DEEP PURPLE
"Nobody gonna beat my car, I'm gonna race it to the ground"
Best Deep Purple site on the Net: The Highway Star (this, in fact, is how a good official band site should look like!)
General Rating: 2
ALBUM REVIEWS:
Disclaimer: this page is not written by from the point of view of a Deep Purple fanatic and is not generally intended for narrow-perspective Deep Purple fanatics. If you are deeply offended by criticism, non-worshipping approach to your favourite artist, or opinions that do not match your own, do not read any further. If you are not, please consult the guidelines for sending your comments before doing so.
Of the three alleged 'fathers of heavy metal' (Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath,
Deep Purple), Deep Purple are probably the least well-known, at least in
the West. This is a great shame. On one hand, this is certainly understandable:
Deep Purple came a bit later than both the Zepsters and Sabbath (I mean,
their first album was released before both Zep and Sabbath were even formed,
but they didn't really acquire their image as 'heavy metal gods' until
after In Rock, released already after both Zep's and Sabbath' grandiose
debuts), and seemed to say and offer much less than both of these bands.
In retrospect, however, it slowly becomes obvious that Deep Purple were
just entirely different: they never exactly fitted into the standard
'heavy metal' pattern.
Where Led Zep represented the genre's 'kingship', with their mystical,
overblown epics, occasional ventures into the world of the occult, their
blatant cock-rock attitudes and a pretentiousness that could hardly find
any equals; where Black Sabbath took the genre to its ultimate 'height',
to the point where it was already verging on the border of gross, with
practically nothing but Tony Iommi's masterful riffs to save them from
a total downfall into gothic banality; where ninety-nine percent of their
followers were stupid and trashy, soon to enter the wastebin of history;
where it was simply like this - Deep Purple were never stupid or blatant
enough to pretend that what they were playing was something bigger than
just rock'n'roll with a little bit more distortion than usual. They were
just your basic 'rock-on-type' of band, with Ian Gillan screaming out simple
lyrics that were neither too ambitious nor too incomprehensible, but usually
up to the point and rarely silly, and Ritchie Blackmore cutting out one
memorable riff after another. They had one more thing about them, too:
they had speed. Without the slightest doubt, Deep Purple were the
speediest, flashiest hard rock/heavy metal band of the early Seventies
- and it's no slight coincidence that both punk and speed and thrash metal
owe a great deal to Purple, and not to Led Zep or Sabbath. That's not to
say that the band didn't have its share of slow songs - they did, and some
of them were quite impressive, but it's certainly speed and flashiness
that's their most impressive trademark. For all I know, songs like 'Speed
King' or 'Highway Star', as performed by the original band, have simply
no analogies in modern music: they're breathtaking. Ritchie Blackmore is
often credited as one of the best guitar players in existence, and, while
this statement is certainly exaggerated, I'd no doubt say that he's at
least the best fast guitar player in existence. And when they play,
this is just Rock And Roll. You know? No ambitions! No overgoofiness! And,
above all, no Satanism or mysticism, which might be the best thing about
the band: a heavy metal band that never flirted with the occult,
concentrating on simple life's problems instead. Geez, didn't Gillan play
the part of Jesus in Andrew Lloyd Webber's opera? It would sure be an embarrassing
task to sing about Lucifer later on!
Over all this comes one serious objection: Deep Purple are a band that's
definitely limited in style. Apart from their early excursions into the
realm of flower power and even progressive rock (which, by the way, were
quite far from uninteresting - believe it or not, these guys weren't the
worst hipsters around), they know only one style which they overabuse to
death: the style of headbanging riffing and breathtaking soloing over soulful
screaming or raucous roaring. But after all, we're talking heavy metal
here - a genre where bands do not usually tend to experiment much. And
Deep Purple did try to experiment from time to time, with elements from
classical (Jon Lord's organ passages) to gospel ('Child In Time') to country-rock
('Anyone's Daughter'). Okay, they didn't experiment that much -
but neither did Black Sabbath, a band that's even more limited in style,
but much more popular. And moreover, they were always conscious of the
fact and even ashamed of it (AC/DC, take heed!): after all, Gillan and
Glover left the band exactly under the pretext that it did not make any
progression, instead remaking the same record over and over again. The
band did not last too long after that - two years of endless change of
personal and they called it quits. Of course, the band did everything to
spoil its reputation by having at least three or four comebacks since the
mid-Eighties, some of which did not feature Gillan and some did not feature
Blackmore. Originally, I thought all their 'reunions' were nothing but
their wastes of tape and our wastes of money, but House Of Blue Light
managed to get me intrigued, so I guess I'll be looking up more of these
'late-period' records in the future.
Lineup (1968): Mark I - Rod Evans, vocals, Nic Simper, bass,
Ritchie Blackmore, guitar, Jon Lord, organ, Ian Paice,
drums. The first two were sacked in 1970, after three albums, a failed
career in Britain and a decision to 'broaden the horizons'. Mark II - same
as above, but instead of Evans and Simper, Ian Gillan - vocals,
Roger Glover - bass. This is usually considered the finest 'mark'
of the band, and I fully agree. Both Gillan and Glover, however, quit in
1973, replaced by David Coverdale - vocals, Glenn Hughes
- bass ('Mark III'). Blackmore left, 1975, over some heated arguments with
Coverdale, replaced by Tommy Bolin ('Mark V'), after which the band
finally collapsed. Re-formed in the mid-Eighties, since then carried on
in quite a few line-ups which I'm too tired to speak about here. Go visit
the official site instead.
What do YOU think about Deep Purple? Mail your ideas
Your worthy comments:
Tikhonov Konstantin <heavy-horses@mtu-net.ru> (02.04.2000)
Deep Purple was one of the best concert bands in rock music. Their studio
material never was such diverse, rich and profound as it was on stage.
Trio of Technique Gods (a/k/a comrades Ritchie-In-Black-More, Johann Sebastian
Lord and Ian-Not-That-Anderson) turned an monotonous hard rock songs into
never-ending suites, played with unearthly inspiration and furious energy.
Messr. Paice smashed his drums like a raging buffalo, messr. Lord raped
our minds through his Hammond's weeps and caress our ears with crystal
classical improvisations, while messr. Blackmore weaved his speediest solos
one over another...
Of course, somebody objects me and says - hey, Cream could do something
like that, and Zeppelin could do, and The Who, and a hell lot of other
bands kicked asses live bloody well! Why did you say that Purple are so
special? Because they was the one and only band turned an ordinary concert
into the breathless battle of nerves. No one of us leave the stage alive
tonight! No retreat, no surrender! They not just played the concert, they
tried to wipe out each other with no sign of mercy. Ritchie against Jon,
Jon against Ritchie, guitar against organ, hard rock against classic, they
duelled to death and leave their hearts and souls on stage with a wrecks
of instruments and PA...
So this is the good side of Purple, while they had some constant problems
lowered 'em to the one of the few when they could be the greatest band
on this planet. Here are three bad sides of Purple:
a) their smallest problem - sound. Most of Purple's studio and live works
recorded absolutely terrible. If the record sounded worse than Shades
Of Deep Purple exists somewhere, I prays to God that I'll never hear
it. Maybe tape operator was drunk, or machine was broken, or luck was bad...
whatever it was, some of Purple's efforts simply ruined by their horrid
sound. And bad days are not over - new remastered edition of their greatest
albums is the worst. If you wants to have the really good sounded Deep
Purple album, buy Japanese editions only.
b) their medium problem - lyrics. Legions of Purple fans' (especially in
Russia) never pays their attention to band's texts while listens to the
Blackmore's hardest riffs and sings with Ian Gillan "Smoke on the
water and fire in the sky". With the exception of early romantic period
(Mark I era), Purple lyrics was totally meaningless ("Speed King"),
vulgar ("Living Wreck"), offensive ("Rat Bat Blue")
etc. Even their pleasant moments ("Burn", "Fools",
"April") are incomparable with Sabbath, Zeppelin or Heep (lyrically,
indeed). While George condescends their texts, I simply can't stomach another
thousand stories about fast cars and horny girls. Sometime I think that
they wrote such unspectacular lyrics to free our minds and leave their
open for Ritchie's unrepeatable solos.
c) their main problem - singers. Rod Evans wasn't a hard rock singer, Dave
Coverdale had a strong voice and pathetic vocal's technique, Glenn Hughes
could wake up dead with his terrible funky moos and I don't want to speak
about Joe Lynn Turner at all. Above 'em Mr. Ian Gillan shines like a sun,
but unstopping tours completely destroyed his beautiful voice just in four
years. Ian was right when he decided to leave Purple, but he wasn't right
when he didn't leave rock music. He could stay a legend while he turned
into a laughing-stock (opposite me if you can). When I'm listening to their
80's and 90's live efforts, I'm wishing to lynch Gillan and turn Purple
into an instrumental band. Three of them still could kick some asses...
until Ritchie shut the door (forever, I suspects).
I said about Purple in general, now lets talk about particular...
PS. Very sad, but George missed a hell lot of their famous concerts ("In
Concert", "Live In London", "Scandinavian Nights"
etc.). Shame on you, George!
PSS. And much more sad that he missed their solo efforts too (I means Ritchie's
and Jon's). When Blackmore got a second breath with Rainbow, he got his
peak as composer and guitar player, Ronnie James Dio had a fantastic voice
(the best voice in rock music IMHO) and he wrote perfect lyrics, Cozy Powell
was a mighty drummer, so for me Rainbow On Stage stands higher than
Made In Japan and "Stargazer" is more precious classic
than "Child In Time". And Jon wasn't laying on the bed, his Sarabande
is a masterpiece! [Find it, George. I promise, you will thank me.]
Jeffrey A Morton <whitesnake5@juno.com> (11.05.2000)
Well, I like alot of Purple, just don't love it. Gillan is a great singer
who, live, was even better. But even Gillan forgot lyrics routinely and
treated some songs VERY half assed, which led to friction with the oppressive
Blackmore. However, your hatred of David Coverdale is not understandable.
Instead of comparing him to Gillan, look at the vocal style as something
that's not derivative. I don't particulary care for DC's turn in Purple
either, but early Whitesnake was fantastic, and THAT is where he gained
his voice.
Blackmore is a great guitarist, but tempermental, and he ruined some potentialy
FANTASTIC songs (ie: most of Who Do We Think We Are, and the songs
on Stormbringer) by throwing a fit, and refusing to play worth a
damn on them. Hughes was annoying, Glover was an adequate bass player,
Paice is a very solid drummer, and Lord is one of my personal favorite
keyboarists....
