"Vincent Price" is a song by English

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

band Deep Purple. Featured on their 19th studio album, titled '' Now What?!'', the track is both the second single from the album and the last track on it. The band confirmed the single's release on 6 May 2013, sending messages via their official webpage and

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Mosk ...

account. Featuring a hard rock and

progressive metal Progressive metal (sometimes shortened to prog metal) is a broad fusion music genre melding heavy metal and progressive rock, combining the loud "aggression" and amplified guitar-driven sound of the former with the more experimental, cerebral ...

inspired style, reminiscent of past horror films, the song came out on the following day. The group made it available as a digital download, as an expanded CD release, and as a seven-inch transparent

vinyl record A phonograph record (also known as a gramophone record, especially in British English), or simply a record, is an analog sound storage medium in the form of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove. The groove usually starts nea ...

. The band created a

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device ...

for the track, their first official video as such in seventeen years, and it soon received distribution through various music related publications,

Blabbermouth.net Blabbermouth.net is a website dedicated to heavy metal and hard rock news, as well as album and music DVD reviews. Blabbermouth.net was founded and is run by Borivoj Krgin. The first version of the website was launched in March 2001; in Octob ...

being an example. In terms of

songwriting A songwriter is a musician who professionally composes musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music gen ...

, all of the then current band-members ( Don Airey,

Ian Gillan Ian Gillan (born 19 August 1945) is a British singer who is best known as the lead singer and lyricist for the rock band Deep Purple. He is known for his powerful and wide-ranging singing voice. Initially influenced by Elvis Presley, Gillan ...

Roger Glover Roger David Glover (born 30 November 1945) is a Welsh bassist, songwriter, and record producer. He is best known as the member of the hard rock bands Deep Purple and Rainbow. As a member of Deep Purple, Glover was inducted into the Rock and R ...

Steve Morse Steve J. Morse (born July 28, 1954) is an American guitarist, best known as the founder of the Dixie Dregs and as the lead guitarist of Deep Purple from 1994 to 2022. Morse has also enjoyed a successful solo career and was briefly a member of ...

, and

Ian Paice Ian Anderson Paice (born 29 June 1948) is an English musician, best known as the drummer and last remaining original member of the rock band Deep Purple. He is often cited as one of the greatest drummers of all-time. He remains the only membe ...

) helped to compose the track alongside producer

Bob Ezrin Robert Alan Ezrin (born March 25, 1949) is a Canadian music producer and keyboardist, best known for his work with Lou Reed, Alice Cooper, Aerosmith, Kiss, Pink Floyd, Deep Purple, Peter Gabriel, Andrea Bocelli and Phish. As of 2010, Ezrin's car ...

Background and song contents

The song is a tribute to the late classic

horror movie Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit fear or disgust in its audience for entertainment purposes. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements include monsters, ap ...

icon

Vincent Price Vincent Leonard Price Jr. (May 27, 1911 – October 25, 1993) was an American actor, art historian, art collector and gourmet cook. He appeared on stage, television, and radio, and in more than 100 films. Price has two stars on the Hollywood Wal ...

, and it features sonic as well as lyrical references to numerous tropes associated with

horror films Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit fear or disgust in its audience for entertainment purposes. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements include monsters, apoc ...

. Examples include dramatic sounds of

thunder Thunder is the sound caused by lightning. Depending upon the distance from and nature of the lightning, it can range from a long, low rumble to a sudden, loud crack. The sudden increase in temperature and hence pressure caused by the lightning pr ...

and mysterious wailing noises as well as lyrical references to

human sacrifice Human sacrifice is the act of killing one or more humans as part of a ritual, which is usually intended to please or appease gods, a human ruler, an authoritative/priestly figure or spirits of dead ancestors or as a retainer sacrifice, wherein ...

and

vampirism A vampire is a mythical creature that subsists by feeding on the vital essence (generally in the form of blood) of the living. In European folklore, vampires are undead creatures that often visited loved ones and caused mischief or dea ...

. All of the then current Deep Purple band-members ( Don Airey,

, and

) served as songwriters for the tune alongside producer

. Coming out of the group's typical jams, its style is reminiscent of instrumental

film soundtracks A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack of ...

while also having a hard rock and

based sound. In terms of the track's creation, Deep Purple frontman

has remarked, Price had worked with both Gillan and Glover earlier in their careers. For Glover, it was during the recording of his concert performance '' The Butterfly Ball and the Grasshopper's Feast'', a Royal Albert Hall event which was recorded on 16 October 1975. A related film came out the following year.The Butterfly Ball – Attend If You Dare
. MovieMorlocks.com

Release information

Deep Purple as a group decided to release "Vincent Price" as a digital download, through an expanded CD release, and also as a seven-inch transparent

. The band additionally created a

for the track. Their first official video as such in over twenty years, it soon received distribution through various music related publications,

being an example. Critic Steve Leggett, writing for

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...

, praised "Vincent Price" as a "massive, powerful, and just slightly eerie" tune. He additionally lauded the parent album, Leggett remarking that ''Now What?!'' features "a swaggering confidence that is really pretty amazing" and has a "timeless" sound. Blabbermouth.net predicted that the special CD single and its related seven-inch vinyl record will become a "collector's item", noting their inclusion of the song "First Sign of Madness" that ended up dropped from the ''Now What?!'' album.

Track listing

7" single

# "Vincent Price" # "First Sign of Madness"

CD single

# "Vincent Price" - 4:47 # "First Sign of Madness" - 4:26 (Non-album track) # "The Well-Dressed Guitar" - 2:51 # " Wrong Man" - 4:30 (Live performance from a 10-10-2005 set in London)

References

External links

Deep Purple Main Website
{{Authority control Songs about actors Deep Purple songs 2013 singles 2013 songs Songs written by Bob Ezrin Songs written by Ian Gillan Songs written by Roger Glover Songs written by Steve Morse Songs written by Ian Paice Song recordings produced by Bob Ezrin Progressive metal songs