Will the real Deep Purple Please Stand up. It was worth a try anyway. Deep Purple is one of my favorite rock bands, they have so many classic riffs and songs and what a great overall sound, but there have been so many incarnations of Deep Purple it’s truly amazing.

First they were actually called “Roundabout” and consisted of Ritchie Blackmore, Jon Lord, Chris and Dave Curtis and Bobby Woodman. Ritchie suggested the name change to Deep Purple as a tribute to his grandmother and the personel were changed again.

This time it was Ritchie and Jon but then Ian Paice took over on drums, Rod Evans on Vocals and Nick Simper on Bass. This was the lineup that Did “Hush” along with great covers of “Hey Joe” and “I’m so Glad” on “Shades of Deep Purple” their first official album.

Then it was time to switch again, replacing Evans and Simper with Ian Gillan and Roger Glover on vocals and bass respectively. This, the quintessential lineup is the one that cranked out “Machine Head” one of the most enduring and inspiring rock albums of all time.

Shortly after that Gillan and Glover were out and David Coverdale (vocals) and Glenn Hughes (bass) were in. By 1975 Ritchie had had enough and left to form Rainbow. Enter Tommy Bolin a jazz educated American who’s musicianship was without question, but it just wasn’t that easy to replace Ritchie. By 1976 through many difficult tour dates and an erosion of chemistry within the band, Deep Purple disbanded; Coverdale had walked out and Tommy Bolin Tragically died of a drug overdose at the age of 25.

There was an 8 year hiatus in which there was no “Deep Purple” and all of the other members were busy in that time with solo or other projects. By 1984 however, there was a compulsion to reunite the “Machine Head” lineup for a new album and tour “Perfect Strangers”. I Saw this tour right after I got out of college at a High School Football Stadium in Flint and to this day it was the best concert I have ever seen. It was mind blowing, there they were standing no more than 30 feet from me pumping out newly energized versions of Highway Star, Lazy, Smoke on the Water as well as a couple of great songs from the new album.

My ears were ringing for almost a week after that, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything. What a show. They did a couple more albums in the 80’s “the House of the Blue Light” and “Nobody’s Pefect” a live album, but in 1989 Ian Gillan once again was replaced, this time with former Rainbow singer Joe Lynn Turner, they recorded one album together “Slaves & Masters”.

After that the rest of the band besides Ritchie wanted Gillan back for a 25th anniversary album and tour “The Battle Rages On”, but Gillan and Blackmore couldn’t work out their differences and Ritchie walked out on the tour in 1993. Joe Satriani filled in for the rest of the tour, but the band ultimately chose Steve Morse to replace Blackmore and he has been in the lineup since.

My opinion on this is really crystal clear, It’s not Deep Purple without Ritchie Blackmore. I have always felt that way and always will. I have nothing against Steve Morse, he is very talented in his own right, but he just doesn’t fit my perception of Deep Purple. I should note, that Jon Lord is one of the staples (being a founding member along with Ritchie) and again I can’t buy into this collection being Deep Purple without him as well.

Although I liked the music on Shades of Deep Purple and that lineup with Simper and Evans, the ultimate and really only Purple lineup for me will always be the Machine Head lineup of Blackmore, Lord, Paice, Gillan and Glover. Rock on guys!

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