My reputation for collecting Deep Purple bootlegs started when I was in Chicago in the early '70s. I was in a record store and found some bootlegs for sale. I bought them, Sonic Zoom and H-Bomb and a half dozen others. When the first reunion was proposed, in 1984, to make up my mind about joining I started playing those bootlegs. They made me realize that we were a crazy band, never knowing what was going to happen next! I put that down to us being untogether and not rehearing enough, but then I realized we were a jamming band. It came home to me after listening to those bootlegs that solos are a trademark of this band. I realized just how important that was when I was producing a band that I won't name. One of the guys was doing a solo which was an overdub. I thought, 'That's OK', and told him to do another one. He played exactly the same thing. Why wasn't he playing something different? He said, 'I've learnt this one...' and it came home to me that Deep Purple solos were special because they were done on an ad lib basis. It's what makes them sparkle. That made me see the band reunion in a new light.
