The Butterfly Ball and the Grasshopper's Feast (album)

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The Butterfly Ball and the Grasshopper's Feast
Studio album by Roger Glover
Released November 1974
Genre Pop-rock
Psychedelic rock
Hard rock
Length 74:15
Label EMI Purple TPSA 7514
Producer Roger Glover
Alan G. Rainer
Professional reviews
Roger Glover chronology
The Butterfly Ball and the Grasshopper's Feast
(1974)		 Elements
(1978)

This article refers to the concept album by Roger Glover, for the 1802 poem by William Roscoe see The Butterfly's Ball, and the Grasshopper's Feast


The Butterfly Ball and the Grasshopper's Feast is a concept album and subsequent live rock opera appearing in 1974 and 1975 respectively, based on the children's book of the same title (The album cover design is from Alan Aldridge's design for the book).

It was originally conceived as a solo vehicle for Jon Lord and to be produced by Roger Glover, but Lord proved too busy with Deep Purple and Glover took up the reins on his own. Using his connections, Glover recruited a large cast of noted rock musicians to perform on it, with a different vocalist for each track. The single "Love Is All", with vocals from Ronnie James Dio, made a minor impression in the UK but reached number one in The Netherlands. Its accompanying animated short movie also gained unexpected success in France, where the newly launched second TV channel Antenne 2 used it as a fill-in every time it experienced "technical difficulties". These random airings, together with the psychedelic tone of the clip and the lack of subtitles, made it very popular amongst young viewers. In 2006 the song was used by the Dutch political party CDA in its election advertisements for the 2006 Dutch General Election.

Love Is All and its animated music video was also given wide exposure in the southern hemisphere. It became something of a favourite well into the 1980's on pioneering Australian music show Countdown (1974 - 1987). With its rousing lyrics and parade of animals marching through the forest on their way to the mythical Butterfly Ball, the song attained Top 10 status 'Down Under' four years after it was recorded.

On October 16th 1975, a one-off performance at the Royal Albert Hall took place. Again it had a star-studded cast of rock musicians, most notably Ian Gillan who was drafted in at the last minute and received a standing ovation on his entrance. He replaced an unavailable Ronnie James Dio who had commitments with Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow (although Dio did eventually get to perform the song at the Royal Albert Hall in 1999 as the guest of Deep Purple). Gillan had not performed since leaving Deep Purple in 1973. Also notable was the appearance of Vincent Price as narrator.


Contents

[edit] Track listing

[edit] Original Album

  1. "Dawn" (Glover) 1.21
  2. "Get Ready" (Glover) 2.06
  3. "Saffron Dormouse and Lizzy Bee" (Glover) 1.25
  4. "Harlequin Hare" (Glover/Dio/Soule) 1.26
  5. "Old Blind Mole" (Glover) 1.11
  6. "Magician Moth" (Glover) 1.33
  7. "No Solution" (Glover) 3.28
  8. "Behind The Smile" (Glover) 1.46
  9. "Fly Away" (Glover) 2.22
  10. "Aranea" (Glover) 1.37
  11. "Sitting In A Dream" (Glover) 3.40
  12. "Waiting" (Glover) 3.11
  13. "Sir Maximus Mouse" (Glover) 2.35
  14. "Dreams of Sir Bedievere" () 4.09
  15. "Together Again" (Glover/Dio/Soule) 2.05
  16. "Watch Out For The Bat" (Glover) 1.41
  17. "Little Chalk Blue" (Glover/Hardin) 3.44 CD Reissue only
  18. "The Feast" (Glover) 1.48
  19. "Love Is All" (Glover/Hardin) 3.14
  20. "Homeward" (Glover/Hardin) 4.12

[edit] 1995 Reissue (Repertoire Records / REP 4567-WY)

  1. "Love Is All (Demo Version)" 3.04
  2. "Dawn" 1.35
  3. "Magician Moth" 1.37
  4. "Harlequin Hare" 1.33
  5. "Magician Moth" 1.34
  6. No Solution" 3.58
  7. "Waiting" 3.58
  8. "Fly Away" 2.24
  9. "Aranea" 1.38

[edit] Personnel

[edit] See also

For information on the poem, which the book is based on, see The Butterfly's Ball, and the Grasshopper's Feast

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Butterfly_Ball_and_the_Grasshopper%27s_Feast_(album)"