Showing posts with label Glenn Hughes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Glenn Hughes. Show all posts

CD Review: Various Artists – Jon Lord, Deep Purple & Friends – Celebrating Jon Lord

CD Review: Various Artists: Jon Lord, Deep Purple & Friends – Celebrating Jon Lord
earMusic and Eagle Rock Entertainment
All Access Rating: A-

Various Artists: Jon Lord, Deep Purple
& Friends - Celebrating Jon Lord
It had to take place at the Royal Albert Hall, didn't it?

After all, that was where Jon Lord and Deep Purple, in 1969, famously performed the revolutionary "Concerto for Group and Orchestra," a groundbreaking work that joined the forces of rock and classical music in a surprisingly natural and organic marriage that showed the two forms are not exactly oil and water.

Just weeks prior to his death in 2012, Lord finished his remake of the composition, a labor love for Lord and an all-consuming passion that, some years earlier, made leaving Deep Purple once and for all a little easier well, that and the fact that he'd had enough of touring.

No other setting then would do then for this extraordinary tribute to an uncommon man in Lord, as this 2014 version of the much-ballyhooed Sunflower Jam rounded up a veritable "who's who" of rock royalty for a gala all-star jam, backed by a full orchestra conducted by Paul Mann.

Cleaved into two halves, the concert, captured on a new release entitled Jon Lord, Deep Purple & Friends – Celebrating Jon Lord, offers a resounding and joyous examination of his remarkable career, in between jokes, stories and heartfelt expressions of love for the man. Two hours were reserved for a stylish, beautiful and wonderfully arranged renditions of Lord's classical music explorations, given new life by Mann and the Orion Orchestra, that comprises Jon Lord – The Composer and features three pieces from Sarabande, including a guest turn from keyboard wizard Rick Wakeman on the title track.

And then there's the Jon Lord – The Rock Legend set, where friends, colleagues and admirers remember Lord's extraordinary contributions to popular music, starting with Paul Weller and his bouncy, sweaty, horn-swaddled revivals of R&B rousers "Things Get Better" and – with a little help from Micky Moody – "I Take What I Want," recalling Lord's time in the early '60s with The Artwoods.

Glenn Hughes comes aboard for a soulful, smoky reading of "You Keep on Moving" that simply smolders with dark sensuality, following an especially poignant version of "Soldier of Fortune," with Steve Balsamo, Sandi Thom and Moody lending vocals. Perhaps predictably, a full-throttle, fiery "Burn" sets the venerable house ablaze, as Bruce Dickinson, Ian Paice and Don Airey join Hughes and Moody let it all hang out while roaring through the Deep Purple Mark III chestnut like a freight train.

Speaking of Purple, the current incarnation of the band – Airey, Paice, Ian Gillan, Roger Glover and Steve Morse – closes things out with 45 minutes of spectacular virtuoso jams, Airey in particular relishing the opportunity to grab "Lazy" by the throat and heat that Hammond organ up until it glows red. And for a finale, Dickinson, Wakeman, Moody, Phil Campbell and Bernie Marsden return to the stage with Purple to bring the house down with an invigorating take on "Hush." Somewhere, Lord is still smiling. http://www.ear-music.net/en/news/ http://www.eagle-rock.com/
– Peter Lindblad

CD Review: California Breed – California Breed

CD Review: California Breed – California Breed
Frontiers Records
All Access Rating: A

California Breed - S/T 2014
Take a good, long drink of California Breed's "Sweet Tea." Savor every drop of its lusty, infectious charm and swing in rhythm to riffs as confident and assertive as a fashion model strutting down a runway. And when finished, sit back, reflect for a moment and wonder why the hell this isn't the hottest thing on radio right now. 

Deliciously lascivious, with hooks like claws, the first single from a new power trio consisting of legendary vocalist/bassist Glenn Hughes, brawny drummer Jason Bonham and precocious guitar savant Andrew Watt can stop traffic. It's the sexiest song Hughes has ever recorded, and on California Breed's sensational debut Frontiers Records release, this great hunk of burning, soulful, '70s-style hard rock revived for a new millennium in desperate need of the good stuff, his singing is wild, untamed and utterly captivating. 

Thank producer David Cobb (Rival Sons, Shooter Jennings and others) for capturing Hughes' vocals live and making him sound positively feral at times when he's screaming to high heaven in moments of pure ecstasy and Bonham is banging away on the drums, bashing them with great energy and gusto. And then there's Watt, this throwback to an age where diverse musical chops mattered, when a man's solos could soar, could sting and could also soothe and his muscular riffs were always honest, genuine and completely organic.

The past is the past, though, and although the spirited, transcendent rock 'n' roll of Led Zeppelin and Mountain inform the music of California Breed, as does the Southern soul of the Stax Records roster, this material has a fresh vitality, born of unfettered creativity and a healthy respect for simple songwriting that comes straight from the heart, the gut and the genital region. 

Just as there is a stirring in the loins of "Sweet Tea," raw anger spills from "Spit You Out," another specimen of Watt's tough, down-and-dirty riffage also found stomping through the grounds of "The Way." Immersed in colorful, spinning psychedelia, the chorus of "Chemical Rain" is dazzling, while the thrilling R&B wail of "Midnight Oil" builds to a fever pitch, as Hughes emphatically pleads, "Let it burn," perhaps taking a match and a can of gasoline to past regrets. He's even more convincing on the deeply personal primal scream "The Grey," as well as the vulnerable, but ultimately uplifting, "All Falls Down," these redemption songs growing bolder and more daring by the second.

Hands down, Hughes has wrapped up any vocal performance of the year award that's out there, and in California Breed, he may have found his salvation.
– Peter Lindblad


California Breed strips down, makes musical 'Sweet Tea'

Glenn Hughes on life with his powerful new trio
By Peter Lindblad

California Breed is Jason Bonham,
Glenn Hughes and Andrew Watt
Those still mourning the death of Black Country Communion can throw away their black armbands. California Breed has arrived.

Eager to try something different in the aftermath of Black Country Communion's breakup, legendary vocalist/bassist Glenn Hughes and drummer Jason Bonham teamed up with precocious hotshot guitarist/singer-songwriter Andrew Watt to form a trio that makes swaggering, rough-and-tumble '70s-style hard rock with earthy soul and a touch of blissful psychedelia.

Tongues have been wagging about California Breed for some time now, and the interest only intensified with the video release for the strutting, Zeppelin-like first single "Sweet Tea," a sexy, riff-heavy number with strong hooks that exudes machismo. More leaked out, as the stormy, R&B-fueled "Midnight Oil" suggested a "Gimme Shelter" for the new millennium. 

