I think the old days made these guys gods / mysterious / bigger than life. Instant gratification you tube has taken the power the imagination way

I was ten years old in 1984 and I remember seeing a concert with David Bowie on TV. I thought it was magic. The TV was made of wood (or some woodlike material) and you had to go to the set to switch it on/off.

Deep Purple is my favourite band, and it also was my ex girlfriend's favorite band. Years ago I gave her a Rufus edition California Jam book+ vinyl which is sold old, and we ended up breaking up years after. If a copy pops up on Discogs it will be at least one thusand pounds... I think I'll cry!!!

@NowSpinningMagazine

Жыл бұрын

Thank you for watching and sharing your story - Phil

'83, that was the year I got my first VCR too. Have this book-like VHS also, also have the old Concerto for Group and Orchestra VHS. It's crazy how some of the many off-air recordings I made back then, still look great 40 years later.

I watched it air on ABC Worldwide Concert, the day it all began for me, even though I knew who they were already. The new line up was the only thing that threw me off, but I was seeing Deep Purple live, so it was a great way to hear the new sound.

@NowSpinningMagazine

Жыл бұрын

Hi Larry, wow that must have been amazing seeing it go out on the TV! Thank you for watching - Phil :)

@PurpleHounding

Жыл бұрын

@@NowSpinningMagazine Cheers. Also symbolic, about three years prior, our family lived in Riverside, a few miles from the Ontario Speedway where the event took place.

Cal Jam was the same day as Eurovision Song Contest, won by Abba. With time-shift, possibly same time also. A musically significant day.

I recall Tommy Vance played the audio on the Friday Night Rock Show. I saw the obligatory clip of ‘Smoke..’ on OGWT, with a presenter putting his fingers in his ears.. later I was in Snobs night club in Birmingham and their was a TV on with the sound down. The clip of RB ramming the guitar neck down the camera and the amp being blown up with the smoke billowing over the stage. I still have the VHS. Great to have the dvd upgrade with ‘Lay Down Stay Down’. Ditto the Sonic Zoom release. Thanks for sharing your views.

@NowSpinningMagazine

Жыл бұрын

Hi Lee, thank you for watching and sharing your memories. I remember Tommy Vance playing a few tracks as well. Happy days! Phil

Splendid

Hi Phil, the old good time of VHS, when device was very expensive and vhs too, 🤗

You brought back a lot of memories, Phil. The first show I got to see in color was Bewitched. Have a good weekend!

@NowSpinningMagazine

Жыл бұрын

Thank you for watching. I used to love Bewitched !

Hello Phil!! This was the first Deep Purple on video and Black Sabbath/ Never Say Die tour video was the second, And it was ridicolous expensive!!😋❤️.. I Wonder, Black Sabbath was on the same bill and ELP in 1974!!!! And there where only extracts from these shows!! It, would be nice to see it all!!! Love from Sweden!!🤟🖤♠️…..

@NowSpinningMagazine

Жыл бұрын

Hi, thank you for watching. It would be great to see the whole show! What an amazing line up it was. Phil

Great video - one of the first concerts I heard on the Friday Rock show with dear Tommy Vance ( or a segment of it ) - what an impact it had on me - started my love of Rock music. Thank you Phil.

@NowSpinningMagazine

Жыл бұрын

Hi Rich, thank you for watching and great to know it had the same impact on you. Phil

It was also the first video I ever bought. It's hard to describe the impact of watching my favorite band 'moving' on a TV screen for the first time. I watched it over and over and over will remember it for life.

@NowSpinningMagazine

Жыл бұрын

Thank you for watching, I am pleased others get the ‘see my fave band actually moving’. I feel I know every frame in this video/dvd as well. Phil

I taped that segment of the Friday Rock Show, and that was my second VHS. The first was The Song Remains The Same, the third Pink Floyd at Pompeii.

@NowSpinningMagazine

Жыл бұрын

Yep - I had all of those !

That's incredible! That is the second VHS concert video I got. I first got Black Sabbath - Never Say Die - Live In Concert! - VCL Video 1980. I then got the exact one you are holding, What a beautiful cover, kids today have it so easy, back then I had to order mine from the UK sent to Australia it would take forever! . Because of those 2 videos I got so many people into Deep Purple and Black Sabbath. Man I love the stories in your channel !. More of the greatest band ever - Free please.

@NowSpinningMagazine

Жыл бұрын

Thank you for watching and sharing your story! Phil

"California Jam 1974" by Deep Purple, along with "Yessongs" by Yes, were also the first two videos I got in my life. Well, if in the United Kingdom it was expensive to obtain the VHS tapes of the shows, in Brazil it was impossible, since there was no market for video shows at the time, and any videos of those, for us to find here, were copied-tapes of 2nd, 3rd or 4th generation, already with the sound and image quality well deteriorated. Probably that Deep Purple video, along with the Yes one, were the concerts I watched the most in my life. Years later I purchased the original VHS, and then the DVD and Blu Ray editions.

