197 Hello Deep Purple - Black Night

Chart  entered : 15  August  1970

Chart  peak : 2

Number  of  hits : 13   ( Deep  Purple's  3  live  EPs  have  been  counted  in  this  total  because  each   one   is  comprised  mainly  of  songs  that  were  not  previous  hits )

We've  touched  on  this  lot  in  previous  posts  and   will  be  mentioning  them  in  future  ones  but  here  is  their  entrance  in  the  singles  charts, the  first  real  heavy  rock   ( they  were  always  too  bluesy,  and  Jon  Lord's  organ  too  prominent , to  be  "metal")  to  make  an  appearance.Deep  Purple's  is  probably  the  most   famous  of  Pete  Frame's  Rock  Family  Trees. It  would  take  a  long,  long  time  to  cover  everything   these  five  guys  did  before  coming  to  this  point so  there  will  be  some  compression  here.

As  you  may  remember  from  the  Goodbye  post  on  The  Searchers, Deep  Purple  eventually  emerged  from  a  proposal  by  their  ex-drummer  Chris  Curtis  to  keyboard  player  Jon  Lord , who  he  met  at  a  party,   for  a  group  called  Roundabout   where  they  would  be  the  core  members  in  a  revolving  cast  of  players. Apart  from  his  expectation  of  a  key  part  in  it,  that  turned  out   to  be  a  good  prediction  of  the  band's  history. Curtis's  fatal  error  was  to  move  in  with  Lord  and  give  him  an  indication  of  what  life  in  a  band  with  him  would  be  like.

Jon  Lord  came  from  Leicester  and  was  a  classically  trained  pianist. After  working  in  a  solicitor's  office  in  the  late  1950s  he  moved  to  London  to  study  drama  with  the  intention  to  become  an  actor. At  nights  he  played  with  a  jazz  group  the  Bill  Ashton  Combo   and  then  Red  Bludd's  Bluesicians. He  also  started  doing  session  work  and  is  on  The  Kinks' You  Really  Got  Me .  In  1963  Jon  left  the  Bluesicians  along  with  singer  Art  Wood  ( brother  of  Ron )  and  drummer  Red  Dunnage  to  form  the  Art  Wood  Combo, later  The  Artwoods.

The  Artwoods  were  a  tight  R &  B  outfit  , like  Them  with  a  heavier  organ  sound, and  are  still  well  remembered  on  the  mod  scene  by  people  who  don't  have  the  slightest  interest  in  Deep  Purple. Art  Wood  could  get  pretty  close  to  Van  Morrison's  snarl. For  a  hitless  band  they  had  a  surprisingly  long  recording  career  ( 1964  to  1967 ) , Decca  cutting  them  plenty  of  slack  because  they  were  a  popular  live  act  and  Parlophone  and  Fontana  giving  them  a  further  chance  each. All  their  singles - "Sweet  Mary", "Oh  My  Love", "Goodbye  Sisters" "I  Take  What  I  Want" "I  Feel  Good" and  "What  Shall  I  Do"  - are  worth  a  listen  but  they  lack  a  certain  pop  nous  that  would  have  seen  them  in  the  charts. After  a  rather  desperate  name  change  to  "St  Valentine's  Day  Massacre" for  a   ( not  bad  ) version  of  "Brother  Can  You  Spare  A  Dime"  , all  to  try  and  cash  in  on  Bonnie  and  Clyde's  popularity  they  split  up  at  the  end  of  1967. Jon  accepted  the  invite  to  tour  as  a  Flowerpot  Man  but  doesn't  feature  on  any  of  their  recordings. He also  formed  a  very  short-lived  combo  "Santa  Barbara  Machine  Head  " with  Ron  Wood   who  recorded  a  handful  of  tracks  for  Immediate  which  were  released  on  a  sampler  album  in  1968.

Much  more  important  were  the  talks  he  was  having  with  aspiring  rock  manager  Tony  Edwards  and guitarist  Ritchie  Blackmore  about  setting  up  the  group  initially  suggested  by  Chris  Curtis. Although  four  years  younger  than  Jon,  Ritchie  had  a  longer   recording  career  having  been  spotted  as  a  teenage  guitar  prodigy  by  Screaming  Lord  Sutch  and  then   drafted  into one  of  Joe  Meek's  house  bands,  The  Outlaws,  originally  set  up  to   back  Mike  Berry  in  1960. Ritchie  joined  them  early  in  1963, in  time  to  play ( not  very  noticeably )  on  Berry's  number  36  hit  "My  Little  Baby" . As  well  as  playing  on  singles  by  some  of  Meek's   other acts  including  Heinz, John  Leyton  and  Glenda  Collins,  The  Outlaws  were  allowed  to  make  their  own  records  though  their  two  hits  came  before  Ritchie  joined.