California Breed - 2014
Out now on Frontiers Records, California Breed's debut album was produced by David Cobb at his Nashville studio, and Cobb's input was crucial to cultivating a forceful new vibe for these two rock veterans and their young charge, taking those elements that made Black Country Communion such a vital breath of fresh air and packaging them into something even more intoxicating and explosive. Not only that, but he somehow coaxed a wild fervor from Hughes's vocals that's animalistic and primal.

Hanging out with his five dogs in the garden, life is good for Hughes, having come through his period of addiction clean and hungry to explore new frontiers. Hughes talked about California Breed and the making of their sensational new record in this interview, while also touching on the 40th anniversary of Deep Purple's Burn and the biggest concert event for Deep Purple Mark III, 1974's California Jam Festival.

You have to be pretty excited about the new record.
Glenn Hughes: Look, Peter, if you know anything about my career, you’ll know what I’ve done, but if we look at the albums I’ve done, starting all the way from *Cathedral all the way to now, I’ve never repeated myself. Every album has been rock … okay, rock, but slightly different in content. Although Jason and I were in Black Country Communion, we wanted this band to be different in tone and recording. Although it’s rock, it just sounds different. 

In what ways does California Breed build off what you did with Black Country Communion?
GH: Listen, I’m very white. When I was 22, I wasn’t white. I was colorful, but I wasn’t white (laughs). Look man, (Joe) Bonamassa, a gentleman – no anger, no resentment – it would have been ridiculous for Jason and I to have found a guitar player who sounded bluesy like Joe, or ridiculous to have a Hammond organ player in the band, so we stripped it down. Whoever was going to play guitar, whether it was going to be this guy or you – you know, the guys I’m talking about ... we decided, “Hmmm, that would be ridiculous, because we wouldn’t be able to tour.” So I met Julian (Lennon) at – well, I’ve known Julian for 30 years – a party last year before the Grammys. He had a party and at this party was Andrew Watt. Because Julian introduced me to Andrew, and I really liked the way he was talking, I invited him to my home to write. And when he came to my home, we wrote two songs, and Andrew Watt and Joe Bonamassa are two completely different types of guitarists. You can hear that, right?

Right, absolutely.
GH: I wanted him to sound, in a trio … I wanted it to be, for all intents and purposes, Townshend, Richards, Young – right-handed guitar players. Van Halen, Malmsteen … you know, other guys are left-handed, hammer-on dudes who are really great, but I wanted to go back to an earthy playing guitar player. We didn’t know it was going to be this kid. We didn’t know this. We didn’t know he was going to be a 22- or a 60-year-old guy … didn’t know. We just got lucky. Let’s just call it “the hand of fate” that Julian introduced me to Andrew. 

What do you like most about working with him?
GH: So, he’s ambitious, New Yorker, very intelligent, great writer, great player, good singer – very, very strange combination these days to find a guy that could do all three. You know anything about me, you know that I love sharing the mic with other people, whether it’s Coverdale or Bonamassa, or anybody else I’m working with. I always try to tempt them to sing with me, and Andrew doesn’t have a problem with that. He’s a really good singer. And also Jason’s also a really good singer as well. And Jason and I didn’t want to make Black Country Part II; we wanted to make a brand-new bag, wanted to start all over again. Man, I don’t care what age you are. You can do whatever you want in today’s musicality. It’s not like you’re going to sell 10 million albums anymore. An album is a postcard for the tour, you know. It would have been ridiculous, Peter, for us to go get a famous guy to play in the band with us, because that famous guy has got his own band or his own repertoire to do. I just got really lucky the card that Julian dealt me that night – very, very lucky.        

Glenn Hughes says producer David Cobb
captured his vocals live for the
first time since 1969
Talk about your vocal performance on this record and what producer Dave Cobb did to bring it out of you.
GH: We knew Cobb was going to produce us six months before we went to Nashville. We got him in, because Dave is a fan of my band Trapeze. He’s also a Zeppelin fan, as you can imagine. And then I started talking to Dave every couple of weeks on the phone in Nashville, and he’s in L.A. I’d play him stuff over the phone. I wouldn’t send him any stuff on e-mail, I’d just play him stuff organically over the phone, kind of old school. He asked me, “Well, what do you want to do? Do you want to record this on to tape, or do you want to go …” And I said, “Let’s make that decision when we get to Nashville.” 

And we made that decision the morning of the session. We had a decision to go analog, and we all said sort of, “Let’s go analog.” And Dave said to me, “You got the lyrics?” I said, “I do.” He said, “You got the melodies?” I said, “I do. Yeah, yeah, I think I’ve got all the melodies and lyrics.” He said, “Good. How do you feel about Jason and Andrew cutting, and then you overdubbing later on the bass?” I said, “Sure. Where’s the microphone?” And he said, “You’re going to be in a booth, and let’s go record.” 

And basically, Peter, I sang to the tracks, and if anybody knows anything about Glenn Hughes, it’s never more than two takes of vocals for me. There are singers – I won’t name names – who have to sing 60 or 70 times on a song. I’m not that guy. Any more than three times, and it’s like a job, and I don’t want it to be a job. Trying to write songs is a really huge art form for me, and I like the spontaneity of making that first take. So long story short, we recorded the songs, and then I overdubbed the bass, and then I went to bed. And the next morning, I went to the studio and I said to Dave Cobb, “Now, I’m going to sing.” And he said, “Oh no, you’re not. You’ve already sung the album.” Now, he wasn’t tricking me. I knew I was recording, but I never actually questioned to myself whilst I was singing, “I wonder if this is good enough?” I was just singing, just singing, like The Beatles used to do in 1964 on a four-track. To me, when I sing … I mean, I write this shit, and it envelopes inside of me, and it just lives inside of me until I record it. Normally, Peter, the way I’ve been recording for the last 20 years, when I sing it for the first time, it’s normally the way I want it to be, whether it’s something I’m overdubbing later or whether it’s like it’s this instance where it’s done live. Hats off to Dave Cobb, full marks from me, two thumbs up from me – he really captured me completely live, and I want to thank him for that. 

There's a real swagger to this record, especially with "Sweet Tea." From your standpoint, is that what's missing from a lot of rock music today?
GH: Look, look, look … none of this music was written for Black Country. When Black Country disbanded privately behind the scenes in September of 2012, these songs were written … I think I came up with three, and “Sweet Tea” and “The Grey” the first week of March, and then I sent them to Andrew and then he would complete them, and then he would send me something that was obviously his, and then Jason would … and I said, “Guys, a band is a collaborative effort.” Black Country really wasn’t. I was working a lot of it alone. Joe was too busy, you know, and I understood that, but I think really bands, I don’t care what age you are, have got to collaborate. We’ve got to talk. I don’t like to call it rehearsing. Let’s go play, let’s go down to a room and play for a week. Let’s go to L.A. and play for a week. That’s the way we got this band together.   

