deep purple pic

DEEP PURPLE - SPACE TRUCKIN

We had a lot of luck on Venus
We always had a ball on Mars
Meeting all the groovey people
We've rocked the Milky Way so far
We danced around with Borealice
We're space truckin' round the the stars
Come on let's go Space Truckin'

Remember when we did the moonshot
And Pony Trekker led the way
We'd move to the Canaveral moonstop
And everynaut would dance and sway
We got music in our solar system
We're space truckin' round the stars
Come on let's go Space Truckin' 

The fireball that we rode was moving
But now we've got a new machine
Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah the freaks said
Man those cats can really swing
They got music in their solar system
They've rocked around the Milky Way
They dance around the Borealice
They're Space Truckin' everyday
Come on 

DEEP PURPLE - YOU FOOL NO ONE

You fool no one, waiting to see if I'm gone.
So hard to see you are taking your chances with me.
If I find you with some other man
you know what I'm gonna do.
Better run if you see me comin', ah.

Soon you will fall, making mistakes like before.
When you tell me lies I can see by the look in your eyes.
If you think you're gonna take me for granted,
chasin' round with all you see,

gonna make you live to regret it, ah.

You fool no one, waiting to see if I'm gone.
So clear to see you've had all your chances with me.
You thought that you could take me for granted
but I couldn't take it no more.
Better run when you see me comin, ah

DEEP PURPLE - SMOKE ON THE WATER

We all came out to Montreux
On the Lake Geneva shoreline
To make records with a mobile
We didn't have much time
Frank Zappa and the Mothers
Were at the best place around
But some stupid with a flare gun
Burned the place to the ground
Smoke on the water, a fire in the sky, smoke on the water

They burned down the gamblin' house,
It died with an awful sound
and Funky Claude was running in and out
Pulling kids out the ground
When it all was over
We had to find another place
But Swiss time was running out
It seemed that we would lose the race
Smoke on the water, a fire in the sky, smoke on the water

We ended up at the Grand Hotel
It was empty cold and bare
But with the Rolling truck Stones thing just outside
Making our music there
With a few red lights and a few old beds
We make a place to sweat
No matter what we get out of this
I know, I know we'll never forget
Smoke on the water, a fire in the sky ,smoke on the water

DEEP PURPLE - MISTREATED

I've been mistreated, I've been abused. 
I've been struck downhearted, baby, I've been confused 
'cause I know, yes, I know I've been mistreated. 
Since my baby left me I've been losing my mind, you know I have. 

I've been lonely, I've been cold. 
I've been looking for a woman to have and hold 
'cause I know, yes, I know I've been mistreated. 
Since my baby left me I've been losing, I've been losing, 
I've been losing my mind, baby baby babe. 

I've been mistreated, I've been abused. 
I've been looking for a woman, yeh, I've been confused 
'cause I know, yes, I know I've been mistreated, ooh o-o-oh. 
Since my baby left me I've been losing, losing, 
I've been losing my mind, baby baby babe. 
Oh oh oh, oh woman, oh woman, oh woman. 

I've been losing my mind.

DEEP PURPLE - LAY DOWN STAY DOWN

I don't care if my lady's gone
As long as you give me just what I want.
I've been losin' my direction,
Got to find a new connection.

You have wasted the love I tasted,
Now I'm really gettin' hungry more and more.
Been a long time, had a bad sign.
Tell me what am I fighting for?

Let me know you feel it,
you know I really need it.
Keep on pushin' for more,
lay down, stay down.
I got something to find,
there's one thing I really need.
I'm gonna tell you right now,
lay down, stay down.

Lookin' for trouble, I guess that's right.
When I was young I was taught to fight.
It's been long gone since I had known,
Now I'm headin' for some more.

Let me know you feel it,
you know I really need it.
Keep on pushin' for more,
Lay down, stay down.
I got something to find,
there's one thing I really need.
I'm gonna tell you right now,
lay down, stay down.

