Late Deep Purple
Some old bands die, but others reinvent themselves, and become even more iconic.
Some bands just keep on keeping on. Deep Purple has been through a few changes over the decades. Circa 1999, with Blackmore in his quasi retirement with the minstrel lady, Deep Purple tapped Steve Morse to stand in on the guitar and went on tour.
The show in Melbourne Australia was recorded on DVD for posterity, and oh, what a performance it was.
Since I tirelessly seek out killer tunes to share here, let me introduce a classic DP sone, “Lazy”. It starts with a sultry, winding journey by the legendary ivory tickler, Jon Lord. In the original, it is Jon, his Hammon B3, a Leslie rotating speaker cabinet, and a killer vibe.
In this rendition, it is a bit more polished, where he bounces between the traditional acoustic piano (actually, an electric piano that is remarkably lifelike in sound to a grand piano), and his brace of synths. One of them — naturally — is that classic, iconic Hammond B3 sound. A spitting image to the sound pressure waves that emanated from the original analog Hammon/Leslie in the the early 70’s.
Bitchen.
After trading licks with himself between the two distinct keyboards, he nods at the rest of the band, and in comes the bass and Monsieur Morse on the axe.
Look, I love me Blackmore. He fused rock with classical themes long before Yngwie rocked the world with his neoclassical metal, but that was a path blazed by Blackmore.
Steve Morse though, is a monster. An exceptionally versatile player, a guitarist’s guitarist, he has humble roots, playing southern rock, infusing Molly Hatchet and Lynyrd Skynyrd and The Marshall Tucker Band with an edgy hard rock underpinning that is memorable.
After the Steve Morse Band, he went on to play for other great bands, stepping in seamlessly to provide continuity and his own flair. Kansas is one of those stops and he remarked that he had to learn enough of how to play violin to pull off Dust in the Wind. And he nailed it.
What I am trying to say is that he not only stands in for Ritchie Blackmore, but he sticks the landing, and makes it his own.
Did you enjoy that brief interlude to begin your Monday? I sure did!
Woke up to my subscriber count:
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Appreciate your research here. Funny how timeless music can be. My brain “remembered “ this song easily even though it has been several decades since I listened to Deep Purple. Thanks
Awesome Geoff! Steve Morse played with The Dixie Dregs prior to Deep Purple, check em out!