<Sabbath246@aol.com> (15.11.2000)
Led Zeppelin was an amazingly talented band, but I can't for the life of me understand why people credit them as the greatest rock band of all time (Hell, Sabbath's influence was just as groundbreaking, if not more). And for every person who says Plant is the greatest vocalist of all time, I have two words for you that would make him cower and run for mommy: IAN GILLAN. Don't get me wrong, I think Rob was a fantastic singer with an astounding vocal range, but he seems almost pathetic when compared to the magnificent Ian (as does everyone else, IMHO). Yeah, I'm a huge Purple fan if you haven't noticed yet. I think Zeppelin was awesome with many killer tunes ('Stairway, 'Heartbreaker, 'Rock N Roll, 'You Shook Me, 'How Many More Times), but they can't even rate with the mighty Deep Purple. Now time for comparisons between the two groups. LIVE ALBUMS: The definitive Zep live record is Song Remains The Same, and Purple's is of course Made In Japan. As you might've guessed, I think MIJ is far better (not far better, but better nonetheless). It's really hard for me to say who's the most talented guitarist out of Blackmore & Page. In the end I'd probably have to go with ol' Ritchie, but only just! Check out the vocal/guitar duet at the end of "Strange Kinda Woman". AMAZING! Yeah, Zeppelin did it first on "You Shook Me", but Purple just simply does it better. STUDIO ALBUMS: Now to compare each group's definitive studio album. Zep's was their first album, in my opinion, and Purple's was the almighty In Rock. I honestly think In Rock is the greatest rock album on the planet, simply because of the unbelievable "Child In Time", which never ceases to leave me absolutely speechless. Gillan's singing on this song is so smooth and beautiful that it literally brought tears to my eyes the first time I heard it (actually, it still does). The way he goes from soft to shrieking (all on key, mind you) is just totally stunning. Guarantee that this song had Plant shakin' in his boots! And Ritchie's speedy/bluesy guitar solo in the middle is a little better than anything Page could ever accomplish (No offense to Page, he's still one of my all time favorites). I know this was supposed to be a review of Zep, and I've mainly talked about Purple the whole time, but I just had to clarify a few things to all the people who think Zep is the greatest. As for my favorite Zeppelin tune, it would have to be either "Heartbreaker" or "Stairway". Even though Purple would blow 'em off the stage, there's no denying Zep's enormous influence and musical talent. Each band had an epic masterpiece song that set them apart from their peers. For Zep it was "Stairway" and for Purple it was the aforementioned "Child In Time". 'Stairway' is obviously more popular and well known, but to be honest, it's almost lethargic when compared to 'CIT'. As for the guitar solos in the two songs, Ritchie's is slightly better because he plays with more rhythm than Page, and Ian's ear-shattering wails are FAR superior to any other vocalist on Earth. Later. Keep the rock 'n roll alive, my friend. You have by far the best music review site I've ever been to. Yes, even better than Prindle's. Peace.
Year Of Release: 1968
Record rating = 8
Overall rating = 10
The humble beginnings - psychedelic heavy metal linked in with classical-influenced
pop. Still holds up to time, though.
Best song: HUSH
This is how they started. No finger-flashing, energetic, dazzling solos
or crunching, leaden riffs - just your average bunch of half-stoned kids
playing a funny mix of all styles possible. The tendency to play it hard
and heavy was there right from the beginning, though: as soon as the trippy
organ chords that serve as the opening to 'And The Address' give way to
the gritty guitar melody, you know you're definitely not in for a Monkees
rip-off. Young, ambitious guitarist Ritchie Blackmore has not yet got all
his chops worked out, and at this time his guitar playing ability does
not extend beyond impressive, but not thoroughly imaginative copying of
his idols. And who are his idols, you might ask? Why, that's pretty obvious,
even banal: Eric Clapton and Jimi Hendrix, of course! If anything, these
guys try a bit too hard to sound exactly like Cream (in some
parts) and like the Experience (in others). This certainly explains even
their selection of covers - 'I'm So Glad' and 'Hey Joe' are both here,
sure as hell! The latter, though, is certainly excruciating: while Jimi
managed to say it all in about three and a half minutes, the Purplers extend
the number to a seven plus minutes running time, incorporating large bits
of the Bolero on their way. But 'I'm So Glad' is cute as a bellybutton:
Ritchie gets the perfect guitar sound in the intro, ringing and tasty and
echoey, and he manages to make his solo on that one an almost exact carbon
copy of Eric's passages on Fresh Cream.
Elsewhere, the choice of covers ranges from great to bizarre. Their version
of D. South's 'Hush', which was their big breakthrough hit single in the
States (but passed virtually unremarked in Britain), is simply incredible:
a great psychedelic anthem along the lines of Iron Butterfly, but with
a much more expressive guitar part that Erik Braunn could ever pull off,
and even with some cool, tripped-out vocal harmonies (just imagine some
cool, tripped-out vocal harmonies on Fireball!) And let me take
this opportunity to say that their lead vocalist, Rod Evans, was actually
a talented chap with a happy, flower-powerish voice that sounds quite fit
on such numbers. It gets a little less acceptable on the heavier ones,
though, and it is certainly obvious that his vocal style would have been
totally ridiculous on their 'classic' heavy metal albums; but here it's
totally in place. And have you ever heard the way the band does Lennon's
'Help' here? They slow it down to make an almost pompous, ambitious power
soul ballad, and again, fiddle with Ravel's 'Bolero' both in the beginning
and in the end. Needless to say that no one can make a Beatles song sound
better than it sounded originally; the main thing is simply not to embarrass
oneself in the process, and they certainly do not - Rod's singing is quite
credible, although I hate it when he spoils the melody on the final line
('won't you please help meeeee...', he wails, giving the song a rambling
blues intonation, which destructs much of the fun).
Apart from the covers, there aren't that many originals, and that's the
main problem: they sound painfully derivative. Shush, the instrumental
'And The Address' sounds just like some Hendrix tune, and 'Mandrake Root'
is simply a rip-off of 'Foxy Lady'. But that's not to say that both are
great songs! I've heard many minor blues and hard rock bands from the era,
but no-one could rip off Hendrix as well as these guys - kudos to Ritchie
Blackmore, of course. Hmm, but why just Ritchie Blackmore? Ian Paice is
right here, too, and his drumming style in these early days is taken directly
from Mitch Mitchell - right down to the clever use of these tinkling little
bells (or whatever that gadget is) on 'And The Address'. And, of course,
the band has one element that neither Cream nor the Experience ever had:
a clever, skillful organ player in the face of Jon Lord, who certainly
wasn't on par with Keith Emerson these days, but at least he could outplay
Doug Ingle, for as long as I'm concerned... And like I said, Rod Evans
was the perfect lead singer for that early incarnation of the band.
Anyway, I think that this album would make quite a good buy for the casual
Deep Purple fan who finds them a little bit too monotonous on their 'classic'
albums (like me, for instance). Ballads like 'One More Rainy Day' and flower-happy,
lightweight rockers like 'Love Help Me' might not be a great whatever,
but they're both decent, okayish attempts at 'capturing the vibe', and
they have certainly never done anything like that since 1970. Plus, check
out Blackmore's guitarwork on 'Love Help Me' - these wah-wah licks simply
drive me crazy every time I hear them.
Anyway, this mark of the band shares a rather uncomfortable fortune. The
more diehard fans usually dismiss it completely, while severe commercial
dudes who want to look intelligent like the ones from the All-Music Guide,
on the other hand, claim that their music was more interesting than what
came later. Both are wrong, of course. This is a truly essential part of
British late Sixties hard-flower-power-rock, but it is certainly less groundbreaking,
far more derivative and far less kick-butt than the 'classic' Mark. Buy
it anyway, because it's enjoyable.
And the address is: gstarst@yahoo.com
Your worthy comments:
Tikhonov Konstantin <heavy-horses@mtu-net.ru> (02.04.2000)
An edge between late 60's psychedelic pop and classically influenced blues rock, some covers, romantic lyrics and vile, unlistenable sound (I'd joyfully cut engineer's ears if I only could). This is a debut and here we have sings of Purple's blitzing future ("And The Address", "Mandrake Root"), two excellent tributes ("Hey Joe" and "Help!"), two bad covers ("Hush" and "I'm So Glad"), and two pathetic pop ballads ("One More Rainy Day" and "Love Help Me"). Don't mention Purple's name written on the cover and enjoy it. In other hand, for Deep Purple this album is too light-weight. Best songs are "Mandrake Root" and "Hey Joe", rating is 5.
Bob Josef <Trfesok@aol.com> (20.08.2000)
This is the only period of Purple that I have any use for -- I much
prefer this early, naive, psychedelic stuff, despite its flaws. Look at
those frilly clothes and those poofy hairdos on the cover! And the liner
notes are hopeless! The writer tries to write a story using the song titles,
as if Purple had the capability of producing a concept album at this point!
Very silly, but I much prefer this period over their later, screechy Ian
Gillan/David Coverdale stuff, which sounds like they were drinking all
the time.
Rod Evans was a really soulful singer along the lines of Greg Lake and
John Wetton, (wonder if his singing with the post-Purple group Captain
Beyond was as good?) and he does attempt to write interesting lyrics which
are about more than just girls, cars and rock and roll. Jon Lord clearly
dominates the sound of the group, which is good -- he can really crank
on the Hammond. Blackmore is really a derivative player, but not in a bad
way. There are too many covers (or even covers of covers - Hendrix, after
all, did not write "Hey Joe"), but I don't think they demolish
them. And I enjoy their gospel/soul take on "Help" -- Tina Turner
actually used a similar arrangement on her Private Dancer version
(fitting, since they would cover her on the next album). "Love Help
Me" and "One More Rainy Day" are wonderful youthful songs
which they simply could not have produced after Evans left -- could you
imagine Gillan singing that sweet "bop-bop-bop-bop-bop" harmony
on the chorus on "One More Rainy Day"? But they can also produce
driving rock -- "Hush" is of course a classic rock single, and
"Mandrake Root" is a really good original rocker with great hooks
("Mandrake Root/burning in my brain" -- they drive that one into
your skull), along the lines of their later work. But the difference is
that Evans SINGS.
I have a rather poor quality pressing of the LP, so it's hard for me to
judge whether the problems with the sound quality is that or Derek Lawrence's
production. Maybe both -- Lawrence seems to use too much echo, a common
sonic cliche of this era (As Jethro Tull's 1st producer, he tried to push
them in this same direction and didn't last too long as a result). I guess
I'll have to get the CD. By the way, these first 3 albums have just been
released on CD again with a ton of bonus tracks. So, it may be worth it
to replace them. And it's worth it for any prog fan to check on this psychedelic
proto=prog album.
Year Of Release: 1968
Record rating = 7
Overall rating = 9
Deep Purple goes progressive, with mixed and, unfortunately, not
unpredictable results (you know what I mean).