DEEP PURPLE - MIGHT JUST TAKE YOUR LIFE

I got more than I asked for, 
There ain't nothin' I need. 
I took all till I had more, 
I'm always takin' the lead. 

Old man shakin' dice down on the street, 
try'n to make a livin' somehow 
but I'm really sure about gettin' things sorted out 
and I'm gettin' ready right now. 

You can't hold me, 
I have told you. 
Might just take your life, 2X

I've been called by many names 
And all of them are bad. 
I can take it all the same, 
It's all I've ever had. 

I've got somethin' that you can't get 
but one thing you can see: 
gettin' there ain't easy 
but it sure was hard for me. 

You can't hold me, 
I have told you. 
Might just take your life, 2X

Every time I take a look 
There's someone close behind. 
They never used to make a pass, 
The things that crossed their minds. 

Now they tell me that it's all right 
and they want to be my friend. 
They're ridin' on my back. 
When is it goin' to end? 

You can't hold me, 
I have told you. 
Might just take your life, 3X

Got more than I asked for, 
got more than I need. ......

DEEP PURPLE - BURN

The sky is red, I don't understand,
past midnight I still see the land.
People are sayin' the woman is damned,
she makes you burn with a wave of her hand.
The city's a blaze, the town's on fire.
The woman's flames are reaching higher.
We were fools, we called her liar.
All I hear is "Burn!"

I didn't believe she walked out on spurn.
She said, "Curse you all, you'll never learn!
When I leave there's no return."
The people laughed till she said, "Burn!"
Warning came, no one cared.
Earth was shakin', we stood and stared.
When it came no one was spared.
Still I hear "Burn!"

You know we had no time,
we could not even try.
You know we had no time.

The sky is red, I don't understand,
past midnight I still see the land.
People are sayin' the woman is damned,
she makes you burn with a wave of her hand.
Warning came, no one cared.
Earth was shakin, we stood and stared.
When it came no one was spared.
Still I hear "Burn!"

Glenn Hughes

Glenn Hughes (born 21 August 1952) is an English rock bassist and vocalist, best-known as for playing bass and performing vocals for the Mk. III and IV line-ups of Deep Purple, as well as briefly fronting Black Sabbath in the mid-1980s. Hughes also maintains a notable solo career.

History

Hughes fronted Finders Keepers in the 1960s as bassist/vocalist, as well as the British funk rock band Trapeze. Hughes then went on to serve as bassist/vocalist for Deep Purple between 1973 and 1976, embarking on a solo career following his departure from the group. In 1982, he joined with ex-Pat Travers guitarist Pat Thrall to form Hughes/Thrall, they released one self-titled album which went virtually unnoticed at the time but is now often cited by many fans/musicians to be the their favourite Glenn Hughes album. In the mid-1980s, Hughes recorded several different albums with bands and artists including Phenomena (Phenomena, Phenomena II: Dream Runner), Gary Moore (Run For Cover), and Black Sabbath (Seventh Star, though this was to have been a solo album by Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi, and only came out as a Sabbath album due to record label pressure). Beginning in the mid 1980s, Hughes' health problems due to over eating, drugs and alcohol began to seriously affect his musical projects, and this contributed to very short stints with Gary Moore and Tony Iommi, as Hughes was unable to tour with them properly due to his bad health. By the end of the decade, Hughes' realised his ongoing drug problem was derailing him, and by 1991 a clean, sober and fully rejuvenated Hughes returned with the vocal for the hit "America: What Time Is Love?" with KLF. He also recorded all the vocals for former Europe guitarist John Norum's solo album 'Face the Truth'. He then re-embarked on a solo career that he has primarily focused on to date. In 1999, Hughes did a short tribute tour to Tommy Bolin in Texas, with Tommy's brother Johnny (of Black Oak Arkansas) on drums.
In 2005 Hughes released Soul Mover supporting it with a European tour. He also collaborated with Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi on the 2005 album Fused. Hughes then released Music for the Divine in 2006, which featured Red Hot Chili Peppers members Chad Smith and John Frusciante. Hughes toured in support of the album throughout Europe in autumn 2006.