@NowSpinningMagazine

Жыл бұрын

Hi Victor, that you for watching and sharing you experience. Yes, copying a VHS tape always downgraded the quality! Phil

You explain it perfectly.

@NowSpinningMagazine

Жыл бұрын

Thank you 🙏

Hi Phil, Great video. Remember those days well, I was there with you like you say not internet or streaming back then. Not much Rock Music on the TV back then, I too saw Purple on the 74 Burn tour in Manchester so yes I to got the Cal Jam video when it came out. I also remember parting with a lot of money with Led Zeppelin's The Song Remains The Same came out on video back in the 80's. But like you say, we just had to have them. Thanks again for all you do.

@NowSpinningMagazine

Жыл бұрын

Hi Raymond, The Song Remains The Same used to be a late night favourite on the local cinema. I still love it! Great to hear you also saw Purple on the Burn tour ! Phil

When my mum and dad rented a VHS machine & Tv we also became members of a local video rental shop. I could not afford this so I rented the video (usually for a period 24hrs). I must have watched the concert on three occasions over that period of time. In 2012 I decided I'd spend more than I can afford on the Rufus Stone limited edition book of the California Jam.

Toyah was another artist who also appeared on the BBC Video range.

Got it in Betamax, £40

@NowSpinningMagazine

Жыл бұрын

I did wonder at the time if I bought it on the wrong format as Betamax was better but VHS won until the DVD arrived. Phil

I have a different version of the VHS, but the same DVD. Some of the choices of camera angle are different between the two, as well as the addition of the extra track. The first time I heard some of the Cal Jam performances was on a Friday Rock Show broadcast which I taped from the radio. You're right about the mystique of seeing your favourite band on stage, especially for the first time. Birmingham Odeon, that's a venue I still miss.

@NowSpinningMagazine

Жыл бұрын

Hi, thank you for watching. If you loved the Birmingham Odeon you might like this. It is an interview I did with one of the stage managers. Phil The Now Spinning Magazine Podcast - Episode 3 - Looking Back at The Birmingham Odeon kzread.info/dash/bejne/c2Rlo7hupM2fcaQ.html

@delorangeade

Жыл бұрын

@@NowSpinningMagazine Thanks. I will have a listen to that. You've got a lot of content for me to catch up with.

I bought Slipstream when it came out on VHS & remember having to save up for it (I still have it), and now have it again with one of the boxed sets (DVD). Only finally seen DP California Jam fairly recently on KZread (it happened on my 11th birthday). It would be great if someone did a DVD of the Sabbath set too?

@NowSpinningMagazine

Жыл бұрын

Hi Craig, totally agree, thank you for watching - Phil

Hi Phil love the video what you said sounds so familiar we had the exact same VHS box also it's on vinyl now I have a bootleg of it but there is a full show on double vinyl I got a slipmat with my copy but it takes you right back we age but the music doesn't still fresh today well I think that lol

@NowSpinningMagazine

Жыл бұрын

Hi Martin, thank you for watching and sharing your memories. I would like to have it on vinyl! I have a look to see if I can find one. Phil :)

I remember borrowing it from our local video store. Amazing Phil.

@NowSpinningMagazine

Жыл бұрын

Thank you 🙏

@AnthonyMonaghan

Жыл бұрын

@@NowSpinningMagazine Love your channel Phil. Never miss an upload. Keep up the good work my friend. Peace from New Zealand.

@NowSpinningMagazine

Жыл бұрын

@@AnthonyMonaghan Thank you so much - Phil :)

Great reminiscences Phil, I bought a handful of VHS tapes which as you say were not cheap, it was better to rent if you could find what you wanted, I have somewhere a Status Quo and a Rush and Siouxsie and The Banshees buried in the loft, when my back is better I'll see if I can find them, it was literally the only way to see some bands and I did occasionally manage to record a late night concert, some stuff has never been released on Bluray/Dvd though I do hold out a little hope as some Deluxe sets do include live footage, the recent Tina Turner reissue included a gig I recorded years ago which was great, so I'm hoping for more, U2 and Dire Straits did some great stuff back in the 80's so I'm hoping maybe one day!

@NowSpinningMagazine

Жыл бұрын

Hi Chris, I remember recording clips off the TV onto blank VHS tapes, Twisted Sister on the Tube comes to mind. I still have many of mine in the loft as well! Phil

@poglingtonpog

Жыл бұрын

@Now Spinning Magazine with Phil Aston yep, I still have some tapes with multiple clips and gigs by Ozzy, Dio, Dire Straits and U2 to name a few, God knows if they're still playable, I might try at some point, I still have a player! Lol!

It still feels like that where I live in Guernsey, no decent bands come here. So when I wanna watch a band it's a flight to UK mainland. I laugh when I here people moan they have a few hours drive home after a gig lol.... I wish haha!! As a kid the only source for me was vhs or Magazines to see my favourite bands or the short glimpse on top of the pops oh and Raw Power or Noisy mothers tv programmes. The last good band to come here that I like was fish era marillion in 1989 and I was too young to see them or even have any money for a concert.

