David Coverdale vs. Glenn Hughes

As noted on Facebook, I’ve digested Burn and Stormbringer – the two Deep Purple Mark III albums – yet again.  Moreover, back in 2015 I caught Whitesnake at the NYCB Westbury on their Purple tour, in which they played ‘Snaked versions of DP Mark III & IV songs along with Whitesnake songs. 

The backstory on the Purple album is that Coverdale had originally planned on working with Ritchie Blackmore.  These days Blackmore is doing his Blackmore’s Night stuff, Renaissance music, though very recently he whipped out the Stratocaster again and did some electric shows.  Long story short, the reunion didn’t work out.  [For that matter, current Purple nixed Blackmore’s bid to play with them at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony, despite current guitarist Steve Morse waiving objection to this, presumably because Ian Gillan hates his guts, for good reason.]  So Coverdale is the only former DP member in this project, which remained a late model Whitesnake endeavor.  

One person he didn’t indicate contacting was Glenn Hughes.  His recent deal with Black Country Communion was on hold thanks to Joe Bonamassa’s busy solo schedule.  But I can figure out why.  It looks like the two of them don’t get along together.

Deep Purple Mark III & IV.  In 1973, Mark II fell apart when Ian Gillan quit and Roger Glover was fired.  The remaining members decided to hire vocalist David Coverdale and bassist Glenn Hughes to replace them.  They put out Burn & Stormbringer before Blackmore quit, complaining of the excessive soul/funk direction the band was going, which he dismissed as “shoeshine music”.  They got Tommy Bolin to replace him (Mark IV), did one album, Come Taste the Band, and then disbanded after the trainwreck of a world tour supporting the album.

So what happened next?

David Coverdale.

Whitesnake.   David Coverdale formed this band, which has two phases:  blues-rock (1976-84) (White Snake through Slide It In) and hair metal (1987-present) (self-titled Whitesnake through Purple).   Jon Lord and Ian Paice were in the band on Ready & Willing (1980), making this 3/5 of Mark III.  I prefer the earlier incarnation, and “Saints & Sinners” was the first song I learned how to play on guitar.   The bluesier incarnation certainly has more interesting and provocative album covers, Lovehunter being my favorite.  The Snake is Coverdale’s animal and he’s been the only consistent member.   He really doesn’t need a solo band as this is firmly under his control.   [Steve Harris’ solo album British Lion really makes no sense.] 

Technically White Snake and Northwinds are solo albums, with Trouble being the first actual Whitesnake album. As a practical matter I consider them the first two Whitesnake albums. 

He did a one-off album with Jimmy Page, Coverdale-Page.  It’s heavier and not as AOR as I thought it would be.  I guess this came from all those complaints that Whitesnake was essentially ripping off Led Zeppelin.  Sean C at ASP was a big proponent of this thesis.  After having heard Led Zeppelin I through CODA, and White Snake through Slide It In (not sure anyone would accuse hairmetal ‘Snake of this) I’d say it has a modest plausibility, but not a whole lot. 

Glenn Hughes.

He recorded three albums with Trapeze before joining Deep Purple.  He has 14 solo albums from 1977 (Play Me Out) to 2016 (Resonate), of which I only have Music for the Divine (2006).  There are the three albums with Deep Purple Mark III and IV, plus umpteen live albums associated with those two lineups. 

Black Sabbath & Black Country Communion.    Hughes did a one-off album with Pat Thrall, bounced around, did Seventh Star with Black Sabbath – right after Born Again with Ian Gillan – and eventually wound up with Bonamassa, Jason Bonham, and Derek Shirinian as Black County Communion. 

To be fair, he’s toned down the “shoeshine music” somewhat over the years, but never completely.  And generally he remains on the bass as well as vocals, still a Fender Precision.   

Ipswich vs. St Etienne

Another Wednesday entry as I’ll most likely be in Fo’Lee, NJ on Friday.  Enjoy!

Way back when – 1981 – I was attending a Catholic school in Paris, France, called Marymount.   The NFL was all but unknown and the Internet as well.   Errr, the school did replay the 1982 Super Bowl, 49ers vs. Bengals (with Joe Montana).  Anyhow.  The student body got into a huge uproar about a soccer game (???) between Ipswich (who?) and St. Etienne (who? Part 2).   I figured out that Ipswich was from the England and St. Etienne was from the France.   Did I care?  No.  But I felt like I was the only one who didn’t.

Eons later, with this Internet thing – and having finally gotten “into” soccer, since 2000 – I finally delved into this and determined what the hell was going on.

