Deep Purple - The House of Blue Light (UK 1986)

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Deep Purple evolved out of Roundabout who had been set up when two London businessmen, Tony Edwards and John Coletta decided to invest in a pop group. The name change to Deep Purple took place in April 1968 and coincided with their live debut in Tastrup, Denmark. The following month they recorded The Shades Of Deep Purple album. Musically they followed a pretty straight-forward pop format and the album peaked at No 24 in the US, although it didn't make the UK Charts at all. Similarly, their first single, Hush, a revival of a Joe South song with lots of great guitar work, rose to No 4 in the US singles Charts but failed to gain a Chart placing over here. A cover of Neil Diamond's Kentucky Woman gave them another minor US hit, but over here it was withdrawn shortly after its release.

In 1969 they were signed by EMI's then new progressive Harvest label. They had Exposition/We Can Work It Out and Wring That Neck included on the very rare promo-only Harvest Sampler album. Their first album for Harvest, The Book Of Taliesyn, followed a similar format to their first album. Again, it fared better in the States, climbing to No. 54. A cover of Ike and Tina Turner's River Deep, Mountain High culled from the album, gave them another minor US hit, peaking at No 53. Other versions included The Beatles' We Can Work It Out and a version of the theme from 2001.

Deep Purple, released in 1969, marked the end of their pop phase. It included a good version of Donovan's Lalena. The Painter and Why Didn't Rosemary certainly hinted at the heavier sound to come. Most of side two was taken up by the experimental and classically-influenced extended track April. After this the Tetragrammaton label folded and Simper and Evans were sacked departing for Warhorse and Captain Beyond respectively.

Ian Gillan and Roger Glover from Episode Six came in as replacements to form what is generally considered to be the strongest of the band's four line-ups. Musically this new line-up veered towards a much heavier sound. However, Concerto For Group And Orchestra, the new line-up's first album, attempted to merge rock and classical music with the band being supported by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at the Albert Hall. It gave the group their UK Chart debut, peaking at No 26 and, unusually for them did much better than in the US, where it only got to No 143.

They worked immensely hard in this phase of their career and gradually it began to pay off with Black Night, a superb slice of heavy rock, rising to No 2 to give them their first UK hit single.

Deep Purple In Rock was really their magnum opus. It became a million seller, climbing to No 4 in the UK (but only managing No 142 in the US). This album really is worth checking out with tracks like Speed King, Into The Fire, Living Wreck and Hard Lovin' Man epitomising all that was good about their frenetic brand of heavy rock.

However, there were signs that Ian Gillan, at least, was becoming restless. On 27 October he played the part of Jesus in a live performance of Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber's 'Jesus Christ Superstar' at St Peters Lutheran Church in New York and he'd also played Jesus on the original album.

1971 saw the release of a new album, Fireball, which was similar in style to its predecessor. It topped the UK Album Charts and reached No 32 in the US. The title track peaked at No 15 in the UK 45 Charts at the end of the year, to give them their second Top 20 hit. Strange Kind Of Woman had made the UK Top Ten back in March. On 3 December Montreux Casino in Switzerland burnt down during a Frank Zappa set whilst the band were recording there, this led the band to write another classic song, Smoke On The Water, which was included on their next album, Machine Head. This was another mega seller, topping the UK Charts for three weeks and later climbing to No 7 in the US. In April 1972 Never Before from the album gave them a minor UK hit, climbing to No 35. The same month Jon Lord released an album, Gemini Suite, with the London Symphony Orchestra.

By now the band was deservedly one of the top live attractions in the World - playing the first night at the resurrected Rainbow Theatre in June 1972 and touring Japan in August of that year, where they were extremely popular. Material from some of the concerts on this tour was later released on the Live In Japan album, which later climbed to No 16 in the UK and No 6 in the US. Towards the end of 1972 Warner released Purple Passages, a US-only compilation of material from their three Tetragrammaton albums, and it peaked at No 57.

By now Gillan had made up his mind to leave the group because he felt the band was ceasing to progress, although he remained with the band until 29 June 1973 to honour touring commitments in Japan, where the band members were idolised. He later formed his own band. Roger Glover followed him shortly after, initially becoming the Purple label's A&M man and later pursuing a solo career. The following month their classic song, Smoke On The Water (from Machine Head) was released as a 45 in the US, becoming a million-seller and peaking at No 4.

The previously unknown David Coverdale, who'd been working in a menswear shop in Redcar, Yorkshire, was brought in, along with ex-Trapeze bassist Glenn Hughes, after responding to an advert placed by the band. This new line-up were responsible for the Burn and Stormbringer albums, which were both successful commercially, but this particular incarnation of the band was brought to a conclusion when Ritchie Blackmore announced his departure to form Rainbow on 7 April 1975. His replacement was Tommy Bolin, formerly with The James Gang.

This final line-up recorded a studio album, Come Taste The Band, and embarked on a World Tour of Australia, New Zealand, Hawaii, Japan, Hong Kong, America and Europe. However, it was proving increasingly difficult for the band to harness the undoubted talent of its individual members to best effect and they finally split in June 1976. Inevitably there have been several posthumous releases and compilations.

Upon their demise Coverdale embarked on a solo career later forming Whitesnake; Lord and Paice became two of the trio known as Paice, Ashton and Lord; Hughes rejoined Trapeze and Tommy Bolin formed his own band back in the US. He later died of a heroin overdose on 4 December 1976.

For a good retrospective collection try The Anthology, released in 1985. This doesn't just follow the 'greatest hits' type format - it mixes the best known material with the obscure. In the latter category are three previously unissued tracks:- Freedom, recorded as a follow-up single to Strange Kind Of Woman in 1971, which never saw the light of day until 1985 and two tracks from the 'Roundabout' acetate in 1968 (Love Help Me and Shadows), before the group had chosen the Deep Purple name. Some of their rare 45s (Hush, Emmaretta and Hallelujah) are included, too, and there are plenty of stage favourites like Woman From Tokyo, Black Night, Child In Time and Strange Kind Of Woman. Appearances on Various Artists' compilations have included Into The Fire (from the Deep Purple In Rock album) on Harvest's 1970 Picnic (Dble LP) compilation; Hush on Harvest Heritage - 20 Greats (LP) and, more recently, Shield on the CD The Age Of Enlightenment - Prog Rock, Vol. 1.

As for Deep Purple, they're lovingly remembered as one of the finest and most influential heavy rock bands in the World.

2nd reunion album 1986

01. Bad Attitude - 04.46
02. The Unwritten Law - 04.37
03. Call of The Wild - 04.53
04. Mad Dog - 04.33
05. Black & White - 03.44
06. Hard Lovin' Woman - 03.25
07. The Spanish Archer - 04.59
08. Strangeways - 05.58
09. Mitzi Dupree - 05.05
10. Dead or Alive - 04.43

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