Released on edel records on 17 November 2007 is Live in Australia, an acoustic CD and companion DVD of a performance at Sydney's famous "Basement" club. The show features songs from most recent Hughes albums, Purple classics and rare gems and covers.
His new album, First Underground Nuclear Kitchen was released on 9 May 2008 in Europe and on 12 May in the rest of the world.
He announced on tour that he is currently writing his autobiography with author Joel McIver. The book will be published in 2011 and features contributions by Tony Iommi, David Coverdale, Ozzy Osbourne, Tom Morello and a foreword by Lars Ulrich of Metallica.
It was announced by UK radio station, Planet Rock, on 14 January 2010, that Hughes was forming a new band called Black Country with Jason Bonham (drums), Joe Bonamassa (guitar) and Derek Sherinian (keyboards). An album is planned for release later in the year, however they have been forced to change the name to Black Country Communion after another band with the same name raised an objection.
In July 2010 he appeared as a guest vocalist (together with Masterplan singer Jørn Lande) fronting Heaven & Hell at the High Voltage Rock Festival in London as a tribute to the late Ronnie James Dio.

Jon Lord

Jon Douglas Lord (born 9 June 1941) is an English composer, pianist, and Hammond organ player.

Lord is recognised for his Hammond organ blues-rock sound and for his pioneering work in fusing rock and classical or baroque forms. He has most famously been a member of Deep Purple, as well as of Whitesnake, Paice, Ashton & Lord, The Artwoods and Flower Pot Men. He has worked with numerous other artists including Graham Bonnet (following Bonnet's departure from Rainbow).

In 1968, Lord co-founded Deep Purple. He and drummer Ian Paice were the only constant band members during the band's existence from 1968 to 1976 and from when they reformed in 1984 until Lord's retirement from Deep Purple in 2002.

One of his finest works was his composition Concerto for Group and Orchestra, which was performed at the Royal Albert Hall in 1969 with Deep Purple (Lord and Paice with guitarist Ritchie Blackmore, singer Ian Gillan and bassist Roger Glover) and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. The concerto was revived for its 30th anniversary in 1999 with another performance at the Albert Hall, again performed by Deep Purple (Lord, Paice, Gillan, Glover and Steve Morse in place of Ritchie Blackmore) with the London Philharmonic Orchestra.

In 2002 he retired from Deep Purple for good, to concentrate on composing and on lower-key blues/rock performances. In 2008, he achieved success as a classical composer when his Durham Concerto entered the classical album charts. His latest album is To Notice Such Things from 2010.

On November 11, 2010 Jon Lord was made an Honorary Fellow of Stevenson College, Edinburgh. The "Concerto for Group & Orchestra" (described as "a contemporary masterpiece" by the college), was performed in the Usher Hall in 2009, featuring Stevenson students.

Early life

Jon Lord was born in Leicester on 9 June 1941 to his parents Miriam (1912–1995, née Hudson) and Reg. He studied classical piano from age five, and those influences are a recurring trademark in his work. His influences range from Bach (a constant connection in his music and his keyboard improvisation) to Medieval popular music and the English tradition of Edward Elgar.

Simultaneously, Lord absorbed the blues sounds that played a key part in his rock career, principally the raw sounds of the great American blues organists Jimmy Smith, Jimmy McGriff and "Brother" Jack McDuff ("Rock Candy"), as well as the stage showmanship of Jerry Lee Lewis. The jazz-blues organ sounds coming from those musicians in the 1950s and 1960s, using the trademark blues-organ sound of the Hammond organ (B3 and C3 models) and combining it with the Leslie speaker system (the well-known Hammond-Leslie speaker combo), were seminal influences. Keyboard contemporaries in the 1970s Keith Emerson and Rick Wakeman generally steered away from the blues or only showcased it as a novelty, but Lord embraced it fully into his style.

