Muirsical Exceptions...to the Rule.
There will be many, if not all, readers or rock music fans visiting this site who probably feel I take the opposite or ‘alternative’ musical view simply for effect, to play Devils Advocate, or to try an gain a reaction.
I do take on the role of Devils Advocate on occasion, but the following examples are genuine muirsical exceptions to the musical rule, which I find quite intriguing and hopefully others will find interesting (and some will agree with).
My ‘band or brand’ philosophies, featured in a number of my other articles or ‘muirsical’ commentaries, may make some of these exceptions more understandable, and to find out how far back those band brandings go we have to revisit the days that giants walked across the rock and roll landscape.
And not jolly green ones, either. Purple ones…
In 1975 Deep Purple’s original guitarist and major player in the Purple sound, Ritchie Blackmore, left the band and was replaced by American Tommy Bolin, who appeared on the album 'Come Taste the Band' later that same year.
For many, the Mk II line up (as they became known in retrospective Purple history) featuring Blackmore and vocalist Ian Gillan were the definitive or 'classic' Purple line up, and one of the biggest and best heavy rock bands on the planet (the Mk II version existed from 1969-73).
However by the time Bolin arrived David Coverdale had already replaced Gillan, two years prior, and the only original Purple members that remained were drummer Ian Paice and Jon Lord on the keyboards.
Come Taste the Band was as much rhythm and funk as heavy rock, due in part to bass player Glenn Hughes’ stylings and Bolin’s impact, but with the subsequent tour/s being decidedly hit and miss (primarily because drugs dominated rather than the music, especially in the case of Hughes and Bolin), the guitarist having many off nights and faced with the almost impossible task of replacing the ‘irreplaceable’ (in the eyes and ears of many fans and critics) Ritchie Blackmore, the band imploded and split in mid-1976, leaving Come Taste the Band as their final studio hurrah, now seen as a disappointing full stop to Deep Purple’s initial run, and regarded as a poor album by many.
I, on the other hand, love it, and it’s one of my all-time favourite albums.
Indeed, I don’t own a copy of the Purple ‘must haves’ such as ‘In Rock’ and ‘Machine Head’, preferring to have a compilation and a few definitive live Purple performances (of the Mk II, III and IV line ups) in the muirsical collection.
More interestingly, I truly believe we are observing the first musical/ artist ‘branding’ with Come Taste the Band - with Blackmore’s departure, only Paice and Lord remaining from the original line up, and the radical change of style along with Bolin’s influence, an arguably far more appropriate and accurate title could have been created by adding just one more letter...
There will be many, if not all, readers or rock music fans visiting this site who probably feel I take the opposite or ‘alternative’ musical view simply for effect, to play Devils Advocate, or to try an gain a reaction.
I do take on the role of Devils Advocate on occasion, but the following examples are genuine muirsical exceptions to the musical rule, which I find quite intriguing and hopefully others will find interesting (and some will agree with).
My ‘band or brand’ philosophies, featured in a number of my other articles or ‘muirsical’ commentaries, may make some of these exceptions more understandable, and to find out how far back those band brandings go we have to revisit the days that giants walked across the rock and roll landscape.
And not jolly green ones, either. Purple ones…
In 1975 Deep Purple’s original guitarist and major player in the Purple sound, Ritchie Blackmore, left the band and was replaced by American Tommy Bolin, who appeared on the album 'Come Taste the Band' later that same year.
For many, the Mk II line up (as they became known in retrospective Purple history) featuring Blackmore and vocalist Ian Gillan were the definitive or 'classic' Purple line up, and one of the biggest and best heavy rock bands on the planet (the Mk II version existed from 1969-73).
However by the time Bolin arrived David Coverdale had already replaced Gillan, two years prior, and the only original Purple members that remained were drummer Ian Paice and Jon Lord on the keyboards.
Come Taste the Band was as much rhythm and funk as heavy rock, due in part to bass player Glenn Hughes’ stylings and Bolin’s impact, but with the subsequent tour/s being decidedly hit and miss (primarily because drugs dominated rather than the music, especially in the case of Hughes and Bolin), the guitarist having many off nights and faced with the almost impossible task of replacing the ‘irreplaceable’ (in the eyes and ears of many fans and critics) Ritchie Blackmore, the band imploded and split in mid-1976, leaving Come Taste the Band as their final studio hurrah, now seen as a disappointing full stop to Deep Purple’s initial run, and regarded as a poor album by many.
