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Welcome
to our Looking Back section, where we will be following the progress
of the Deep Purple reunion as it happened month by month twenty
years ago. The Deep Purple Appreciation Society was following
events at the time, and with the help of news cuttings, interviews
and pictures, we hope to stir some memories. If you have any recollections
to add for the next issue of Darker Than Blue, do
get
in touch.
MAY
1984: On May 1st the five members of Deep Purple Mk 2 began full
rehearsals in Northern Vermont. They had the gear set up in a
place called The Base Lodge, on an estate owned by the Von Trapp
family (the band gave their new album a working title of The Sound
Of Music). The first few days found them jamming, so the band
could get used to playing with one another again. Then ideas for
new material began to emerge, with Blackmore in particular full
of riffs.
Many
of the jams were recorded so the musicians could play them back
later and pick out anything which sounded promising. They had
set themselves just a month to prepare enough material for their
first album.
During the period Bruce Payne shot some footage of the band on
a home video recorder, and this would later appear in promotional
videos. They kept clear of the press, but while they worked the
reunion news spread around the globe and was written up in just
about every rock magazine on the planet. It was without a doubt
one of the biggest events in the rock world for many years.
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