APRIL 1984: The five members of Deep Purple Mk 2's original line-up all met together in Kentucky for talks. Blackmore personally called Jon Lord in Scandinavia on April 13th (where he was on tour with Whitesnake) to ask him over. Although the various members had been in touch with one another over the years, this was the first time they'd all been together since June 1973 in Japan. The musicians then met up again the following week at the offices of manager Bruce Payne's Thames Talent company in New York, where they agreed to reform Deep Purple to both record and tour.

The news was first broken in the UK media in the Friday April 27 edition of the London newspaper The Evening Standard. It was then confirmed during the Friday Rock Show on BBC Radio 1 later that night, hosted by DJ Tommy Vance.

Vance trailed an important announcement about one of the UKs best known rock groups, and then played records by some of the pre-Deep Purple bands to see if people could guess who he was talking about. He had spoken direct to Ian Gillan the previous day and been given the scoop, thanks in part to his steadfast support of rock on British national radio, and the Deep Purple spin-off bands in particular.

April 1984 www.deep-purple.net links: Darker Than Blue magazine no.29 (digest online version)

Cutting : London Evening Standard / April 27. 1984 © DPAS Archives. Photos: Top / Jon Lord's last show with Whitesnake, 16th April 1984, Bottom / reunion meeting handshake (from the 'Perfect Strangers' promo video).

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.

The news was first broken in the UK media in the Friday April 27 edition of the London newspaper The Evening Standard. It was then confirmed during the Friday Rock Show on BBC Radio 1 later that night, hosted by DJ Tommy Vance.

Vance trailed an important announcement about one of the UKs best known rock groups, and then played records by some of the pre-Deep Purple bands to see if people could guess who he was talking about. He had spoken direct to Ian Gillan the previous day and been given the scoop, thanks in part to his steadfast support of rock on British national radio, and the Deep Purple spin-off bands in particular.

May 1984 www.deep-purple.net links: Darker Than Blue magazine no.29 (digest online version)

Rehearsal footage from the 'Perfect Strangers' promo

JUNE 1984: June saw a lull in the reunion proceedings. Rehearsals ended at the start of the month, and it had been planned to carry straight on and record the album in the same place, The Base Lodge, using a mobile studio. However they had to apply to do so, and the Vermont authorities turned the application down (possibly worried by ideas Ritchie was bandying about of placing speakers around the valley and recording the results!). So the band had a couple of weeks r'n'r while another venue was organised.

Meanwhile the band were starting to talk to the press. "Deep Purple never actually broke up," Jon Lord explained to one (clearly puzzled!) reporter, before going on to explain that he saw this as a long-term project. "We're all totally committed to this band, this is not a one-time arrangement. We plan on recording and touring regularly."

Ritchie too was very positive. "I am totally committed to this project, and I'm determined to make Purple as successful as we once were." Pushed on his previous band however, he added "Rainbow is simply on hiatus. There may be additional efforts with the band, there may not. At this point I cannot say."

June 1984 www.deep-purple.net links:

Darker Than Blue 30 (online version)

The Von Trapp Lodge, Stowe

View from the Lodge

Rehearsing at The Lodge

JULY 1984: Finding a new location in which to record didn't take long, and on July 6th the group moved in to Horizons, a large house in Stowe not very far from where they'd been rehearsing. With all the gear set up, and the French Canadian owned 'Le Mobile' mobile studio in place, the recording sessions began on July 10th for what would be the band's first new album in nine years. These would last for six weeks.

Even though it was early days, promoters were already jostling to see who would be first to put the band on in Britain. It was widely reported that the group would headline the Reading festival in August, until it was decided the capacity was too small, and the promoters would instead organise a separate festival at another site (the Milton Keynes Bowl being favourite). The stories finally got squashed by an official communique from the band's manager who said the group would not be playing any outdoor venues in the immediate future.

Away from the band, Roger Glover's solo album The Mask also reached UK shops early in the month. It had been recorded the year before, but the excitement about Deep Purple reforming tended to overshadow it and Roger himself had precious little time to promote it.

Le Mobile, mobile studio

AUGUST 1984: The recording sessions for the new studio album pushed on into August and finally ended on the 26th. There were conflicting stories as to how much material the band had in the can, with Jon Lord claiming that they'd done more than was needed (although if this was the case none has ever surfaced).

They had also shot a bit of non broadcast standard video to give themselves some footage to play with later on.