What song came together the easiest on the record and which one was the hardest and why?
GH: I think “Sweet Tea” was … God, “Sweet Tea” … Look, Peter, I’m going to be honest with you, man. There was nothing technical about this album. When you listen to the songs, (sings a riff), it’s pushing full. We’re not Led Zeppelin, but Led Zeppelin was push and pull. This is life and shape and push and pull, and it’s breathy and it’s aggressive, it’s soulful, it’s harsh, it’s brash, it’s sensitive – it’s everything it started out for me in 1969. 

This album was written in the wind for me to record, with these two guys. It’s not me. This is what they’re saying. This is what you guys are saying. This could be the greatest Glenn Hughes moment in a long time, and that’s from working with these two fellows. It’s a really great moment. How can a guy who’s 62 sound even better than he was at 22? Hey Peter, I don’t know. I have no freakin’ ego. When I’m singing, I’m singing. I’m a singing fool. I’ll see for free and for fun, anywhere at any time. It just so happens that I’ve captured it. 

A lot of the stuff you’re asking is, “How do you sing that?” I was just going for it. Listen bro, we’d probably try to recapture it later, but not all of it, and I’d say, “Hey, can I sing that again?” And he said, “Don’t try it.” And, you know, he was right. The first take of Glenn Hughes is going to be that moment. If you go back and look at Jagger in the late ‘60s, he wasn’t f**king around, prancing around the microphone for hours. He was doing that sh*t live! That’s what Robert did on Led Zeppelin I, and (Steve) Marriott in f**king Humble Pie. I mean, this is my peer group. These are my friends, and what David Cobb did, he’s 43, he f**king captured me for the first time since 1969 completely live. 

I knew Steve Marriott really well. We’d talk as musicians, and we’d talk as friends. When he sang at Fillmore East, the last year he sang at Rockin’ The Fillmore, that to me is the greatest, and when he sang “Black Coffee,” that is like the shit – that’s live f**king singing, and I’m never going to be able to go back to doing it overdubbing again – never going to be able to do it, man. I’m sold on the way Cobb did it. Listen, man … Dave Cobb, two thumbs up, man. Got to be – not just for our record – but what he’s done for Rival Sons, and other people, he’s got to be producer of the year, man. He’s been great.

Take me through the day of your performance at the California Jam Festival. What are some of your strongest memories of that day and looking back, where does it rank as far as your career achievements?
GH: You know, man, we got there the night before and I’m really good friends with, because I come from the same part of England, Tony, Geezer, and Bill and Ozzy. We stayed up all night doing drugs and chicks and stuff the night before, and we went on after them that afternoon. But for the first time in history, that f**king festival … the festival was running early. So, of course, the problem we had with the Marshall stacks, we get up onstage and Ritchie had locked himself in the bloody trailer, and we had to go on, and there was a lot of aggression from Blackmore. 

You could see him looming toward the camera at one point. That camera cost us like $30,000, and that was a lot of f**king money. But there was aggressiveness to that performance, wasn’t there? There was a real brash, aggressiveness to … I mean, when the stage was on fire, and that shit went up, I didn’t actually see it, but it broke in places and glass blew him off the stage. It was really f**king gnarly. It was like … hey, we were pissed off. And lo and behold, it was just captured live on ABC, "Dick Clark Presents" … (laughs). So what are you going to do? And it’s like, some people say, “That’s all Glenn Hughes talks about.” No, I don’t. I don’t really talk about yesterday. You asked me the question. It was a really vital experience from a … we tried to … our contract says, “The band will go on at 11 minutes past 7 p.m. on April 6,” or something like that, and it was f**king six o’clock and it was still light. So it was one of those moments.    

Glenn Hughes in the studio
In 1974 you recorded Burn with the new Deep Purple lineup. What were studio sessions for that album like? 
GH: A weekend at a 600-year-old castle called Clearwell Castle in Gloucestershire, and it all sounds very King Arthur, doesn’t it? So we were the fucking … we were the first band to ever go to the castle environment and write. If you want to Google it, Clearwell Castle is in Gloucestershire, and it’s a haunted place. And we wrote – because Blackmore is nuts – we wrote in the f**king dungeon. You know, the song “Burn” is about a witch, and it’s like, “Well, how dark do you want to go people?” I’m having séances with Blackmore in my f**king bedroom, and the lights were f**king going off and on. It was f**king gnarly, man. You know, that band, with two new guys, me and Coverdale … that’s what they needed at that time. You know, if he couldn’t stand people after two or three years, he was going to get rid of them. So the plan was new. After Machine Head, they were selling more albums than anybody else, but that album was a crucial moment. You’ve got a guy in Coverdale who’s never actually been onstage before really, right? And then you’ve got me, the new guy who’d been playing with Trapeze like in America for three years, and it was quite interesting, wasn’t it? 

In what ways was it different from albums you'd record later with Purple? 
GH: Listen, Peter, you’ve got to remember what I talked about six minutes ago. Ritchie … it was difficult to work with Ritchie. It wasn’t so much that he was the leader. It was like, by the time we got to Stormbringer, he hadn’t really written much. He’d written “Stormbringer,” the track, and he hadn’t really written any more riffs. So me and David and [keyboardist] Jonathan [Lord] would like write a lot of the record, and I think Ritchie at this point is thinking about forming a band with Ronnie (James Dio). I think he was done. I think that my blues and soul influences, and David’s bluesy camaraderie put him off. I think he was going to the woods with his medieval costumes back then. I think he was into that Bach-influenced music. Of course, me and David are from the north of England, and grew up listening to Otis Redding. And Ritchie knew this. All the gang in Purple knew that David and I were soul fanatics, as Robert Plant and Paul Rodgers are blues fanatics. And they knew this going into it. And, of course, Ritchie really, really, really wanted to make Bach-influenced music, and he really didn’t come prepared for Stormbringer. So, after Stormbringer, he left. 

Had you ever worked with a mobile studio?
GH: That was the first time, and that was the only time.

Did you find it difficult?
GH: It was great, but it was a bit of a pain in the ass, too, to keep walking down flights of stairs from this like warehouse in Montreux, Switzerland. Look, look, Peter. Burn, after Machine Head ... we had to come up with something new and special. And you know, I’m so close to Burn, you know. I mean, I’m part of the album, so people talk about that album like, oohhh, you played and sang on Burn. Yeah, I did. Great, you know. I’m glad people like it. 

How does California Breed fit in the history of Glenn Hughes and what are you looking forward to most in working with this band again?
GH: Here’s what I want to do Peter, and this is what we couldn’t do with Black Country because of Joe and with fellow artists. I formed this band to make records, at least two albums. I look at things in two, I never look at things in one – though, sometimes I look at them in threes. I’m in this to make records, and I want to promote it. Me talking to you, I want to get on holy ground, which is the stage. I am, for all intents and purposes, a live – I’m a studio guy for sure – but I am a live singer. I am a live performer, a performer that lives and breathes the stage. So I found some guys that want to do the same, you know.   

