This followed not long after the news of Gillan leaving had been confirmed, but his replacement had still not been confirmed, despite a long list of names reaching the rumour mill. As for Ian, more Moonshiners reviews and news of a live VHS release too, although the man himself was keen to leave what should have been a busman's holiday behind and get on with his future plans. The magazines letter page caught the mood of the fans.

Big news was the arrival of the Blackmore Rock Profile, on whch we managed to hang any number of obscure and rare tracks, and go way over the top on the gatefold sleeve in a way which horrified the budget concious Connoisseur Records! We covered the album over three pages. They also went to town on a reissue of Butterfly Ball which was fully detialed. Also on the way was the much anticipated VHS release of Copenhagen 1972. Collectors had never had it so good!

More bootleg CDs had turned up, with one or two goodies starting to make the format well nigh impossible to ignore. The magazine closed with a looking back feature on the 20th anniversary of Deep Purple's third album. .

As last issue went to press, the rumours were hot for Brian Howe - who had been leading the reformed Bad Company, which as many of you probably know supported Deep Purple in 1987. Joe Lynn Turner was obviously on many people's minds, while Ronnie James Dio's name also cropped up. News also reached us that Paul Rodgers and Jimmy Barnes had been auditioned. By early August Survivor's ex-singer Jamie Jamison was apparently linked to the band. As we write some American magazines are reporting that the band are close to knocking it on the head for good, such are the problems finding a vocalist.

Given the delays in the Purple camp Jon decided to tour Germany in The Rock & Blues Circus, which hit the road in October. The group consists of Jon, Pete York, Colin Hodgkinson, Miller Anderson, Zoot Money and Tony Ashton.

It seems that plans for an Armenian earthquake benefit show in Moscow may have fallen through, so instead various rock & rollers have been organising a benefit album instead. The first part of the project is a version of Smoke On The Water, sessions for which began in London on July 8th 1989 at the Metropolis Studio in Chiswick. Lord and Blackmore were due to take part, along with Paul Rodgers, Chris Squire, Brian May, Roger Taylor, Dave Gilmour and others. "So I've Invited myself along, 'cos It's my song!" lan Gillan told us. Quite obviously not afraid to take the bull by the horns. The idea is for the UK session to be flown to America, where a second set of solos from US musicians will be added, then to Japan. The disc is due for release around now. More news on the project if and when it emerges. Natch the HM press went to town on it, stories of Blackmore refusing to play while lan was about etc! The UK sessions were due to be filmed too. With Smoke being such a rock anthem anyway it's quite pleasing to see it being used in this way - better than some half baked charity jingle which is usually the case.

The gig at Manchester's Ritz was filmed by a video crew - who made themselves popular by trying to clear us all off the balcony to make the crowd downstairs look more impressive. The band rose to the occasion well, and it all looked good, but lan kept fluffing his lines and release was delayed while they played around with the footage to try and get over this! The end result is a reasonable archive record of the tour which is nice for those who saw it (as a souvenir) and useful for those unlucky enough to miss It. Video can never really match the experience of a live gig but within the limitations of the medium (and in this case, I suspect, the budget) Live At The Ritz works well. The camera work isn't brilliant but neither do we get lots of flashy tricks, The mixer desk viewpoint is sometimes a little out of focus but by the third track the handheld work takes over and it becomes more watchable. The lead guitarist is much more audible than he was at the show and as a result comes over as a far more useful player than I'd realised, holding it together nicely with the support of the rhythm guitar. This is just as well considering the keyboard work which is very showy but insubstantial. Only a few gripes, spelling the name wrong on the inlay card (they also get the track order wrong in one place).

The group themselves recorded several shows, which were mixed in June with the idea of securing a one-off deal for a live album. There were vague plans for some shows In Italy at the end of September, but these came to nought.

