The Gemini Suite (Deep Purple, 1970)

A rock band playing with an orchestra! Well before Metallica's S&M hit the shelves back in 1999, Deep Purple had done it, twice no less. The original outing, Concerto For Group and Orchestra, was a full on attempt by Jon Lord to write a symphony featuring a rock band. These were not orchestra covers of rock songs, but an attempt to work within the classical music structures. The work arose from earlier attempts on prior Deep Purple studio albums, to add some orchestration to their songs, first "Anthem" from The Book of Taliesyn and then "April" from Deep Purple. Concerto took more after the latter work, contrasting passages performed by an orchestra, then a rock band. Ultimately the experiment failed because the band was pursuing a much heavier direction and leaving no room for orchestras in their plans, but they did briefly tour the Concerto, much to the annoyance of Ian Gillan and Ritchie Blackmore. So of course when it was discovered that provisions were made for another concerto project, they just about rebelled.

The second concerto project is now known to history as The Gemini Suite, a one-off performance by the band with a different orchestra and a different approach. Unlike Concerto, Gemini features cooperative solo performances by the different members of the band backed by the orchestra, an approach first seen on the studio track "Anthem" back in 1968. Amazingly, for all of their complaining Blackmore and Gillan turn out the most powerful performances. Ian Paice and Roger Glover turn in quality solos as well. Only Jon Lord himself flunked his performance, which he later cited as a bad case of his nerves getting the best of him.

Ultimately it was Gemini and not Concerto that Jon Lord continued to develop on his own during the 1970's, with a complete studio re-working with new musicians the following year, followed by an expansion project called Windows in 1974. Jon Lord would continue to work in a strongly classical inspired vein throughout his solo career, something his band would largely shun though sometimes dabble in as solo artists (I'm looking at you Ritchie Blackmore).