This was the UEFA Cup Quarter Final – not even a FINAL! – between Ipswich Town FC and St. Etienne (ASSE).   UEFA isn’t even Champions League, which takes the best European teams and plays them against each other (in 1981 Liverpool beat Real Madrid).  UEFA is for the teams not quite good enough to make it into Champions League – think of it as Champions League Jr.   Nowadays Ipswich is in second tier English soccer, demoted thereto in 2002 from Premier League (first division).  St. Etienne is in French First Division but hasn’t won that division since…1981.  Back then they had Michel Platini and were actually competitive.  Not so much nowadays.

Ipswich won that match-up (two games, home and away) and went on to beat FC Koln (German team – currently in last place in Bundesliga 1, in danger of being demoted down to Bunda-2) in the semi-final, then beat AZ (some Dutch team, currently in fourth place in Dutch First Division) in the final.  For all the hoopla about the Ipswich vs. St. Etienne match-up, no one said any word about FC Koln or AZ, which leads me to suspect that 99% of the people going on about it were probably – out of loyalty to the host country – supporters of St. Etienne.  Actually I have two St. Etienne jerseys, and no Ipswich jerseys.  So count me in favor of the French team, although (as noted) I was militantly indifferent to the two at the time. 

If I had to pick a favorite for French First Division I’d probably pick Paris St-Germain, especially now that they have star Brazilian player Neymar.  Arsenal are my favorite English team (the cannon is so damn cool), Bayern Munich for Germany (visited their Olympic stadium in January 1990), and Flamengo for Brazil.  These are mild preferences though, ones the true fans would scoff at.  (Groundskeeper Willie:  “You call this a soccer riot??”).  I don’t have any MLS preference, not even for DC United, the local team – though I have seen them play Bayer Leverkusen and FC Dallas. 

Oblivious to soccer when I lived in Europe, I corrected that somewhat on my latest trip to Paris.  Although Paris St-Germain was out of town playing a Dutch team (RSC Anderlecht, who they beat 4-0), I visited their store, and picked up the newest Bayern Munich away jersey at the Adidas store on the Champs Elysees. 

Soccer vs. Football.   I might as well address this topic, which I don’t feel is substantial enough to merit a blog entry on its own.  I grew up in the US in the 1970s and adopted the Minnesota Vikings as my favorite team, mainly due to three Super Bowl appearances and Fran Tarkenton.  Plus I like purple and the helmets.  While the Vikings have been to the NFC Championship game several times since then – the winner advancing to the Super Bowl – they have not won (yet).  This includes heartbreaking losses to the Falcons, Giants (41-0…WTF?) and Saints (Brett Favre as QB for the Vikings).  While I wear many different soccer jerseys, including jerseys of mutual rivals, for the NFL I only wear one team’s:  the Vikings.  I have an older #10 Fran Tarkenton jersey, a slightly newer Brett Favre #4 jersey (the throwbacks version, not the contemporary version), and two fairly new ones, #69 Jared Allen and #28 Adrian Peterson.  All are home jerseys.  With the obvious exception of Tarkenton – I was 9 when he retired – the other three I purchased when the players were still on the team. 

I got into soccer in 2000 after visiting Rio de Janeiro a few times and even seeing Flamengo play Fluminense at Maracana in 2004 (an unusually exciting game, 4-3 for Flamengo after falling to 3-1), immediately before the Patriots-Panthers Janet Jackson Super Bowl.  I got cable expressly to watch soccer.  Then….never watched it.   I catch most of the World Cup games, particularly Brazil and Germany, and the Final.  The US didn’t qualify this time, but neither did Italy.  We’ll see what happens in Russia.  FYI, NONE of Brazil’s 5 World Cup victories were in Brazil:  they lost in the final to Uruguay in 1950, when Maracana had just opened, and in the semi-final to Germany (7-1!!!) in Rio this time around.

I can’t say I diligently watch the NFL, but you can bet I watch the Super Bowl and most playoff games, and any locally televised Vikings game.  Of the rest I watch about half, depending on who’s playing and how busy I am.   I try to watch Monday Night Football with my brother, but our schedules don’t always allow it.   

Oddly, I’ve seen only one NFL game – Redskins against ??? at FedEx – but several soccer games.  I don’t even watch Champions League finals, nor Premier League, Bundesliga, Serie A, La Liga, nor the Brasileirão.  Mind you, the Vikings have played local games against the Redskins, but even then I didn’t bother.  RFK Stadium, where the Redskins used to play, isn’t too inconvenient, being right next to the metro.  I’ve been to a few concerts there, including two Dead shows and two Metallica concerts.  Actually, I’ve seen soccer games there (DC United and AC Milan vs. Barcelona).  But my brother has warned me off seeing any games at FedEx, which he says is a huge pain in the ass to get to.  Maybe someday I’ll make a pilgrimage to Minneapolis.  I hear they have big mall there, too. 

