Man in Block spotted at Universal Amphitheater!!
The first time I saw Deep Purple was during the Perfect Strangers tour. The Mark II reunion was such a relief after enduring the commercialized nonsense of Rainbow AD (after Dio) for what seemed liked an eternity. They made it look so easy flawlessly performing one classic after another. On a scale of 10, the concert was a 10.
The House of Blue Light was a weak follow-up to Perfect Strangers with a few good songs. It was shameless for the band to include Rainbow AD like thrash (Call of the Wild, Mad Dog) on a DP album. They started plodding through the old classics and the new material wasn't as good as Perfect Strangers. I rate the concert an 8.5.
The decision to release uninspired live performances instead of returning to the studio focused on creating a classic heavy rock album was one of the band's biggest mistakes. The cold hearted firing of Gillan has been well documented. The album and tour with the repulsive runt they hired to replace him was absolutely disgraceful.
They should have scrapped the material prepared before the long overdue re-hiring of Gillan. The Battle Rages On was the poorest produced DP album. Blackmore's criticism of Gillan's performance was valid. Gillan seems to sing with true abandon in the studio only when not recording with DP (Born Again, Toolbox). Blackmore's song writing on this album was no better than Gillan's singing.
The tour was incredible despite their problems in the studio. Hopefully, the entire German show which most of Come Hell or High Water is taken from will be legally released some day. The decision to replace Blackmore with Morse was arrogant. Morse made little attempt to fit in on the embarrassing Purpendicular album.
The first time I saw the Purple Sock Fairies (an appropriate name for a band trying to make a hard rock guitarist out of Steve Morse) was during the House of Blues tour. The set was much better than the live album. They opened with Hush and played fewer new songs. They played many older songs that I had never before seen performed live and the four new songs were good. The guitar solo was boring, the keyboard solo was too short, and the concert lacked the improvisation one expects from DP. Still, I was pleasantly surprised and rate the concert a 7.
Abandon was an exercise in self indulgence and is style over substance. The album sounds more like late 70's fake rock than early 70's hard rock due to the snobbish approach to writing and arranging of the surviving DP members and a hard rock guitarist trainee who is totally lost playing hard rock. Their intent may have been to create a sophisticated rock album. In fact, they created an album for twelve year old conformists which is an insult to the intelligence of their remaining fans.
I saw PSF for the LAST time Sunday night at Universal Amphitheater. I saw a Man in Black before the concert, but he had fangs and not a guitar. It's too bad the bloodsucker didn't choose Morse. I had a seat in the third row on the floor in front of Morse. The guy next to me had a finger in each ear. The volume was much too loud considering the location of the speakers.
The set list proved that Blackmore wasn't the only bastard in the band. It didn't include either of their best recordings (Sometimes I Feel Like Screaming, Seventh Heaven), the most requested old DP song (Child in Time) or any non-traditional older songs.
- Ted the Mechanic. Worked surprisingly well as an opener although I would have preferred a more traditional opener with both a guitar and keyboard solo.
- Strange Kind of Woman. Worst version I've ever heard. Morse slaughtered the guitar solo and there was no Gillan scream. Note: Gillan's voice was much stronger during the House of Blues tour. They shouldn't have added the show in Vegas the night before with Gillan's voice so weak.
- Bloodsucker. Never one of my favorite old songs. Would have preferred Child in Time or Into the Fire.
- Pictures of Home. Mark II classic performed well. One of the few highlights of the show.
- Almost Human. Fairy nice load of Whitesnake (purple sh*t).
- Woman from Tokayo. Another Mark II classic performed well.
- Watching the Sky. Had its moments. Would have preferred Seventh Heaven.
- Any Fool Kno That. Another fairy nice load of Whitesnake.
- Guitar solo. Had vision of Morse sinking to the bottom of the ocean with ankles in cement blocks. It was nice!
- Smoke on the Water. Another classic slaughtered by Morse who actually played the song well on a Korean video I have which has Child in Time too.
- Keyboard solo. Longer and more entertaining than the short House of Blues solo, but not as much fun as the Perfect Strangers solo.
- Lazy. Performed better than Strange Kind of Woman.
- Perfect Strangers. Another Mark II classic performed well.
- Speed King. Possibly inspired by Palmer, Paice was the most impressive of the surviving Mark II members. Would have preferred Hard Lovin' Man or Flight of the Rat.
- Hush. Lord's solo lacked intensity.
- Highway Star. Actually, performed better than Mark III or Mark IV.
Unlike the tour with Satriani, PSF made a mockery of DP. This tour is more for blind worshippers, conformists and people who have had too much to drink to listen closely. I rate the Abandon All Hope, A.Band.On the Decline or Don't Make the Fans Over Age Twelve Happy tour a 4 at best.
Glover stated in his most recent interview posted on these web pages that he understands that DP hasn't received much airplay because they haven't released any decent albums in ten years. It's been closer to fifteen and unless the band changes their attitude towards recording and hire a real hard rock guitarist then they will never again record a decent album.
If the surviving members insist on touring with Morse then they should change the name of the band. If they are determined to tour as Deep Purple then they should hire a real hard rock guitarist. As for Morse and his fans, they can take the next Olympus Mons Space Shuttle Express to check out the greatest band in the universe which is a.band.on Mars whose most popular song is Fairies Wear Boots and Play Hey Cisco!
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