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Over the course of a career that’s lasted almost forty years - and that’s not allowing for an eight-year break after an initial split in 1976 - Deep Purple have cemented their position as one of the most influential rock and roll bands in the history of the genre. Furthermore, they’re considered genuine pioneers of both hard rock and heavy metal after having moved away from initial roots in progressive rock, and have the commercial clout to back up their towering status within the rock community; they’ve sold in excess of one hundred million albums internationally. The current lineup features just one original member, Ian Paice on drums, although frontman Ian Gillan and bassist Roger Glover both joined the band shortly after they began, in 1969. Steve Morse, on guitar, and Don Airey on keys round out the five-piece as they stand today, and they continue to tour and record; their latest album, “Now What?!”, was released in April of 2013, and flirted with progressive metal.
That album might not have been as successful as the records that defined them back in their seventies heyday - March 1972’s “Machine Head”, which features their signature song “Smoke on the Water”, frequently features on countdowns of the greatest rock records ever - but they still pack out arenas the world over; their status as bona fide rock legends has long since been secure.
Jefferson Starship includes members of the incredibly successful psychedelic outfit Jefferson Airplane. The incarnation centres around guitarist Paul Kantner and a concept album entitled 'Blows Against The Empire'. After this things snowballed and Jefferson Starship became a full commitment for founding members Kantner and Jack Casady.
Their first album as a unit was released in 1974 and was titled 'Dragon Fly', it was met with chart success peaking at #11 on the US Billboard and #18 in Canada. The following album 'Red Octopus' is currently the band's most successful release to date, charting at #1 on the US charts and is now certified double platinum selling. It featured a hit single, 'Miracles' which was contributed by Marty Balin, who also wrote the ballad 'Caroline' which appeared on the band's first record.
The next album 'Spitfire' was another success, charting at #3 and breaking into the UK charts at #30 however the band were disheartened at the time that it did not mirror the success of its predecessor. The band continued to tour and release material despite the ever changing line ups, most notably the loss of Grace Slick who was forced to resign at the end of the 70's due to a heavy alcohol problem. Despite all this, the next four albums went on to hold gold selling certificates and Jefferson Starship are still considered a successful psychedelic pop/rock band.
Perhaps it’s because their one and only split, in 1984, seems so long ago now, or perhaps because they lacked an iconic character of Ozzy Osbourne or Jimmy Page’s standing, but Deep Purple are the one member of the ‘unholy trinity,’ alongside Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath, who seem to have the lowest public profile. Sure, they still tour arenas, but Sabbath have been playing stadiums this summer, and as for Zeppelin, the number of applications for tickets for their one-off reunion at the O2 stretched into seven figures. Quietly, though - as unsuitable a phrasing as that is - the biggest band ever to come out of Hertford are continuing to do quite nicely for themselves. Their most recent UK jaunt had them mixing things up, playing some arenas and some theatres, and doing their best to avoid accusations that they’re trading off of former glories; of the seventeen tracks making the setlist each night, seven were plucked from last year’s 'Now What?!' record. The classics made the cut, too, of course, as did all the trappings of the classic rock show - extensive soloing and plentiful crowd participation included. Stadium tours any time soon? Probably not, but if we’re talking about the preservation of their legacy, Deep Purple are certainly doing it justice.
Joeg_67
There’s something quite pleasing, especially if you’re a stickler to neatness, about the way that some of the remaining members of sixties psychedelic icons Jefferson Airplane kept a kind of uniformity to the naming process by calling their new group, formed in 1974, Jefferson Starship, but in actual fact, the name’s kind of misleading. It suggests that they were aiming for a sound and a style of music that was in thrall to the cosmos more than ever before, but they actually, if anything, toned down the eccentricities that had come to define them in the sixties; there were still elements of psych and progressive, sure, but they were often lost to the straightforward rock sound that they largely sought to pursue. They enjoyed commercial success throughout the seventies with a couple of platinum-selling records, but things quickly began to unravel for the group when singer Grace Slick’s alcoholism spiralled out of control. The poppier group Starship was formed out of the band’s ashes in the early eighties, but a new group, Jefferson Starship - The Next Generation formed in 1992 with a revolving lineup of former members, and they continue to tour those seventies classics to this day, playing an intimate show at London’s 100 Club back in 2010.
Joeg_67
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