Best song: LISTEN LEARN READ ON
Not as good: picky and sneering critics will probably snarl at this
album and dismiss it with the word 'dated'. Well, dated or not, on their
second record Deep Purple decide to show some progress and growth. In order
to do that, however, they sacrifice a large part of their grittyness that
made the debut so fresh and invigorating. Perhaps the biggest flaw of this
record is that Ritchie's guitar is shamelessly ignored - apart from a couple
of brilliant, yet still subpar (for him) solos, it's mostly Jon Lord's
and Nick Simper's show throughout. No more Hendrix rip-offs for ya - and
turns out that the Hendrix rip-offs were good after all...
Anyway, this is a concept album, as you might guess, based around the fictitional
character Taliesyn (some minstrel at King Arthur's court, as far as I know),
and his magic 'book' of lore. The concept seems to have something to do
with reading the book - whilst you turn the pages, different pictures open
before you, setting different moods, each corresponding to a band member's
personality: that's what the dudes said anyway, but I still can't get it.
While the opening song may serve as an introduction, this still leaves
us with six others (and yes, it is Taliesyn that opens the series
of albums with the magic number 'seven' - their next five studio
albums in a row will have seven songs each): six songs for five band members?
What the hell is going on with the arythmetics? And in any case, the very
idea is kinda stupid, because you won't be able to make head or tails of
it anyway. There are a couple of instrumentals, a Neil Diamond and a Beatles
cover, a sappy orchestrated pop ditty, an old R'n'B number, and a couple
of mystique-drenched, pompous 'rockers': if this is indeed a 'concept',
then so is Please Please Me.
What a concept album needs, however, is lots of pretentiousness and seriousness,
and this is what you'll get in spades. I must say that I kinda like the
opener, 'Listen, Learn, Read On', the only 'truly conceptual' number that
introduces us to Taliesyn: it rocks pretty hard, and the chorus is quite
catchy as well. You know I usually don't mind the 'overblowness' effect
in songs, and although Evans gets a little over the top with his echoey,
self-important vocals, the melody is still good, plus it's just a nice
foot-stomper with a nice guitar solo. On the other hand, while 'Shield'
has a really cool start - with that little naggin', snappy bassline and
some moody guitarplaying, it's nowhere as memorable as the album opener,
and it doesn't have a third part of that song's energy, just drags along
as a tired horse; Lord tries to vitalize the atmosphere with weird organ
noises (as if he's tapping on the keys with little hammers), but it doesn't
really work, since the resulting sound is not unlike the one you'd hear
through the door to a carpenter's shop. Taliesyn wouldn't be proud of these
guys, that's for sure.
But then again, he just probably wouldn't care about the other songs, as
they have nothing to do with mysticism or chivalry (so much the better,
I say!) There's a funny, relatively short little instrumental ('Wring That
Neck'), again, dominated by a brilliant Lord organ riff; however, the extended
live version that the band performed as the intro to its Concerto
and which can be consequently found on Power House is far, far superior.
Then there's their version of Neil Diamond's 'Kentucky Woman' - a minor
hit single in the States, where the band had already gained some loyal
audiences, unlike in Britain; it is again thrust forward by a great Simper
bassline and even has cool vocal harmonies - eh, vocal harmonies on a Deep
Purple record? Yup! Mark I wasn't as lame as you would suppose it was,
now was it? Apart from that, the guys continue to mine their stock of Beatles'
covers, and fail, as the version of 'We Can Work It Out', preceded by a
boring organ instrumental, goes in the direction of nowhere: whilst they
were able to present 'Help' as a funny soul number with excited, interesting
vocals, they simply can't do anything that would take 'We Can Work
It Out' in another direction and enrichen its potential. They only slow
it down and that's it. And it's rather crappy.
But my feeling is that the two magna opera (which is the plural
from magnum opus - see, I just wanted to share some of my Latin
knowledge with you) that are placed near the end of the album were intended
to be 'Anthem' (what an original name) and 'River Deep Mountain High'.
The first one takes our heroes into a shameless pop direction... nah, wait
a minute. You know who they are copying here? The Moody Blues! That's right!
It's a nice pop ballad, with lots of soaring strings and even a string
solo section (no Mellotron, though), and Rod Evans sings all the way through
as if he was the long-lost brother of Justin Hayward. And vocal harmonies
again. Still sounds cheesy - they just didn't have the kind of melodic
sensibility that Hayward used to have before he lost control over distinguishing
between prime and pablum as well. Then again, it's still better than Elvis,
so there's no reason to hide your face an' weep. But they'd make better
use of the orchestration on 'April', in any case, so read on.
The last ten minutes of the album are occupied with a lengthy cover of
'River Deep Mountain High' - actually, the first four minutes are instrumental
again, with Jon Lord overabusing all kinds of organ tricks and Ritchie
tossing in some psychedelic guitar lines mostly to disqualify the idea
of Purple as a 'keyboards band', I think - I wonder if he was half-asleep
while recording the tune. Which is not that bad - after all, it wasn't
written by Rod Evans. The funny thing is that Eric Burdon and the Animals
released their version of the song the same year (see my review of it on
Love Is), and the two versions sound quite
similar. Since both albums came out at approximately the same time, I don't
know who ripped off who, but somebody must have ripped off somebody else
- after all, we live in a world where most of the coincidences have logical
explanations (I know it's an arguable statement, but I just wanted to make
it so definite because I love making definite statements with no arguments
to back them up. As does everyone on this planet). 'River Deep', though,
I like the song, if only it weren't ten minutes long, and if only Ritchie'd
bothered to play his instrument at full power, coulda been a killer.
Nevertheless, the record's relative success in the States ensured that
Deep Purple would think of themselves as a 'progressive' group for the
whole next year. It only took the failure of Concerto to realize
they didn't quite have the guts to become a true progressive rock band.
So the natural question is: is this album dated? Answer: of course no!
Trout Mask Replica is dated! This is your prime jangly stupid prog-pop
from a great soon-to-be heavy metal band! Who the hell cares that it's
only available as a Japanese import? The Japanese sure do have good music
tastes! (By the way, the Japanese seem to be huge Purple fans. Funny how
each country has its specific 'idol': Deep Purple in Japan, Queen in Russia,
Genesis in Italy. Hey, if you have nothing to do, how about writing a thesis
on these countries' cultural identities?)
Listen, learn, read on and mail your ideas
Your worthy comments:
Tikhonov Konstantin <heavy-horses@mtu-net.ru> (02.04.2000)
While sound is better, music is not. This album could be the second part of Shades: we still have bad covers - "River Deep, Mountain High", weak American hits - "Kentucky Woman", and pompous pop music - "Anthem", mediocre effort in Frank Sinatra-style (yeah, I knew about strings... the song sucks anyway). But keep your patience and "Wring That Neck" (the first touch of classic Deep Purple turned into a 30-minutes suite on stage) make you feel much better. The rest of album ("The Shield", "Exposition") isn't quite bad, but the complex impression of Purple's second work is hollow and uninspired. Best song here is "Wring That Neck" (and this is the only one really good song on the whole album). My rating is 4.
Bob Josef <Trfesok@aol.com> (25.08.2000)
Well, they did try to progress. But, for the most part, if they stick
to what they did best on the first album, the results are better. I'm sure
that "Kentucky Woman" exists because some record company guy
said, "Hey, guys, we need another 'Hush" here!" But it's
fun in the same way. "Wring that Neck" and "Shield"
go the "Mandrake Root" route to great effect -- I think I like
them both more than you do. And "Anthem" is the best original
here -- very haunting, and although that string section seems to come in
out of nowhere, the song really generates some genuine emotion.
On the downside, I agree that they don't do much with "We Can Work
it Out." "Listen" is really amusing with its silly, portentous
psuedo-seriousness, but a trifle musically. And as for "River Deep.."
-- the original Tina Turner single is Phil Spector's peak in terms of his
60's Wall-of-Sound productions, and he manages to make it sound like a
grand epic in three minutes. But it just was NOT meant to be turned into
a ten minute jam -- there just isn't enough to work with. It doesn't sound
majestic in Purple's hands, just boring, boring, boring (I only remember
the Animals version vaguely, but it seems to have the same problem).
At least the liner notes aren't as goofy as Shades, but they use
that same photo on the back cover. Guess they didn't get much of a budget
for artwork.
Year Of Release: 1969
Record rating = 8
Overall rating = 10
Quite 'normal', for Deep Purple. Blues meets classical music, and
Rod Evans sounds really nice...
Best song: APRIL
More late-Sixties psychedelic & flower pop sound from what was soon
to become England's grittiest heavy rock band. But I tell you, NO WAY there
is you could guess that their next album after this one would be In
Rock. Here, Ritchie turns his guitar sound down, down and down again:
the days of emulating Hendrix are long gone by. Not that the album is organ-oriented,
either: Jon Lord treats his colleagues with respect, and the band, at this
point, is still a democratic unit.
Nevertheless, they progress. For one, there's only one cover on the album
- and it's good: the gorgeous ballad 'Lalena', authored by Donovan himself.
Its chorus might seem repetitive - 'that's your lot in life Lalena' (a
line that I'd always misinterpreted as 'bet your rotten life Lalena'. Funny,
eh?) crops up after every two lines, after all, but Evans sings everything
with such a beautiful, sad, highly emotional intonation that you can't
but understand - yup, at this point the guy managed to evolve into a really
impressive chord-spender (that being my personal slang for 'vocalist',
ya gotta understand). I still do not regret their decision to sack him
- he was no match for Gillan - but, unfortunately, this decision led to
his artistic downfall. What a bummer.
Let's get back to the album, though. Like I said, all the other songs are
self-penned, mostly collectively, and, while some are still rather obvious
blues rip-offs, others start to display serious hints of creativity. The
opening number, 'Chasing Shadows', built around the story of some old Jon
Lord nightmares, is, well, not exactly creepy or spooky, but somewhat haunting:
Ian Paice gets in a great percussion groove (maybe his best performance
in Mark I), and all the lyrics dealing with 'hiding in the shadows', accompanied
by gloomy organ passages, hit the mark right smack in the middle. 'Blind'
is a rather forgettable ballad, possibly the only truly weak cut on the
record, but the stuff that follows it and 'Lalena' has some of the most
awesome blues-rock of the Sixties. 'The Painter', 'Why Didn't Rosemary'
and 'Bird Has Flown' are all outstanding, with the band, especially Ritchie,
in top form, as usual. Dammit, what's 'Rosemary' about? 'Why didn't Rosemary
ever take the pill...' ...isn't this about incidental pregnancy? Whatever,
it's a top-notch rocker, that shows Blackmore maturing further and further
as a guitarist and Lord maturing further and further as an organ-annihilator
(although he wouldn't truly start to massacre his instrument until In
Rock). And then, there's 'Bird Has Flown', with its moody wah-wah guitar
and a surprisingly menacing sound for a song about broken love.