I, on the other hand, love it, and it’s one of my all-time favourite albums.
Indeed, I don’t own a copy of the Purple ‘must haves’ such as ‘In Rock’ and ‘Machine Head’, preferring to have a compilation and a few definitive live Purple performances (of the Mk II, III and IV line ups) in the muirsical collection.
More interestingly, I truly believe we are observing the first musical/ artist ‘branding’ with Come Taste the Band - with Blackmore’s departure, only Paice and Lord remaining from the original line up, and the radical change of style along with Bolin’s influence, an arguably far more appropriate and accurate title could have been created by adding just one more letter...
The muirsical exceptions connected to Deep Purple don’t end with that album – when the band split David Coverdale moved on to solo work before forming Whitesnake, a band that from 1978-1983 were, in my opinion, one of the finest heavy blues rock bands we’ve ever seen and heard, and were true successors to Bad Company (in their own original form). However Whitesnake too had line-up changes which for me diluted the original chemistry and creativity, and by 1987 Coverdale had remoulded the band to such an extent that he was the only connection to the original ‘Snake, and would later surround himself with primarily American musicians with their own previous, permed the hair, pulled on the spandex and produced a glossy melodic metal derivative of Whitesnake aimed directly at the eighties American melodic metal/ rock market.
The ‘Whitesnake 1987’ album succeeded big time – it became Coverdale’s most successful album as regards sales (8xPlatinum Stateside), critical acclaim, and is seen as a true rock classic by many.
I have a lot of time for old Doris and his vocal ability and legacy, but I wouldn’t thank you for a copy of ‘1987’. Playing louder, faster and flashier may have made it the American success it was, but 'Whitesnake' it wasn’t.
And finally, while I’m on this Purple patch, Deep Purple may also be the first of the big name bands to reform with their ‘classic line up’ (as happened in 1984) which was “destiny” according to Ian Gillan, but more likely, in my opinion, to be the $1M advance allegedly received by each member to reform, record and tour.
However with a number of personnel changes since that reunion they are also possibly the very definition of ‘rock brand’.
Seventies heavy rock was a genre that I was (and am) very much a fan of, and have a knowledge of, but that’s even more true of classic ‘progressive rock’ which had its most creative and successful period between the late sixties and late seventies…
Pink Floyd’s ‘Dark Side of the Moon’ isn’t just a ‘prog’ classic, it’s a classic piece of music, period.
I certainly don’t disagree, bit it’s not my favourite Floyd album (‘Meddle’).
‘The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway’ by Genesis is commonly cited as not just one of the greatest progressive rock works of the seventies, but one of the best examples of ‘conceptual’ prog rock.
I don’t have a copy or particularly like the album (I didn’t ‘get’ it then, I don’t get it now) although I have a fondness for other Peter Gabriel era Genesis offerings such as ‘Selling England by the Pound’, but my favourite Genesis album is the post-Gabriel ‘Trick of the Tail’ which, like Come Taste the Band, would sit comfortably within my own Muirsical Top 20 Albums of all time. For me, it’s the perfect blend of definitive progressive seventies rock and commerciality.
Similarly, Jethro Tull’s ‘Thick as a Brick’ is another that is usually seen as one of the definitive progressive conceptual pieces and indeed many see it as the concept album, and not the Lamb of Genesis.
'Brick' is another that should be right up my muirsical street but like the Genesis classic I don’t have a copy (and don’t particularly like it, either), and as regards Tull and their large catalogue of music, I rate ‘Broadsword and the Beast’ as their best work.
For most people, Yes were the masters of progressive rock in the seventies and ‘Fragile’ and ‘Close to the Edge’ are generally accepted as the Yes classics of the progressive movement.
I have both, like both, yet they are not close to the edge of being my favourite pieces of 'Yesmusic'. That particular muirsical award goes to both 'Relayer' and the Yes album that splits more Yes fans (and the band themselves) than any other...
‘Tales from Topographic Oceans’ is a double album created from musical sketches and ideas by vocalist Jon Anderson and guitarist Steve Howe, and features one piece of music, or theme, on each side of the record (in old vinyl terms).
