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.   

Sabbath After Ozzy

Tonight I’m going to see Heaven & Hell, which is better known as Black Sabbath – albeit with Ronnie James Dio on vocals and Vinnie Appice on drums.  In this case, unlike the prior Sabbath tours with Dio, there will be no Ozzy material sung.  We’ll see how well that works.

 After the 1978 Never Say Die tour, Black Sabbath reached a crossroads.  They could no longer continue with Ozzy Osbourne.  The stories conflict about whether he was fired or quit – depending on who was asked, at what time – but the undeniable truth is that he left the band at that time.  After spending some (low quality) time alone, he was “rescued” by Sharon Arden (now the infamous Sharon Osbourne) and began his solo career.

 What happened to Black Sabbath?  Many were quick to write them off.  Geezer Butler (bassist) and Bill Ward (drummer) were uncertain, for their part, whether they wanted to continue the band without Ozzy.  Tony Iommi, the guitarist, hooked up with Ronnie James Dio – formerly singer for Elf and Rainbow, the latter with Deep Purple guitarist Ritchie Blackmore – and developed the album which became Heaven and Hell.  From then on, Sabbath has worked with various different singers with various degrees of success.  They even teamed up with Ozzy in 1985 (Live Aid), 1992 (a one-off reunion show), and 1997-01 for the Ozzfests. 

 As of right now, Black Sabbath, per se, is on hold.  Ozzy Osbourne’s own solo career is also on hold: the so-called Ozzfest, now FREE, doesn’t even feature his own solo band this summer, much less another Black Sabbath reunion.  Tony, Geezer, Dio, and drummer Vinnie Appice have reformed the early 80’s Sabbbath lineup and are touring as “Heaven & Hell”, obviously a tribute to the first non-Ozzy Sabbath album and by many fans’ standards – mine included – the best of them.  Here’s a brief review of the post-Ozzy sabbath, putting emphasis on the vocalists.

 Guitars.  Tony Iommi has always been Black Sabbath’s guitarist and its only consistent member.

 Bass.  Geezer Butler has always been the bassist when Ozzy was around.  The other bassists include Neil Murray (usually associated with Whitesnake) and Dave Spitz.  

Geezer remained a good friend of Ozzy, and even played in Ozzy’s solo band for awhile.

 Drums.  With the exception of the 1997 Ozzfest tour when Mike Bordin (Faith No More) played drums, Bill Ward has always been the drummer when Ozzy was in the band.  Vinnie Appice took over for “The Mob Rules” and the current “Heaven and Hell” tour and is the closest to a #2 drummer the band has ever had.  Bev Bevan (ELO) took over for Ward on the Born Again tour.  Cozy Powell, often associated with Rainbow, Whitesnake and even Emerson, Lake & Powell, stepped in for some time as well.  Bobby Rondinelli, also associated with Rainbow in the early 80s and Blue Oyster Cult in recent years, played with Sabbath on the Cross Purposes album and tour.  Ward’s health has been in decline throughout the 80s, 90s, and 00s, and he has a strong devotion to Ozzy, so his participation in the post-Ozzy era has been fairly limited.

 Vocals.  The first non-Ozzy vocalist, and who many consider the best, is Ronnie James Dio.  He was on Heaven & Hell (1980), The Mob Rules (1981) Live Evil (1981) and Dehumanizer (1992) and is currently singing with them as Heaven & Hell.  He’s got a decent voice and competent stage presence, but somehow I can’t seem to prefer him over Ozzy.  In addition to Elf and Rainbow, he had a modestly successful solo career throughout the 80s and 90s when he wasn’t in Sabbath.

 Ian Gillan.  The former Deep Purple Mark II vocalist came on for one album, Born Again (1983).  Apparently this DP-BS marriage didn’t work out, although on bootlegs the band plays “Smoke on the Water” live.  Gillan says he loved Born Again as it was originally recorded, hated the way it was mixed to the album, and also hated the album cover.  Shortly after the Born Again tour, Gillan rejoined the newly reformed Deep Purple and with the exception of a brief spell when Joe Lynn Turner (Rainbow) joined for one album (Slaves & Masters) has been with Deep Purple ever since.

 Glenn Hughes.  Another Deep Purple alumni, the frustrated bassist (Marks III and IV) who wanted to be a singer.  He got his wish, on Seventh Star (1986), an album which was supposed to be a Tony Iommi solo album, but which the record company thought would sell more as a Black Sabbath album.  Iommi is the only original member on that album.  Hughes didn’t pan out too well either, and left the band amidst the tour for this album, replaced mid-tour by Ray Gillen.  Oddly, Hughes did pair up again with Iommi for two other albums, both now labelled “Iommi”.  Hughes is actually a pretty good singer, and here he’s not trying to be James Brown.  He has a new solo album out, Music for the Divine, on which Chad Smith and John Fruciante of the Red Hot Chili Peppers play.

 Ray Gillen.  Not to be confused with Ian Gillan, Ray Gillen came in to replace Hughes, worked briefly on the next album, Eternal Idol, before leaving the band.  Supposedly there is unreleased Eternal Idol material with Gillen singing, but what I have is a bootleg live album from the Seventh Star tour with his vocals on it.  After Sabbath, Gillen was in Badlands with former Ozzy guitarist Jake E. Lee, and died prematurely of AIDS in 1993.  Too bad, as he was another decent singer.

 Tony Martin.  Martin came in for Eternal Idol (1987), Headless Cross (1989), TYR (1990), Cross Purposes (1994), Cross Purposes Live (1995) and Forbidden (1995).  None of these albums are particularly special, and Tyr, a concept album about Norse mythology, is particularly unremarkable.  Although Martin has a great voice and a modest stage presence, he really doesn’t shine.  The only truly notable aspect of his tenure with the band was the reintroduction of several songs into the live set: “Symptom of the Universe” (with acoustic studio tail end put in, which I don’t hear on prior recordings including Ozzy-era live cuts), “Sabbath, Bloody Sabbath”, “The Wizard”, and “Into the Void”. 

 The ironic part about all this is that taken objectively, Ozzy Osbourne is probably the least talented vocalist the band has had.  Geezer Butler wrote most of the lyrics when Ozzy was in the band, and live material from his era shows him screwing up the lyrics fairly often.  These other singers frequently sing Ozzy’s material more faithfully than Ozzy himself.  Despite this, there is some undefinable, subjective quality he has which makes the band better with him than with any other singer, no matter how superior in singing or competence.  It’s like they were meant to be together, as overdramatic and irrational as it sounds. 

 PS – after concert review.   It was pretty damn good.  These days Ozzy’s performances take on the image of a drunken robot, seemingly confused about where he is and what he’s doing.  Is he singing?  Is he throwing buckets of water at the audience?  Is he clapping?  Dio always seems to be completely clear, hopping around, free arm swaying around, like he’s describing some magic story.  With Dio in command, the band gives the impression of a troupe of minstrels performing for a jaded, cynical king – the audience; maybe a super heavy, dark version of Jethro Tull.  Tony clearly enjoys himself, looking up and smiling periodically when he’s not focused on playing his SG without screwing up in front of everyone.  The three new songs are OK, but get caught in the “[XXXXXXX] of the [YYYYYYYYY]” format of chorus with a descending riff like a giant ogre going down a circular staircase.  They played my favorite songs from The Mob Rules, “Voodoo” and “The Sign of the Southern Cross”, two of the new songs, a few from Dehumanizer, and of course the usual slew from Heaven and Hell, including the title track but unfortunately not my favorite, “Lonely Is The Word.”   And there was much rejoicing....