Monday, October 26, 2015

Monday Morning Music Break ~ Anthem


Do you ever have a maddening musical phrase 
running through your mind?

Maddening because you can't remember
what piece of music it is or where you heard it.



An example of a rhythmic pattern used in heavy metal. 
The upper stave is a palm-muted rhythm guitar part.
The lower stave is the drum part.



Well, for a number of nights,
an unidentifiable brainworm
was burrowing through my dreams,
and it kept busting through
the music in my head when I was awake.

The violins looped around and around
filling my mind with gorgeous sound,
but I couldn't grasp the rest of the piece.

And then I realized that an organ
was coming into the snatch of music
after a few seconds.

Bam!  Slam!  
Deep Purple!
Anthem

Downstairs to my CD Collection.
Gotcha!!!



Deep Purple ~ Anthem
You Tube ~ Claudio Benvindo de Medeiros   



I've been a fan of the English rock band Deep Purple
from its beginning in the late 60s.

The band began with a progressive rock sound, 
and over time its music morphed 
into hard rock and heavy metal.

Deep Purple along with Led Zeppelin, and Black Sabbath, 
became known as the "unholy trinity 
of British hard rock and heavy metal."
 wikipedia

Throughout its successful four-decade run as a band, 
Deep Purple's line-up changed repeatedly,
and it showcased successful hard rock stars of the era.

The musicians performing on Deep Purple's 
first three albums were:
Rod Evans - lead vocals
Ritchie Blackmore - guitar
Jon Lord - Hammond organ, keyboards, backing vocals, strings                                        arrangement on Anthem
Nick Simper - bass guitar, backing vocals
Ian Paice - drums



Ritchie, Jon, Nick, Ian, and Rod


Those first three albums 
contained some well-known favorites of mine:
Shades of Deep Purple (favs:  Mandrake Root, Hush)
Book of Taliesyn (favs:  River Deep, Mountain High, Kentucky Woman, Anthem)
and Deep Purple (fav:  LaleƱa).

Anthem is on The Book of Taliesyn.
The song stands out as one of the first 
that fused rock and classical music.  
Jon Lord composed a baroque section featuring 
an organ and a string quartet for the middle of Anthem.
wikipedia

But Anthem was much more than its music.
Its lyrics capture the intense feelings of love rejected
and of those dark nights of the soul 
spent spinning around in twisted sheets. 

The refrain expresses a futile hope 
filled with longing.
Chances are, if you've ever loved and lost,
that you have felt like this.

"If I could see you
If only I could see you
To see if you are laughing or crying
When the night winds softly blow"
Source:  metrolyrics     
Songwriters:  RICE, TIM / ANDERSSON, BENNY GORAN BROR / ULVAEUS, BJOERN K.


Sadly, Jon Lord died of pancreatic cancer on July 16, 2012.

Lars Ulrich of Metallica commented after Lord's death:
"We can all be guilty of lightly throwing adjectives 
like 'unique,' 'one-of-a-kind' and 'pioneering' around 
when we want to describe our heroes 
and the people who've moved us, 
but there are no more fitting words than those right now 
and there simply was no musician like Jon Lord 
in the history of hard rock. 
Nobody. Period.

There was nobody that played like him. 
There was nobody that sounded like him. 
There was nobody that wrote like him. 
There was nobody that looked like him. 
There was nobody more articulate, gentlemanly, warm, 
or fucking cooler that ever played keyboards 
or got anywhere near a keyboard. 
What he did was all his own."
wikipedia


If you have time for a second cup of coffee or tea
on my Monday Morning Music Break,
here is a second track from The Book of Taliesyn:
River Deep, Mountain High.
It features Deep Purple's gorgeous heavy sound
and showcases Jon Lord on the organ.




Deep Purple ~ River Deep, Mountain High


Have a good week!

18 comments:

  1. Ah, yes, the ear worm!!! Difficult, send you round the twist at times!!! I've not heard of him but I like the sound of rock organ!

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    1. Oh Kezzie! You're English, a music teacher, and haven't heard of Jon Lord and Deep Purple!!! Actually, that's no fault of yours. Sometimes I forget that I'm going back almost 50 years! That would be like me in 1968 looking back at 1921. In 1968 I thought 1921 was positively prehistoric! LOL I could listen to that instrumental part of Anthem over and over again. It erases everything else in my mind.

