Road Report by Martin Popoff
"It's a terrific thing. I think there's an awful lot spoken about, 'oh we got our money's worth, because we did two and half hours.' Two and half hours of what? If the conditions are right, that's great. If the band is really kicking, that's great too. But two and half hours... I've heard two and half hours of rubbish that I only wish was half an hour. A long time ago, on average, we worked out that the best set for the audience, their attention span, on a good night, was just leaving that little buzz of excitement at the end instead of draining people to the ground so they just want to get out of there then go back home, was an hour and half, 90 minutes. So that's only 15 minutes more than what were doing now."
Work on the next studio album has seen a couple of writing sessions but that's it. Roger Glover it seems, will finally get his wish and NOT have to produce the record. "Roger is a natural organizer of the musical ideas that get thrown out," explains guitarist Steve Morse. "I'm one of those people that spews ideas in all directions. Roger captures some of them and remembers or takes them and categorizes them and he's a large, very important piece of the puzzle. And he's a very musical guy too. He helps with all kinds of stuff in the songwriting process. But he's sick of being the producer without any authority."
DEEP PURPLE - Deep In Thought Amongst Other Things Page 4