Lord moved to London in 1959/60, intent on an acting career and enrolling at the Central School of Speech and Drama, in London's Swiss Cottage. Small parts followed and Lord continued playing piano and organ in clubs and as a session musician to make ends meet.

He started his London band career in 1960 with jazz ensemble the Bill Ashton Combo. Ashton, now an MBE, became a key figure in jazz education in the UK, creating what later became the National Youth Jazz Orchestra. Between 1960 and 1963, Lord (along with Ashton) moved onto Red Bludd's Bluesicians (also known as The Don Wilson's Quartet), the latter of which featured singer Arthur "Art" Wood. Wood had previously sung with Alexis Korner's Blues Incorporated and was a junior figure in the British blues movement. In this period, Lord's session credits included playing keyboards on You Really Got Me (The Kinks 1964 classic).

Following the break-up of Redd Bludd's Bluesicians in late 1963, Wood, Lord and drummer Red Dunnage put together a new band. The Art Wood Combo also included Derek Griffiths (guitar) and Malcolm Pool (bass). Dunnage left in December 1964 to be replaced by Keef Hartley, who had previously replaced Ringo Starr in Rory Storm and the Hurricanes.

The Artwoods focused on the organ as the bluesy, rhythmic core of their sound, in common with contemporaries the Spencer Davis Group (Steve Winwood on organ) and the Animals (with Alan Price). They made appearances on TV shows such as Ready Steady Go!, performed abroad and appeared on the first Ready Steady Goes Live, promoting their first single Sweet Mary, but significant commercial success eluded them. Their only chart single was I Take What I Want, which reached No 28 on 8 May 1966.

The band regrouped in 1967 as St Valentine's Day Massacre, in an attempt to cash in on the 1930s gangster craze triggered by the film Bonnie and Clyde. Hartley left in 1967 to join John Mayall's Bluesbreakers.

Lord then created Santa Barbara Machine Head (featuring Art's brother, the young Ronnie Wood), writing and recording three powerful keyboard driven instrumental tracks giving a preview of the seminal Deep Purple style to come in the future. Soon after, he went on to cover for keyboard player Billy Day in The Flower Pot Men, where he met bassist Nick Simper. Lord and Simper toured with the band in 1967 to support their Let's Go To San Francisco hit single, but they never recorded with them.

In early 1967, he met businessman Tony Edwards looking to invest in the music business through his room mate Chris Curtis of The Searchers. Blackmore was called in and met Jon Lord for the first time. But Chris Curtis' erratic behavior led nowhere. Tony Edwards was impressed enough by Jon Lord to ask him to form a band after Chris Curtis faded out. Nick Simper was contacted and Ritchie Blackmore recalled in from Hamburg. Top English drummer Booby Woodman was the initial choice for drummer but during the auditions for singer and drummer, Rod Evans came with his drummer, Ian Paice. Blackmore who had been impressed by Paice's drumming in 1967 and told him he would like to form a band together, quickly ensured an audition for Ian Paice. The band was initially called Roundabout, which by March 1968 had morphed into the "Mark 1" lineup of Deep Purple: Lord, Simper, Blackmore, Paice and singer Rod Evans.

Lord also helped form Boz who did some recordings produced by Derek Lawrence, featuring Boz Burrell (later of Bad Company), session guitarist Ritchie Blackmore (whom Lord first met in December 1967), drummer Ian Paice and bassist Chas Hodges (later of 'Cockney' pop group Chas & Dave).

Personal life

Jon Lord is married to Vickie Lord, the twin sister of Ian Paice's wife, Jackie. The twin girls were the daughters of Frank Gibbs, owner of the Oakley House Country Club, Brewood, Staffs. They both live in the United Kingdom. He has two daughters, Amy (with Vickie) and Sara (with his first wife Judith).

