{"id":1562,"date":"2008-07-14T23:21:13","date_gmt":"2008-07-15T03:21:13","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2008-07-14T23:21:13","modified_gmt":"2008-07-14T23:21:13","slug":"deep-purple-and-other-bands","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/deep-purple-and-other-bands\/","title":{"rendered":"Deep <font color=\"purple\">Purple<\/font> and Other Bands for Whom the Decade Changed Too Soon"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe class='youtube-player youtuber' type='text\/html' width='425' height='355' src='http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/KiXcqxms3Bs?rel=0&amp;fs=1&amp;ap=%252526fmt%253D18' webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen frameborder='0'><\/iframe><br \/>\nHang with me, all right? I&#8217;m sure <strong>Townsmen Andyr<\/strong> and <strong>Chickenfrank<\/strong> already know what I&#8217;m getting at, but this may be an alien subject to many of you. I really like Deep Purple&#8217;s &#8220;Hush&#8221; although <a href=\"http:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/index.php\/2008\/05\/12\/let-s-get-deep\">I don&#8217;t like much else by the band<\/a>. For me, what makes &#8220;Hush&#8221; so much better than their big hits from the years following is that they sound like a &#8217;60s band. &#8220;Hush&#8221; has a lot in common with &#8217;60s blues-rock hits I love, such as <strong>Spencer Davis Group<\/strong>&#8216;s &#8220;I&#8217;m a Man&#8221;, the best songs of <strong>Cream<\/strong>, and every one of <strong>Steppenwolf<\/strong>&#8216;s greatest hits. &#8220;Hush&#8221; has a chunky midsection, with large traces of soul music &#8211; no matter how plodding &#8211; that later Deep Purple songs don&#8217;t have in anywhere near the abundance. As the band took on &#8211; even helped create &#8211; the sound of early &#8217;70s heavy rock, they started losing that groovin&#8217;, chunky, soul feel and took on a more brittle edge. (As another point of reference, I&#8217;m sure Andyr will tell you the same thing happened with <strong>Led Zeppelin<\/strong> from their debut to their second album.) <\/p>\n<p>Maybe you&#8217;ve heard the band&#8217;s 1968 take on <strong>&#8220;Kentucky Woman&#8221;<\/strong>. THIS is Deep Purple I can get behind. It sounds like <strong>Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels<\/strong>. Groovy, baby!<br \/><iframe class='youtube-player youtuber' type='text\/html' width='425' height='355' src='http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/nbNVx1BUbKc?rel=0&amp;fs=1&amp;ap=%252526fmt%253D18' webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen frameborder='0'><\/iframe><br \/>\n<!--more--><br \/>\nEven the band&#8217;s overblown, Procol Harum-like take on The Beatles&#8217; &#8220;Help&#8221; is pretty cool and loaded with that &#8217;60s vibe that I favor.<\/p>\n<p>As early as 1970, however, on <strong>&#8220;Child in Time&#8221;<\/strong>, the band was already abandoning its &#8217;60s sound. The outbreak of screeching and wanking is totally uncool, not the slightest bit groovy. Why did the band behind &#8220;Hush&#8221; and some other funny, slightly corny efforts on their debut album have to move into the &#8217;70s so soon?<br \/><iframe class='youtube-player youtuber' type='text\/html' width='425' height='355' src='http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/BJCTrolF3CY?rel=0&amp;fs=1&amp;ap=%252526fmt%253D18' webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen frameborder='0'><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>&#8220;Highway Star&#8221;<\/strong> still has a touch of that late-60s gut-rock.<br \/><iframe class='youtube-player youtuber' type='text\/html' width='425' height='355' src='http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/zR0-R-3rWlY?rel=0&amp;fs=1&amp;ap=%252526fmt%253D18' webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen frameborder='0'><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>&#8220;Smoke on the Water&#8221;<\/strong> has a little bit of that &#8220;Sookie Sookie&#8221; downbeat from the guitar and organ, but other than that they&#8217;re headed for a high-end, larger-than-life approach befitting the era of Shed Rock and Festival Seating.<br \/><iframe class='youtube-player youtuber' type='text\/html' width='425' height='355' src='http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/9jp3de50_d8?rel=0&amp;fs=1&amp;ap=%252526fmt%253D18' webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen frameborder='0'><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>A song entitled <strong>&#8220;Speed King&#8221;<\/strong> does not bode well for those of us who value the restraint, cool, and midsection groove of &#8217;60s music. Sure enough the song delivers the&#8230;<em>bads<\/em>.<br \/><iframe class='youtube-player youtuber' type='text\/html' width='425' height='355' src='http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/p0rAP87B7UA?rel=0&amp;fs=1&amp;ap=%252526fmt%253D18' webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen frameborder='0'><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>By the time of this 1974 performance of <strong>&#8220;Burn&#8221;<\/strong> we&#8217;re talking exclusively lean, white stoner rock, all pomp and circumstance, no more chunky gut-rock. Check out the segment at about 2:20 into this song. <em>My lord, that&#8217;s no longer cool by &#8217;60s standards!<\/em><br \/><iframe class='youtube-player youtuber' type='text\/html' width='425' height='355' src='http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/pfzv3bf9-OY?rel=0&amp;fs=1&amp;ap=%252526fmt%253D18' webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen frameborder='0'><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>So the example I&#8217;ve provided is this one, of the &#8217;60s having ended too soon for Deep Purple. For Andyr, as I&#8217;ve mentioned, the &#8217;60s ended too soon for Led Zeppelin. Are there artists for whom a decade ended too soon, be it any decade? <em>Is there an artist you might have liked better given enough time to develop within the stylistic conventions of the closing years of a particular decade?<\/em> Take your time. Think about it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Hang with me, all right? I&#8217;m sure Townsmen Andyr and Chickenfrank already know what I&#8217;m getting at, but this may be an alien subject to many of you. I really like Deep Purple&#8217;s &#8220;Hush&#8221; although I don&#8217;t like much else by the band. For me, what makes &#8220;Hush&#8221; so much better than their big hits <a href='https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/deep-purple-and-other-bands\/' class='excerpt-more'>[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[342],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1562"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1562"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1562\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1562"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1562"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1562"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}