Starting this thread from the seed planted elsewhere. This is about the music that has nothing (or very little) to do with Deep Purple, that we have discovered for ourselves recently, enjoyed it, and wanted to share with the like-minded individuals in the hope that somebody else might enjoy it too.
And by discovered I mean how it often happens – think Columbus discovering America – people have been living there for 15,000 years already, and he never even realized he has stumbled upon a new continent, previously unknown to his arrogant tribe.
Let’s begin…
A few years ago I’ve (re)discovered Oscar Peterson for myself. Started listening to him in depth, and there’s the same fluidity and playfulness that I love about Jon Lord. Some passages sound even positively JonLordesque. I remember Jon’s interviews, where he listed Dave Brubeck, Jimmy Smith, and Miles Davis among his influences, but don’t remember Oscar Peterson included. Am I imagining things? If I do, apparently not alone.
Simple as that! Since Annika entered the stage of Los Angeles Forum on July 7th with Geddy and Lee, I steadily slid into a Rush hyper slope and now I’m sleighing happily in their universe. I don’t care for all the wars, debacles and excommunications on Peart Vs Nilles. It doesn’t matter. Peart’s legacy is safe and well acknowledged, but he’s gone. Nilles kicked Lee and Lifeson into getting a solid grab and grip of themselves - and now they deliver killer sets on stage in a way they didn’t 11 to 13 years ago. A happy band, with musicians who cheerish their catalogue and happily cross-through an amazing bodywork of music they did up to 2012. I adore them and they’re my alternate music fix for 2026 along with DPF (that never drops from, ekhm, the rider).
Since recent in this day and age can mean a few years… One of the most criminally underrated straight up heavy metal albums of this decade is probably by the eponymous and only album by Paul Di’Anno’s Warhorse, made with a bunch of Croatian musicians.
Now obviously it’s somewhat derivative, very Eighties heavy metal, and not on a par with early Iron Maiden, but as far as Di’Anno goes, it is the best thing he sings on since 1981. He seemed to get it right just as time ran out, and he sadly passed away.
Your admiration for all things Rush is to be commended Martin. Today’s Rush is travelling well and as it is a ‘new’ adventure and as time itself has raised its hand, the nostalgic side of it is bigger and more important than ever. I am enjoying seeing songs that they rarely played live and of course those epics from the glory days of the late 70’s through to the mid 80’s. Anika is a fine drummer and passionate about it and down to earth also, what better drummer could they have. I have often said over the years that Rush could get another drummer, especially after they ‘retired’ or Neil retired in 2015. I am sure Neil wouldn’t have begrudged them that, he was a realist and did not have an ego issue with it all. Anyway, onwards and upwards as they say. Cheers.
Thanks MacGregor, I can only say I almost went out of mee head and crying when they got into A Farewell to Kings on the 4th night in LA. How cool it must feel to take on such a great track after 46 years since last time? And there’s plenty more there that really get people going like The Pass… Oh, we could probably go on from here.
What really strikes a chord with me out of that is that’s exactly what I would love to happen with Deep Purple. On most of their albums there are songs that are so damn good, but never got a live airing… Don’t Make Me Happy, Picture of Innocence, Weirdisrtan, Clearly Quite Absurd are the 4 big lost gems that come to my mind. I also had a sneak chance to ask Roger Glover why they never gave a chance to Loosen My Strings, and he straightened me in reminding that they did couple of times in 2006, but it didn’t work. I found it on some bootleg from 2007 and… It indeed was strangely lifeless there, like there was no concept how to keep this immense spirit from the studio version on the stage. And a funny story for the end - I actually witnessed Don’t Make Me Happy live… But to make it happen, the Polish annual DPF convention had to invite a Czech tribute band to play a gig for us. And they did it and it was brilliant.
Some time ago I stumbled on YT upon this terrific bluegrass band The Dead South. Contrary to their name, they are actually from Saskatchewan, Canada. This video that caught my attention went viral and by now have clocked 478 Million views.
Back to our topic… This is an actual discovery of sorts that I bet none of you have ever heard before. For some chikin pikin’: ladies and gentlemen, it is the distinct pleasure of the management to present you the homeboy Joe Ray McDonald. He describes his style as “hillbilly jazz”. It is a slightly weird and wonderful mixture of country, rock, blues, and jazz.
The one I want to throw at you boys and boys isn’t as much a recent one, as more one that really was like a nail to the head. It’s not that I didn’t know what Steve can do. But let me tell you, after I saw it first time… I watched it few times daily for two weeks, day after day. I know that many of us following guitarists extraordinaries probably have hands full of such epiphanies, but… That’s so otherworldly. To have such an approach to playing that way itself is some feature, sure. But to accompany it with such a theatrical pantomime to boot? That’s almost alien. Notice the face, eyes going to the back of the skull at one point, hands and body language. He’s doing it in multimedia mode. Awesome. And mind you, if the track and Val’s guitar skills still don’t cut it here for you after all - make sure to go to the comments section under the clip. It’s worth the price of admission alone. Maybe these five plus minutes got this guitar pregnant, who knows. Enjoy.
Vai in his earlier years was a very animated player indeed. I remember seeing him with G3 some time in the late 90s and came out with the conclusion that (for a non-guitar-player like myself) it is more interesting to watch him play than just to listen. Then I saw him again about 10 years ago, and it was a big disappointment in the visual entertainment department.
Nick, the disappointment probably was because the guy got older, y’know. I saw SatchVai Band a year ago and they still were amazing, though in a different way. There’s less of a movement but they do make it up with content, their playing slowly but surely matures. And For The Love of God they played together was immense.
Yep, nobody gets younger. But for me, as not a guitar player the visual part is very important. I’m sure pretty much most of the audience consisted of (aspiring) guitar players who lap up the histrionics. I don’t value technical ability on its own. It has to serve a purpose, otherwise what’s the point? Notes played per second is not an olympic sport. That’s why I generally tend to avoid shredders, even such luminaries as Vai and Satch. I have a pet theory that guitar shredding as a genre is only interesting to shredders themselves
I don’t own even a one bootleg where this is performed, and I have a handful from 1998. Can you find a precise date of such show, at least one? Or any recording? This made me very curious.
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Enjoy.