Glenn Hughes says he's an "actor"
in the studio
How did “Midnight Oil” come about?
GH: Listen, you’re asking some really cool questions. “Midnight Oil” was written, and I called it “I Want to be Free,” and we felt, you know … we were going to cut the track, and then Cobb said to me, “There’s something with this track. It needs a little … maybe you should write a new lyric for it?” It’s the only song he said you need to write a new lyric for. I think I wrote a pretty good freedom track, you know, for “Midnight Oil.” Nobody’s asked this question, so it’s kind of an exclusive. I said, “Okay. So what are you thinking?” He said, “Well, what would you think about singing something with ‘burn’ in there?” And I said, “Well, it’s been 40 years since I’ve sung that.” Of course the tracks “Midnight Oil” and “Burn” don’t sound anything like each other. I just went … where it said, “I want to be free,” I sang (sings), “Let it burn, let it burrnnn,” instead of “I want to be free, ffrreee.” And it just made f**king sense. And then the verse where, you know, “I don’t stick aaarrrrouuund.” It was just fucking 1967, wasn’t it? Look, look. I wasn’t trying to be Jim Morrison, but I just put a different code on it. I like to think, when I’m in the studio, I become an actor. I can be this, I can be that. I am afraid. I am fucking fearful of a lot of things offstage. I’m clumsy, I’m a klutz, but when I’m in front of a microphone, you gotta get out of the way, ‘cause I know what I’m doing. It’s like fire, man. I just know. It ignites it. I’m not saying I’m the best or the worst, or whatever, I just know that if I’ve got a microphone, get away from me, get out of the way. And that means anybody, just because I know I’m going to deliver. This is what I’m supposed to do. 

You can hear that on “Spit You Out,” too.
GH: Yeah, it’s … look, Peter, I’ve been doing this for 45 years. I’ve been recording for 45 years and touring for 45 years. I don’t think I’ve ever been this excited. I don’t think so. Who would have thought this would happen now. And hopefully, it’ll help other members of my peer group who’ve taken the foot off the gas, whether they want to do this or not. I have an urgency in the sound of this album and the writing, you know. I don’t sing about fairies and goblins and dwarves. I sing about the f**king human condition. I sing about lust, I sing about hate. I sing about distrust. I sing about f**king gluttony, f**king fear, f**king resentment – all of it. You know, life, death, what happens in between. “All Falls Down” … that f**king song, Andrew and Jason said, “Why don’t you talk about that moment you almost died”? I’m going, “Do you really want me to do that?” And I did. And it turned out great. Give me a suggestion, I’ll f**king run with it. So I really love being in a room full of very creative people, and Cobb – call him the “fourth Beatle,” call him “member No. 4” – he was f**king insane! The guy deserves f**king producer of the year. Ask other people he’s worked with. They feel the same about him. I’m all about giving the producer some love.   

Glenn Hughes: A different 'Breed' of singer

Legendary singer/bassist talks vocals for Calfornia Breed
By Peter Lindblad

Glenn Hughes 2014
Glenn Hughes doesn't labor over a multitude of vocal takes in the studio. It's not a sign of arrogance. He's just convinced the first one is almost always the best.

So, why mess with it? 

"If anybody knows anything about Glenn Hughes, it's never more than two takes of vocals for me," said Hughes. "There are singers – I won't name names – who have to sing 60 or 70 times on a song. I'm not that guy. Any more than three times, and it's like a job, and I don't want it to be a job."

Known for years as the "Voice of Rock," Hughes is one of the greatest singers in rock history, having lent his wildly soulful vocal stylings to classic recordings by Deep Purple, Trapeze and Black Sabbath's Tony Iommi, and, in more recent years, the highly acclaimed super group Black Country Communion.  

His latest project, formed in the aftermath of Black Country Communion's dissolution, is the power trio California Breed, featuring drummer Jason Bonham and guitar phenomenon/singer-songwriter Andrew Watt. 

California Breed - S/T 2014
Due out May 20, on Frontiers Records, California Breed's raucous, swaggering self-titled debut of riff-heavy, powerhouse '70s rock takes its cues from Led Zeppelin and Humble Pie, with a little bit of psychedelic soul thrown in for good measure. 

Produced by David Cobb (Rival Sons, Shooter Jennings) at his home studio in Nashville, California Breed's first shot across the bow is a devastating knockout punch, brimming with strong hooks and exuding attitude. 

One of the reasons for the record's immediacy is Cobb's treatment of Hughes's vocals, and the knob-twiddler was rather sneaky about it. Hughes might just be Cobb's biggest fan.

"We knew Cobb was going to produce us six months before we went to Nashville," Hughes related. "We got him in, because Dave is a fan of my band Trapeze. He’s also a Zeppelin fan, as you can imagine. And then I started talking to Dave every couple of weeks on the phone in Nashville, and he’s in L.A. I’d play him stuff over the phone. I wouldn’t send him any stuff on e-mail, I’d just play him stuff organically over the phone, kind of old school. He asked me, 'Well, what do you want to do? Do you want to record this on to tape, or do you want to go …' And I said, 'Let’s make that decision when we get to Nashville.' And we made that decision the morning of the session. We had a decision to go analog, and we all said sort of, 'Let’s go analog.' And Dave said to me, 'You got the lyrics?' I said, 'I do.' He said, 'You got the melodies?' I said, 'I do. Yeah, yeah, I think I’ve got all the melodies and lyrics.' He said, 'Good. How do you feel about Jason and Andrew cutting, and then you overdubbing later on the bass?' I said, 'Sure. Where’s the microphone?' And he said, 'You’re going to be in a booth, and let’s go record.' And basically, I sang to the tracks."

Hughes figured he'd have more work to do the next day. Cobb was rather coy about it.

"So long story short, we recorded the songs, and then I overdubbed the bass, and then I went to bed," said Hughes. "And the next morning, I went to the studio and I said to Dave Cobb, 'Now, I’m going to sing.' And he said, 'Oh no, you’re not. You’ve already sung the album.' Now, he wasn’t tricking me. I know I was recording, but I never actually questioned to myself whilst I was singing, 'I wonder if this is good enough?' I was just singing, just singing, like The Beatles used to do in 1964 on a four-track. To me, when I sing … I mean, I write this shit, and it envelopes inside of me, and it just lives inside of me until I record it. Normally, the way I’ve been recording for the last 20 years, when I sing it for the first time, it’s normally the way I want it to be, whether it’s something I’m overdubbing later or whether it’s like it’s this instance where it’s done live. Hats off to Dave Cobb, full marks from me, two thumbs up from me – he really captured me completely live, and I want to thank him for that. 

Of Cobb, Hughes added, "He f**king captured me for the first time since 1969 completely live."

Hughes is understandably excited about the new album, feeling its some of the best work of his legendary career.