Ritchie's  debut  single  with  the  band  was  inauspicious ; "Poppin  Medley"  was  an  uninspired  medley  of  recent  hits,  including  Telstar ,  stretched  across  both  sides  of  the  record. For  brand  protection  it  was  released  under  the  name  "The  Chaps"  and  promptly  sank  without  trace. He  appeared  on  four  more  singles  with  The  Outlaws  in  1963-4. "The  Return  Of  The  Outlaws"  is  Telstar  with  Ritchie's  guitar  replacing  the  clavioline  and  gunshots  instead  of  space  noises. "That  Set  The  Wild  West  Free"  is  a  jaunty  country  rock  number  with  Chas  Hodges  before  he  discovered  he  was  a  Cockney  doing  the  vocal. "Law  And  Order"  is  an  attractive  guitar  instrumental  which  they  got  to  perform  in  the  film  Live  It  Up.  His  final  single  with  them  was  a  version  of  Little  Richard's  "Keep  A  Knockin"  which   is  surprisingly  heavy  for  its  time.  In  1964  Ritchie  moved  over  to  Heinz's  band  The  Wild  Boys  playing  on  his  last  hit  "Digging  My  Potatoes" and  the  Dylan  cover "Don't Think Twice It's  Alright". In  March  1965  he   released  a  solo  single  "Getaway"  ( a  co-write  with  Hodges )  a   raucous  instrumental  surprisingly  dominated  by  brass  and  piano. He  moved  on  to  Neil  Christian  and  the  Crusaders  though  soon  moved  on  again , back  into  Screaming  Lord  Sutch's  band  in  time  to  play  on  their  last  single  for  Meek  ,"The  Train  Kept  A  Rollin'". Ritchie  continued  doing  session  work  for  Meek  almost  to  the  end   although  he  was  in  Hamburg  with  his  girlfriend  when  Meek  died.  The  call  from  Tony  Edwards  came  soon  after.

Jon  Lord  brought  in  bassist  Nick  Simper  who  had  been  playing  with  him  in  the  Flowerpot  Men. Ritchie  invited  Bobby  Woodman  , an  experienced  drummer  from  Vince  Taylor  and  the  Playboys. They  had  auditions  for  a  singer  and  Rod  Evans  from  The  Maze  got  the  job.  Ritchie  had  seen  The Maze  play  in  Germany  and,  realising   that  Rod's  defection  would  probably  break  the  band  up, enquired  after  their  teenage  drummer  Ian  Paice.  They  arranged  an  impromptu  audition  while Woodman  went  out  for  cigarettes, not  the  last  time  Blackmore  and  Lord  would  be  cavalier  in  their treatment  of  bandmates.

Ian  had  been  playing  the  drums  in  his  father's  dance  band  at  the  age  of  10. His  first  post-school  band  were  called  The  Shindigs , not  the  same  outfit  who  recorded  a  couple  of  singles  for  Parlophone  in  1965. He  moved  on  in  1966  to  Rod's  band  The  MI5 . They  recorded  one  single  "You'll  Never  Stop  Me  Loving  You"  in  September 1966  before  changing  their  name  to  The  Maze. Their  first  single  "Hello  Stranger" is  a  blue-eyed  soul  number on  which  Ian's  cymbal-heavy  drumming  seems  a  bit  incongruous. The  band  got  a  better  reception  in  Europe  and  recorded  an  EP  in  France  headed  by  a  version  of  "Harlem  Shuffle"  which  gets  heavier  as  it  goes  along   and  certainly  gives  Ian  the  chance  to  show  off  his  skills. After  releasing  an  Italian  language  single  in  1967  they  returned  to  the  UK  to  release  "Catari  Catari"  in  December  1967, a  strange  hybrid  of  Scott  Walker  balladry, Four  Seasons  harmonies  and  hard  rock  rhythm  section. Its  failure  no  doubt  prompted  Rod's  interest  in  the  ad  Jon  and  Ritchie  placed  in  Melody  Maker.

