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.
Ok, this may be a bit too left field for this site, but what the hell…
In my humble opinion, one the greatest live performances ever recorded in any music genre, pretty much the “Made in Japan” of Funk, and the only example I know of a full arena singing a bass line that isn’t by Rush (on the song “Dean Town” *).
Whole show filmed on a single iPhone by a friend of the band onstage.
(*) Features Joe Dart on the [Music Man] Joe Dart [Signature Model Bass].
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