"I’m going to be honest with you, man," said Hughes. "There was nothing technical about this album. When you listen to the songs, (sings a riff), it’s pushing full. We’re not Led Zeppelin, but Led Zeppelin was push and pull. This is life and shape and push and pull, and it’s breathy and it’s aggressive, it’s soulful, it’s harsh, it’s brash, it’s sensitive – it’s everything it started out for me in 1969. This album was written in the wind for me to record, with these two guys."

We'll have more of our interview with Glenn Hughes in due time.



CD Review: Deep Purple – Live in California '74

CD Review: Deep Purple – Live in California 74
Eagle Rock Entertainment
All Access Rating: A
Deep Purple - Live in California 74

To borrow a phrase from Hunter S. Thompson, 1974 was the year the Mark III version of Deep Purple "stomped on the terra."

In February, after welcoming then-unknown blues howler David Coverdale and Trapeze artist Glenn Hughes into the fold, Purple released the explosive pressure-cooker of crashing rock 'n' roll and hard-bitten British soul that was Burn, which lived up to its name and then some. The old masters had learned some new tricks.

Then came a triumphant promotional tour, capped off by a rousing co-headlining gig in the spring at the California Jam Festival with Emerson, Lake & Palmer, although it's Purple's wildly energetic, high-voltage performance – previously released on DVD in 2006 and now out on CD and in digital forms from Eagle Rock Entertainment to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the event – that everyone still talks about.

Where Woodstock was a chaotic melting pot of bad acid, unabashed nudity, peace and love, gridlocked traffic, dancing flower children and stirring performances, California Jam was all business. It didn't lose money, like Woodstock did. It was the highest-grossing music festival of the time, attracting around 250,000 people. And it was orderly and went off without a hitch, serving as a template for more corporate festivals that were to come. Perhaps that's part of the reason why history seems to forget about California Jam 1974, as it goes on and on about 1967's Monterey Pop Festival or the Love Generation-killing tragedy of Altamont.

Whatever its cultural significance, there was no doubting California Jam's commitment to heavy volume, as the festival boasted what was considered the loudest amplification system ever. What better band then to test the limits of that audacious rig than Deep Purple, as hungry and as savagely brilliant as ever in this raw, but potent and lusty, recording of that momentous occasion.

Smashing through the gates, Purple plows through the frenzied title track from Burn as if intent on leaving nothing behind but smoldering wreckage, the blustery organ of Jon Lord and the tenacious guitar riffs of Ritchie Blackmore – all of it designed with bewildering complexity – trying their best to drown out Hughes' falsetto screams. It's a thrilling beginning, and Purple doesn't stop to catch their breath.

Grueling and pained, "Mistreated" writhes in its own deep and hopeless sense of loss and betrayal before turning its face to the sun, as Purple transitions from anguished growl to expansive, dream-like alienation and then opens up to slowly brightening skies. Crazed, complicated jams, like the manic episodes of a 19:32 "You Fool No One/The Mule" that find Blackmore and Lord dueling like psychotic swordsmen, are captivating and electrifying, but Deep Purple really goes to work on the earthy "Might Just Take a Life" and a fevered "Lay Down, Stay Down" – both off Burn, and both have sweat just pouring off them. Their stamina is put to an even more rigorous examination on a 26-minute "Space Truckin'" that keeps driving long after the tank has emptied, Purple growing quiet and almost jazzy before erupting like a volcano.

Live in California 74 is a vital piece of history, but it also captures, in stark relief, the creative tensions that were fueling this rebirth, with the primal, blue-collar R&B wailing, churning grooves and emotional weight of Hughes and Coverdale's burgeoning partnership fighting off the blazing horsepower of the original Purple, the Purple of Lord and Blackmore clinging to tradition and stubbornly drawing and redrawing classically inspired figures and shapes. Nowhere is this conflict more apparent than in the charged atmosphere of a sweltering, shape-shifting "Smoke on the Water," where the old guard and the new seem hell-bent on carving out their own territory and aren't above committing acts of trespass.

It would only intensify in the coming weeks and months, forcing Blackmore to reevaluate his priorities and eventually leave to form Rainbow. For this occasion, however, at the Ontario Motor Speedway in Ontario, Calif., of all places – ironic considering Purple's love of driving songs – they were jubilant, inspired and full of piss and vinegar.
– Peter Lindblad

A little 'Sweet Tea' with California Breed

First single, video from Glenn Hughes' new band premieres today
By Peter Lindblad

California Breed 2014
Photo by: Austyn Weiner
How about some afternoon tea with Glenn Hughes and his new band, California Breed? Instead of crumpets or finger sandwiches, there's powerful, swaggering rock 'n' roll to snack on.

Today, the newly formed power trio, featuring Jason Bonham on drums and young guitar phenom Andrew Watt, debuted the video for "Sweet Tea," the first single from their forthcoming self-titled album, at USA Today, along with a fascinating Q&A with Hughes, here: http://tinyurl.com/mmp7mxq.

California Breed's self-titled album is due out May 20 on Frontiers Records, and if "Sweet Tea" is any indication, it ought to be a raucous affair. Nasty and mean, "Sweet Tea" is a savory treat, a hunk of greasy proto-metal meat that's been sitting in the fridge of a truck stop diner since '73 and still manages to taste as fresh as if it was just butchered.

California Breed - S/T 2014
Although it borrows some of its testosterone-fueled strut from early glam-rock, "Sweet Tea," all cocksure attitude and tough hooks, sounds more like Mountain's "Mississippi Queen," with Watt's savage guitar riffs seemingly carved out of granite and Bonham breaking rocks in the hot sun with brutal violence, while Hughes stays true to his primal urges and unleashes mounting sexual frustration in vocals that really get the blood boiling.

An extension of Black Country Communion's all-too-brief existence, California Breed appears intent on sucking the marrow from the bones of the '70s classic-rock artists it wants to emulate. A performance piece, with the band's tropical eye logo covering its amps, the video finds the threesome playing the song with unbridled enthusiasm and raw machismo, with Watt dressed suspiciously like a young Ritchie Blackmore. All the while a comely lass cuts lemons and stirs up not only a pitcher of sweet tea, but also some raging male hormones to boot.

The album was produced by Dave Cobb, who's sprinkled his studio magic over works by Rival Sons and Shooter Jennings. It will be available as a CD, digital download and a Deluxe Edition CD + DVD that packages the original record with the bonus track "Solo," two videos and a documentary. Those that pre-order the digital download on iTunes will receive an instant download of "Sweet Tea" upon ordering. The iTunes and Amazon pre-order links are as follows:

iTunes: http://smarturl.it/CaliforniaBreed

Amazon CD: http://smarturl.it/CB_AmzCD

CD Deluxe Edition CD + DVD: http://smarturl.it/CB_AmzCDDVD


Deep Purple 'Live in California 74' coming soon

Legendary concert made available on CD, digital audio

Deep Purple - Live in California 74
Deep Purple had the world by the tail in the mid-1970s. Bigger than just about anybody in hard rock, with some exceptions, of course, they co-headlined the historic California Jam Festival 40 years ago. To mark the anniversary of that life-changing event, Eagle Rock Entertainment is issuing Deep Purple Live in California 74 for the first time on CD and digital audio on April 1. 