With  all  seats  now  filled  Roundabout  went  on  tour  in  Scandinavia  after  which  they  decided  to change  their  name  to  "Deep Purple"  after  the  Nino Temple  and  April  Stevens  hit  which  Ritchie's mother  liked. Their  first  album  "Shades  Of  Deep  Purple"  was  released  in  the  US  in  July  1968. It's very  much  influenced  by  the  American  band  Vanilla  Fudge  , particularly  three  of  the  four  covers which  follow  their  template  of   slowing  a  song  down  and  including  improvisational  passages  although in  Purple's  case  these  were  more  likely  to  be  influenced  by  classical  music  than  the  blues.  Their   relatively  economical   version  of   Joe  South's "Hush"  was  a  big  hit  in  America  reaching  number  4   and  they  got  to  perform  it  at   Hugh  Hefner's  mansion  for  a  TV  special. The  album  reached  number 24  in  the  US  but  neither  single  nor  album  charted  in  the  UK  where  the  band  were  not  well received.  In  fact  nothing  released  by  this  line-up  made  an  impression  in  Britain.

The  band  were  under  great  pressure  from  the  American  label  to  record  more  material  for  a  large tour  starting  in  October  1968. Even  so,  the  second  LP  "The  Book  of  Taliesyn"  contains  one  less cover ( though  their  version  of  "River  Deep  Mountain  High"  is  over  10  minutes  long  and  doesn't  become  recognisable  until  4  minutes  in  )  than  their  debut. It's  stronger, with  more  ideas  and  a  more  polished  sound. "Shield" ,  a  doom-laden   psychedelic  epic  with  inventive  percussion  work  from  Ian  that  surprisingly  didn't  earn  him  a  writer's  credit  ,is  the  highlight. Two  of  the  covers "Kentucky  Woman " ( Neil  Diamond )  and  a  truncated  "River  Deep..." were  the  singles  reaching  38  and  53  respectively  in  the  US  charts; neither  were  even  released  in  the UK  and  the  album  was  released  six  months  after  it  hit  US  stores. The  album  got  to  number  54  in  the  US. John  Peel  was  still  supporting  the  band  and  they  performed  some  tracks  that  didn't make  the  cut  in  a  session  for  his   Top  Gear  programme   but  he  didn't  like  the  album  finding  it  "all  too  restrained somehow".

When  the  band  returned  to  England  at  the  beginning  of  1969  their  UK  label  Harvest  ( in  reality  EMI )  pressed  them  for  a  single  and  they  rather  reluctantly  came  up  with  "Emmaretta"  inspired  by  a  member  of  the  Hair  cast  that  Rod  was  trying  to  seduce. The  band  didn't  like  the  three  minute  format  and  Jon's  hardly  on  it  ; what's  most  notable  is  that  Ritchie's  playing  is  decidedly  funky, the    guitarist  taking  the  opportunity  to  try  on  a  different  hat.  It  was  only  a  hit  in  Australia  and  the  band  did  not  include  it  on  their  third  album  simply  called  "Deep  Purple". This  included  only  one  cover  Donovan's  "Lalena" , done  as  a  mournful  stoner  ballad  and  not  really  single  material. The  album  was  less  eclectic  than  its  predecessors  heading  in  a  more  hard  rock  direction  closer  to  how  they  sounded  on  stage.

The  lack of  a  hit  single  and  financial  problems  at  their  American  label  Tetragrammaton   led  to  the  album  peaking  at  a  disappointing  162  in  the  US charts  despite  another  tour  there. This  brought  tensions  in  the  band  to  a  head. Both  Jon  and  Ritchie  agreed  that  Rod's  vocal  style, firmly  rooted  in  sixties  pop,  was  not  suited  to  the  hard  rock  sound  they  were  pursuing. Ritchie  later  said  Rod  wanted  to  remain  in  America. Ritchie  also  felt  that  Nick  was  a  passenger  who  contributed  little  in  creative  terms; certainly  he  has  the  least  writing  credits  on  the  three  albums. Jon  acquiesced  in  the  bumping  of  his  friend  and  as  he  later  admitted  , shamefully  delegated  the  task  of  letting  them  know  to  their  manager. Apart  from  "Hush"  and  the  instrumental  "Wring  The  Neck"  from  the  second  LP
the  band  quickly  dropped  all  previous  material  from  the  live  set. Only  Kraftwerk  have  had  more  of  an  aversion  to  revisiting  ( in  their  case  people  even  hearing ) their  earliest  work. Rod  Evans  revived  some  of  it  in  his  disastrous  "Deep  Purple"  tour  of  1980 ; the  resulting  lawsuit  forced  him  out  of  the  music  business  altogether . Otherwise  fans  of  their  early  stuff  had  to  wait  until  2009  when, after  a  low-key  career  with  various  bands,  Nick  started  playing  sets  in  Europe  based  on  "The  Deep  Purple  Mark  One  Songbook"  with  his  band  Nasty  Habits.