Of course, I’ve been to more concerts than all sporting events, of whatever sport, combined.  The larger concerts are held at indoor arenas (where basketball or hockey would be played), the biggest at football stadiums, e.g. RFK.  My brother had the unpleasant experience of bringing his son to a Redskins game at FedEx Field (the boy was born long after the Skins moved there from RFK) and had to put up with foul language and behavior from the notoriously ill-behaved Redskins fans.  By its nature, a sporting event celebrates adversity:  the outcome is a zero-sum game with one team’s victory at the expense of the other team’s defeat.  Naturally this elicits a dynamic of aggression and hostility.  Some of the nastier thrash bands do this as well – Slayer and Metallica come to mind – but for the most part at concerts the entire crowd is essentially cheering for the same team.  Moreover I’m far more of a music fan than a sports fan.  Anyhow.

The sad truth is that I find soccer more fun to PLAY than football (though I haven’t played in ages), but football is more fun to WATCH.   Not even close.

SKOL!!!

Y & T

Recently I watched the Band Together show on Metallica’s YouTube channel.  It featured Dead & Co. (the Grateful Dead’s current incarnation) and Metallica (Metallica’s current incarnation) playing live somewhere in Northern California to benefit all the people who were screwed by the recent wildfires going around up there.  Although that place is a bit far off for me to attend in person, fortunately Metallica made the show available live and free on its YouTube channel.  Thank you!   I ignored the bands up to Dead (last one being Dave Matthews…ZZZ) and focused my attention on the last two. 

By now both could be considered the biggest San Francisco bands – rightfully so.   Dead & Company currently feature three original members:  Bobby Weir (rhythm guitar and vocals), Bill Kreutzmann (normal drummer), and Mickey Hart (“world” drummer & percussionist).  John Mayer has taken over Jerry Garcia’s role.  Some unimportant but competent people are on bass & keyboards.   Phil Lesh still tours with Phil Lesh & Friends (apparently Weir, Kreutzmann and Hart aren’t his friends anymore).  Their last keyboardist, Brent whats-his-name, died ages ago, after Pigpen-whats-his-name and Keith whats-his-name.  Anyow.   Metallica are still James, Kirk and Lars, with Robert Trujillo taking Jason Newsted’s place on bass, who in turn replaced the unreplaceable Cliff Burton (RIP).

Anyhow.   When we think of San Francisco bands, the late 60s come to mind.  Of that original crop, only the Dead are still around.  Big Brother lost Janis Joplin, and Jefferson Airplane seems permanently grounded:  Paul Kantner is dead, but Grace Slick and Marty Balin are still alive.

However, there are more bands.  Blue Cheer could be considered a SF psychedelic band, though they were the heaviest.  Dickie Peterson resurrected the band in the mid-80s as a more traditional hard rock band and kept it going until his recent death.  Since there’s really no Blue Cheer without Dickie, the band died with him.  I suppose Duck McDonald (guitarist) and Paul Whaley (drums) have to do something else.  Prior guitarists Leigh Stephens and Randy Holden are still alive, but mostly retired.  In any case I’ve blogged about them already.

The final band, and which I’ve never blogged about yet, is Y&T.   Originally called Yesterday and Today, this is a hard rock band started in 1974, centered around lead guitarist-lead singer (!) Dave Meniketti.  We first learned of this band in 1984, when we picked up Black Tiger and Mean Streak on vinyl at our school fair.  Many decades later we finally got to see them in concert.  Meniketti is the only original member left and still tours.   

  

Classic Lineup.  Dave Meniketti (vocals & lead guitar); Phil Kennemore (bass); Joey Alves (rhythm guitar); Leonard Haze (drums). 

Discography:  Yesterday And Today (1976); Struck Down (1978); Earthshaker (1981) [band changed its name to Y&T]; Black Tiger (1982); Mean Streak (1983); In Rock We Trust (1984); Down For the Count (1985); Contagious (1987); Ten (1990); [brief disbandment from 1991 to 1995]; Musically Incorrect (1995); Endangered Species (1997); [longer disbandment from 1997 to 2009]; Facemelter (2010).  

As noted, the band is still active.  Phil Kennemore died recently, but Dave Meniketti still keeps the band going.  Arguably they were at their peak in the early 1980s.  They even played at Donington – 1984, the year before we went. 

Incidentally, we saw them a few years back (2009) at a local club, Jaxx.  Meniketti and the other band members stayed around to sign autographs and speak with fans.  They did not charge for this.  Meniketti recently went on record as saying that as a matter of principle, he does not charge for these meet & greets and holds in contempt any musician who does.