One of the most in-demand live acts in the world at the time, Deep Purple was finishing up a 28-date tour promoting Burn when they hit the Golden State. The CD showcases the band performing before 200,000 people at the Cal Jam Festival. It was a triumphant coda to a glorious march, as the thunderous lineup of Ritchie Blackmore (guitar), David Coverdale (vocals), Glenn Hughes (bass), Jon Lord(keyboards), and Ian Paice (drums) blew the crowd away with a fiery set of songs from Burn, as well as classics like “Space Truckin’” and “Smoke On The Water.”

A legendary performance, the storied concert was previously released on DVD in 2006. The Live In California 74 album is essential stuff. To keep updated on this and other releases from Eagle Rock, visit www.facebook.com/EagleRockEntwww.twitter.com/EagleRockNews and www.youtube.com/user/eaglerocktv.

Check the track listing. There's no filler.

Track Listing:
1.) Burn
2.) Might Just Take Your Life
3.) Lay Down, Stay Down
4.) Mistreated
5.) Smoke On The Water
6.) You Fool No One
7.) Space Truckin’

CD Review: Glenn Hughes – Live in Wolverhampton


Glenn Hughes
Live in Wolverhampton
earMusic/Armoury Records
All Access Review: A-

Glenn Hughes - Live in Wolverhampton 2013
Sobriety seems to suit Glenn Hughes rather nicely. A nasty drug habit nearly cost him his life, as well as his career, by 1990. Off of nearly everyone’s radar, Hughes was in danger of both burning out and fading away. 

Miraculously, despite all efforts at self-destruction, the former Trapeze, Black Sabbath (yes, he was working with Tony Iommi on his solo album, but Seventh Star ended up a legit Sabbath release) and Deep Purple Mark III and IV bassist/singer – dubbed the “voice of rock” by, all of people, the techno-house outfit The KLF, who employed Hughes on their 1991 single “America – What Time is Love?” – got clean and started working his magic again, putting out an eclectic series of solo albums and interesting experimental collaborations that, once more, brought out the funk-soul brother in Hughes.

Live in Wolverhampton, recorded over two nights in 2009 in Hughes’s hometown of Bilston, is sort of a Glenn Hughes starter kit for the uninitiated. Joyous and life-affirming, with an intimacy most concert recordings never quite manage to capture, this double-disc set showcases the vocal gymnastics and vitality of Hughes and the impressive chops of a band that twists and turns this material sideways and inside-out, breathing new life into it. When they get cooking on extended jams, Hughes, drummer Steve Stevens – not the guy from Billy Idol’s band – and guitarist Jeff Kollman threaten to boil over on sweltering hard funk and vibrant R&B workouts like the old Trapeze favorites “You Are the Music,” a cosmic “Your Love is Alright” and “Way Back to the Bone” from Disc 2, themed “You Are the Music: An Evening of Trapeze.”

And what a night it is for this particular performance, reminding us all just how criminally underrated Trapeze is, the funk-rock pioneers blazing trails few dared follow. Culling selections from both 1970’s Medusa and 1972’s You Are the Music … We are the Band, this set finds Hughes and pals giving “Coast to Coast,” “Seafull” and the warm, charming little ditty “Good Love” a soulful rendering, with some sophisticated jazz-fusion passages – as well as a stormy, yet melodic, take on “Jury” – thrown in for good measure.

All the colors of Hughes’s rainbow are display on Disc 1, where the rugged hard-rock stomp and thick grooves of both Hughes/Thrall’s “Muscle & Blood” – off their self-titled 1982 album – and “Crave,” from Hughes’s solo LP First Underground Nuclear Kitchen, move with purpose and bad intentions, with just a touch of psychedelic soul making the choruses bloom, as they also do in the sunny, kaleidoscopic R&B feasts “Love Communion” and “Don’t Let Me Bleed.” Stevie Wonder, who once called Hughes his favorite white singer, would be duly impressed, although he might blanch at their lengthy and unnecessarily bloated 20:36 reading of Deep Purple’s “Mistreated.”

Originally recorded by Purple for the seminal 1974 album Burn, Hughes’s first appearance on record with the band after he’d replaced departed bass player Roger Glover and David Coverdale had stepped in for Ian Gillan, “Mistreated” opens with an imaginative and beguiling Kollman guitar solo that’s gentle and delicate in parts and fluid and fiery in others. Still, this take is somewhat turgid and missing the smoldering bluesy character of the original, with some of Hughes’s vocal histrionics going a bit too far at the finish. Despite this misstep, Hughes’s confident phrasing throughout Live at Wolverhampton is sublime, those remarkable pipes of his sounding just as clear as they did 40 years ago.

When he screams, “I’m a man,” at the end of “Muscle & Blood,” you don’t doubt it for a second, and he chooses his partners well – Stevens’ amazing stick work in “You’ve Got Soul” is intricate and propulsive, and both he and Kollman, who sounds like a hundred of the greatest guitar players of all-time all rolled into one, seem perfectly in sync with whatever’s going on in Hughes’s head. The party for Hughes may no longer involve mind-altering substances, but if Live at Wolverhampton is any indication, it’s raging hotter than ever for a man who’s found serenity and happiness.
-            Peter Lindblad

CD Review: Deep Purple – Live in Paris 1975


CD Review: Deep Purple – Live in Paris 1975
earMusic/Eagle Rock Entertainment
All Access Review: A-

Deep Purple - Live in Paris 1975 2013
The balance of power had already shifted within Deep Purple, and Ritchie Blackmore could read the writing on the wall. With the arrival of singer David Coverdale and bassist/vocalist Glenn Hughes, Deep Purple was entering a new phase, one that would see the band incorporating more of the northern English soul and R&B sensibilities of its newest members, while veering away from the cyclonic mix of nitro-burning hard rock and swirling classical music that Blackmore and others within Purple favored.

He didn't want to stick around to watch the transformation take hold. On April 17, 1975, the guitar icon, and one of the true architects of Deep Purple’s progressive sound, would play his last note for Deep Purple – that is until the Mark II lineup reunited for 1984’s Perfect Strangers album. He went out in a blaze of glory, as Blackmore’s high-voltage fretwork sends electricity shooting through the digitally remixed – and re-mastered from the original multi-track recordings – two-disc Live in Paris 1975, which documents that final Blackmore performance, prior to forming Rainbow, with amazing clarity and expansive volume. Recorded for optimum impact, Live in Paris 1975 actually benefits from the tension between Deep Purple’s warring camps, as that artistic push and pull fuels what is a dynamic, thrilling, once-in-a-lifetime performance from a band on the verge of big, sweeping changes. 