It is, for me, a progressive and musical classic, yet many fans and critics disliked the thematic concept or simply found it too long, including Yes keyboard player Rick Wakeman who felt it would have made a good single album and genuinely hated playing the pieces on the subsequent tour (the stories about Wakeman having the occasional Indian curry on stage to help relieve the boredom are absolutely genuine).
Yes are another band that have continually reinvented themselves throughout the decades, and to continue my exception rule their ‘progressive pop’ stylings that were to the fore on the Trevor Rabin led ‘90125’ album should be another favourite.
Well actually it is, but it’s not my favourite Yes album of that period – that goes to the third and final album to feature guitarist Rabin, ‘YesTalk’, the album that is usually dismissed by many fans and critics.
The bands transformation from genuine reinvention to Yes brand (as I define it) was complete in 2008 when they replaced seminal lead vocalist Jon Anderson with Benoit David (who’s previous included singing in 'Close to the Edge', a Yes Tribute Band), while Oliver Wakeman took over keyboard duties from father Rick.
I’m not the biggest fan of heavy metal, but there are some classic bands and classic albums in just about any musical genre. But again…
Black Sabbath have on many occasions been called the originators or pioneers of heavy metal which may be accurate, but I simply hear them as one of the finest exponents of heavy (riff) rock on their day, and their debut album along with ‘Paranoid’ and usually ‘Sabbath Bloody Sabbath’ are seen as Sabbath or ‘metal’ classics. Sorry, ‘Sabotage’ for me.
Later exponents such as Diamond Head certainly knew their way around the sonic landscapes of heavy metal and were influences on later bands such as Metallica, but for me their dramatically different album ‘Canterbury’ is a genuine classic, but those dramatic differences were a mixed blessing – it may be the first true ‘progressive metal’ album that people now take for granted or expect from the likes of Dream Theatre, but back in 1983 it was released to complete indifference from a fan base and market that was not ready for its mix of melodic metal, progressive pieces, pop rock, and tunes with strange (by rock standards) time signatures. I said at the time it was genuinely “ahead of its time” and although a few others agreed, most critics at the time were confused by Canterbury, or simply panned it.
Nearly twenty-five years after it’s original appearance it was re-released on CD in a limited collectible quantity, and a number of reviewers second time around saw it, in retrospect as something of a mini classic and a release that was originally “ahead of its time" (including reviews by some of the music journalists that were critical first time around - you know who you are, boys).
The kings of heavy metal may well be Iron Maiden, certainly as regards sales, fan base and global success, and for all they went from strength to strength through the eighties, nineties and into the new Millennium, their finest musical moments for me go back to their earliest incarnation during the New Wave of British Heavy Metal (which came on the back of, and to some extent a reaction to, the British Punk movement). Their first two albums featuring original vocalist Paul Di’anno (more punky tenor than screaming metal countertenor) are my favourite Maiden albums and are superb examples of well written and performed NWOBHM, and their ‘Number of the Beast’ album which followed (featuring vocalist Bruce Dickinson) was a natural metal progression from those initial releases.
A song such as ‘Hallowed be thy Name’ can rightly be seen as not just a Maiden classic but a metal classic, but 'Beast' also had a couple of metal-by-numbers tracks (such as ‘Invaders’) that predicted the way a lot of British metal would head, leaving true progressive metal to bands such as Dream Theatre a decade later.
The three Maiden albums mentioned are the only ones I own, and like.
I have a fondness for some of the more influential or creative ‘melodic rock’ or AOR music of the eighties, and Journey are arguably the most successful and influential or them all. Yet their most successful album, ‘Escape’, is in all honesty my least favourite of the ‘classic Journey‘ era due to it’s purpose built sound and ‘formulated’ (in some places) AOR rock. Still a bloody good album though.
KISS are another hugely successful and classic act and the Kiss Army, along with most music reviewers and critics, will immediately offer ‘Destroyer’ and ‘Love Gun’ as the Kiss Klassics.
I don't disagree, but my favourite KISS album by some way is the critically panned (Music from) ‘The Elder’ of 1981, when the band dared to stretch and produce a conceptual piece which had musical textures with a light and shade not heard on a Kiss album before, or since.
It was so poorly received however that the band decided against the idea of pursuing the planned sequel, which is a shame. I doubt they'll ever revisit the idea.
Towards the end of 2009 KISS released 'Sonic Boom' (their first new studio album in over ten years) to fan and critical acclaim, which was unsurprising as they had purposely written and performed the songs in the style of the "70's Kiss sound" and is not a million musical miles away from the classics cited previously.