      I sometimes wish that I could have studied music. Testing at two universities over 10 years apart resulted in very high scores for me in music; and both times I was urged to go into it; but I had had no training in anything related to music, and rocks were so darn entrancing. And if you could hear me trying to sing or see me trying to dance, you would laugh!

      I love that you are opening little kiddos' ears to the world of music! Music feeds our souls! Have a good one, Kezzie!

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  2. Yep, can get an ear worm here and there and can be a pain to connect it to the source sometimes. But thanks to the power of google I can get it lol

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    1. Thank God for Google! Everyday I understand more and more of its search engine powers, and I am amazed. Have a great Monday, Pat!

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  3. I only ever had one Deep Purple album as a teenager -- the one with "Smoke on the Water" on it.

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    1. "Smoke on the Water" was on their 1972 album "Machine Head." Aren't I brilliant? LOL! Google makes me feel that way! I can almost instantly find anything I want! I'm listening to it right now! Thank God for You Tube too! See what you can do when you're retired and have the gift of time! Have a great day, Debra!

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  4. Thanks for rockin' out my Monday. I remembered the song as well as Smoke on the Water. Do you know that there is an app where you can play just a part of a song and it will tell you all about the song and the artists? I don't know what it is called though. I have to be. Artful not to listen to one song over and over because it will get stiuck in my head and I'll wake up in the middle of the. Ought with it running through. Y brain and I can't get back to sleep m

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    1. Hi Peggy! I wish I were as disciplined as you are! I play some songs over and over because it puts me in a past feeling and I feel it sharply all over again. Not good! LOL! Music is as powerful as smell to me in provoking memories; and the song can come decades after the event I'm remembering. I think music has a powerful effect on most people. Have a happy Monday!

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  5. Not my 'cup of tea', Louise but I am happy you figured out what that tune was!!
    Oh that head music!!

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    1. What!!! Not your cup of tea, Jim? I'm shocked! Just kidding. A difference of opinion makes horse racing and missionaries! LOL! Head music can make me crazy! But sometimes, like the instrumental section in Anthem, it's wonderful (aside from not recognizing the song) ~ I can can hear every note in my mind! Have a good one!

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  6. Classical-Rock fusion. I vaguely remember an electric version of Edvard Grieg's "Hall of The Mountain King" in the latter '60s --maybe Iron Butterfly or Big Brother and The Holding Co, (sans Joplin)-- a stirring piece that was at least released as a single because I heard it on a.m. radio. Such an interesting time for musical experimentation.

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    1. Hi Geo! I love Google ~ I found the recording I think: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ujd0_0K_djk
      I'm playing it right now. I was curious because I like both Iron Butterfly and Big Brother and the Holding Co and "Hall of the Mountain King." BB&HC did a concert at Acadia University, and I interviewed them for the campus paper. Such Fun! After Janis sadly. It's hard to beat the musical experimentation of that time. Have a good one, Geo.

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  7. I had Soft Kitty running through my head for a day or so. Big Bang?
    They were playing it on the xylophone at little kids school.

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    1. Hi Susie! It's great to be in education, and how I loved working with little kiddos. There are worse things to have stuck in your head! Have a great day!

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  8. Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath! Louise, we are kindred spirits. I can't believe you like all these bands like I do. It's so rare to find someone with similar taste. My (late) brother introduced me to their music in our teens and I'm so grateful to him, especially the intro to Led Zeppelin; one of the greatest rock bands ever with one of the greatest lead guitarists. Very cool.

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    1. It's hard for me to imagine that someone wouldn't like their music! I'm so grateful that I was exposed to a wide range of music growing up. It was a result of my parents sharing their music and of having to listen to small radio stations that broadcast to a divergent audience, many of whom didn't like rock! My first husband got me to really appreciate country and blues. Anthem, Stairway to Heaven, War Pigs, so many other great songs! It must make you feel very close to your brother when you listen to the music he introduced to you! Have a good one!

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  9. I had only one Deep Purple song...Smoke on the Water! Yes, sometimes I have a song in my head and forget the name and composer, and it drives me crazy! LOL! What is even harder is if it is an instrumental song that I don't know the words to, because that is harder to find. If we know the lyrics we can type in a couple of lines in Google and usually find it! :)

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    1. Hi Linda! What would we do without Google? It took me a while to learn how to use it, but now I search with it all the time. Those instrumentals can be a problem! Have a great day, my friend!

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Thank you for your comments! I appreciate them very much.