Deep Purple – Knocking At Your Back Door
Deep Purple
English legend of modern hard rock and heavy metal pioneers. In their music, they successfully combine classical music with blues-rock, or even elements of pop and progressive rock. They currently play in the line-up – Ian Gillan (vocals, harmonica, conga), Steve Morse (guitar), Roger Glover (bass), Ian Paice (percussion) and Don Airey (keyboards).
In the beginning there was the band, or rather the Roundabout supergroup. It included Chris Curtis (drums), Jon Lord (keyboards), Ritchie Blackmore (guitar). Curtis quickly left the formation. Meanwhile, Nick Simper was accepted on the vacant seat of the bass player, on Lord’s recommendation. the formation was also joined by – Rod Evans (vocals) and Ian Paice (drums). In the spring of 1968, Blackmore suggested changing the name to Deep Purple.
They debuted in July 1968 with the album “Shades of Deep Purple”, which included, among others, a cover of the Beatles – “Help!”. Soon after, they went on tour, playing as support for Cream. Four months later their second longplay “The Book of Taliesyn” was released, with another remake of the well-known song, this time from Neil Diamond’s repertoire – “Kentucky Woman”). Following the blow, in the summer of the following year, their third studio album – “Deep Purple” had its premiere, where the Lord’s playing influences, among others, Bach and Rimsky – Korsakov. After an exhausting tour, it turned out that the current record label Tetragrammaton has huge financial problems and unfortunately has to file for bankruptcy, leaving the musicians without money and plans for the future. Fortunately, the company was acquired by Warner Bros. Records, which has agreed to release the group’s albums. It coincided with a personal reshuffle within the formation – Evans and Curtis said goodbye to the squad. Looking for a new singer – Blackmore suggested young Terry Reid, who declared his willingness to join the newly formed Led Zeppelin, but with time he chose a solo career. Through mutual friends – Ian Gillan, then playing in the Episode Six formation, and bassist Roger Glover were invited to rehearsals. This is how the line-up of the band was formed, which was to go down in music history as “the quintessence of Deep Purple”.
In September 1969, the musicians, together with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, performed at the Royal Albert Hall – “Concerto for Group and Orchestra”, to which Lord wrote the music, and the lyrics – Gillan). It is important because this position remains one of the first – successful fusions of classical music with rock, especially by Gillan and Blackmore. The malicious ones called the band “a group playing with an orchestra”, but the musicians were not discouraged at all. On the contrary, at the end of the following year, the Lord recorded the “Gemini Suite”, which again included orchestral parts.
