Welcome To The Butterfly Ball

Back in the late 70s Australia’s non-commercial ABC network occasionally used music videos as a filler to round out a program’s time slot. So occasionally you’d get a Mike Oldfield track or even a Sky track which were sometimes accompanied by a clip the ABC themselves made. Other times you’d get the original music video, and one of those oft used was the animated clip for a song called ’Love Is All’. At the time I had no idea who the artist was or what the origins of the song were, but it was just a beautifully crafted pop song.

For years after I kept an eye out for the song on various artist compilations etc. but never came across it. I remember hearing somewhere that Roger Glover from Deep Purple had been involved, and when I started collecting music chart books in the late 80s I saw that the song was credited (at least in Australia) to Roger Glover featuring Ronnie James Dio. That same chart book told me that the song peaked at #10 on the Australian singles charts in 1978, and it was lifted from the album ‘The Butterfly Ball’ by Roger Glover & Guests (OZ#12).

For years I kept an eye out for the album ‘The Butterfly Ball’ on CD. It was in the late 90s that I finally came across it packaged with an album called ‘Wizard’s Convention’ on a single CD. It was when I read the liner notes to the CD that I learned the story behind ‘Love Is All’ the song, and ‘The Butterfly Ball’ the album.

In 1973 Deep Purple bass player Roger Glover decided to leave the well established rock act. Glover turned to a position as A&R man with Purple Records, and then turned his hand to producing music. He produced Nazareth’s breakthrough 1973 album ‘Razamanaz’ which launched that band into a harder rock edged direction, and launched Glover’s career as a writer/producer in a whole new direction.

The origins of ‘The Butterfly Ball’ are in the children’s book of the same name by artist Alan Aldridge (who also did the cover art for the album). Aldridge had produced a series of airbrush illustrations to accompany William Piomer’s poems. The book proved popular and there were enough elements in the story and characters that seemed to lend themselves to a musical format. The story rights were secured by British Lion and first choice to compose the music for the project was Deep Purple’s Jon Lord. Lord was still very much tied up with Deep Purple in 1974, so Roger Glover was suggested as an alternative composer.

The original concept was to produce a 26 part animated series for television, which depending on its reception, would be adapted for a cinema release. During the summer of 1974 Roger Glover set about composing the music for ‘The Butterfly Ball’. Glover outreached to his friends and contacts in the music biz for help. Eddie Hardin, of The Spencer Davis Group, came in to play keyboards. Ray Fenwick guitar, Mo Foster bass, and Les Binks drums, all of the group Fancy, rounded out the ensemble.

Next Glover set about finding a vocalist to represent each of the main characters in the storyline to ‘The Butterfly Ball’. Ronnie James Dio was one of the first on board, and he ended up doing the vocals on three tracks, including of course ‘Love Is All’, and co-wrote two more. Glenn Hughes and David Coverdale were recruited from Deep Purple, with Tony Ashton from Ashton, Gardner & Dyke. Other musicians brought in to contribute included John Gustafson, John Lawton, Barry St. John and Neil Lancaster.

The album was released in December 1974 and around the same time a short animated film was produced to accompany the track ‘Love Is All’, both as a promo for the song/album and as a teaser for the planned animated series. Glover remarked at the time that the album itself may have trouble finding a market, since it was neither a children’s album nor had the hallmarks of a serious rock opera album - marketing wise. Glover’s concerns were well founded as the album didn’t sell that well initially. The single ‘Love Is All’ was however a huge hit in parts of Europe, reaching #1 in the Netherlands, Belgium and France. But as critics and fans alike would remark in time, Glover did a brilliant job of creating a virtual visual world out of the music he wrote and produced.

With the project losing momentum, the idea of arranging a one off concert came to the fore. London’s Royal Albert Hall was the venue and October 16th 1975 the date. Most of the talent from the album appeared, save for Ronnie James Dio who unfortunately had a prior commitment with Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow. In his place though Glover convinced former Deep Purple front man Ian Gillan to perform (for the first time since he left the band too in 1973). Acclaimed actor Vincent Price also contributed as the voice of the stories narrator. It was a sell out show and was caught on film, later released as a concert film.

I have to think, given the original release of ‘Love Is All’ was in 1975, that one of the possible reasons it finally charted in Australia in 1978 was its regular use as an ABC promo - that’s just my theory and if anyone could offer a definitive answer on that I’d love to know. Incidentally Ronnie James Dio did finally get to perform ‘Love Is All’ live when he appeared as a guest at a Deep Purple show, appropriately enough at the Royal Albert Hall, in 1999 - Roger Glover had rejoined the Deep Purple fray by then.