But... the album's centerpiece is definitely none of the above. This honour
falls to 'April', the thirteen-minute suite that closes the album and serves
as a logical precursor to the infamous Concerto For Group And Orchestra,
that is, presents Deep Purple as an ambitious, ballsy 'art-rock' ensemble.
And note that, however 'dated' or 'naive' their artsy excourses might seem
now, in 1969 they were pretty daring. Yes, believe it or not, but for a
short while Deep Purple had a bifurcation before them - the choice was
between 'art' and 'metal'. They probably made the right choice in the end.
But that does not mean that 'April' ain't impressive; on the contrary,
the suite must hold its own ground as one of the most successful art-rock
creations of the year. It consists of three parts - an instrumental part
played by the band, an instrumental part played by the orchestra and the
'song' itself, with pessimistic, quasi-pastoral lyrics sung by Evans in
his very best 'epic' tone. Note that nobody had yet done that - except
for the Moody Blues on Days Of Future Passed, so Deep Purple were
really pioneers in the matter. Not that the composition is utterly brilliant.
I mean, the first section is really, really good, with nice acoustic guitar
and organ, and over it, some subtle, autumnal (damn the title, they're
autumnal) electric lines of huge expressivity. The orchestral passage,
however, is a bit trite - and yet, far from the banal, bland MGM orchestration
used by the Moody Blues. The big difference, I guess, stems from the fact
that the Moody Blues did not write the orchestral arrangements,
while Deep Purple, namely, Jon Lord, produced the score himself, and, being
the smart dude that he was, he just couldn't fall into banality. So it's
good, but not great. And then the third part comes in, and we're suddenly
beginning to rock! Rod Evans pleads and screams, Lord upholds him on organ,
and Ritchie plays up a thunderstorm! Still a bit 'soft', perhaps, but everything
cooks...
Quite an interesting band they were, these Deep Purple Mark I. Still much
too inexperienced - still much too 'compromising' - still much too derivative
and shy - but showing signs of greatness. God knows what they could have
evolved into had Evans and Simper not been replaced by metalheads Gillan
and Glover. Hey, I'm not complaining - I'm just curious! Buy this album!
It has a Bosch painting on the cover! And did I ever tell you, and if I
didn't, this is the most perfect place to do it, that Bosch is my favourite
painter in the world? Buy this album now - while the world hasn't
forgotten it!
Bird has flown, and you still haven't mailed your ideas
Your worthy comments:
Tikhonov Konstantin <heavy-horses@mtu-net.ru> (02.04.2000)
The best studio album Deep Purple ever did. You got me right. This is the best Purple's studio work because a) here we have no empty pop hits, no bad cover-versions, no tasteless sleeves, no vulgar lyrics, no loathsome distortions, no monotonous hard rock pieces (as on their later efforts), b) here we have a perfectly balanced and tightly played album, all numbers includes the variety of styles from gentle ballad ("Blind", "Lalena") to heavy blues things ("Rosemary", "Bird Has Flown"), the original material of the band was written with strong inspiration (there are no low points at all) and c) here we have a masterpiece "April" (lyrics was written by Jon Lord, George). This beautiful and diverse album was made on the border between Ritchie's passion for heaviest guitar's riffs and Jon's adoring for classical music. They stopped here and then turned to the pure hard rock. Crucify me, but I think that they was wrong. My rating is 9. Hope you will guess the best song.
Bob Josef <Trfesok@aol.com> (28.08.2000)
Wow, and I thought for sure I was the only one who thinks that this
one if the group's best album, ever. Thank you, Mr. Konstantin!
The group finally comes up with an album of consistently high quality original
material. In fact the weakest track for me is "Lalena," written
by psychedelic folk-pop sprite Donovan. Their worst cover ever. But Purple
can only be faulted for picking a Donovan song in the first place. It suffers
from the problems of most Donovan songs -- hyper-catchy melodies saddled
with incredibly dopey lyrics ("Lalena/I don't blame ya" -- I
could have come up with that rhyme in 1st grade).Bleah.
Otherwise, though it's a classic from beginning to end, culminating in
the beautiful, incredible "April." This is what "Anthem"
was leading up to. And unlike the Concerto, it doesn't go over the
top and the three sections fit together perfectly.
I think the reason this album didn't get recognized the way it should have
was because not too many of us in the USA got to hear it. When Capitol/EMI
refused to release the band's albums in the US, the best Purple could do
was to sign with a tiny independent label called Tetragammaton Records,
co-founded by Mr. Pudding Pops himself, Bill Cosby. The other claim to
fame for this label was releasing the infamous John and Yoko album Two
Virgins afte r Capitol turned that one down, too. It was probably this
less-than-brilliant business decision (many copies of Two Virgins
were seized from distributors as obscene material by police) that caused
the label to go belly-up just as Deep Purple was released. Which was unfortunate
-- if Warners had been able to make this their first release, maybe DP
Mark I would have gone on to bigger and better things.
Year Of Release: 1969
Record rating = 6
Overall rating = 8
The perfect synthesis of rock and classical? Or a bunch of derivative
and useless 'classical noise'? I'm not sure myself...
Best song: hmm, I'm not certain if one can call a concerto a 'song'...
Evans and Simper left the band somewhere in the middle of 1969, and
were immediately replaced by ex-Episode 6 members Ian Gillan on vocals
and Roger Glover on bass. Glover, rumor has it, wanted the band to move
in a heavier direction right away - but instead of it, they recorded a
piece of symphonic music. How's that for a real controversial resume?
Actually, another rumor has it that Lord simply mentioned the idea of a
'group and orchestra concert' while the band were somewhere on a cruise,
and the management caught the idea and booked the Royal Albert Hall the
next day - so Lord had no choice but to sit down and compose the score.
One can only imagine all the fuss.
The critics didn't particularly approve the idea back then, and they hate
it in retrospect, condemning the whole affair as, naturally, self-indulgent,
snub-nosed, dirty-minded, and big-headed. And what about me? I DON'T KNOW.
See, I'm really not that big a connoisseur of classical music to tell whether
Lord's score is all derived and totally unoriginal, or whether there are
some interesting new ideas here, on the contrary. (Something tells me,
however, that the critics who pan this album aren't all that familiar with
classical music, either: musta been a sixth sense!) One thing I know for
sure: the movements of this concert contain sections that can be indeed
called 'classical music' - they don't have anything to do with the Hollywoodery
of the early Moody Blues. At the very worst, this is okayish, passable,
not terrifically exciting, but listenable classic music. I'll even go as
far as to say that it reveals influences of Tchaikowsky, Beethoven and...
let's see, who else? Well, some of the brass sections bring visions of
Valkiries to my mind, so I guess Wagner also has to be one of the influences.
And probably a couple dozen lesser known composers that I've never even
heard - after all, it's Jon Lord who's had a classical musical education,
not me, so spare me if you can.
The work's total originality, though - and there's no point trying to get
away from it - is that this is indeed a 'concerto for group &
orchestra'. Sometimes the orchestra plays alone, sometimes the group jams
alone, but quite often, the sound is combined, and this is indeed the kind
of sound that nobody dared to experiment with at the time. Perhaps only
the Nice, but even their major experiment, 'The Five Bridges Suite', came
out later, and it was more short and more shy, not to mention that the
orchestra and the group did not usually play at the same time. And I must
confess that there are really powerful moments, when 'interest' suddenly
grows into 'excitement', like at the last minutes of the first movement,
where Blackmore's fascinating, lightning-speed soloing is powerfully punctuated
by sharp bursts of sound from the orchestra. Oh yeah, in fact, the first
movement is quite great - starting from the point where the band kicks
in: Blackmore plays his heart out, and he's finally mastered the guitar
to his 'standard' level, playing hundreds of notes in one second and truly
brewing up a storm.
Of course, no amounts of soloing can save you from the fact that if you
hardly tolerate classical, you'll find this completely boring and throwawayish
(like all those critics do). Understandably, there are no vocals: the only
vocal passages can be heard in the second movement, when Gillan spits out
some meaningless, but pompous lyrics - for the first and last time, thanksfully
- and that's it. Moreover, a big part of the third movement is occupied
by Ian Paice's drum solo: of course, the guy must be given credit for inserting
his solos into different songs all the time, rather than sticking with
the same groove like 'Moby Dick' or 'Toad' for years on end, but that doesn't
mean it's still enjoyable or anything.
On the other hand, if you DO tolerate classical, you might suddenly find
this album a pleasure - and not necessarily a 'guilty' one. I would have
no problem with putting this on as background music, for instance; I don't
see why this couldn't rank along with some of the minor classical works
by well-known artists, especially since I'd bet my whole worthless life
that Lord simply stole most of the themes from his majors. Unfortunately,
I haven't yet finished my classical homework to be able to grip him by
the sleeve and sue him for plagiarizing the greats. When I do, you'll be
the first to know - promise. For the moment, I warily give the album an
overall rating of eight - with chances of growing (a little). It's nowhere
near horrendous, but certainly is about the last place to start with Deep
Purple.
I've also heard rumours of a re-issued version that adds the 'intro' to
the concert - live versions of 'Wring That Neck' and 'Child In Time' that
could otherwise be found on the Power House album, reviewed below.
If this version is available, and if you can't lay your hands on Power
House (it seems to be out of print now), my advice is to grab it: the
version of 'Child In Time' alone is well worth two or three more points.
Please check the review below. Please!
Mail your ideas (and no, there are no song titles here)
Your worthy comments:
Tikhonov Konstantin <heavy-horses@mtu-net.ru> (02.04.2000)
Jon Lord made his final bow. The impression of the concert is complicated and ambiguous. I don't want to dig into the discussion about classical and non-classical music deeply, so I just says that Lord's effort is very nice, but not great as followed "Sarabande". The first and last parts of the concert are beautiful while the middle part looks unfinished (Jon didn't have much time, so he must be forgiven). The low point here is a sound, the concert was recorded (or mixed) rather badly. But I love it anyway, and my favourite is last part with perfect powerful solos from Ritchie and Ian Anderson (?? - G.S.). Rating is 8.
Bob Josef <Trfesok@aol.com> (28.08.2000)
Again, I have an old LP pressing, so reviewing the sound quality is
tough, but I suspect the live recording, 1970 vintage, is quite poor --
too much ambient echo, muddy mix, the usual problems with live albums from
this period.
In any case, my problem with this is that that group and orchestra just
don't jell. Each is fine for what it is, although the group is already
heading away from Mark I melodicism into Mark II bashing, even in this
setting. At least Ian is kept quiet through most of this, and is uncharacteristically
low key in his brief section. But it was like mixing oil and water -- it
can't work, unlike "April," where Lord found the correct balance.
I was actually startled to read here, though, that they actually tried
this again!!
Year Of Release: 1970
Record rating = 10
Overall rating = 12
Possibly the best, the cleverest and the most memorable Pure Heavy
Metal Album in the world.
