Hughes, Bonamassa, Sherinian, and Bonham Supergroup album completed

Glenn Hughes (Deep Purple), Joe Bonamassa, Derek Sherinian (Planet X, ex-Dream Theater, former touring keyboardist with Buddy Miles, KISS & Alice Cooper), and Jason Bonham have completed recording on their debut album.  Initially this supergroup was to be called "Black Country" but have had to drop that name upon learning that another band already has that name. 

Incidentally, Bonamassa was recently voted best guitarist in the world. 

Their debut CD has been completed and is being/has been produced by Kevin Shirley and (as of today, 5/12/10) is scheduled for a September release.

Sometimes with these supergroups the egos are over the top and the whole doesn't match up to the sum of the parts (GTR and The Firm come to mind).  Other times there's enough mutual respect and love of music that the whole actually becomes greater than the sum of the parts (Asia, or more recently Them Crooked Vultures). 

Until September I will remain cautiously optimistic.  Is anyone else looking forward to this one?

Speaking of Glenn Hughes, in addition to this supergroup project he's been working on a new remaster of Deep Purple's Come Taste the Band after the original multi-track source tapes (long thought lost) were located last year.  Many previous CD releases came from later sources and not the original source tapes:

...  in December 2009, the Deep Purple Appreciation Society reported that the original multi-track masters had recently surfaced and that an official remastered version with bonus tracks (including remixes by Glenn Hughes and Kevin Shirley) would see release in 2010. The release is now due in late July (for the world outside the US).[2]

On January 6, 2010 it was announced at the DPAS website that there were two extra tracks from the Come Taste The Band sessions. One is a five minute jam with Ian Paice and Tommy Bolin, the other a proper three minute track that was taken out from the final release in 1975. It was also stated on the website that the remastering was still in an early state, but that it moved forwards. Two days later it was reported that Glenn Hughes had finished his involvement with the remixes at Stateside at the very end of December 2009. On a January 1, 2010 diary entry on his official website[3], producer Kevin Shirley also stated that David Coverdale had been involved in the process. This 2-CD Deluxe 35th Anniversary edition will include the original album plus a rare US single edit on the first disc, and the remixes plus the two unissued tracks on the second disc. (from wikipedia)

Hopefully the US release will not be long after the worldwide re-relesae.

Smoke on the Water' strikes World Record Chord

This is kinda fun news:

(I noticed several electrics out in the crowd, wonder if they brought an amp - lol)

KANSAS CITY, Kansas (AP) -- More than 1,680 guitar players turned out, tuned up and took part in what organizers say was a world record rendition of Deep Purple's "Smoke on the Water" -- a song that was the first many of them ever learned.

Some came from as far away as California and Germany on Sunday to take part in a Kansas City radio station's effort to break a Guinness world record for the most people playing the same song simultaneously. The record had been 1,323 people playing the same song in Vancouver, British Columbia, in 1994.

Full Story Here

Thanks, Erin, for pointing this out to me!

Deep Purple

Smoke on the Water, Fire IN the Sky....

Deep Purple!

Did you know that Smoke on the Water is the most played (by amateurs) guitar song of all times? I've only seen them once, and it was MANY years ago...but I will never forget the first time I heard the beginning of the song. Na Na Na - Na Na Na Na - Na Na Na - Na Na Na Na...

One thing for sure...they changed members so often it's hard to say who was really in the band officially. But to me ROGER GLOVER is Deep Purple - check him out back in this photo....back in the day he resembles a guy that has recently been in the top 12 on American Idol. (I think, my son disagrees).