@NowSpinningMagazine

Жыл бұрын

Hi, thank you for watching and sharing your story. I feel your pain. I am not on an island but being just 8 miles from lands end in cornwall I might as well be! No bands come here either! Phil

That was well expensive for a VHS Video concert Phil and I remember buying them back then. The first one I brought was Asia in Asia pretty sure that was also in 1983 and it cost 20 quid. Most of the other bands were also around the same price. After a couple of years they came down to around 12 quid. I saw Deep Purple at the NEC on their House of Blue Light tour they were great. Also remember Blackmore going off the stage during the most of Space Truckin leaving Lord to play his parts. He used to do that a lot.

@NowSpinningMagazine

Жыл бұрын

Hi Lee, thank you for watching. It was always hit and miss going to see Ritchie Blackmore due to his moods. I was lucky and only saw him on one off night at the NEC - Phil

Lovely video. Cal Jam was a bonkers great gig.

@NowSpinningMagazine

Жыл бұрын

Thank you for watching - Phil :)

Wow, the original BBCV 3000 from October 1981 :-) I only have the re-release BBCV 4019 from 1986. Just last year there were some efforts to create an ultimate version with stereo sound from fans, but I'm not sure if they are on KZread.

@NowSpinningMagazine

Жыл бұрын

Thank you for watching - Phil

Watched the Cali Jam on late night TV back when it first aired...Hard Rock was my thing...huge Deep Purple fan...excited to see the new guys in-action. Glenn Hughes seemed like a natural, Coverdale (to me) seemed like he may have been a little young & feeling his way through. Will add: Earth, Wind & Fire kicked ass. EW&F even opened for Uriah Heep here in the early '70s. Every long hair Rocker I knew that attended that concert became fans that night.

@NowSpinningMagazine

Жыл бұрын

Thank you for watching and sharing your story. That is amazing. Phil :)

i still have mine in it's unique packaging that only th bbc releases seemed to have, i bought it along side a copy of the first Shoestring release with 2 episodes on it mainly because it was the episode with Toyah who i was and still am a major fan of, funny how things have changed and how much stuff i never get rid of

@NowSpinningMagazine

Жыл бұрын

Hi Ian, good to know someone else has still got theirs. I saw Toyah live a bout a years ago, she was fantastic! Phil

@iansimpson2333

Жыл бұрын

@@NowSpinningMagazine saw her back in the club days before they were signed recently saw her on the billy idol-killing joke bill and she and the band were still great and i'm still buying all the reissues both coloured vinyl and cd-dvd combos seems i'm a sucker for her stuff lol and saying you saw them in 84 i never saw them the first time around although i did manage to see them at wembley with tommy bolin and the first time i saw blackmore was on the 1st rainbow tour at hammersmith, even managed to see pal at the rainbow, i'm feeling my age lmao and just to add what you said at the end, managed to catch bob seger on the night moves tour 1977 at hammersmith and at wembley arena1980 if memory serves

Totally agree. And how expensive were those VHS videos! outrageously expensive. As you say, with no other way to see your favorite bands in action, those tapes were real treasures. Imagine the difference between living in the UK, where you have, and had, concerts every week, and living like me in Spain in those years. When only few big foreign bands came to give a concert. Another totally certain thing is the difference between witnessing a concert today and witnessing it years ago (without cell phones). You was a sponge, totally focused and enjoying the music, the musicians, the things they were doing on stage... Well, that was if you didn't have too many beers, because too many times I saw people who were there but they didn't even listen to the first song. Today, the absurd habit of recording everything with the mobile and watching the concert through the small screen of the mobile, instead of fully enjoying live music leaving the mobile in the pocket. Anyway... everyone will know. Ah, those years... What times!

@NowSpinningMagazine

Жыл бұрын

Thank you for watching. A lot of my mates back then would head straight to the bar and miss the support band and now have problems remembering the main acts! I agree, the current trend of watching a gig through your mobile is bonkers. Phil :)

Hi Phil, I remember watching Cal. Jam live and hearing it on the L.A. radio station KLOS, I was at a party drinking beer and smoking pot, 17 yrs old, chasing women, etc. The big highlight for me was seeing Black Sabbath and how funny and cool it was to see the bands that we admired , live on the telly, a real treat at the time, and it is great that it was captured on tape and we can still enjoy it today...good memories !!

@NowSpinningMagazine

Жыл бұрын

Hi Stan, thank you for watching and sharing your memories. That must have been amazing to watch the whole concert live on TV. To think it was 1983 until We saw it in the UK. Phil

Was waiting for you to bring out the cal jam purple book that was released a few years ago

Great story, Phil. And now you can watch all of the footage of KZread... I think the first VHS music video I bought was U2 Live At Red Rocks. I remember watching the California Jam on TV during the week of it, and other bands were The Eagles, Black Sabbath and Black Oak Arkansas.

@NowSpinningMagazine

Жыл бұрын

Hi Larry, thank you 🙏 it is weird trying to explain back then that you could not watch anything went you wanted to. Concerts were attended without device in your pocket which you could use to record the event. You only had your memories! Phil:)