On the back of that album's success KISS kicked off their 'Alive/35' tour Stateside, and have since sold out a number of the scheduled 2010 U.K. dates that form part of the European leg of the tour, and are their first U.K. dates (outside of Festival appearances) in eleven years.
However Gene Simmons would have no problems admitting and accepting that he, along with KISS colleague Paul Stanley, are now marketing the KISS brand as opposed to the KISS band, which Sonic Boom (loud and) clearly confirms.
But hey, that's rock 'n' roll in the 21st Century, baby, and KISS look better than most when advertising their new Millennium brand.
Must be the makeup.
Ross Muir
December 2009
The ‘Whitesnake 1987’ album succeeded big time – it became Coverdale’s most successful album as regards sales (8xPlatinum Stateside), critical acclaim, and is seen as a true rock classic by many.
I have a lot of time for old Doris and his vocal ability and legacy, but I wouldn’t thank you for a copy of ‘1987’. Playing louder, faster and flashier may have made it the American success it was, but 'Whitesnake' it wasn’t.
And finally, while I’m on this Purple patch, Deep Purple may also be the first of the big name bands to reform with their ‘classic line up’ (as happened in 1984) which was “destiny” according to Ian Gillan, but more likely, in my opinion, to be the $1M advance allegedly received by each member to reform, record and tour.
However with a number of personnel changes since that reunion they are also possibly the very definition of ‘rock brand’.
Seventies heavy rock was a genre that I was (and am) very much a fan of, and have a knowledge of, but that’s even more true of classic ‘progressive rock’ which had its most creative and successful period between the late sixties and late seventies…
Pink Floyd’s ‘Dark Side of the Moon’ isn’t just a ‘prog’ classic, it’s a classic piece of music, period.
I certainly don’t disagree, bit it’s not my favourite Floyd album (‘Meddle’).
‘The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway’ by Genesis is commonly cited as not just one of the greatest progressive rock works of the seventies, but one of the best examples of ‘conceptual’ prog rock.
I don’t have a copy or particularly like the album (I didn’t ‘get’ it then, I don’t get it now) although I have a fondness for other Peter Gabriel era Genesis offerings such as ‘Selling England by the Pound’, but my favourite Genesis album is the post-Gabriel ‘Trick of the Tail’ which, like Come Taste the Band, would sit comfortably within my own Muirsical Top 20 Albums of all time. For me, it’s the perfect blend of definitive progressive seventies rock and commerciality.
Similarly, Jethro Tull’s ‘Thick as a Brick’ is another that is usually seen as one of the definitive progressive conceptual pieces and indeed many see it as the concept album, and not the Lamb of Genesis.
'Brick' is another that should be right up my muirsical street but like the Genesis classic I don’t have a copy (and don’t particularly like it, either), and as regards Tull and their large catalogue of music, I rate ‘Broadsword and the Beast’ as their best work.
For most people, Yes were the masters of progressive rock in the seventies and ‘Fragile’ and ‘Close to the Edge’ are generally accepted as the Yes classics of the progressive movement.
I have both, like both, yet they are not close to the edge of being my favourite pieces of 'Yesmusic'. That particular muirsical award goes to both 'Relayer' and the Yes album that splits more Yes fans (and the band themselves) than any other...
‘Tales from Topographic Oceans’ is a double album created from musical sketches and ideas by vocalist Jon Anderson and guitarist Steve Howe, and features one piece of music, or theme, on each side of the record (in old vinyl terms).
It is, for me, a progressive and musical classic, yet many fans and critics disliked the thematic concept or simply found it too long, including Yes keyboard player Rick Wakeman who felt it would have made a good single album and genuinely hated playing the pieces on the subsequent tour (the stories about Wakeman having the occasional Indian curry on stage to help relieve the boredom are absolutely genuine).
Yes are another band that have continually reinvented themselves throughout the decades, and to continue my exception rule their ‘progressive pop’ stylings that were to the fore on the Trevor Rabin led ‘90125’ album should be another favourite.
Well actually it is, but it’s not my favourite Yes album of that period – that goes to the third and final album to feature guitarist Rabin, ‘YesTalk’, the album that is usually dismissed by many fans and critics.