"I approached the gig with mixed emotions as lan's departure from Purple had just broken. Expectations were high, lan had attracted more acclaim from the earlier Moonshiners gigs than Purple had during the reunion. The opening seemed almost like the Gillan band of old. The keyboard player literally leapt into the intro of I'll Rip Your Spine Out but there was something lacking in the sound. He was soon pulling manic faces at the crowd and starting to get very annoying. lan arrived though and the crowd went ape. He seemed cramped by the small stage to me, while the band ran through the Gillan band's greatest hits, with the keyboard player doing his best to upstage lan all the time. I kept thinking I hope this isn't what lan's left Purple for. There were highlights, Brazos was haunting, the two Gillan / Glover numbers cane over well, as did the Little Feat tune Let It Roll. Just before the encore a keyboard player from the crowd leapt on stage and began the opening chords of Smoke On The Water, which was countered swiftly by a "we don't want that shit, let's play some real music," from lan. That remark cut through the air like a blade, exposing the underlying bitterness he felt, though like the professional he is he'd tried not to show it. It was a sad personal note for me to end the gig on." Steve Grover

lan was persuaded to regroup The Moonshiners for a one- off in Liverpool on July 7th as part of Big Beat 89; a fortnight of shows designed to raise money for the Hillsborough Appeal. Garth & the crew did the usual set, though lan came on alone at the start for a powerful solo rendition of You'll Never Walk Alone - after which nothing else needed to be said really.

lan's future plans are still a little unclear. He has been in touch with Colln Towns to see if Colin had any rock material. Colin is actually very busy at present with his various film music projects but didn't rule out the possibility of helping in the future. Be good, he always did have a knack at writing stuff which suited lan well. Right now it seems as if he is busy writing with a view to relaunching himself next year. Natch being back home lan has been out and about. He busked along with Black Sabbath for one of their UK dates at Bristol Colston Hall on September 11th.

"The band returned and encored with "Heaven & Hell". Then Tony lommi broke into "Smoke On The Water". I thought he was taking the mickey at first until this bloke holding a mike bounded onto stage shaking his hair and clenching his fist in time honoured fashion. lan Glllan handled all the vocals for "Smoke..", with Sabbath's current vocalist Tony Martin happy to stand back and help on the chorus. They then crashed Into "Paranoid", Martin taking the first verse and offering a surprised lan the second. From then they swopped verses; lan wasn't too sure of the words but then he never was!" John Tucker.

This jam obviously went down well, for lan repeated the exercise over In Copenhagen on the 17th Sept!

Pete York Presents Super Drumming Vol.2 - Global 209 886/9 LP; 289 889 CD Germany; 1989

On the ball DPAS people will recall us reviewing Super Drumming In Issue 34, along with the news of lan Paice's involvement both on the LP and the TV series from which the album was taken. This is the follow up album, taken from the second series, screened in Germany over seven weeks in June and July this year. Once more the sound comes directly from the live performances, which were filmed in August 1988. There are a couple of differences this time however. First, the material has been issued as two separate single albums, each in a similar sleeve - last time it was a straightforward double set. Secondly lan Paice isn't involved this time, instead the interest to us is in Jon Lord's appearance. NOT behind a drum kit I hasten to add, but the Hammond He is featured on three tracks from Part 1 and three from Part 2. On Part 1 he's fairly hard to hear, but he does sneak a short solo into Rainforest Ride. Part 2 is more interesting as it features a ten minute version of the Sarabande Suite. Not quite as emotional as the original album cut but nevertheless some good work here. Any drummers should find the album fascinating, Lord fans shouldn't expect too much, but it is a nice addition to the session discography. The CD features extra tracks but Jon is not on any of them. As a postscript to this, the original gatefold version of Volume 1 has been deleted and reissued as two single albums to match those of Vol 2.

Forgot to mention it last time, but Glenn was in line for doing the vocals on John Sykes' Blue Murder album. However Sykes had spent so long on it that Geffen weren't prepared to wait any longer, so Hughes never got to do anything beyond a few demos. Glenn himself has ben given some development money to begin work on a solo album for Polydor.

Whitesnake were due to play Donnington in August, but as you probably know the festival was cancelled. The plan had been for Glenn to join the group on-stage for the encores - and they were set to rehearse Burn, Stormbringer and Might Just Take Your Life for the purpose! There were even moves afoot to get the band to do a low-key warm up set prior to the festival, probably over in Southport where Gillan did his first Garth Rockett show. The new Whitesnake album (Slip Of The Tongue) will be Issued in America on November 7th, so I'd expect it to be out around the same time everywhere else. The first single will be a reworking of Fool For Your Loving. Vandenburg isn't featured on it anywhere but does seem to be still part of the band. All the guitar work is by Steve Vai. Glenn Hughes sings on just four tracks.