deep into the purple
at the end of the day, my friend and coworker jay forwarded along a bunch of youtube clips of live performances by deep purple.that sent some good memories pouring in right away. i first got into the band in earnest in my senior year of college when i chanced upon a cheap used copy of '24 karat purple' at mystery train records in amherst. i only knew of their bigger hits, but the price was right and the album title was clever, so i gave it a shot. it wasn't long before that disc became a mainstay on my portable cd player, providing a soundtrack for awesomeness wherever it went. i was consistently blown away by the deep grooves, abundant hooks and ian gillian's sustained, androgynous wails. a couple of years later, my friend mike and i went to the bank of america pavilion after he lucked into a pair of tickets for an incredible triple bill featuring deep purp, thin lizzy and joe satriani, and i quite literally jumped out of my pants when dp ripped into 'speed king' (granted, they were too baggy and i was belt-less, butt still).
when i listen to deep purple now, what strikes me most instantly is that many of their best songs (thinking 'woman from toke-a-yo', 'smoke on the water' and 'highway star') commence with one of the five-piece laying a foundation for a good four bars or so before the other instruments enter in sequentially; the sound has the effect of an anthropomorphic factory in a cartoon coming to life. i really, really love that.
i guess some 24 karat purp's coming to work with me tomorrow.
posted by jomilkman @ 7:21 PM
1 Comments:
i was watching a classic albums thing on vh1 classic the other week talking about how they ran an organ through a half-stack to get that awesome sound.
that's the secret weapon.
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