Ritchie  hoped  to  persuade  Paul  Rodgers  or  Terry  Reid  to  join  the  band  but  neither  were interested. Attention  shifted  to  Ian  Gillan,   the  singer  with  Episode  Six  ( whose  drummer  Mick Underwood  had  been  in  the  Outlaws with  Ritchie ). He  had  been  a  candidate  when  the  band  first formed  but  scorned  Nick's  suggestion  of  an  audition. Ian  was  a  well-spoken  Londoner   who   decided  to  become  a  rock  singer  after  seeing  Elvis  films. His  first  band  The  Javelins  didn't  record while  his  second  band Wainwright's  Gentlemen  ( later  to  morph  into  another  band  we'll  be  covering  soon )  didn't  get  past  the  demo  stage  during  his  tenure. Impatient  for  success, Ian  accepted  the  invitation to  join  the  band  Episode  Six  in  April  1965  as  a  replacement  lead  singer  for  a  bloke  who  left  to  get  married.

Episode  Six  were  formed  a  year  earlier  from  a  merger  of  two  school-based  bands  and  included Welsh-born  bassist  Roger  Glover .  The  band  had  just  returned  from  a  short  German  tour  and  soon  had  a  record  deal  with  Pye. Like  The  Artwoods  they  had  a  substantial  recording  career  and  there  is  more  existing   footage  of  them  than  there  is  of  the  the  first  Purple  line-up. The  first  single  was  a  Hollies  cover  "Put  Yourself  In  My  Place"  in  January  1966  which  is  a  decent  Who-like  beat  number  carried  by  Roger's  heavy  bassline  ( he  wrote  the  B-side  as  well ). In  these  early  days  they  were  befriended   and  championed  by  then-pirate  jockey  Tony  Blackburn  who  would  sometimes  act  as  MC  at  their  concerts. Single  number  two  was  the  jaunty,  rather  vacuous "I  Hear  Trumpets  Blow" a  Tokens  cover.  In  the  summer  of  1966 , just  before  doing  a  package  tour  with  Dusty they  recorded  a  quick  cover  of  "Here  There  And  Everywhere"  which  is  OK  although  Roger  sounds  like  he's  driving  it  too  fast. In  November  they  tried  putting  their  female  keyboard  player  Sheila  Carter  out  front  with  an  orchestra  doing  Charles  Aznavour's  "I  Will  Warm  Your  Heart"  but  that  didn't  work.

In  1967  they  hitched  their  wagon  to  the  psychedelic  train  and  produced  their  best  single  to  date  "Love-Hate-Revenge" a  cover  of  a  US  hit  by  The  Del-Satins  about   using  a  voodoo  doll  to  wreak  revenge  on  an  errant  lover. They  work  in  some  acid-fried  guitar, crazy  Joe  Meek  ( who  died  on  the  day  of  its  release ) space  noises  in  the  middle  eight  and  some  jaw-dropping  harmonies  on  the  chorus. Perhaps  its  genuine  scariness  frightened  radio  away  but  it's  certainly  worth  investigating.  In  June  they  recorded  a  version  of  "Morning  Dew"  ( just  ahead  of  the  Human  Beanz  version : see  the  Hello  post  for  Dave  Edmunds )  which  was  a  hit  in  Lebanon  of  all  places. This  turned  out  to  be  a  poisoned   chalice  for  the  band  as  they  were  forced  to  do  a  Christmas  season  in  Beirut  as  a  result. In  October  they  released   "I  Can  See  Through  You"  the  first  A  side  written  by  a  group  member  ( Roger )  which  sounds  a  lot  like  The  Who  again  until  1:45  when  a  minute-long  prog  rock  jam  kicks  in  which  must  have  baffled  casual  listeners  in  1967. Its  adventurousness  was  not  rewarded.

