Continuing my fascination with everything Black Sabbath/Deep Purple, check out this extremely early Deep Purple live oh so sixties version of Hush. Ritchie Blackmore, Ian Paice and John Lord are in the band, they sound great (dig the killer organ solo) but the best part is the groovy dance people – how did these fashions ever leave us?
Steve Morse is easily one of the most amazing and versatile guitar players ever. This is the Gina Lola Breakdown - a country twanged burner - and Steve shows off his complete mastery with unpretentious ease. Unfortunately the sound quality of this clip isn’t the greatest - you need to crank it to really hear it properly.
As incomprehensible as it may sound, Steve Morse is now touring with Deep Purple - how incongruous.
Child in Time - this is classic Deep Purple, back when they were young and extremely sixties. I first heard this song on their classic “Made in Japan” album, but I think this performance is better (although it could just be that the added element of “seeing” it is making me emotional).
Watching the video, I don’t understand how the audience can respectfully sit there when the energy starts to build and Ian Gillian (vocals) hits high notes way up in the stratosphere - but this was before the days of arena rock and it was a different world. Today, the crowd would be a sea of cigarette lighters, leather, and drunk aging bikers looking to party.