Sparks fly from the start as Deep Purple, absolutely on fire this particular night at the Palais des Sports in Paris, launches into hot-wired, frenzied versions of “Burn” and “Lady Double Dealer” that leave their witnesses gasping for air – the vigorous riffing and scorching, yet tricky, leads of Blackmore’s playing off Jon Lord’s dizzying organ maneuvers and the precision of Ian Paice’s stampeding drums. Just as feverish, “Stormbringer” is a power surge of insistent, hammering riffs and wailing vocals, loaded with Coverdale’s hairy-chested machismo and illuminated by Hughes’s starry croon. Blending so perfectly, the two give a smoldering, smoky rendering of “The Gypsy” here that offers a vision of what Deep Purple, Mark IV, had in store melodically for the world.

Having dispensed with some of their tighter, more compact material early on, Deep Purple embarked on long, extended jams the rest of the way, including the 20:09 “You Fool No One,” with its Cream-like, bluesy combustibility, a spellbinding organ intro from Lord and stunning drum and guitar soloing from Paice and Blackmore, respectively. Even longer and more abstract, with a playful nod to the theme from “2001: A Space Odyssey,” the classic “Space Truckin’” clocks in at 22:12, and after going into overdrive around the four-minute mark and flying around its familiar routes with reckless abandon and exuberance, Deep Purple goes off in various directions, expanding the possibilities of a song that’s never been bound by limits or borders – the sinewy funk of Hughes’s bass and his improvised singing, so clear and commanding, compelling the band to drive harder and soar higher, even if his lovelorn scatting seems somewhat out of place.

But this is Blackmore’s stage, and his playing is not just technically sound on this auspicious occasion, but it’s also fiery and impassioned. Along with painting the anguished, bluesy expression of “Mistreated,” Blackmore propels “Smoke on the Water” and the closer “Highway Star” – Coverdale lending that track a little more sexual heat than it had previously – ahead with searing six-string savagery and the occasional crazed arpeggio as Purple, its improvisational instincts as keen as ever, plows ahead, gathering momentum and driving both songs straight off the cliff without any fear of what awaits them below. Perhaps the most interesting facet of Live in Paris 1975, however, is the 24 minutes of in-depth interview recordings tacked on as a bonus feature. Set against a backdrop of the music directly piped in from Live in Paris 1975, it’s utterly fascinating to hear members of Deep Purple offer their perspectives on what was happening within the band at the time, while also hashing over studio sessions that birthed some of Mark IIIs best work and offering great insight into their creative process. 

The transition was not an easy one for Deep Purple, and substance abuse would eventually tear the Mark IV edition apart, but not before Tommy Bolin arrived to let everyone get a glimpse of his prodigious talent on the vastly underrated Come Taste the Band. On the vital Live in Paris 1975, however, Blackmore made damn sure nobody forgot who made Deep Purple a household name. (www.eagle-rock.com)

– Peter Lindblad

CD Review: Various Artists - Re-Machined - A Tribute to Deep Purple's Machine Head


CD Review: Various Artists – Re-Machined – A Tribute to Deep Purple’s Machine Head
Eagle Records
All Access Review: B+
Re-Machined - A Tribute to Deep Purple's Machine Head 2012
“Why in the world would anybody bring a flare gun to a Frank Zappa concert, let alone shoot it off inside the venue?” Even after all these years, isn’t that the question that springs to mind every time “Smoke on the Water” and that swinging sledgehammer of a riff, seemingly plucked out of thin air by that six-string magician Ritchie Blackmore, comes crashing through the speakers?
Whatever the reasons for such a brain-dead decision, it certainly had far-reaching consequences for Deep Purple. As related through the oral history of “Smoke on the Water,” Blackmore and company went to Montreux, Switzerland to make a record. They’d rented the Rolling Stones’ mobile studio and were all set to head into the Montreux Casino to record their archetypal heavy-metal manifesto, Machine Head, an album with all the driving horsepower of the finest Mustangs Ford ever manufactured. Then, that infamous “stupid with a flare gun” got trigger-happy and set off a blaze that burned the entire complex to ash, forcing a rather desperate Deep Purple to find other another place to make history. Through the ice and snow, the Mark II lineup hauled that mobile to an almost completely vacant hotel, where the band, working under severe time constraints and less-than-ideal conditions, somehow managed to forge a masterpiece.
The stakes, of course, were not nearly as high, but in some ways, this was rock music’s Apollo 13 moment – a small crew a long ways from home, their master plans derailed by a fire and other acts of God, forced to scramble and improvise on the fly to accomplish what they’d set out to do. On some level, what Deep Purple did was heroic, all the more so considering the incredible results produced by their perseverance and ingenuity. And so, with 2012 being the 40th anniversary of their groundbreaking accomplishment, it’s hard to imagine an album more deserving of a mostly sincere, star-studded homage as Re-Machined – A Tribute to Deep Purple’s Machine Head, which has taken on greater significance with the fairly recent passing of legendary Purple keyboardist Jon Lord and news of the band's nomination for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Getting behind the wheel of “Highway Star,” Chickenfoot and the thrown-together combination of Glenn Hughes, Steve Vai and Chad Smith open up the throttle on differing, frenzied versions of one of the greatest car songs of all-time, with Chickenfoot’s thundering, hot-wired live test-drive of the original wildly pushing into the red and Smith-Hughes-Vai’s take smoking its tires and leaving terra firma to soar into the stratosphere on Hughes’ prayerful wail. On their earthy funk workout of “Maybe I’m a Leo,” Smith and Hughes, a one-time member of Deep Purple’s Mark III crew, lock into the kind of chunky, soulful rock grooves that thicken and add organic, savory flavor to what was somewhat of a thin, starry-eyed stew cooked up by Purple so long ago, while “Lazy” gets a smoldering, bluesy makeover by guitarist Joe Bonamassa and screaming singer Jimmy Barnes.
Less inspired, Metallica’s surprisingly atrophied reworking of “When A Blind Man Cries” – not included on Machine Head initially, as it was a B-side of the “Never Before” single – doesn’t gnash its teeth or exhibit the kind of dynamic energy one would expect of them. Worse yet, the Flaming Lips disappointingly choose to take the piss out of “Smoke on the Water” and robotically dance with this sacred cow, much as Devo did in deconstructing the Rolling Stones’ “Satisfaction.” Arty and interesting in its own way, it also seems a waste of the Lips’ prodigious talent and even more proof that they’ve lost their way, whereas Iron Maiden simply plow through an explosive and gripping, if perhaps a bit too faithful, cover of “Space Truckin’” – recorded in 2006 as a B-side while making A Matter of Life and Death, and it’s sat on the shelf ever since.
What better time for it to find new life, and what better time for Joe Elliot, Steve Stevens, Duff McKagan and Matt Sorum to come together as Kings of Chaos and vigorously shake some glam action out of “Never Before,” or for Carlos Santana and Papa Roach’s Jacoby Shaddix to smoothly maneuver through “Smoke on the Water,” with Santana playing off Blackmore’s riffage and making the track a multi-cultural experience. And then there’s Black Label Society, these hairy metal barbarians storming the gates of “Never Before,” with Zakk Wylde’s wah-wah guitar supernovas barely shining through nests of grungy folk. Diverse, with examples of incredible musicianship, Re-Machined takes some liberties with Machine Head, and more often than not, they’re worth the gamble. Maybe now everyone will forget about that damned flare gun.
-            Peter Lindblad