Best song: CHILD IN TIME
A classic, no less. Now, with Gillan and Glover having replaced the
flower-powerish Evans and Simper, the group was finally ready to conquer
the world. However, it really took the artistic puzzle of Concerto For
Group And Orchestra, the most pretentious and prog-like creation they
ever did, and one of their worst sellers ever at that, to have band make
a clever decision that 'high class' stuff was definitely not their area
of expertise; or perhaps Blackmore just hated that orchestra crap. So they
tried the other approach to business - and amazingly, it worked better
than anything they'd done previously.
Actually, the closest they got to 'ambitious' here was on the cover of
the album - which still looks incredibly cool. Otherwise, most of the songs
here are fairly simple: your average headbanging-style hard rockers, with
just one 'power ballad' thrown in for good measure. But if you ask me,
well, this is one of the most effective, point-making, cleverly produced
and recorded bunch of rockers ever assembled in one place. Yes, you heard:
'cleverly produced'. One of Deep Purple's main disadvantages was horrendous
production - which is especially visible on the two following 'classic'
records, on which you can hardly ever hear Gillan's voice, completely hidden
behind Blackmore's guitar. But here, it's okay: either Blackmore got pissed
off at Gillan later, or Gillan secretly messed up the vocals, but he's
almost perfectly audible on every track, except for 'Flight Of The Rat',
maybe.
Besides that, all the exact trademarks are in place. Blackmore's guitar
sounds tons of times more professional, self-assured, and, what's perhaps
the most important element, independent, than previously; Gillan
sings, howls, bellows, whines, whispers and roars like on no other record;
and even Jon Lord tries to make something interesting out of his organ
playing - getting it beautiful and majestic at some times, or dirty and
feedbacky, almost orgasmic, at other times. And the lyrics? Well, they're
mostly interesting - not terribly innovative or fascinating, but at least,
no Tolkien-inspired blabbery.
In fact, it's a kinda concept album! Each song has that little 'epigraph'
to it, and it's often society-bashing, but again, in a bright way. 'Speed
King' opens the album with a lightning-speed riff and Gillan intentionally
blurting out Little Richard cliches - 'just a few roots, replanted', the
liner notes say, and that's what they are, replanted by Ritchie's monstruous
riffage. 'Bloodsucker' is one of the two definite Gillan vocal highlights
on this album - ever heard that 'Oh No No No No-aaaaaa-oooo!' blood-curdling
scream at the end of each verse? Proof enough that it was Ian Gillan, and
nobody else, as the greatest heavy metal vocalist of all time (well, he
wasn't chosen to be Jesus Christ Superstar for nothing). Add Blackmore's
cycling riff, with enough resemblance to the one of 'Whole Lotta Love'
to sound just as powerful but not enough resemblance to sound like a complete
rip-off, and you come up with a major classic.
And, of course, there's 'Child In Time', a song that has some real majesty
in it - not the kind of puffed-up, fake majesty of Led Zep or Sabbath.
It's an anti-war song, see, and the 'grounded' character of the message
only gives the song more poignancy. Perhaps it is a bit overlong, at a
ten minutes running time, but I never notice it! Gillan's singing in the
chorus is pure ecstasy: can a living man really pull off all these 'ooh-oooh-ooh'
and 'aaaah-aaaah-aaaah' without ever missing a single note, without ever
getting off-key, and in such tight combination with the moody, slow groove
of the song, that it really brings me to tears every time I hear it? And
it's hardly possible to forget the brilliant 'rush-to-the-end' climax to
the song, either, or Blackmore's frenzied solo in which he tries so hard
to demonstrate that he's the speediest player on this planet that one can
even witness a few moments of a classic 'slip-of-the-hand' that actually
enliven the song even further.
But - if Gillan is the undoubtful star of Side 1, then Blackmore is the
undoubtful star of Side 2. The fast rockers - 'Flight Of The Rat' and 'Hard
Lovin' Man' simply chug along mercilessly, like a choo-choo train, with
Lord supporting Ritchie with his brain-muddling, flashy distorted organ
passages. Their riffs are top-notch, the solos are short, to-the-point
and astonishingly professional, and again, Ian is Ian - what can I say?
'Into The Fire' and 'Living Wreck' are a little slower, but not bad either,
especially the former, with that wonderful scream '...into the fiiiiiire!'
and the relentless THUMP-THUMP-THUMP of the rhythm, like a heavy tank crushing
your head into the dirt. And 'Living Wreck' has these funny groupie-bashing
lyrics and all, and a Jon Lord organ part that almost sounds like the agony
cry of some wounded and very dangerous alien creature. Classic, simply
classic.
Yeah, maybe if I were forced to name a prototypical 'classic' metal album,
it would be this one. There's simply no existing complaint I could put
forward as related to it. Can you? There ain't a single boring number here!
The only complaint is the lack of diversity - but that's a general fault
of the band, not of this particular record. Okay, maybe the coda to 'Hard
Lovin' Man' is a little bit overdone, with Blackmore again remembering
that he used to imitate Hendrix once and trying to do it again with some
supposedly cool guitar noises. But it's still short, and not really annoying.
Otherwise - no flaws at all. Buy it today, don't let Deep Purple fade away.
Child in time, you'll see the line that ends this review and you'll know this is the place to mail your ideas
Your worthy comments:
Nick Karn <glassmoondt@yahoo.com> (15.10.99)
I disagree about this album being the best metal release ever, but I will acknowledge that it's one of the three most important ever made in the genre, plus it showcases Gillan back when he could actually sing and Blackmore at his jaw-droppin' best. The two keepers in my mind on this one are of course "Child In Time" - that eerie keyboard part, Gillan's powerful, desperate and PERFECTLY sung vocals, and the lengthy but astonishing Blackmore guitar solo in the song that I can't believe no one ever mentions - it's easily one of my 5 favorite guitar solos ever, so fluid and perfect. "Flight Of The Rat" is the other - it's got a very prototypical metal riff, hilarious rhyming lyrics, and a relentless chugging (plus more of that amazing band interplay!) The rest of the songs are capable, but not amazing. "Speed King", "Hard Lovin' Man" and "Bloodsucker" play at good speed and are very strong cuts showcasing their fire, and the other two numbers, "Into The Fire" and "Livin' Wreck", are decent. I give it an 8.
Tikhonov Konstantin <heavy-horses@mtu-net.ru> (02.04.2000)
The most overrated album in Purple's history. This is absolutely fantastic
(technically) and extremely mediocre (musically and especially lyrically)
album. In one hand we have Blackmore's, Lord's and Paice's unbelievable
playing laid under Ian Gillan's immortal screams, in other hand we have
classic pure (= banal and dull) hard rock with pathetic lyrics and highly-distorted
sound. Of course, here are some pleasant moments like Ritchie's guitar
solo in "Flight Of The Rat", Jon's trembling organ in "Hard
Lovin' Man" or Ian's ecstasy voice in "Child In Time" (the
one and only completely perfect song on whole album), but even nice ideas
like "Speed King" are ruined by senseless, vulgar or totally
empty lyrics, while monotonous numbers like "Bloodsucker", "Into
The Fire" or "Living Wreck" are nothing but the fillers.
My rating for this album is 6 only 'cause "Child In Time" is
here.
PS. The first original release of this CD sounded badly, but the new remastered
version is real catastrophe. Hope that one day Peter Mew will die in long
tormenting agony (and I will dance on his tomb). Even if you die-harder
Purple-fan, forget the bonus tracks! STAY AWAY!!!
<Sabbath246@aol.com> (27.07.2000)
I not only agree that this is the greatest hard rock album ever released, but I think it's the greatest album ever released, period. Yeah, everyone says it's Sgt. Pepper, which I can't for the life of me understand why. I mean, say all you want about Deep Purple, but they were MUCH more musically talented than the Beatles. Maybe not as groundbreaking, but definitely a more amazing band. For example: compare "I Am The Walrus" to "Child In Time". What a joke! [why are we comparing the uncomparable? I'd better compare 'Child In Time' to 'While My Guitar Gently Weeps', and 'I Am The Walrus' to, say, 'The Mule'. Then things would look more clear - G. S.] But anyway, back to the album. I worship Deep Purple, this album in particular. I noticed that "Child In Time" brings you to tears also, huh George? Well it does the very same thing to me every time I hear it. Simply put: Ian Gillan had the most heavenly pair of vocal chords in the world. Anybody who disagrees does not know true rock music. "Hard Lovin' Man" would have to be the second best one on here. Ritchie was and is the originator of heavy metal guitar. DP forever!
Year Of Release: 1995
Record rating = 7
Overall rating = 9
A little more concentrated and polished than Lord's first go, but
also less revolutionary. You decide.
Best song: FIRST MOVEMENT (I suppose)
Apparently, Jon Lord's classical appetites weren't completely quenched
by the (un)success of Concerto. I'd previously thought that the
effort prompted him to abandon all the neo-classical ambitions and turn
to the gritty distorted hard-rock marathons instead, at least within Deep
Purple itself. Well, turns out that I was wrong. Gemini Suite is
an archive release of yet another concert of the band in the Royal
Albert Hall, with yet another time Malcolm Arnold conducting the orchestra
that's playing yet another multi-part Jon Lord suite. The weirdest
thing is that the recording date is September 1970 - In Rock had
already been in the stores for three months then. I can only imagine how
much Blackmore and Gillan wanted to participate in the Rock-Classical
Venture Mark II: however, at that time the band was still deciding which
way to turn, and maybe even was determined to continue both programs at
the same time. Still, as far as I know, Gemini Suite was Lord's
last ambitious project within the band.
Which is a shame, because Gemini Suite is an improvement over Concerto,
in most possible ways. The problem is that it's not that much of
an improvement: it sounds like a polished and slightly revised version
of its predecessor rather than a radical reworking of it. This time, the
main innovation is that Lord is determined to give every band member a
chance to shine. So it hardly even sounds like a 'band with orchestra':
rather, it sounds like several isolated guys always accompanied by an orchestra.
The 'First Movement' part has a guitar-dominated half and an organ-dominated
half; the 'Second Movement' has a vocals-dominated part and a bass-dominated
part; and the 'Third Movement' is drums-dominated before the finale, where
everything eventually comes together. So I suppose that while one band
member was showing his skills on stage, the others were probably hiding
backstage and drinking coffee or something. I can hardly imagine Ian Gillan
just sitting or standing there in the corner for almost fourty minutes
doing nothing...
In any case, this mostly works: the suite thus becomes more organized than
Concerto, and it's also better in that the band instruments actually do
get around to playing along with the orchestra, not substituting
it. Particularly effective and impressive is the first part of the first
movement, where Blackmore plays his heart out accompanied by a Beethoven-esque
orchestra sequence. Note: please don't ask me to criticize or praise the
orchestra parts, because I don't know nothing about 'em. I mean, I do recognize
quotations from 'past masters' in places, but I can't really tell who the
hell Lord was ripping off this time. Anyway, the guitar comes in right
there at the thirtieth second, and after you overcome the funny tingling
sensation - hard rock guitar along with classical music? Are you serious?
