Quote from: Deep Funk on August 24, 2014, 08:47:52 PM

Deep Purple Mark II was too awesome for words 

Most of all I liked the Ian Paice's drumming. Only Iron Maiden really impressed me as much as Deep Purple in the drumming department. He was exceptional as if he was jazzing out to Hard Rock and Proto Metal, fucking awesome.

Man, I could never transition from DP to heavy metal. Simple reason is DP could write head pounding rock and very nice rock ballads like Never Before (Machine Head). To me, the trio of Blackmore, Lord and Paice was the backbone but Ian Gillan made enormous contributions.

You still had Uriah Heep until Dave Byron passed away. Uriah Heep just rocked less hard in general. Between Ian Gillan and Dave Byron there was little to choose from for me. They were both great.

I always prefer instrumentals unless the vocalist is exceptional. Ian Gillan and Dave Byron were both exceptional. After them Freddy Mercury made history.

You still had Uriah Heep until Dave Byron passed away. Uriah Heep just rocked less hard in general. Between Ian Gillan and Dave Byron there was little to choose from for me. They were both great.

I always prefer instrumentals unless the vocalist is exceptional. Ian Gillan and Dave Byron were both exceptional. After them Freddy Mercury made history.

And that's why I thought both Rod Evans (Mark I) and Coverdale (Mark III) didn't pass the muster.