695 Goodbye Deep Purple - Love Conquers All

Chart  entered : 2  March  1991

Chart  peak : 57

We're   going  to  see  quite  a  few  stalwarts  of  the  heavy  rock /  metal  scene  exiting  around  this  time  as  their  cosy  assumption  that  the  genre  was  future-proofed  was  blown  away  by  the  tsunami  from  Seattle.

Deep  Purple's  short  run  of  hits  following  "Black  Night"  was  soon  over  and  thereafter  their  appearances  in  the  singles chart  were  very  sporadic . This  was probably  due  to  the  constant  churn  in  the  band's  line  up. In  the  summer  of  1973  singer  Ian  Gillan  and  bassist  Roger  Glover  quit  the  band  after  a  tour  of  Japan. Roger  had  given  them  notice  so  the  band  quickly  drafted  in  Glen  Hughes  , bassist  with  Midlands  rockers  Trapeze. He  could  sing  as  well  but  didn't  want  to  be  lead  vocalist  so  auditions  were  held  and  the  unknown  David  Coverdale  from  Saltburn   was  chosen. Glen's  interest  in  funk  had  an  impact  on  their  music  which  wasn't  to  Ritchie's  taste  and  he  quit  in  June  1975  describing  their  recent  material  as, ahem, "shoeshine"  music. He  was  replaced  by  American  Tommy  Bolin  who  had  a  long  cv  and  a  real  drug  habit (  as  did  Glen  by  this  point ). He  turned  the  live  band  into  a  shambles  causing  them  serious  reputational  damage. The  band  split  up  in  March  1976 when  David, keyboardist  Jon  Lord  and  drummer  Ian  Paice  all  decided  to  quit; Bolin  was  dead  by  the  end  of  the  year.

The  members  went  into  various  projects, some  of  which  we've  covered  already while  a  set  of  live  EPs  issued  by  the  record  company  were  minor  hits  and  kept  the  name  alive. In 1980  former  singer  Rod  Evans  led  an  unauthorised  version  on  tour  and  paid  dearly  for  it  when  taken  to  court.  Discussions  took  place  behind  the  scenes  and  by  1984  the  classic  line  up  had  all  agreed  to  a  reformation. Ritchie  dissolved  Rainbow  which  also  released Roger  of  course. Jon  quit  Whitesnake  with  David's  blessing  and  Ian  P  was  free  anyway  having  quit  Whitesnake  in  1982 . Ian  G  was  fresh  from  an  unhappy  stint  in  Black  Sabbath. The  band's  reunion  was  successful  up  to  a  point. They  were  a  major  live  draw but  their  albums  were  better  received  in  Europe  than  here  and  the  US.  In  1989  Ian  G  was  fired  and  ex-Rainbow  singer  Joe  Lynn  Turner  replaced  him.

"Love  Conquers  All "  was the  second  single  released  from  their  poorly  received  1990   album  "Slaves  And  Masters"  ( 87  in  the  US, 45  here ). Written  by  Ritchie, Roger  and  Joe  it  unsurprisingly  sounds  like  Rainbow's  latter  day  AOR  material  with  Ritchie's  solo  and  Jon's  string  arrangement  just  window-dressing  on  a  very  plodding  and  dated  power  ballad.

Joe  started  work  with  the  others  on  the  next  album  but  was  fired  in  1992  and  eventually  replaced  by  Ian  G   who  management  wanted  back  for  a  25th  anniversary  tour.  The  band  went  back  to  a  harder,  more  metal  sound  on  the  album  "The  Battle  Rages  On"  released  in  1993 . Neither  of  the  singles  ,the  empty  epic  "Anya"  or  bludgeoning  "Time  To  Kill"  were  hits. Ritchie  was  not  happy  with  the  album  and  quit  mid-tour  that  November.  Joe  Satriani  helped  them  finish  the  tour but Steve  Morse  beame  his  permanent  replacement. Their  next  single "Purpendicular"  had  a   great  single  in  "Sometimes  I  Feel  Like  Screaming" although  without  Ritchie  they  experienced  a  sharp  decline  in  sales  with  the  album  failing  to  chart  in  the  US. "Abandon"  in  1998 only  made  number  76  here.

With  sales  of  their  new  material  so  low  the  band  had  to  tour  extensively  and  by  2002 Jon, an  increasingly  marginalised  figure on  their  last  two  albums,  had  had  enough  and  announced  his  retirement. His  replacement  was  former  Rainbow  keyboard  player  Don  Airey. After 2003's  "Bananas" they  were  dropped  by  EMI  and  their  follow  up  "Rapture  of  the  Deep"  in  2005  was  issued  by  the  German  label  Edel. After  that  the  band  were  divided  on  whether  it  was  worth  continuing  to  record  and  didn't  issue  any  new  material  until  after Jon's  death  in  2012. .The  album  "Now  What ?"  included  a  couple  of  tracks  dedicated  to  him  and  with  Bob  Ezrin  producing  did  markedly  better  than  any  of  their  other  post-Ritchie  albums.

The  band  are  currently  in  the  middle  of  a  world   tour  called  The  Long  Goodbye  Tour  although  they're  coy  about  confirming  that  it  is  intended  to  be  final. Ian  P  suffered  a  minor  stroke  last  year. Another  album  with  Ezrin, "Infinite"  was  released  earlier  this  year  which  reached  number  6 .

We've  covered  Ritchie's  subsequent  career  in  the  Goodbye  Rainbow  post . David's  post-Purple  career  is  of  course  covered  in  the Whitesnake  posts.

Glenn  has  had  a  long  and  busy  career  as  a  session  musician  as  well  as  working  with  Black  Sabbath's  Tommy  Iommi. He  also  had  a  stint  as  Sabbath's  lead  vocalist. He's  released  a  number  of  solo  albums  over  the  years  which have  varied  in style  but  not  achieved  commercial  success. As  he  only  played  on  one  of  Purple's  hits  I  don't  intend  to  investigate  them.

 Similarly  Joe  has  released  a  string  of   AOR   solo  albums,  although  not  in  the  last  decade,  and  makes  a  living  from  touring  in  Eutope