And The Address

"And The Address"
Song

"And The Address" is a song by English hard rock group Deep Purple.

Early history

The song is the very first composed by the band. It was written by Ritchie Blackmore and Jon Lord before the formation of the group, but the two knew that hey would get a band together soon, as they had been hired by musician Chris Curtis to get something stirred up. This was because Curtis had met Jon Lord whilst on the hunt for some session-players. Curtis also told Lord about a young guitarist named Ritchie Blackmore, apparently of exceptional talent.

Composition

The duo's cooperation with Curtis didn't work though, as the latter was tended to be much too directorial and supposably "in charge". But Lord and Blackmore continued to work together, as they enjoyed playing together Soon they were on the hunt for other musician so they could start a band. In December 1967, at Jon Lord's home in London, he and Blackmore dicussed the possibilities for a potential project together. It was at this time they begun writing some tunes. This was two instrumentals; "And The Address" and a bit later, "Mandrake Root", (which would eventually get added lyrics to keep it down to one instrumental.

Recording and continuaion

After the band was fulfilled, they begun recording the "Shades of Deep Purple"-album in May. And The Address was the first to be set in motion, on May 11. After the release of the album, the song was played at many live shows, and it would remain played until the release of "The Book of Taliesyn", later in 1968. This newer album featured another instrumental; "Wring That Neck", also called "Hard Road" in the US. This instrumental would prove more popular than "And The Address", and therefore it was dropped in favor of the newcomer at live-shows. "Wring That Neck" has managed to maintain itself at Deep Purple's set-lists even at present day, and the "And The Address" has almost never been after 1968.