The bands transformation from genuine reinvention to Yes brand (as I define it) was complete in 2008 when they replaced seminal lead vocalist Jon Anderson with Benoit David (who’s previous included singing in 'Close to the Edge', a Yes Tribute Band), while Oliver Wakeman took over keyboard duties from father Rick.
I’m not the biggest fan of heavy metal, but there are some classic bands and classic albums in just about any musical genre. But again…
Black Sabbath have on many occasions been called the originators or pioneers of heavy metal which may be accurate, but I simply hear them as one of the finest exponents of heavy (riff) rock on their day, and their debut album along with ‘Paranoid’ and usually ‘Sabbath Bloody Sabbath’ are seen as Sabbath or ‘metal’ classics. Sorry, ‘Sabotage’ for me.
Later exponents such as Diamond Head certainly knew their way around the sonic landscapes of heavy metal and were influences on later bands such as Metallica, but for me their dramatically different album ‘Canterbury’ is a genuine classic, but those dramatic differences were a mixed blessing – it may be the first true ‘progressive metal’ album that people now take for granted or expect from the likes of Dream Theatre, but back in 1983 it was released to complete indifference from a fan base and market that was not ready for its mix of melodic metal, progressive pieces, pop rock, and tunes with strange (by rock standards) time signatures. I said at the time it was genuinely “ahead of its time” and although a few others agreed, most critics at the time were confused by Canterbury, or simply panned it.
Nearly twenty-five years after it’s original appearance it was re-released on CD in a limited collectible quantity, and a number of reviewers second time around saw it, in retrospect as something of a mini classic and a release that was originally “ahead of its time" (including reviews by some of the music journalists that were critical first time around - you know who you are, boys).
The kings of heavy metal may well be Iron Maiden, certainly as regards sales, fan base and global success, and for all they went from strength to strength through the eighties, nineties and into the new Millennium, their finest musical moments for me go back to their earliest incarnation during the New Wave of British Heavy Metal (which came on the back of, and to some extent a reaction to, the British Punk movement). Their first two albums featuring original vocalist Paul Di’anno (more punky tenor than screaming metal countertenor) are my favourite Maiden albums and are superb examples of well written and performed NWOBHM, and their ‘Number of the Beast’ album which followed (featuring vocalist Bruce Dickinson) was a natural metal progression from those initial releases.
A song such as ‘Hallowed be thy Name’ can rightly be seen as not just a Maiden classic but a metal classic, but 'Beast' also had a couple of metal-by-numbers tracks (such as ‘Invaders’) that predicted the way a lot of British metal would head, leaving true progressive metal to bands such as Dream Theatre a decade later.
The three Maiden albums mentioned are the only ones I own, and like.
I have a fondness for some of the more influential or creative ‘melodic rock’ or AOR music of the eighties, and Journey are arguably the most successful and influential or them all. Yet their most successful album, ‘Escape’, is in all honesty my least favourite of the ‘classic Journey‘ era due to it’s purpose built sound and ‘formulated’ (in some places) AOR rock. Still a bloody good album though.
KISS are another hugely successful and classic act and the Kiss Army, along with most music reviewers and critics, will immediately offer ‘Destroyer’ and ‘Love Gun’ as the Kiss Klassics.
I don't disagree, but my favourite KISS album by some way is the critically panned (Music from) ‘The Elder’ of 1981, when the band dared to stretch and produce a conceptual piece which had musical textures with a light and shade not heard on a Kiss album before, or since.
It was so poorly received however that the band decided against the idea of pursuing the planned sequel, which is a shame. I doubt they'll ever revisit the idea.
Towards the end of 2009 KISS released 'Sonic Boom' (their first new studio album in over ten years) to fan and critical acclaim, which was unsurprising as they had purposely written and performed the songs in the style of the "70's Kiss sound" and is not a million musical miles away from the classics cited previously.
On the back of that album's success KISS kicked off their 'Alive/35' tour Stateside, and have since sold out a number of the scheduled 2010 U.K. dates that form part of the European leg of the tour, and are their first U.K. dates (outside of Festival appearances) in eleven years.
However Gene Simmons would have no problems admitting and accepting that he, along with KISS colleague Paul Stanley, are now marketing the KISS brand as opposed to the KISS band, which Sonic Boom (loud and) clearly confirms.
But hey, that's rock 'n' roll in the 21st Century, baby, and KISS look better than most when advertising their new Millennium brand.
Must be the makeup.
Ross Muir
December 2009