- you start to realize that the passage is really good, and the
instruments actually complement each other. Blackmore sounds a bit like
Santana on that one, but then again, he often sounds like Santana, so I
don't suppose he was trying to Latinize his music specially for the occasion
or something.
The organ/orchestra part is a lengthy bore, though. Listening to all that
stuff makes me wanna throw on Lord's solo to 'Highway Star' instead. He
should really leave this stuff to Keith Emerson. And I'm not overtly seduced
by Gillan's part, either - can't make out the lyrics, too, but some say
they're just improvised. But he sings like a somnambula, and only "wakes
up" at around the fourth minute when the suite launches into a fast,
upbeat part that could almost be said to "boogie"... But then
comes the second best part: I enjoy Glover's basswork on that one very
much, because, just like Blackmore's instrument, the bass guitar seems
to fit the orchestra parts very well, creating an eerie, gloomy atmosphere.
The drum part is kinda boring again, and, of course, it's mostly dedicated
to a drum solo. I'm kinda sick of drum solos, much as I respect Ian Paice.
But, again, there's some redemption in the mighty chaotic finale, where
all the instruments rise together in a helluva chaotic climax. You really
gotta hear that part: Blackmore's demonic soloing is a little drowned out
by the orchestra, as can be understood, but if you can discern it, the
effect is unique.
Still, it's kinda painful to wait for the good moments while having
to endure all the boring stuff. Supposedly rockers by heart just can't
really bring themselves to writing solid classical compositions.
Or maybe the balance is so way off here, inclining towards the 'classical
rip-offs' side, that there's no talk of a real compromise between the two.
It's not really a blend of rock and classical: it's more like a serious
injection of rock into a classical composition. Unlike the usual prog rock
records, that were usually injections of classical into rock compositions.
The perfect fifty-fifty balance between the two genres has yet to be found,
I say; more probable, though, is the solution that since it wasn't found
by 1970, it will probably never be found in the future. Aw, well. Can you
cross a fox and a dog?
Forget it. That was kind of a rhetoric question.
Your worthy comments:
Tikhonov Konstantin <heavy-horses@mtu-net.ru> (02.04.2000)
First of all, the release date above is wrong. The first edition of
UK CD (on RPM Records) was released in 1993, the Japanese edition (my case)
was released in 1997, and the new remastered edition scheduled for release
in late 2000.
Musically all parts of the suite are charming, but the whole work is less
excited than Concerto, probably 'cause the main difference between
Gemini and Concerto is the change of the accent - while Concerto
was build as a DIALOGUE between the orchestra and the full-size rock band,
Jon turned Suite into the bunch of MONOLOGUES by band members and
the orchestra. In the best moments of Concerto the band and the
orchestra played as the one indivisible organism - here you'll hear it
in the apocalyptic finale only.
Anyway, this is lush present to Purple fan, especially if you rate Concerto
higher than In Rock. I prefer this concert to the studio version
of Suite and my rating is 7.
Oh yeah, I forgot to say that Jon Lord's solo gem Sarabande was
finally re-released on CD! This beautiful keyboard-driven classical / rock
album is widely available in record stores, so buy it, borrow it or steal
it right now. I give you my word (underwritten in blood) - it will worthwhile
the each spending cent... and when George will say that there's no chance
to create a balanced classical / rock composition next time, you'll be
able to send him a nice rotten egg :)
PS. By the way, the concert was at the Royal FESTIVAL Hall, not Royal ALBERT
Hall. George The Wrong.
Year Of Release: 1971
Record rating = 8
Overall rating = 10
The band expands its musical vision a little, unfortunately, not
in the necessary directions...
Best song: FIREBALL
A slight falldown from the previous album. But not a horrible one! Again,
there are seven numbers, and most of them kick just as much ass as In
Rock. This time, however, Gillan, Blackmore & Co. decided that
they would like to 'broaden the horizons' - who wants to mess with a single
formula all the time? Thus, two numbers on this record kinda step away
from the usual pattern. Whether it was a good move or not is kinda unclear.
First, there's a strange country-western number ('Anyone's Daughter'),
where the band gets a good groove going indeed: I particularly enjoy the
wonderful intro, with that guitar/piano duet (actually, this is one of
the few tracks in the Purple repertoire where Lord plays simple piano,
not dirty distorted organ). However, the song's message is unclear, and
the lyrics, about how Gillan screws farmers' and judges' daughters, are
unusually dumb for the band's standard level. Plus, Ian almost sounds like
Mike Nesmith on that number, and, while I have nothing in particular against
Mike Nesmith, eeh, bringing late-Monkees country-rock into Deep Purple?
Hmm. Interesting idea. The weirdest number on this record, tho', is the
'psychedelic', Eastern-influenced 'The Mule', a nearly-instrumental jam
with just a few lines of lyrics, a complicated beat and trippy guitar/organ
solos. Sometimes it's good, but usually it's a bit too messy for me - after
all, Deep Purple are no Who, and their strength never lied in creating
a groovy mess. Don't skip it when you play the song on CD, though! Don't
you dare do this - somewhere right in the middle, Blackmore suddenly seems
to wake up from his trance, ask himself 'what the fuck am I into?' and
then he kicks in with some of the most ferocious riffage on the whole album
- for about thirty seconds. Later, however, he falls asleep again... A
very strange number, indeed, ending in an almost apocalyptic way with a
ferocious drumbeat: Ian Paice at his best (although, of course, the song
served as a suitable pretext for a drum solo in concert). Oh, and the lyrics
are the only Deep Purple lyrics (I think) where you find a mention of Lucifer.
That's not to say they're 'evil', though - they seem to deal with a man's
possession by evil forces, represented by 'the mule'. I don't know what
kind of 'mule' they're talking about, but it sounds more silly than scary
in any case.
The rest of the album is, however, pretty normal. Again, they kick it off
with a fast, speedy rocker (title track), where Blackmore seems to race
with the speed of sound itself. The problem is that from now on the damn
engineers start to mix Gillan's vocals incredibly low - if you can hear
his singing at all on this track, as well as most of the other ones, you're
damn lucky - I can't. But who needs 'im when the guitarwork is so
amazing? Other highlights include the bluesy 'Demon's Eye', a dark, dreary
track, all sizzling with both guitar and organ feedback, and also built
on a tremendous riff; and the album closer, 'No One Came', with some of
the most interesting Purple lyrics: actually, it's dedicated to the fate
of a rock star and his relations with the soulless public.
I'm, however, not a big fan of the stupid screamfest 'No No No' with its
annoying, repetitive lyrics; not to mention that it's much too similar
to the superior 'Into The Fire', and yet has the nerve to drag on for nearly
seven minutes with so-so solo performances by both Blackmore and Lord.
As for 'Fools', it is objectively a good song, but certainly overlong as
well. Especially the lengthy, moody organ intro: after the deceptive, menacing
guitar licks at the beginning, Lord takes the rule and proceeeds to bore
you for a couple of minutes, only after which the main melody finally breaks
in and the song begins kicking all kinds of butt, together with a blistering
Blackmore solo.
And that's it - seven songs, just like on the previous album. Perhaps this
is the biggest problem: Deep Purple certainly made quite a bit of their
numbers too overlong. And if it's studio albums we're speaking of, truth
must be told: their lengthy instrumental passages are not always terribly
entertaining. Fireball, in particular, is too much dominated by
Lord and his organ. Now Jon is a really good organ player, but he rarely
becomes ecstatic enough to match the furious Blackmore solos. When he just
plays organ alongside the guitar, the effect is miraculous; his solos,
however, are what puts me down. And he gets at least as much of them as
Ritchie, perhaps even more! Now this is what I call an unwise policy. Also,
the album is rather slow: except for the title track and the main melody
of 'Fools', all the other numbers are mostly mid-tempo! How can a Deep
Purple album be first-rate when it's so slow? They're fast rockers!
Hmm. Maybe an eight is even a bit too much for this album. No, wait. The
songs are good. The melodies are quite strong, in fact! 'Demon's Eye' is
a great distorted blues rocker! I'll leave the rating as it is, thanks
a lot. But please, be sure to make In Rock your first buy, so as
not to be disappointed.
P.S. Note that I have the European version of the album. The US version
has the contemporary hit single 'Strange Kind Of Woman' replacing 'Demon's
Eyes'; I'm not sure which one works best, as I still haven't heard the
original version (the live version on Made In Japan is fantastiwastic,
though), so maybe it's a tie.
No one came to mail their ideas? Dammit!
Your worthy comments:
Tikhonov Konstantin <heavy-horses@mtu-net.ru> (02.04.2000)
We still have some dull pure hard rock pieces here ("No, No, No",
"Demon's Eye", "No One Came"), but this album was made
with more various moods, more sensible lyrics and more acceptable sound
than In Rock. Love story in "Fireball" was described without
the same Gillan's vulgarity, "Anyone's Daughter" frivolity perfectly
shines through Jon Lord's piano chords and the Eastern passages of "The
Mule" became just a little introduction for Paice's brilliant solos
on stage. Best number here is "Fools" with Ritchie's blitzing
guitar work and Gillan's pessimistic lyrics. My rating is 7.
PS. I have Japanese issue of this CD, and "Demon's Eye" was replaced
by "Strange Kind Of Woman" here too. Well done, Nippon! Live
version of "Strange Kind Of Woman" is far superior, but studio
version is incomparable than "Demon's Eye" anyway.
Year Of Release: 1972
Record rating = 9
Overall rating = 11
Folding down again - this is back-to-the-wall, all-time-heavy-and-glorious,
gritty-and-ferocious rock and roll. That says it all, basically.
Best song: SMOKE ON THE WATER (yeah, as if I could even begin to
try denying it)
Ah! Better! Still not on the same level as In Rock, but unquestionably
their second best (studio, that is). Definitely no traces of experimentation
here - the guys have wisely decided not to mess around with the formula
this time. Once again, the magical number seven makes up the album: seven
strong, compact rockers that deliver all the crrrrrrrrunch you need in
your life and maybe more. And apparently the public got it, too: this was
their major commercial breakthrough, and a record that finally put them
in the same league with Led Zep and company. Yeah, I know that true
fans already knew that two years ago, but it did take 'Highway Star' and
'Smoke On The Water' to convince the general record-buying public that,
after all, Deep Purple were one of the all-time greatest hard rock
ensembles.