Deep Purple 1968–1976

It is in this period that Lord's trademark keyboard sound emerged. Ignoring the emergence of the Moog synthesizer as pioneered in rock by players like Keith Emerson, he began experimenting with a keyboard sound centred on the Hammond organ but heavier than a blues sound and often featuring distortion. This delivered a rhythmic foundation to complement Blackmore's speed and virtuosity on lead guitar. Lord also loved the sound of an RMI 368 Electra-Piano and Harpsichord, which he used on songs like "Demon's Eye", and "Space Truckin'". In 1973, Lord's original Hammond C3 gave out, and he purchased another from Christine McVie of Fleetwood Mac. Around this same time, Lord and his keyboard technician, Mike Phillips, combined his Hammond C3 Organ with the RMI. (Lord kept this particular Hammond C3 until his retirement from the band in 2002.)

Lord pushed the Hammond-Leslie sound through Marshall amplification, creating a growling, heavy, mechanical sound that gave a rhythmic counterpoint to Blackmore's lead playing. It also allowed Lord to compete with Blackmore as a soloist, with an organ that sounded as heavy as a lead guitar. Said one reviewer, "many have tried to imitate [Lord's] style, and all failed." Said Lord himself, "There's a way of playing a Hammond [that's] different. A lot of people make the mistake of thinking that you can play a Hammond with a piano technique. Well, you can, but it sounds like you are playing a Hammond with a piano technique. Really, you have to learn how to play an organ. It's a legato technique; it’s a technique to achieve legato on a non-legato instrument."

In early Deep Purple recordings, Lord's organ sound is often more prominent than Blackmore's guitar, which didn't truly start to take over until the In Rock album (1970). For example, the band's first hit song, a cover of Joe South's "Hush", features an extended organ solo and no guitar solo. Later, Lord's willingness to play many of the key rhythm parts gave the guitarist the freedom to let loose both live and on record.

On Deep Purple's second and third albums, Lord began indulging his ambition to fuse rock with classical music. A prominent example of this is the song "April" from the band's self-titled third album (1969). The song is recorded in three parts: (1) Lord and Blackmore only, on keyboards and acoustic guitar, respectively; (2) an orchestral arrangement complete with strings; and (3) the full rock band with vocals. This enhanced Lord's reputation among fellow musicians, but caused tension within the group.

Blackmore agreed to go along with Lord's experimentation, provided he was given his head on the next band album. The resulting Concerto For Group and Orchestra (in 1969) was one of rock's earliest attempts to fuse two distinct musical idioms. Performed live at the Royal Albert Hall on 24 September 1969 (with new band members Ian Gillan and Roger Glover, Evans and Simper having been fired), recorded by the BBC and later released as an album, the Concerto gave Deep Purple their first highly-publicised taste of mainstream fame and gave Lord the confidence to believe that his experiment and his compositional skill had a future. The Concerto also gave Lord the chance to work with established classical figures, like conductor Malcolm Arnold (knighted in 1993), who brought his technical skills to bear by helping Lord score the work and to protect him from the inevitable disdain of the older members of the orchestra.

Classical dalliance over, Purple began work on In Rock, released by their new label EMI in 1970 and now recognised as one of hard rock's key early works. Lord and Blackmore competed to out-dazzle each other, often in classical-style, mid-section 'call and answer' improvisation (on tracks like "Speed King"), something they employed to great effect live. Similarly, "Child in Time" features Lord's playing to maximum tonal effect. Lord's experimental solo on "Hard Lovin' Man" (complete with police-siren interpolation) on the album is his personal favourite among his Deep Purple studio performances.

Deep Purple released a sequence of albums between 1971's Fireball and 1975's Come Taste the Band. Gillan and Glover left in 1973 and Blackmore in 1975, and the band disintegrated in 1976. The highlights of Lord's Purple work in the period include the 1972 album Machine Head (featuring his rhythmic underpinnings on "Smoke on the Water" and "Space Truckin'", plus the organ solos on "Highway Star" and "Lazy"), the sonic bombast of the Made in Japan live album (1972), an extended, effect-laden solo on "Rat Bat Blue" from the Who Do We Think We Are album (1973), and his overall playing on the Burn album from 1974.