By  1968  they  had  to  find  a  new  drummer  and  record  label. They  landed  on  MGM  and  released  "Little  One"  as  The  Episode. Its  loud, brash  production  ( by  ex-Springfield  Mike  Hurst ) makes  them  sound  a  bit  like  The  Sweet  in  their  prime  but  glam  wasn't  ready  to  happen  yet. They  did  a  lot  of  TV  to  promote  it  but  to  no  avail. The  new  drummer  was  a  limelight-hogger  who  had  to  go  and  was  replaced  by  Mick  Underwood. Ian  still  had  enough  faith  in  the  band  to  reject  Nick  Simper's  approach  and  the  band  resumed  operations  on  Chapter  One  records. The  next  single  "Lucky  Sunday"  written  by  Les  Vandyke  is  all  over  the  place  beginning  with  Sheila  singing  plainsong  and  taking  in  Glen  Campbell -ish  country  rock , late  Small  Faces  whimsy  and  arranger  Les  Reed's  MOR  brass  sounds  ( which  Ian  hated ). They  limped  into 1969  and  released  the  rather  desperate "Mozart  versus  the  Rest"  which  attempted  to  follow Love  Sculpture  into  the  charts  with  a  frantic  guitar  version  of  "Rondo  a  la  Turk". It  got  some  radio  support  but  the  public  decided  its  appetite  for  speeded  up  classical  pieces  was  sated  and  Episode  Six's  recording  career  was  over.

Ian  was  recruited  after  an  Episode  Six  gig  in  June  1969. Aware  of  their  need  for  a  new  bassist  and  perhaps  wary  of  going  in  alone  he  suggested  Roger  for  the  vacancy. Jon  and  Ritchie  were  not  convinced  that  Roger  offered  that  much  more  than  Nick  but  Ian  P  thought  they   would  work  well  together  as  a  rhythm  section   and  the  others  accepted  his  advice. Both  Ian  and  Roger  were  recruited  before  Rod  and  Nick  were  told  they  were  out.  Episode  Six  limped  on  for  another  five  years  in  some  form  but  even  Sheila's  brother  knew  they  were  finished  and  took  the  chance  to  quit  at  the  same  time.

The  new  guys  had  little  time  to  find  their  feet.  Harvest  again  wanted  a  new  single  and  they  quickly recorded  a  sombre  version  of  Cook  and  Greenaway's  quasi-religious  "Hallelujah". It's  OK  , Ritchie  plays  some  good  licks  and  Ian  lets  loose  a  couple  of  not  strictly  necessary  screams  to  justify  the  changes, but  it  has  the  feel  of  a  " this  will  do"  effort. The  band  then  had  another  commitment  they  had  to  honour  before  the  next  album,  playing  along  on  Jon  Lord's  pompous  "Concerto  for  Group  and  Orchestra"  with  the  Royal  Philharmonic  Orchestra  at  the  Albert  Hall  in  September. Having  inconveniently  sacked  their  chief  lyricist  Rod  Evans  before  he  had  written  anything  for  the  luckily small  vocal  portion  the  burden  was  passed  to  the  not  exactly  prolific  Ian  G  who  didn't  finish  them  until  hours  before  the  concert  and  they  were  basically  a  prolonged  whinge  about  having  to  do  it.
Amazingly  the  concert  was  a  huge  success. Ian  G  was  note  perfect , the  event  was  televised ,  the album  released  three  months  later  reached  number  26  in  the  UK  charts  and  the  group's  profile was  significantly  raised. But  there  was  a  cost  ; it  made  Jon  the  leader  of  the  band  in  the  public's  eyes  and  Ritchie  never  really  came  to  terms  with  that. The  difficult  behaviour  that  became  legendary    had  its  roots  in  that  frustration.

Anyhow  we're  up  to  "Black  Night"  and  Lena's  enthusiastic  take  is  here : Purple . One  thing  she doesn't  really  touch  on  is  how  casual  its  construction  was , the  product  of  playing  around  with someone  else's  riff  after  a  good  session  down  the  pub  with  the  lyrics  improvised  on  the  spot. When  you  consider  how  much  vinyl  was  expended  before  these  five  guys   reached  this  point   it's  almost  comical  that  such  a  happy  accident  would  hit  the  spot  but  that's  the  beauty  of  Pop.