If I have any gripes with the record at all, they are few - mainly, the
songs do not grab me as tightly by the collar as the ones on In Rock
do, and, whatever you say, it's practically impossible to imagine a more
polished hard rock record than the 1970 clunker. Also, I'm not a really
big fan of 'Lazy', even if it seems to be a fan favourite; I mean, such
a generic piece of boogie-woogie gotta have something more than just Ritchie's
amazing playing technique in order to be distinguishable. Other than that,
yet another immaculate record from Gillan, Blackmore & Co. As has now
become the tradition, they open it with a speedy, ballsy rocker that's
since turned into one of their trademarks: 'Highway Star'. I mean, what
more perfect example can you give of a song that celebrates the joy of
sex, speed and youthful aggression better than this 'choo choo train' (again)?
'Nobody gonna take my car, I'm gonna race it to the ground, Nobody gonna
beat my car, It's gonna break the speed of sound...' And that powerful
'Yeaaaaah' that opens the song - a crystal clear, shiver-sending scrrreeeam
that we really haven't had on the last record? Both Ritchie and Ian are
outstanding on the song, with the former in an even better form than before
- just watch out for that solo! Even Lord gets caught up in the ecstasy
and delivers some gloomy boogie passage on his organ. This, I tell
you, this is the blueprint for speed metal and thrash - only it's
tons more exciting, clever and non-violent than both.
The album's highest point is not 'Highway Star', of course. I bet there's
just no need to mention the song - it's right up there, with 'Pinball Wizard'
and 'Stairway To Heaven' as one of the most overplayed songs of the century,
the band's visit card and definite symbol. And, well, it's deserved: Ritchie's
introductory riff is certainly the best-known, the most celebrated and
cliched in the whole genre of hard rock or heavy metal. Even now, I can't
hold a smile when I hear it - Lord you don't know how dumb it sounds, but
what is it there in this dumbness that makes it so fantastically memorable?
Why do these chords seem to delve so deep in your head that you can't help
but repeat the riff the whole day long after hearing the song once? And
funny - does anybody indeed realize that the song itself never stands
up to that riff? It's a good rocker, with enough guts and force, but not
thoroughly spectacular. And the autobiographical lyrics that tell of Deep
Purple's famous fire incident with the Rolling Stones Mobile in Switzerland,
have dated badly - anyway, they haven't even dated, they're just nothing
more than a half-poetic 'document'. Perversely, now they will be immortalized
forever. In two hundred years' time, when nobody will ever remember who
the hell was Frank Zappa and why did he have several Mothers, children
will ask their parents and their parents will just stare dumbly and not
know what to answer. Ah, but he's mentioned in 'Smoke On The Water', you
see... do you really believe it is possible to forget that one as well?
Hardly.
And hey! This is Machine Head we're talking about! It has 'Space
Truckin'! It's a fantastic tune, one of the heaviest they ever did! Do
you, mister Intelligent Person, think it could have been a parody on the
Grateful Dead 'Truckin'? Only set to a 'cosmic' background? Whatever be,
it's a fantastic album closer, and it shuts it down in the same way as
it opens - with a SCREEEAAM. Can you shout 'Yeah Yeah Yeah Space Truckin''
like Gillan does it in the end of the song? You cannot, don't even try!
He's got the best pair o' chords in the business! And it's also the place
where you get your 'Pictures Of Home', a fast, emotional rocker dealing
with imprisonment and nostalgia - hey, the musical thunderstorm that it
opens with might be just the best way to start off a Deep Purple classic.
Ritchie, meanwhile, delivers short, snappy, economic solos that build up
the tension not any worse than the lengthy jaw-dropping workout on 'Child
In Time'.
And then there are the 'minor' numbers, all good in their 'minor' way:
both of the stompy, gritty blues-rockers 'Maybe I'm A Leo' and 'Never Before'
are solid headbangers. Like I said, I'm not a big fan of 'Lazy', a lengthy,
seven-minute blues jam, just because I do not think it represents the band
in top form - maybe Ritchie, sure, but then again I've never understood
why his playing on 'Lazy' should be revered and, say, similar or even superior
solos by Alvin Lee dismissed. (The live version of the song rules, though).
But it's not bad or unlistenable, either, and dammit, does this album bleed
heavily on your ears! A good kind of bleeding, though - like a purging...
this is definitely the way Deep Purple are gonna be remembered - loud,
brawny, professional, tasteful, a little vulgar, a little clever, and totally
inoffensive.
Lazy, lazy, you still haven't mailed your ideas?
Your worthy comments:
Glenn Wiener <glennjwiener@hotmail.com> (30.09.99)
A near classic. Only seven songs but all of them are winners. I like 'Lazy' as it probably has the most creative embellishments on the record. The organ effects and the slight changes in tone and the mix add some needed creativity to this slam bam thank you maam band. These guys are damn good musicians especially Ian Gillan. Your link to the best Deep Purple Web Site is excellent. Hopefully you will provide links to other noteworthy websites like these guys and Fleetwood Mac.
Nick Karn <glassmoondt@yahoo.com> (15.10.99)
Although the production sucks and like you said, the vocals are barely audible, I can still totally get into this album. My favorite track is not the one that every guitarist knows in their sleep, "Smoke On The Water", a classic which incidentally features laughable lyrics including the immortal line 'some stupid with a flare gun'... but who notices lyrics in Deep Purple songs anyway? Certainly not critics or arguably even Ian Gillan. Nope, my favorite is the opener, "Highway Star", which perfectly captures that 'highway' feel in the expert playing (classic performances from Blackmore Gillan, and Lord). "Maybe I'm A Leo" and "Pictures Of Home" are also great rockers, and the intro jam to "Lazy" is almost worth the price of the album alone. "Space Truckin'" and "Never Before" are a little bit average though, so I can't give it a 9 or 10 - an 8 seems perfect.
Tikhonov Konstantin <heavy-horses@mtu-net.ru> (02.04.2000)
Much better than In Rock, much harder than Fireball, but
still not enough to beat April (the album). Once again Purple recorded
an unbalanced album full of fantastic songs and weak fillers. "Highway
Star" have an immortal solo (probably the best solo Ritchie ever did)
and even Gillan's stupid lyrics can't ruin it. After this masterpiece "Maybe
I'm A Leo" is absolutely unremarkable, but "Pictures Of Home"
is the rare example of Deep Purple's ordinary and non-banal hard rock.
There's nothing great in this song, but it still stands higher than any
song from In Rock (with the exception of "Child In Time",
indeed). I'll never understand why "Never Before" was chosen
to a single-release, not 'cause it's a mediocre song, but 'cause here we
have "Smoke On The Water", Purple all-time signature-tune. Of
course, this is one of the most overplayed hard rock songs, but I understand
why Ritchie denied to play it in the 80's and 90's - this song is too simple
to be played and played and played on every Purple's concert. Excellent
vision of R&B in "Lazy" have much more space for live improvisations.
The biggest low point on this album is self-parody "Space Truckin'",
monotonous "Smoke On The Water" rip-off with usual empty lyrics.
That's my point of view. Best songs here are "Highway Star" and
"Lazy", rating is 7.
PS. New remastered edition was released on 2CD, the second disc contains
remixed versions of the entire album. Save your money, friends. Even beautiful
outtake "When A Blind Man Cries" couldn't excuse this hype.
<RichardMelchior@aol.com> (28.09.2000)
I guess there's really no questioning the worth of this record, but d-double-amn do I ever hate the production. But I guess it's a testament to the strength of the songs that this album could become an HM classic in spite of such a tiny sound. "Maybe I'm a leo but I ain't a-lyin" - gotta love it...
Year Of Release: 1972
Record rating = 10
Overall rating = 12
Friggin' great. The ultimate live metal album, and quite possibly
the only live metal album you need so badly.
Best song: SPACE TRUCKIN'
First of all, let me warn you. Deep Purple have put out about a hundred
various official and semi-official live albums (not counting the bootlegs),
and more than half of these come from the 'later', Gillan-less years, or
from their 'comeback' gigs. No, I'm not necessarily telling you to avoid
these, but if you're a more casual fan, Made In Japan should be
your first and primary buy. Don't confuse it with stuff like Live In
Europe, etc., etc. Furthermore, the situation is even more complicated:
I, for instance, have this CD under the name of Live In Japan (it
was originally released under this name, sure enough, in Japan); but there
also exists a 3-CD set (I think) named Live In Japan and providing
you with a more detailed insight into their 1972 Tokyo gigs. If you're
not a diehard, you certainly don't need it. Also, the 1-CD edition cuts
out several songs from the original LP; maybe there exist 2-CD editions,
I'm not sure. Anyway, what I'm trying to say is: don't grab just anything.
Make sure you've analyzed the track listing beforehand.
Now, about this record. It rules. It rules absolutely and totally, and
if you have nothing against lotsa long songs in general, you might wanna
get this even before In Rock. Deep Purple, in fact, in their prime
were one of these bands whose full potential really doesn't realize itself
outside o' the stage, and this album is ample proof. Blackmore soloes like
a demon throughout, Paice kicks in and out with a vengeance, Gillan howls
and screams better than usual, Jon Lord's organ solos leave me impressed
- for the first time, and even Glover, the quiet bass player who's pretty
unremarkable on studio records, gets a chance to shine on 'Space Truckin'.
The only problem with the album is that there's but... seven songs. Again!!!
And this time, it's seven songs on a DOUBLE album - it goes on for seventy-five
minutes, for Chrissake! Not every song gets extended, though - some were
that long from the beginning. The only number, in fact, that's prolongated
well worth four times its original running time is the side-long
'Space Truckin'', but it's worth every minute! Well, nearly every minute.
I mean, they do the song itself, with those outstanding 'yeah yeah yeah
come on let's go space truckin', and then Paice and Glover crash into a
fast, stomping 'rondo' jam, with Jon Lord pulling an Emerson and doing
all kinds of dirty things with his synthesizers, imitating a spaceship,
no doubt. When you play it quiet and don't pay attention to it, it's mind-numbing;
when you put on your headphones and play it loud, it's ASTONISHING! All
these weird noises, and above all, Paice's furious, swift drumming - how
come he didn't drop dead after having to push that pedal so fast for ten
minutes? And then in steps Blackmore, and he does all those wierd noises,
too... hmm... it almost seems as if he were bowing his guitar! I
don't know, really, but I think I heard signs of bowing there! Plagiarizing
Page, was he? Well, at least he tries to do music with the bow (if
it's a bow), not just crappy noises. And then the drums kick in again,
and we get an impressive, short, swift and cool Hendrix-ey guitar solo
before the very end. Eighteen minutes? I don't care, I don't care!