As soon as the sessions were finished, the band made preparations to fly out to Hamburg. They were still not giving any interviews, and there was still no official announcement of a record deal, although two major labels were said to have made offers which were under consideration.

August 1984 www.deep-purple.net links:

Darker Than Blue 30 (online version)
New Live & Rare 1984-2000 DVD review

Le Mobile, mobile studio

from the 'Under The Gun' promo

SEPTEMBER 1984: The pace began to hot up in September as the band assembled in the Tennessee Tonstudio in Hamburg on the 1st of the month. Here they took the basic Stateside recordings, added new solos, vocals etc. and mixed the album.

Roger Glover took the desk; he'd not been keen on the idea at first, feeling they would benefit from an outside producer, but he was trusted by the others and accepted the task.

The album title "Perfect Strangers" was also announced, and they signed on the dotted line with Polydor for release. The first official publicity photographs of the reformed band were also taken (the session as used on the LP back cover) and, much to everyone's surprise, the band also did a short set at a Hamburg night-club one evening (a small shot of this appeared on the LP inner sleeve).

September 1984 www.deep-purple.net links:

Deep Purple Mk 2 Reunion, family tree

The first reunion photo session, [Polydor Records]

Hamburg, September 1984

OCTOBER / NOVEMBER 1984 : By October Deep Purple had begun rehearsals for the first tour. It might seem hard to believe now, but they chose to do this in an old community room at St. Peter's Hall in Bedford! They were there for a fortnight, and re-learnt many of the old Mk 2 "Made In Japan" era classics as well as some of the new material.

The band played a bit of football and some of them travelled up for a charity match in Merseyside and an interview with Phil Easton, later syndicated to other ILR stations, during which we had our first chance to hear some of the new album. The band returned to America for an international press launch in New York at the end of the month.

The album finally appeared in early November (LP, CD and tape; it was reviewed in DTB Issue 30.) I had mixed feelings; a few cracking tracks but some less impressive material - twenty five years on I feel much the same about it. The initial tour dates were also set. They decided to kick off in Australia and New Zealand, with the first show in Perth on November 27th 1984 (see DTB 30 review) and there were another two weeks' rehearsal with the full stage set in America that month. Gillan and Lord came back to the UK for a short spot on The Whistle Test, and it became clear that the reverence for the band didn't extend to all parts of the media.

The press push for the album was the biggest of the reunion, with large posters in all UK cities and plenty of media advertising. A video of sorts was made from some of the camcorder footage the group were making and the album quickly went top five across most of Europe.

October / November 1984 links:

• Darker Than Blue 30 (online version)
• New Live & Rare 1984-2000 DVD review
• Deep Purple magazine gallery, 1984-1985
• Perfect Strangers illustrated discography
• DPAS Online Store

Ian Gillan, Whistle Test 1984

Jon Lord, Whistle Test 1984

Magazine cover, November 1984

DECEMBER 1984: The late November and December shows were so far away that it took a while for the first reports to filter back home to the UK (hard to imagine a world without the internet!). They kicked off in Australia, hit New Zealand on December 2nd, and then returned to Australia to play three more cities. The schedule was leisurely, allowing for extra shows to be dropped in where demand was high, and sunbathing when it wasn't.

The set-list was a mix of old and new - Highway Star, Nobody's Home, Strange Kind Of Woman, Gypsy's Kiss, Perfect Strangers, Under The Gun, Knocking At Your Back Door, Lazy, Child In Time, Difficult To Cure, Space Truckin' and encores, with Smoke On The Water saved for the end. Reviews were mixed, although the enthusiasm for having the band back was immense.

Gillan was struggling at times, and Blackmore often seemed happy to settle back and watch the others. It was obviously going to take the band a while to settle in to working with one another again but with half the set new they were at least determined not to rest too heavily on past glories.

The tour finished in Melbourne on the 18th, and barring a mini riot in Adelaide (where ticketless fans had tried to crash the stadium before the show) gone down well.

George Harrison turned up to guest at one gig (Sydney, December 13th), and football matches provided relaxation for members of the band and crew, as well as lucky fans. It was back home for a couple of weeks off before the start of the American tour after Christmas.

December 1984 links:

• Darker Than Blue 31 (online version)
• New Live & Rare 1984-2000 DVD review
• Deep Purple tour programmes
• George Harrison feature