For information about how to use this forum please check out forum help and policies.
Quote
keefriff99Something just seemed off to his playing. Of course I didn't expect him to play like he was 30 again, but the whole reunion felt rushed and slapped together. As I said, aside from the terrific singer, the band didn't mesh.Quote
Hairball
I don't know about that keefriff99 - based on some of the videos I saw of the performance at the time he sounded pretty good to me, especially as he's barely played any rock music in awhile as you say. Hard to judge from videos alone, but will watch again as it's been awhile. As for Deep Purple being better off without him at this time I suppose you're right - they have Steve Morse. But what they don't have is the mastermind who invented all of the major guitar riffs that made them famous back when the band truly mattered. It's now a bit of a forgery, but happy that some people seem to find joy in it.
Ritchie himself said he deals with some arthritis and muscle stiffness so he didn't expect to play like his old self. At least he was honest...and let's face it, the way he used to rip on the guitar was quite a bit more involved than what our dear Keith does, so imagine attempting to recreate those solos with arthritis.
Lol, I've NEVER held Keith's physical problems against him. I just wish he was more honest with himself when it came to trying to pull off solos that he clearly can't anymore.Quote
powerage78
And suddenly, a flash of lucidity and intellectual honesty on IORR about guitar playing level at 70. But not about Keith
Quote
HMS
Some incarnations of the band had less original members. Let Blackmore do his minstrel-thing, Deep Purple does not need him.
Wow, that would have been a disaster. Blackmore's playing is way too exotic for the Stones. He explored all kinds of different scales and sort of laid the groundwork for the neoclassical shred movement of the '80s (Malmsteen, Vai, Satriani).Quote
TheflyingDutchmanQuote
HMS
Some incarnations of the band had less original members. Let Blackmore do his minstrel-thing, Deep Purple does not need him.
I always considered Blackmore as a good replacement for Mick Taylor around 1975, maybe "too good".
Quote
DandelionPowderman
Sounds like classic Purple, doing their signature metal, to me. Pretty good.
Gillian sounds almost like Ozzy now, though. A bit monotonous.
I think he's lost a lost of range and dynamism in his voice due to age, and now he has a very narrow register where he feels comfortable singing. That's probably what it is.Quote
noughtiesQuote
DandelionPowderman
Sounds like classic Purple, doing their signature metal, to me. Pretty good.
Gillian sounds almost like Ozzy now, though. A bit monotonous.
Why does he? This has been my premonition, but as I`ve never allowed meself to listen to Black Sabbath, I could never be sure. It makes me think of a merciless person. This annoyed me during a couple of songs on the "Now What?!" album. I know he has been part of BS for a short period.
Quote
oldschoolQuote
gotdablouse
On top of being a nutter Blackmore"s been useless when it comes to *DP Material" since PS and arguably THOTBL. He had free reign for S&M and it was horrible for the most part, except possibly for the MOR single. He again got free reign (and $2 million) to restart whatever he wanted and let Gillan back in. Who remembers the albums he put out before branching out in renaissance stuff?
Meanwhile DP came up with the great Purpendicular that probably saved the band. It's been up and down since of course...
PS and THOBL were very good reunion albums IMHO. S&M was more like post Dio Rainbow if you like that kind of music and TBRO was mediocre but then again Blackmore really did not want to do that album or tours and in fact bailed on the band who had to enlist Joe Satriani to finish contract commitments I believe.
Listen I agree Blackmore is a arsehole and I don't blame Gillan for not wanting to work with him but he was the main song writer in the old DP so without him it is a much different band for sure. In any case I think not having Lord as well makes a huge difference as he challenged Blackmore to play his best and I think his contribution is sadly underappreciated.
I have seen the current DP with Morse and they put on a good show but having seen the Mk II band live and the 85 reunion tour it is hard for me to consider them as the real DP.
Quote
gotdablouseQuote
oldschoolQuote
gotdablouse
On top of being a nutter Blackmore"s been useless when it comes to *DP Material" since PS and arguably THOTBL. He had free reign for S&M and it was horrible for the most part, except possibly for the MOR single. He again got free reign (and $2 million) to restart whatever he wanted and let Gillan back in. Who remembers the albums he put out before branching out in renaissance stuff?
Meanwhile DP came up with the great Purpendicular that probably saved the band. It's been up and down since of course...
PS and THOBL were very good reunion albums IMHO. S&M was more like post Dio Rainbow if you like that kind of music and TBRO was mediocre but then again Blackmore really did not want to do that album or tours and in fact bailed on the band who had to enlist Joe Satriani to finish contract commitments I believe.
Listen I agree Blackmore is a arsehole and I don't blame Gillan for not wanting to work with him but he was the main song writer in the old DP so without him it is a much different band for sure. In any case I think not having Lord as well makes a huge difference as he challenged Blackmore to play his best and I think his contribution is sadly underappreciated.
I have seen the current DP with Morse and they put on a good show but having seen the Mk II band live and the 85 reunion tour it is hard for me to consider them as the real DP.
I wish I'd seen them in 1984 too, although Gillan's voice was completely shot at Bercy according to the video on YT...I think there was a weird incident when they came back in 1987 with Richie only playing the intro of SOTW for the encore because he was p*ssed off at the promoter or some nonsense like that.
Anyway my point was that Blackmore was completely dried up when it came to DP sort of material. TBRO was terrible absolutely nothing memorable on there ! And then he took the $2 million to do the tour and restart Rainbow in 1994/1995 or whatever it was called and it seems I was right, no one remembers these LPs. Let's see : [www.allmusic.com] : Stranger in Us All (1996), Shadow of the Moon (1998), anyone ? Meanwhile DP delivered the great Purpendicular !
Oh, there's a pre-order for a 6 disc "Big Box" of the new project for €45 on Amazon, tempting ;-)
Quote
keefriff99
I think Gillan blew his voice out when he fronted Sabbath in '83...he hit some ungodly high notes on the Born Again album and was screaming his head off during that tour he did with them, a very-much mocked tour where their Stonehenge set wouldn't fit in many arenas (that's where Spinal Tap got their idea from).
As far as Blackmore...I don't think he's a nutter so much as a moody, egomaniacal prick.
Quote
keefriff99I think he's lost a lost of range and dynamism in his voice due to age, and now he has a very narrow register where he feels comfortable singing. That's probably what it is.Quote
noughtiesQuote
DandelionPowderman
Sounds like classic Purple, doing their signature metal, to me. Pretty good.
Gillian sounds almost like Ozzy now, though. A bit monotonous.
Why does he? This has been my premonition, but as I`ve never allowed meself to listen to Black Sabbath, I could never be sure. It makes me think of a merciless person. This annoyed me during a couple of songs on the "Now What?!" album. I know he has been part of BS for a short period.
Quote
whitem8
Rainbow after Dio was basic cookie cutter 80's schlock rock. Boring. No identity, and did I say BoRiNg?
Quote
gotdablouse
ok, I'll bite, which tracks from the top of your head ?
Quote
keefriff99
Blackmore reformed Rainbow with a bunch of musicians for some festival dates this past summer. The results were rather lackluster.
The singer, Ronnie Romero, is fantastic and can really nail Ronnie James Dio's cadence and timbre, but Blackmore's playing was subpar. Let's face it: he's 71 and has barely played rock music over the past 20-25 years.
DP is better off without him at this point. And that's not even going into his nastiness and egocentricity.