In terms of sound, they are essentially a regular hard rock band.  Meniketti plays a Les Paul through Marshall cabinets.  Their show at Jaxx was actually painfully loud – more so than Motorhead.  Their later albums are more commercially oriented, and their only hit song, “Summertime Girls”, comes from Down For The Count.  My favorites remain Black Tiger and Mean Streak, not merely for sentimental reasons but also because they seem like High’n’Dry (Def Leppard):  the optimal mix of balls & polish.  The earlier albums aren’t as well crafted (Earthshaker being the first truly competitive album) while the later ones sound a bit too commercial.   I can’t say I’m well acquainted with the albums after Down For the Count, though.  

The Family Car

At a loss for a better topic this Friday, I’ll fall back on a fairly mundane one: the family motor vehicle. 

Chevelle/Malibu.  This is the earliest one I remember.  It would have been an early 70s model, and NOT an SS, let alone an LS6 454.  I can’t recall the color, or whether it had an inline six or a small V8.  Most likely the former.

Gran Torino.  Made famous by the Clint Eastwood movie more recently, and Starsky & Hutch in the past.  This was a sedan in dark brown.   As with the Chevelle, not sure what engine it had.  The base engine on these was an inline six (most plausible), with a range of V8s starting with 302, 351 Cleveland or Windsor, up to 429.  Since my dad made it a point to mention his ’55 Chevy Belair had a V8, and said nothing about a V8 in the Gran Torino, I’ll say it most likely it had the six cylinder.  My parents didn’t care about performance and never got the top engine as a matter of principle.

Volvo Station Wagon.  Orange, without the rear-facing seats.  We sold this when we moved to Paris in January 1979.  I’m guessing we probably bought it at the Volvo dealer on 355 near Hungerford Drive and the old drive-through movie theater and Hechingers.

Chrysler-Simca.  As noted, we moved to Paris in January 1979.  My father noted that bringing a car overseas is not worth the bother unless it’s really special, which the Volvo wagon was not.  This was a Chrysler model not sold in the US.  It was magenta, a sedan, and of course, stick shift, as so many European cars are.  We took this up to SHAPE a few times.

Peugeot 505.  Our second of two cars in Paris.  This was silver, and manual transmission.  I tried learning to drive, but in Paris traffic AND trying to learn a stick shift at the same time, it’s hopeless.  As a practical matter I taught myself on the Cavalier.

Chevrolet Cavalier.   I started college at University of Maryland in fall 1986.   Although by this time I had my driver’s license (and almost no practical experience driving) the College Park campus had a parking shortage, meaning students couldn’t keep a car on campus until they finished their sophomore year.  I was angling to get a late 70’s Pontiac Firebird Trans Am, ideally a Special Edition with t-tops and Screaming Chicken, but my parents ultimately did me a favor and bought this one:  a 1984 Cavalier, blue-grey sedan with 2.0L four cylinder, an auto-reverse tape deck, and air conditioning.  It got fairly good gas mileage:  round trip to Ocean City from College Park AND Baltimore on a single tank of gas, about 8 hours of highway driving.  By 1991 it was acting up.  My sister totaled it driving it in the local neighborhood in Montgomery Village.

Toyota Tercel.  The Cavalier was replaced by a deep blue 1991 Toyota Tercel sedan with stereo, A/C and automatic transmission – FYI, except for the two cars in Paris, all our cars were automatics.  My parents never considered the marginally superior fuel economy to be worth the hassle of shifting manually, and I share that assessment.   I drove this in law school until finally scoring my own car, a 1992 Pontiac Firebird (base), in November 1992 (fall of third year).  Then Matt inherited the Tercel, which he drove to and from Memphis, Tennessee after graduating from business school in Phoenix, Arizona.  He ultimately replaced it with a 1995 Pontiac Firebird Formula in black, a year after I got my own 1992 Pontiac Firebird Formula 350 in Dark Aqua Metallic – later painted black. 

Nissan Sentra XE.  Shortly after returning from Paris, my parents bought this one.  Dark grey (black was reserved for GXE models like the one Phil had).   I drove it a few times, including my first road trip to Long Island in March 1991, when I got my first speeding ticket – on the New Jersey Turnpike.

Nissan Pulsar.  When my sister finally got her driver’s license, this was the car my parents got for her to drive.  Fairly small but fun.  Gold.  She may have brought it with her when she moved to Arizona back in 1995. 

Honda Accord SE.  A gold model, this replaced the Sentra.  The SE model had all the bells & whistles, except a V6.   I don’t think my parents ever bought a car with the biggest engine available.  I did that with the 1992 Firebird Formula 350, but couldn’t afford the SRT 6.1L V8 in my Charger.  

Cadillacs.  My parents had two of these:  a dark grey model – I’d say Allante except that I know it wasn’t a convertible but was a coupe, in gun metal grey - and a Catera.  Both were used, fairly unreliable and unimpressive.  Neither were the fullsize land yachts. 

Chevrolet HHR.  My dad passed away in 2004.  As of now my mom is driving this.  It’s not bad, and it has a substantial load capacity.  It’s silver.