Page vs Blackmore

Blackmore easily. Deep Purple and then Rainbow - not too fond of Blackmore's Night however. 

Pagey............in their heydays with their bands Page was more interesting overall imo and came up with more killer riffs and classic rock songs but these days Blackmore seems to have found another niche with his prog folk and Page hasn't done anything interesting for a long time.

Ritchie Blackmore, no question!

Edited by Zenbadger - November 02 2013 at 19:26

Not sure, I really like both players... and their bands. I guess I give the edge to Page, because I feel Zep songs were more diverse, including the guitar playing in them. However, if I take in consideration Rainbow too, the choice becomes even more difficult.

Blackmore forever

Two of my faves for different reasons. Blackmore is the Errol Flynn of the Strat. Page is just an awesome writer and sometimes riff lifter. 

Page's too sloppy. I like him but definitely prefer Blackmore. 

Blackmore wins for me, even if he became slightly obsessed with Kashmir-style riffs. I've read somewhere an opinion I agree with: Blackmore wasn't the fastest guitarist around, nor the most technical, nor the most flashy, but he excelled in all three areas as a whole.

Jp is great at working his solos in with the rhythm section (Dazed); his odd choices for phrases I think confuse and annoy anyone who wants everything to start on the one. When all this is happening at lightning speed it can induce bewilderment.

On the last ever performance of Stairway in Berlin he hijacks Plants vocal (not sure the singer was aware) and performs the vocal line on guitar (in case anyone was wondering...). Then the piece finishes normally. It really is quite something. Check it out.

As for the plagiarism, it was complicated. Y'see Jimmy and The Yardbirds were signed to (then) CBS. SO was Plant. But not JP who was signed to Atlantic. The Erteguns (in common with JP and PG) did not want to fork out loads of money in split royalties to CBS so credits were apportioned to avoid this. Dodgy old music biz in the 1960s.

But this is down to the record companies, publishers and management not up to the mere pop musicians. The Lemon Song was originally credited to Chester 'Howlin' Wolf' Burnett until Atlantic changed that. Saw a original copy once with this.

Anyway Purple's Black Night is a steal. I heard an interview on the radio with IG who told the story. The main riff is a Ricky Nelson B side (a bit was played) and Blackmore asked him if he (IG) had ever heard of it. IG said no and Black Night was born. Bit like the riff for Moby Dick. I must admit these dodgy origins have reduced my perceptions of this still classic second album.

Anyway the plagiarist most at fault is Plant - Whole Lotta Love, HMMT, NFBM (ironically) a verse of SIBLY (why??). Still I think he was not well advised by those in charge of the business. Anyone noticed that Plant now has a writing credit for BIGLY where none had existed? Not absolutely sure why. He never had a writing credit on the first album- the Erteguns again did not want to fork cash out to CBS; they waited 'til RP's out of contract.

Now everyone knows the song's (Babe I'm Gonna Leave You that is) origins. They had always said they were doing the version heard on a Joan Baez album. No one accused her of ripping anyone off (both correctly attributed the number to a traditional arrangement).

I think both are fine live but as was mentioned when Blackmore (and Lord) made lots of noise it might have been thrilling at the time but it was hell on the ears....  anyway they made great studio albums. But I think I'd credit Page with being the ultimate rock band guitarist. Blackmore has been influenced by Page. He used to think the world of Kashmir which originated the real epic style of heavy rock around then. But RB's great on the classical influence in hard rock.


Edited by uduwudu - April 02 2016 at 05:04

Blackmore over Page & Iommi over Blackmore.