Roger Glover later described Lord as a true "Zen-archer soloist", someone whose best keyboard improvisation often came at the first attempt. Lord's strict reliance on the Hammond C3 organ sound, as opposed to the synthesizer experimentation of his contemporaries, places him firmly in the jazz-blues category as a band musician and far from the progressive-rock sound of Keith Emerson and Rick Wakeman. Lord himself would rarely venture into the synthesizer territory on Purple albums, often limiting his experimentation to the use of the ring modulator with the Hammond, to give live performances on tracks like Space Truckin' a distinctive 'spacey' sound. Rare instances of his Deep Purple synthesizer use (later including the MiniMoog and other Moog synthesizers) include "'A' 200", the final track from Burn, and "Love Child" on the Come Taste the Band album.

-In early 1973 Lord stated 

Composing Career

Lord continued to focus on his classical aspirations alongside his Deep Purple career. The BBC, buoyed by the success of the Concerto, commissioned him to do another work and the resulting Gemini Suite was performed by Deep Purple and the Light Music Society under Malcolm Arnold at the Royal Festival Hall in September 1970 and then in Munich with the Kammerorchester conducted by Eberhard Schoener in January 1972. It then became the basis for Lord's first solo album, Gemini Suite, released in November 1972, with vocals by Yvonne Elliman and Tony Ashton and with the London Symphony Orchestra backing a band that included Albert Lee on guitar.


Lord's collaboration with the highly experimental and supportive Schoener resulted in a second live performance of the Suite in late 1973 and a new Lord album with Eberhard Schoener, entitled Windows, in 1974. It proved to be Lord's most experimental work and was released to mixed reactions. However, the dalliances with Bach on Windows and the pleasure of collaborating with Schoener resulted in perhaps Lord's most confident solo work and perhaps his strongest orchestral album, Sarabande, recorded in Germany in September 1975 with the Philharmonia Hungarica conducted by Schoener.
Composed of eight pieces (from the opening sweep of Fantasia to the Finale), at least five pieces form the typical construction of a baroque dance suite. The key pieces (Sarabande, Gigue, Bouree, Pavane and Caprice) feature rich orchestration complemented sometimes by the interpolation of rock themes, played by a session band comprising Pete York, Mark Nauseef and Andy Summers, with organ and synthesizers played by Lord.
In March 1974, Lord and Paice had collaborated with friend Tony Ashton on First of the Big Bands, credited to 'Ashton & Lord' and featuring a rich array of session talent, including Carmine Appice, Ian Paice, Peter Frampton and Pink Floyd saxophonist/sessioner, Dick Parry. They performed much of the set live at the London Palladium in September 1974.
This formed the basis of Lord's first post-Deep Purple project Paice, Ashton & Lord, which lasted only a year and spawned a single album, Malice in Wonderland in 1977. He created an informal group of friends and collaborators including Ashton, Paice, Bernie Marsden, Boz Burrell and later, Bad Company's Mick Ralphs, Simon Kirke and others. Over the same period, Lord guested on albums by Maggie Bell, Nazareth and even Richard Digance. Eager to pay off a huge tax bill upon his return the UK in the late-1970s (Purple's excesses included their own tour jet and a home Lord rented in Hollywood from actress Ann-Margret), Lord joined former Deep Purple band member David Coverdale's new band, Whitesnake in August 1978 (Paice joined them in 1980 and stayed till 1982). Whitesnake was a continuation of the musical style introduced in Paice, Ashton & Lord and was inspired in name and cover art from Lord's 1975 album Sarabande.




