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(Originally finalized on November 10, 2024)
Preface: I had a lot of fun with my Band Connections theme several weeks ago, exploring the links between the British blues guitarists who played in The Yardbirds and John Mayall's Bluesbreakers. And it didn't take me long to think of a subject for another episode of Band Connections. So we're gonna do a sequel! This week, we'll explore the fertile ground shared between the members of those pioneer bands of proto-metal - Black Sabbath and Deep Purple!
Monday: Deep Purple - Speed King [Deep Purple In Rock, 1970]
Comments: With a few albums already under their belts by 1969, Deep Purple decided to replace singer Rod Evans and bass player Nick Simper to pursue a heavier sound. Founding members Ritchie Blackmore (guitar), Jon Lord (keyboards), and Ian Paice (drums) found a new singer in Ian Gillan (a vocal powerhouse who would be cast as the titular role in Andrew Lloyd Weber's rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar), who brought along bass player Roger Glover. The oft-celebrated Mk II lineup was born!
Tuesday: Black Sabbath - Sabbra Cadabra [Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, 1973]
Comments: While Deep Purple were pioneering a harder rock sound, Black Sabbath - fronted by singer Ozzy Osbourne, and guided by guitarist Tony Iommi, with bandmates Geezer Butler (bass) and Bill Ward (drums) - were busy laying the foundations for an entire new genre that would eventually grow into what we know as "heavy metal". And since we're doing band connections this week, this track features Rick Wakeman on keyboards (and almost featured Led Zeppelin's John Bonham on drums), who strolled into the studio while recording Tales From Topographic Oceans with Yes.
Wednesday: Deep Purple - Mistreated [Burn, 1974]
Comments: Despite great success, a punishing touring and recording schedule led to tensions within Deep Purple. In 1973, Gillan quit, and Glover soon followed. The band recruited a then-unknown singer by the name of David Coverdale, along with Glenn Hughes, a bass player who could also sing. After a couple of albums featuring this new lineup, Blackmore became dissatisfied with the band's changing direction, and left to form Rainbow. Deep Purple would record one more album (their first without Blackmore), before officially disbanding - for a while.
Thursday: Rainbow - Stargazer [Rising, 1976]
Comments: Although primarily known for being a heavy metal frontman in the '80s, Ronnie James Dio started singing long before then. The band he formed in 1967 eventually evolved into Elf (a reference to Dio's short stature), which released three albums in the early to mid-'70s and toured as Deep Purple's opening act. (I shared their best track on a previous theme). So it's not too surprising that when Ritchie Blackmore left Deep Purple, he decided to form a band with Dio. They released three albums, then Dio moved on - and the band continued without him.
Friday: Ozzy Osbourne - Over The Mountain [Diary of a Madman, 1981]
Comments: By the late '70s, Black Sabbath was losing steam. Their records weren't hitting like they used to. The band members were succumbing to drug abuse, and the work was suffering. Ozzy tried to quit, then came back, but his heart wasn't in it anymore. The band eventually fired him. Apparently, it was the right decision for Ozzy, because he turned around and started a lucrative solo career - working, at first, with former members of Rainbow and Uriah Heep, along with guitarist and founding member of Quiet Riot, Randy Rhoads.
Saturday (AM): Black Sabbath - The Sign of the Southern Cross [Mob Rules, 1981]
Saturday (PM): Dio - Rainbow In The Dark [Holy Diver, 1983]
Comments: (You'll have to forgive the double-posting; seven days just isn't quite long enough for me to finish this theme). After firing Ozzy, Black Sabbath was on the lookout for a new singer - and, having recently left Rainbow, Ronnie James Dio was available! The collaboration positively rejuvenated the band, but it wasn't long before Dio himself was looking to strike out on his own - taking with him drummer Vinny Appice (younger brother of Carmine, who was in Vanilla Fudge, and played with Jeff Beck), who had filled the vacant seat after Bill Ward decided he didn't want to play in the band without Ozzy. After well over a decade of performing, it was finally time for Dio to take his throne in the pantheon of metal gods.
Sunday: Black Sabbath - Zero The Hero [Born Again, 1983] & Heart Like A Wheel [Seventh Star, 1986]
Comments: Since leaving Deep Purple, Ian Gillan had formed a couple of commercially unsuccessful bands. After Dio left Rainbow, Gillan was invited to join, but declined. Then, when Dio left Black Sabbath, the band offered Gillan a chance to record an album with them. (In another band connection, the song Zero The Hero is known to have inspired the Guns N' Roses song Paradise City). Originally planned to be an independent supergroup, record execs opted to slap the name Black Sabbath on it. A similar thing happened a few years later, when what was supposed to be a solo collaboration between Tony Iommi and another former Deep Purple singer, Glenn Hughes, became yet another Black Sabbath album.
Honorable Mention: Whitesnake - Still Of The Night [Whitesnake, 1987]
Comments: After Deep Purple initially disbanded in 1976, David Coverdale formed his own band, named Whitesnake. For a period, it featured former Deep Purple members Jon Lord and Ian Paice (at least until the reunion of Deep Purple's Mk II lineup in 1984). During that same period, Roger Glover was recruited by Blackmore to play in Rainbow (after Dio had left the band). Whitesnake scored a huge hit with Here I Go Again, but I like Still Of The Night (based on a song Coverdale had previously worked on with Blackmore) even better. I'll leave you with one final band connection before we call it quits - Coverdale released an album with Jimmy Page in the year before Page's '94 reunion with Robert Plant.