The work was originally conceived as a solo vehicle for
Jon Lord to be produced by
Roger Glover who had recently left
Deep Purple. However, Lord proved too busy with Deep Purple, and Glover took up the reins on his own. Using his connections, Glover recruited a large cast of noted rock musicians, with a different vocalist for each character, including
David Coverdale and
Glenn Hughes.
Les Binks, later of
Judas Priest, and
Michael Giles of
King Crimson play drums on the album. An accompanying animated short film,
The Butterfly Ball, was made by the
Halas & Batchelor company. On 16 October 1975, a one-off performance at the
Royal Albert Hall took place. Again it had a star-studded cast of rock musicians, most notably
Ian Gillan who was drafted in at the last minute and received a standing ovation on his entrance. He replaced an unavailable
Ronnie James Dio who had commitments with
Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow (although Dio did eventually get to perform the song at the
Royal Albert Hall in 1999 as the guest of
Deep Purple). Gillan had not performed since leaving
Deep Purple in 1973. Also notable was the appearance of
Twiggy as singer and actress and
Vincent Price as narrator. Apart from most of the musicians involved in the studio recording, the concert also featured
Jon Lord. The live concert was filmed and released in 1976, produced by
Tony Klinger. == Later appearance ==