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Purpendicular
Deep Purple
A CD Review |
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Deep Purple is a band I really enjoyed during the
early eighties, but I just kinda lost interest in the early
nineties. When I heard I was going to review the new Deep Purple
album, "Purpendicular," I wasn't sure what to expect. The
last Deep Purple album I bought was "Nobody's Perfect,"
which is an excellent live album, but that was about ten years ago,
and I had no idea what they had been doing since then.
"Purpendicular" has all the members of the classic
"Mark 2" lineup, except for Richie Blackmore, who was
replaced by Steve Morse(of Kansas), Ian Gillan on vocals, John Lord
on keyboards, Roger Glover on bass and Ian Paice on drums. The first
thing I have to say, as a Richie Blackmore fan, is I'm very
impressed with the way Steve Morse stepped into the band. I think he
is more of a "band" player than Richie was, and he makes
up for what Richie with blazing no holds barred solos, tight crisp
playing, and a great meshing with the rest of the band.
The song "Loosen My Strings" has a definite
"Kansas" sound to it, in the way John Lord keyboard jams
and Steve Morse's guitars intertwine, kinda like "Point of No
Return," while "Hey Cisco" has a more classic Deep
Purple guitar/organ jam that made the band's sound so unique.
"Ted the Mechanic" is my personal favorite; great guitar
and it showcases the bands ability to tell a story. As far as lyrics
coming to mind, its from "Somebody Stole My Guitar," a
song about a memorable drinking session. "My head is getting
lighter, The mood is getting darker, Tequila's being poured."
Sounds like the start of most good stories. "I'm Not Your
Lover" is a showcase for John Lord's awesome organ work while
"The Aviator" on first listen sounds like a puss song, but
it kind of grew on me. The guitar work is really spacy, almost
Grateful Dead like, the intro to "Rosa's Cantina" reminded
me of "Hush" in both sound and feel. "Soon
Forgotten" was the only song I really didn't like at all. After
the first few listens I had to skip over it, the rhythm was just too
grating for me.
The one minor disappointment was that the jams were almost too
clean. There wasn't the reckless abandon that you could here in a
song like "Child in Time" or "Space Truckin',"
but hey you can't live in the past. Overall
"Purpendicular" is a really good album, I give it an 80%
on the Entertainment Ave! listenability scale, and I'm looking
forward to seeing these guys tour the next time around since I just
missed their last tour.
'Till next time - Hang Loose! |
