Jon Lord statement on MKIII reunion

  • All the time there's a sniff of animosity in the air between any members of DPs Mk3 line-up, I personally think any sort of reunion wouldn't be worth losing any sleep over.

    As for the idea of a "reunion" with any other musician substituting for one of the Mk3 members isn't a reunion. Full stop.

    It's gotta be all 5 or let's concentrate on the here and now.


    :cool:

  • The more I think about this, the more sense it makes BUT only as a studio collaboration. The comments above about DC's voice are spot on and I know that GH would show him up terribly in a live situation. In the studio (and with the right songs) things could be done to "equalise" the voices and produce a great great record. Scout around on the net for the footage of "Burn" done I think at the NAMM show some years back with Coverdale and Hughes and well, you get my point.

    Having said that, I was only listening to "Good to be Bad" this morning as I drove to work. Even in the studio, DC's voice is strained in many places with an overuse of falsetto replacing what would once have been a deep resonant sound. I don't know if the guy is still smoking and I hope he isn't but man, that ain't helpin'. GH on the other hand - well, I don't intend to preach to the converted but play any GH record alongside anything DC has done since 1990 and you'll hear what I'm talking about.

    I would love to see a Mk III reunion and no mistake but I fear the reputational damage that could be caused. It warms my heart that DC & GH have a great personal relationship these days and maybe we should all just be happy with that.

  • One of my musical fantasies was having the opportunity to see Mk III live, since I was too young to have witnessed it the first time around (I'm Lars Ulrich's age, but was not an 'early rocker' like him).

    However, I think the chances of this happening are nil, and that's probably for the best. DC's voice is shot, though he could still do a good job on the songs like "You Fool No One" where he sang unison with GH and stayed in his lower register. He's naturally a baritone, which is probably why the upper end of his voice is so shot to hell--he has to strain himself to hit the high notes.

    But the biggest problem would probably be RB's attitude, even if you threw enough money at him to lure him (and his in-laws) into it. There wouldn't be any Cal Jam excitement this time around; there would simply be a bored guy on stage left in flouncy black clothes and a bad hair weave. As any longtime Purple fan knows, Ritchie with a bad attitude is a recipe for disaster.

    Besides, one of the things I most admire about GH these days is that he is still an evolving performer, as he said last night at the Varvatos gig. Why saddle him with a dreary nostalgia gig--he's still rockin' in the present day! DC was doing that too a few years ago with his "Into the Light" album, which was a wonderful reinvention for him. But I guess the lure of the money on the nostalgia circuit was too much to pass up. I can't think of any other good musical reason for DC doing what he's doing now... :(

  • Jon is right, it wouldn't be right without Ian Paice. As for the guitarist, they should get someone who sounds like a cross between Blackmore and Bolin. Not that that guitarist actually exists though.

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