDWTWA. It also occured to me that the rhythm to Vavoom:ThM is not a million miles away from Rat Bat Blue. Both have the same sort of chuggieness (sic).
The other very pleasing thing was to see lots of new songs. My hope is that they will change the set list around a little (particuarlly over the two Brixton dates). I think Cascades would work really well. Rosa's Cantina is much better than Ramshackle Man.
Steve had a solo spot about half way through which was excellent. Lots of delay pedal effects with about 3 melodies going at once. Sounded wonderful. Also some nice interplay between Jon and Steve.
Bad points: not many. I, personnally, would like to see more off-song jamming (ie. where they used to play with the melody/song and take it off in a random direction). There were a couple of points where this could have happened, but they weren't developed as much as they could have been. Maybe as they settle into the tour this will happen a bit more.
Jon's organ solo was okay - nice to hear some new themes, but I didn't enjoy it as much as his one on CHOHW video. However, maybe he was just making it up as he went along, in which case I say : keep up the good work - I'll put up with some less than brilliant work for the chance of something exceptional.
The other thing I find a little jarring is Steve's pinched harmonics. I'd prefer it if he didn't use them so much.
On balance - significantly better than either the S&M or BRO dates I saw. Steve is a wonderful addition. Also, it was great to see them enjoying themselves for a change. Does Paciey get a new set of arms each night? He's amazing!
Great to meet some amdp peeps - cheers to Howard and crew for giving me a lift down, nice t-shirt Geoff, and respect to our man in California (it was Paul right?) for flying in from the States for a Purple gig. Spot on man!
Whilst I'm at it, a word or two about Purpendicular.
Can't get it off my CD player.
Great album. Best since the reunion. Even better than HoBL. Excellent to hear them doing something new - something they started doing with HoBL (even if they disliked making it) but lost completely with BRO.
Like a lot of people, my favs seem to change from day to day, but I'm still having problems getting Hey Cisco and Somebody Stole My Guitar out of my head.
This album is the most cohesive effort they have done in a long time, and probably since Burn.
It's probably worth noting (for the record and all) that I'm a major Blackmore-o'phile (that's an Irish Blackmore fan to you!). However, I'm of the opinion that the last comprehensively good non Purple thing Blackers did was LLRaR. DtC is saved by Spotlight Kid, Midtown.. and Maybe Next Time, DtE by Eyes of the World and Lost in Hollywood. Both PS and HoBL are fine albums. It's a shame that Blackers hasn't produced the goods with SIUA (in my opinion).
So, as a Blackmore fan, I feel he has lost the way, and am very happy with _|_. Can't wait for the next one.
One thing that does become apparent on tour is how integral Steve's guitar is to the new songs - although Jon is my more involved, all the new songs played are guitar powered. This is not always apparent, and I remember that on my first couple of listens to the album, I did wonder where all the guitar solos had gone. Well, they are all there, but they are just much more closely ingrained with the songs. Someone commented that it is much more like Martin Barr's (from Jethro Tull) approach, and I'd have to agree. Blackmore had a habit of pulling a stunning solo from nowhere which was often somewhat tangential to the song, but still making it fit in just right. Steve doesn't have that approach at all. I don't think it really matters.
Enough ramblings for now.
See some of you at Brixton. Hopefully I'll get a chance to meet Roger and his fellow _|_ cohorts. The _|_ Street Rangers perhaps?
Jason - -- Jason O'Broin - Development Engineer,
Email: jobroin@madge.com or jobroin@dev.madge.com
- Can I have everything louder than everything else ? -