Deep Purple "Phoenix Rising"

Deep Purple "Phoenix Rising" 
Eagle Vision
All Access Review: A - 


All was not well with Deep Purple when version Mark IV accepted a lucrative offer to jet off to Jakarta, Thailand, to play before a people hungry for just a little taste of big-time, arena-sized, hard rock. For starters, Mark IV had in its stable not one, but two, drug-crazed toxic twins in bassist/vocalist Glenn Hughes and guitar wunderkind Tommy Bolin, both of whom were being dragged to their own personal hells by severe addictions and free-for-all excess. That factor alone should have spelled doom for Mark IV, but there were other divisive issues, like the fact that keyboardist Jon Lord wasn’t completely onboard with the soulful, more groove-oriented direction of the newly constituted lineup, now down to two original members, Lord and drummer Ian Paice. The old guard was, somewhat reluctantly, ceding authority to the new one, and into the void of leadership stepped Hughes, Bolin and hairy vocal god David Coverdale, who had replaced Ian Gillan.

Their styles inevitably clashed. And Lord will tell anybody who cares to listen that 1975’s Come Taste the Band was really not a Deep Purple album. It was a Hughes-Coverdale-Bolin project, backed by two longtime Deep Purple veterans, as Lord explains in “Getting Tighter,” a frank and revealing 90-minute documentary packaged with the new DVD, “Phoenix Rising,” that delves, often uncomfortably, into Deep Purple’s troubled transition from the Ritchie Blackmore years into its short-lived, turmoil-filled Mark IV phase. It is accompanied by a true treasure, the lost, but incredibly well-filmed 30-minute “Rises Over Japan” concert footage that is now finally seeing the light of day. An electric performance sees Coverdale and company roaring through “Burn,” giving a smoldering rendition of “You Keep on Moving,” slinking around the funky “Love Child” and blazing through “Smoke on the Water” and the scorching closer “Highway Star,” which drives the audience nuts – after all Japan always has been, historically, a Deep Purple stronghold. It’s one of the very rare pieces of film that shows Bolin playing with Deep Purple, and for that, it is absolutely essential. The playing is muscular, Coverdale’s vocals are masculine and sexy, and the band seems invigorated, even if they know the end is near. But, then there’s that documentary, as strangely gripping as a car wreck.

Through gritted teeth, and trying to be as diplomatic as possible, Lord recounts those days of ruin in his own words in “Getting Tighter,” just as Hughes presents another perspective, one of a repentant wild man who has come to grips with the fact that his lurid appetites probably contributed to the fall of one of rock’s greatest groups. It’s a fascinating account of a period in Deep Purple’s existence that has, in some ways, been sort of brushed under the rug … with good reason. For all involved, it’s not a particularly pleasant episode – Coverdale would not even consent to take part in the film. These were, after all, the last days of Deep Purple – yes, different versions of the band would later reunite, but for all intents and purposes, this was it. And for Hughes, especially, that brief time he was with Deep Purple, as artistically gratifying as it may have been, was when his addiction took hold. 

Then, there was Jakarta, a tragic piece of history that would rank right up there with Altamont had it not happened in a place ignored by most of the world, like Thailand. Not pulling any punches, Lord and Hughes, the only Deep Purple members interviewed here, explain in detail what happened to Purple. From the notorious California Jam gig, where Blackmore memorably destroyed a TV camera in a complete onstage meltdown, on through Hughes’ recruitment, Mark III’s Stormbringer and Blackmore’s subsequent departure, and then trumpeting Bolin’s flamboyant arrival, the drugs and the Jakarta incident, followed by the almost anticlimactic breakup.

For those unfamiliar with the Jakarta story, it’s a murky tale to be sure. Invited to play Jakarta as the first rock band from the U.K. or America to play Thailand, Deep Purple gladly accepted a big cash offer to do it. Met with incredible fanfare – oddly way-over-the-top as Hughes recalls riding with tanks and soldiers on a convoy through town, as the people lavished the band with an outpouring of affection – Deep Purple experienced corrupt promoters who tried to stiff them on their payment and stuff over 100,000 people into a 50,000-seat stadium. Then, there was the murder of one of the minders hired to care for Hughes and Bolin. Hughes was arrested for the crime, and the band was forced to play a second show while grieving terribly for its loss. Hughes openly describes the duress he was under and recounts how thuggish security guards turned the dogs loose on the crowd, as all hell broke loose and fans were mauled by the animals.

Not a pretty picture, is it? Well, neither is the guitar case of cocaine Lord says he saw. This is as ugly a story of rock ‘n’ roll excess as has ever been told, though there are bright spots. The amount of rare vintage concert footage, from various phases of Deep Purple’s life, is astounding, as are the interview pieces from yesterday with Bolin and Paice and the film of Deep Purple, and its entourage, actually in Jakarta, getting off the plane and setting up for those doomed shows. And for all of Lord’s reservations about Come Taste the Band, he does extol the virtues of Bolin’s thrilling musicianship and the album’s strengths as a rock record. For his part, through the self-flagellation, Hughes also seems to sincerely view the work on that record as one of the most artistically rewarding times of his life.

And so, what’s here is an amazing tale, one that’s far more than just a tawdry, sensationalized “Behind the Music” stumble into the gutter. But, questions remain, such as why no Coverdale? Why is he not a part of this? And why are Hughes and Lord the only ones talking? Couldn’t the filmmakers bring a broader perspective to the documentary? If “Phoenix Rising” – and its centerpiece “Getting Tighter” – comes up a bit a short, this is the reason. Ultimately, however, there is so much to love about this collection. The electronic press kit for Come Taste the Band in “Phoenix Rising” is a wonderfully detailed look at the record, complete with a track-by-track assessment by Hughes and Lord. And that’s not all. There is also a great reproduction of an old Record World magazine section devoted to Deep Purple that includes a wide array of interviews with band members and their associates, advertisements, photos … if the documentary wasn’t enough for you, this should seal the deal. Furthermore, there is a special two-disc DVD/CD package that will include an audio version of “Rises Over Japan.” Run, don’t walk, to get this.

-          Peter Lindblad