Whitesnake 1978–19843

Lord's job in Whitesnake was largely limited to adding colour (or, in his own words, a 'halo') to round out a blues-rock sound that already accommodated two lead guitarists, Bernie Marsden and Micky Moody. He added a Yamaha Electric Grand piano to his set-up and finally a huge bank of synthesizers onstage courtesy of Moog (MiniMoog, Opus, PolyMoog) so he could play the 12-bar blues the band often required and recreate string section and other effects. Such varied work is evident on tracks like "Here I Go Again", "Wine, Women and Song", "She's a Woman" and "Till the Day I Die". A number of singles entered the UK charts, taking the now 40-something Lord onto Top of the Pops with regularity between 1980 and 1983. He later expressed frustration that he was a poorly-paid hired-hand. His dissatisfaction (and Coverdale's eagerness to revamp the band's line-up and lower the average age to help crack the US market) smoothed the way for the reformation of Deep Purple Mk II in 1984.
Jon Lord's last Whitesnake concert took place in the Swedish TV programme Mandagsborsen in 16 April 1984.
During his tenure in Whitesnake, Lord did have a chance to do two distinctly different solo albums. 1982s Before I Forget featured a largely conventional eight-song line-up, no orchestra and with the bulk of the songs being either mainstream rock tracks ("Hollywood Rock And Roll", "Chance on a Feeling"), or — specifically on Side Two — a series of very English classical piano ballads sung by mother and daughter duo, Vicki Brown and Sam Brown (wife and daughter of entertainer Joe Brown) and vocalist Elmer Gantry. The album also boasted the cream of British rock talent, including prolific session drummer (and National Youth Jazz Orchestra alumnus) Simon Phillips, Cozy Powell, Neil Murray, Simon Kirke, Boz Burrell and Mick Ralphs. Lord used synthesizers more than ever before, principally to retain an intimacy with the material and to create a jam atmosphere with old friends like Tony Ashton.
Additionally, Lord was commissioned by producer Patrick Gamble for Central Television to write the soundtrack for their 1984 TV series, Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady, based on the book by Edith Holden, with an orchestra conducted by Alfred Ralston and with a distinctly gentle, pastoral series of themes composed by Lord. Lord, now firmly established as a member of UK rock/Oxfordshire mansion aristocracy (in Lord's case, a home called Burntwood, complete with hand-painted Challen baby grand piano, previous owner, Shirley Bassey), was asked to guest on albums by friends George Harrison (Gone Troppo from 1982) and Pink Floyd's David Gilmour (1983's About Face), Cozy Powell (Octopus in 1983) and to play on an adaptation of Kenneth Grahame's classic, "Wind in the Willows".
In the 80s he was also a member of an all-star band called Olympic Rock & Blues Circus fronted by Pete York and featuring a rotating line-up of the likes of Miller Anderson, Tony Ashton, Brian Auger, Zoot Money, Colin Hodgkinson, Chris Farlowe and many others. Olympic Rock & Blues Circus was touring primarily in Germany between 1981 and 1989. Same musicians, including Lord, were taking part in Pete York's musical TV extravaganza Superdrumming between 1987 and 1989.


