The two best solos ever and the start of “English guitar”, according to Ritchie Blackmore
When it comes to being a famous musician, it can be hard to strike a balance between showmanship and generally making good music.
With Deep Purple, there was no denying the fact that the band were great, as they made some of the greatest rock music in history to harness a sound which is versatile, exciting, and that uses multiple different sources of inspiration in order to stand out head and shoulders. For instance, famously, the band used classical elements of music in a lot of their songs to layer their tracks.
“My interest in classical music overall is what led me in the direction of trying to combine blues, rock and classical ideas into the stylistic statement,” said Blackmore, adding, “At the age of 15, I saw a band that did rocked-up classical tunes, called Nero and the Gladiators. They all wore togas, and you would think they must have looked really silly, but it worked.”
Ritchie Blackmore, as well as being a great musician, also had a look that plenty of people liked. Granted, Deep Purple aren’t celebrated for being one of the most outrageous bands on the planet, but they were cool and presented themselves well, which, for a lot of people, is enough. Gene Simmons, one of the kings of flamboyancy, once said that he was quite drawn to Ritchie Blackmore’s stripped-back look.
“To those of us who know, Ritchie Blackmore means the world, he’s got the goods,” he said, “Ritchie Blackmore on stage sort of had the right thing that attracted our eyes because when people go to your concerts they listen with their eyes first, (not so much) the ears. That’s why visuals are so important, lights and all the rest of that. But Ritchie dressed in black and had the Strat, did all the physicality.”
Of course, Blackmore is lucky that people still took to Deep Purple even though the band wasn’t too over the top, for he knows that some acts can slip under the radar if they don’t go overboard with their stage show. Some of his favourite guitar music was by the very underrated musician Big Jim Sullivan, and when talking about some of his favourite solos, he mentioned the 1964 track ‘Together’ by PJ Proby.
“In my opinion,” he said, “two of the best solos ever recorded were played by Big Jim Sullivan. [It] for me was the beginning of the English electric guitar”.
Turns out Blackmore worked a lot with Sullivan and thinks he was incredibly underrated, despite being responsible for some of his favourite guitar solos of all time. It’s all well and good playing music well, but unfortunately, a lot of people slip through the cracks of creative history, so it’s lucky we have people like Blackmore bringing these names back to the forefront of our minds.
“Big Jim Sullivan was a teacher of mine ’cause he used to live around the corner so I could go to him a lot,” he said, “They’re probably the best two guitarists in England. Nobody knows it because they don’t have any novelty side-effects, they just play.”
