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Ritchie Blackmore 70 yrs old today: a celebration

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The Man in Black, Ritchie Blackmore, has turned 70 years old today, which I suppose puts him firmly in the grand-daddies of British classic rock fraternity along with the likes of The Stones, Clapton and The Who.

When I got into Deep Purple and Rainbow at the cusp of the 70s/80s, Ritchie was my top guitar hero, especially on Purple’s “In Rock” and “Machine Head” albums and the classic Rainbow albums “Rising” and “Long Live Rock’n’Roll”.

You rarely heard or saw Ritchie in the media and he always had a sense of mystique about him, with regular rock press reportage about pranks, band sackings, mood swings and feuds with Gillan and Coverdale. That said, I recall one fascinating interview on Radio One (either with Tommy Vance or Alexis Korner, not quite sure) where he praised Ian Anderson and Jethro Tull’s folk rock style and talked about why he originally chose a Fender Stratocaster over a Gibson (cos’ it was difficult to play at first).

I saw Ritchie live with Deep Purple on the MK II reunion tour in 1985. It was a packed Birmingham NEC and Ritchie pulled out all the stops that night, playing like a demon and actually communicating with Gillan on stage (only later did I learn how much he and Gillan hated each other’s guts, even on that tour). I also vividly remember Ritchie’s solo spot, the Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony adaptation from “Difficult to Cure”, pumped through a quadrophonic PA system. Awesome stuff!

Since that time he has been mocked and reviled in the music press for climbing off the Deep Purple cash cow in the mid 90s, after more rows with Gillan, and pursuing his pointy hat, medieval lute rock. It’s never really been my cup of tea but we are where we are.

Anyway, which brings me to the point of this post. On the strength of the classic Purple MK II output and the “Burn” album, as well as the classic Rainbow records with Dio, I’d put Ritchie well inside the top three British rock guitar players of all time alongside Clapton and Beck and, incidentally, miles ahead of Jimmy Page.

And here’s why: “A Light in the Black” from Rainbow Rising. This guitar solo sums up Ritchie’s classic style and compelling “bees in a jam jar” Fender sound. Basically, every time I’ve heard this track for the past 30 years, my vest crawls up my back.

Happy birthday My Lord Blackmore wherever you are!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYrW3yONR44

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Comments

  2. I agree Rocker, I think Jimmy is a good record producer and has some nice diverse influences, but as a lead guitarist he can’t touch Ritchie. The solo on “Highway Star” blew me away as a nip and still does to be honest. I read a great article on David Coverdale’s website – apparently he and Glen Hughes, when they first got together on Burn, spent a whole day recording a great rousing choir of multitracked voices on the end of “Mistreated” – a huge, completely new to the Purps sound, inspiring, like heaven’s angels singing the blues. Ritchie came in to see how the day had gone…he listened, sighed slightly, reached for the faders…..I can’t hear the lead guitar, said the great man. End of choir. Class.

    • I try to squeeze in about 200 views a day. But I need to start eating, sleeping and drinking again. I’m totally exhausted and dehydrated. This thread promotion business takes its toll on a man.

  6. I’d like to help, Rockmeister. I admire your admiring. Unfortunately, I just don’t like his playing, his sound or his personality. Interestingly, though, I did hear that he has aspirations to reclaim the Deep Purple name. He’s surely wasting his legal time and money there, if so.

      • dammit, you’ve sussed me out… I would quite like to like Deep Purple – their soundworld is in my ‘zone’ as it were – but… Y’know, I think part of it is that, more generally, I don’t really care for the sound of Stratocasters. I can’t think of one Stratocaster player I enjoy listening to. Telecasters, fine; Gibson guitars, absolutely… I love Atomic Rooster, which might seem like an exception, but I think they triumphed despite John Cann’s guitarisms not because of it. OOAA

  7. I read somewhere recently that the death of Jon Lord brought Blackmore and Coverdale back together. Hatchets were apparently buried.

    The two Purple albums he disliked the most, ‘Burn’ and ‘Stormbringer’, are my favourites. Because of his playing. He may have hated the ‘shoeshine’ music Coverdale and Hughes wrote but he played it superbly.

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