From Purple to Now 1984–present
Lord's re-emergence with Deep Purple in 1984 resulted in huge audiences for the reformed Mk II line-up, including 1985s second largest grossing tour in the US and an appearance in front of 70,000 rain-soaked fans headlining Knebworth on June 22, 1985, all to support the Perfect Strangers album. Playing with a rejuvenated Mk. II Purple line-up (including spells at a health farm to get the band including Lord into shape) and being onstage and in the studio with Blackmore, gave Lord the chance to push himself once again. His 'rubato' classical opening sequence to the album's opener, "Knocking at Your Back Door" (complete with F-Minor to G polychordal harmony sequence), gave Lord the chance to do his most powerful work for years, including the song "Perfect Strangers". Further Deep Purple albums followed, often of varying quality, and by the late-1990s, Lord was clearly keen to explore where to take his career next.
In 1997, he created perhaps his most personal work to date, Pictured Within, released in 1998 with a European tour to support it. Lord's mother Miriam had died in August 1995 and the album is a deeply affecting piece, inflected at all stages by Lord's sense of grief. Recorded largely in Lord's home away from home, the city of Cologne, the album's themes are Elgarian and alpine in equal measure. Lord signed to Virgin Classics to release it, and perhaps saw it as the first stage in his eventual departure from Purple to embark on a low-key and altogether more gentle solo career. One song from Pictured Within, entitled "Wait A While" was later covered by Norwegian singer Sissel Kyrkjebø on her 2003/2004 album My Heart. Lord finally retired from Deep Purple amicably in 2002, preceded by a knee injury that eventually resolved itself without surgery. He said subsequently, "Leaving Deep Purple was just as traumatic as I had always suspected it would be and more so -- if you see what I mean". He even dedicated a song to it on 2004's solo effort, Beyond the Notes, called "De Profundis". The album was recorded in Bonn with producer, Mario Argandoña between June and July 2004.
Pictured Within and Beyond the Notes provide the most personal work by Lord, and together, have what his earlier solo work perhaps lacks, a very clear musical voice that is quintessentially his. Together, both albums are uniquely crafted, mature pieces from a man in touch with himself and his spirituality. Lord has slowly built a small, but distinct position and fan base for himself in Europe, collaborating with former ABBA superstar and family friend, Frida (Anni-Frid Lyngstad), on the 2004 track, "The Sun Will Shine Again" (with lyrics by Sam Brown) and performing with her across Europe and subsequently, doing concerts also to première the 2007-scheduled Boom of the Tingling Strings orchestral piece.
In 2003, he also returned to his beloved R-n-B/blues heritage to record an album of standards in Sydney, with Australia's Jimmy Barnes, entitled Live in the Basement, by Jon Lord and the Hoochie Coochie Men. He remains one of British rock music's most eclectic and talented instrumentalists. Lord is also happy to support the Sam Buxton Sunflower Jam Healing Trust and in September 2006, performed at a star-studded event to support the charity led by Ian Paice's wife, Jacky (twin sister of Lord's wife Vicky). Featured artists on stage with Lord included Paul Weller, Robert Plant, Phil Manzanera, Ian Paice and Bernie Marsden.
Two Lord compositions, "Boom of the Tingling Strings" and "Disguises (Suite for String Orchestra)", were recorded in Denmark in 2006 and released in April 2008 on EMI Classics. Both feature the Odense Symfoniorkester, conducted by Paul Mann. Additionally, a second Hoochie Coochie Men album was recorded in July 2006 in London. This album, Danger - White Men Dancing, was released in October 2007.
His Durham Concerto, commissioned by Durham University for its 175th anniversary celebrations, received its world premiere on 20 October 2007 in Durham Cathedral by the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, and featured soloists Lord on Hammond Organ, Kathryn Tickell on Northumbrian pipes, Matthew Barley on cello and Ruth Palmer on violin.
Lord was (almost) next-door neighbour to former Beatle, George Harrison, and played piano on Harrison's posthumously released Brainwashed album (2002). He was also a close friend of John Mortimer, whom he had accompanied on many occasions during Mortimer's performances of "Mortimer Miscellany".
Lord released his solo album, To Notice Such Things, on March 29, 2010. Titled after the main work — a six movement suite for solo flute, piano and string orchestra — the album was inspired by, and is dedicated to the memory of Jon's dear friend Sir John Mortimer, the English barrister, dramatist, screenwriter, author and creator of British television series "Rumpole of The Bailey", who died in January 2009. On its first day of release, the album entered Amazon’s Movers And Shakers index, nestling at no. 12 at the end of the day. Six days later it entered the UK's official classical chart at no. 4.
Among his many upcoming projects, Jon Lord has been commissioned to compose a concerto for Hammond organ and orchestra and with special parts for tympani. The piece will be premiered with the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra with Tom Vissgren on tympani in Oslo, Norway in the Spring of 2012.