Page vs Blackmore

 

Love Zep and Purple, and Page is a great player, but Blackmore had such amazing style and ability to play flawlessly, and not just shredding a million iles an hour in Space Truckin', he's able to do so much with less, like in Mistreated. Dude is awesome.

Ritchie Blackmore had better technique than Page in the early 70's. He is an excellent electric player when he is in a good mood. Again this dressing in hooded robes and black on stage for years along with his interest in witchcraft like Page and then it just goes on and on and I hate it. At Deep Purple and Rainbow gigs,  sometimes Blackmore would just stand on the stage banging his strings to make this awful noise that made no sense at all. When Hendrix did this sort of thing ....he had stops and versions of feedback memorized where you would hear trains, bombs, machine guns, sirens and one thing led to another. An improvised but pre-planned performance. Blackmore was just making noise. I used to think it was the influence of the darkside causing him to stand there for as long as he did producing noise. He was a fine guitarist on Machine Head and I especially enjoy his solo on "Pictures of Home". I thought he was really strange. I believe Page and Blackmore's flaws derive from their outside influences of the darkside. If you take on any religion while you are a full-time musician, it can have a deep affect on yout playing ability.