But that's not the only 'guilty pleasure' on the album. They open the concert
with 'Highway Star', a version that chews up the original and spits it
out - all modesty and self-containment is gone, and Blackmore amply demonstrates
his finger-flashing style that we only had a short glimpse of on the studio
version. 'Child In Time' is more or less the same as the original, but
'Smoke On The Water' is extended - and this time, it is also anthem-ized,
with the enthralled audience going ecstatic and Blackmore teasing the cute
little Japanese by playing some dirty tricks with the Riff of Riffs. The
only track that is a letdown is 'The Mule' - I never loved the song much
in the first place, and moreover, here it is even devoid of that fantastic
Blackmore riffage. Instead, it turns into a dull Ian Paice drum solo, and,
well, a drum solo is a drum solo. He doesn't do it much worse than Baker
or Bonham, but he sure doesn't do it better. In fact, I'm far more impressed
by how well he holds down the rhythm on the 'Space Truckin' jam here. Fortunately,
it's only nine minutes long (ha! ha!). A short one, in fact. And you'll
forget all about it by the time they play the hit single 'Strange Kind
Of Woman', with a gorgeous guitar-vocal duet between Gillan and Blackmore
at the end. I mean, it's also generic, right? And ripped off of Led Zeppelin?
Well, maybe, but they do it much better than Led Zeppelin - Plant's vocals
don't hold a candle to Gillan's, and the way the two dudes hit exactly
the same notes, and rather complicated ones at that... wow. You need
to hear it, believe me.
Then there's 'Lazy'. The intro is kinda long, but the song is pulled off
well, and it's fast and furious this time - no longer a dull blues jam,
more like a happy piece of boogie. And then there's 'Space Truckin'. What
else do I need to say? One of the two or three world's best metal bands
in their prime, in the zenith of their glory, and this priceless document
- as priceless to the band's fans as Leeds to Who fans or Ya-Ya's
to Stones fans. And now, it's also preparing to become one of my Top Ten
favourite live albums. Believe me, it won't take long. Go and buy it, and
say your thanks to me for bringing that much pleasure into your life. At
least, say your thanks for providing you with so many pages of text worth
reading to kill your free time! I'm no Mark Prindle, for sure, but if you
got that far, this sure means you've been enjoying my reviews! Thank
you kind sir!
Space truckin' you are not, so go ahead and mail your ideas
Your worthy comments:
José Humberto Mesquita Filho <humberto@fcm.unicamp.br> (28.09.99)
It is indeed the best first buy for Deep Purple. "Smoke on the Water" and "Highway Star" are quite better than the studio versions. It is also the only live Purple album you should buy - simply because on this one, Gillan still has his voice. I've seen Deep Purple live twice, and altough he does a fair job singing those classics, there's no way to compare his nowadays voice to his voice back in '72. What about him screaming in the very end of "Strange Kind of Woman"? No one could do it better then. The production on this one is also awesome. There's a 2 CD version of Made in Japan that includes 'Black Night', 'Speed King' and a cover song which I don't remember now. But the single-CD one is probably all you'll need.
Ted <Tedyyz001@aol.com> (24.10.99)
The 2 CD version has 'Black Night', 'Speed King' and 'Lucille' on the 2nd disc. The first CD has 7 songs, the same as the original 2 record set from the 70's, at least in the USA, at approximately the same timings, over 76 minutes so it seems nothing has been cut as has been done with some other 2 record sets converted for CD. The 1 CD set has a gold cover like the original 2 record set. The 2 CD set is black. I think "Smoke on the Water" and maybe "Child in Time" are as good as or improved compared to studio, all the rest I prefer the original versions, but it takes a lot from a live disc to impress me or maybe not, I like strange stuff.
Tikhonov Konstantin <heavy-horses@mtu-net.ru> (02.04.2000)
Their concert peak. When Purple left the studio, they left all their
problems there. No dull songs, no banal lyrics (Gillan simply forgot them
all), only virtuosity and energy were presented. They took their best numbers
and turned 'em into the endless passion battle (unforgettable tour-de-force
between Ritchie and Ian in "Strange Kind Of Woman"). Even pathetic
"Space Truckin'" was reworked into the twelve minutes improvisation
and completely wiped the studio version. There are absolutely no low points,
except the distorted sound. All songs are great, Gillan screams higher,
Paice threshes louder and Blackmore plays faster than any living person
on this planet. This is the best Deep Purple's album for ever and ever
(amen!). Rating is 10. Best song... hell, I don't know! I loves 'em all!
PS. This 2LP and single CD album was named Live In Japan in Nippon
and Made In Japan in the rest of the world. The recordings was made
during three concerts in August 1972 in Osaka and Tokyo. Live In Japan
3CD edition contains an almost all materials from their gigs and this is
the natural waste of money. New remastered version of Made In Japan
have a bonus CD with three tracks ("Black Night", "Speed
King" and "Lucille") but the loathsome sound quality makes
this edition totally unlistenable (it sounds worse than new version of
"In Rock"!). I recommends DCC gold release of Made In Japan
with sharp and clear sound, while fantastic live version of "Black
Night" you will find on the Japanese CD Powerhouse.
<Sabbath246@aol.com> (19.07.2000)
Hands down the greatest live album ever released. The version of 'HIGHWAY STAR' jams so much it's almost impossible to put into words. I disagree with you when you described 'CHILD IN TIME' as "more or less the same as the original". While this version of 'CIT' is very good (especially the guitar solo), it doesn't hold a candle to the original version. But then again, no other song in the world does, IMHO. This blistering rendition of 'SMOKE ON THE WATER', however, far surpasses the original. I do agree with you in you're stating that 'THE MULE' is the weakest track on here. Not because of the drum solo, which is nothing short of mesmerizing, but because on this version we're deprived of Ritchie's bone-crunching soloing that was on the studio version. And of course, this live version of 'STRANGE KINDA WOMAN' is simply mind-blowing. Gillan matches licks from Blackmore's guitar so perfectly you'd almost swear there were two guitars playing the same notes. Wow. What a vocal range! As I've said countless times before, Ian Gillan has the most astonishing pair of vocal cords on God's green Earth. Oh yeah, the versions of 'LAZY' and 'SPACE TRUCKIN' are enjoyable too.
<ScreamingIgor@cs.com> (19.11.2000)
Greetings and Felicitations!
First of all let me say that I second the reccomendation of the DCC 24k
gold edition of Made In Japan, the sound is head and shoulders above
Peter "No Noise" Mew's remastering.
You were speculating that Angry Ritchie may have been bowing on "Space
Truckin'". Actually, he was using a technique known as "volume
swells". For those who aren't guitar literate, volume swells (as innovated
by the late Roy Buchanan) is a technique where the fretting hand frets
a note or chord (usually via another technique called a "Hammer on",
rarely strummed or picked) while the picking hand rapidly manipulates the
volume control. Properly executed will give a pseudo bowing sound. Ritchie
also used this on "Fools". Just thought you'd like to know.
Year Of Release: 1973
Record rating = 5
Overall rating = 7
What happened? Somewhere on the way they seem to have lost it completely!
Best song: SMOOTH DANCER
The Purplers' 'mystery album'. In 1972 they were at their peak, one
of the two or three best heavy bands in the world, and had just released
a studio classic and a live classic. And somehow, it all ends up here,
on this far less than spectacular release that would become their last
with Gillan and Glover... for a long time.
Actually, the album's patchiness may have something to do with Gillan's
jerkiness. He was always pushing the band on to 'progress' and develop
their sound further - a purpose that was, let's admit it, quite generous,
seeing as there is really not much 'progress' in Machine Head as
compared to In Rock. Blackmore kept pissing him off, and so Gillan
really decided to quit the 'stagnant' band at the end of the Head
tour. (Glover was actually pushed out of the band, since Ritchie thought
the two were accomplices). He did, however, stay with the band to record
this album - and one might only imagine the tensions in the studio at the
time. Given the background, it becomes more clear why WDWTWA is
such a huge letdown from the previous three classics.
On a formal level, everything stays in place - Lord's organ, Blackmore's
guitar, Gillan's vocals and Paice's furious drumming are firmly kept in
place. But there's simply nothing about the album that makes it somehow
stand out. The rockers here are for the most part generic and unmemorable
- or simply pale copies of the older classics. Ritchie is plain lazy, since
there ain't a solid riff to be found anywhere. The production is kinda
murky: while on previous albums the guitars always stand out loud and clear
(so loud and clear, in fact, that you can hardly hear Ian sometimes), here
they often merge together in a hardly listenable and certainly non enjoyable
mess. Maybe Gillan tampered with the mix to make revenge on Ritchie? But
that doesn't even help him out - his singing is nowhere near as impressive
as on the older records. Where's that great SCREAMIN', for instance? Nowhere.
But, perhaps, the greatest offense - and I mean it - is that there are
No Fast Songs. No Fast Songs on a Deep Purple record - whoever heard that?
Most of this stuff is midtempo wank rock, certainly more Free than Deep
Purple! Okay, so 'Smooth Dancer' is more or less fast, and 'Rat Bat Blue'
happens to have a fast instrumental passage, but this is, you know, kinda
unserious. Kinda flat. Kinda unconvincing. I want another 'Fireball' or
another 'Highway Star'. I don't find 'em here.
The big hit off the record was 'Woman From Tokyo', but I simply don't like
it. Never liked it, never will: just your average piece of boogie. Yes,
maybe the song does represent some 'progress' in Gillan's eyes: it has
a slow, 'psychedelic' mid-eight with Gillan singing some 'heavenly' vocals
and weaving mystical motives into the lyrics. But essentially, it's just
boring, and doesn't hold a candle to even a single glorious track off In
Rock. Where's the enthusiasm of old, dammit? 'Mary Long'? What's that
shit for? A melodyless, monotonous bore, with lyrics that are more AC/DC
than Purple? Yuck! 'How did you lose your virginity Mary Long?/When will
you lose your stupidity Mary Long?' What IS THAT?
Okay, it's not total crap, this record. Amidst the general boredom, recycling
and monotonousness, some good songs still shine through. On occasion. Okay,
on a couple of occasions. 'Smooth Dancer', for instance, is more or less
fast (I think I already said that), and sometimes recalls the fresh atmosphere
of In Rock - except that the song itself is stale. The good thing
is that somewhere near the middle of the groove you finally get caught
up in the excitement generated by Lord's maniacal boogie organ. And I also
think highly enough of 'Rat Bat Blue', probably the last 'semi-classic'
recorded by the band, with its paranoid rhythms and exciting guitar &
organ interplay in the mid-section. But, anyway, they all sound flat: maybe
ultimately it's just the production that sucks.
And then, even if these two songs are enough to guarantee some little
metal joy, along with 'Super Trouper' (not to be confused with ABBA's later
song of the same name; this one's just an inferior re-write of 'Bloodsucker'),
the final two certainly eliminate all hopes: 'Place In Line' is a lengthy,
mega-boring blues jam that's even a big step down off 'Lazy' (and I never
was a big fan of 'Lazy' in the first place), and the closing 'Our Lady'
certainly gives a hint at their later do-nothing-mean-nothing career with
Coverdale: a pointless, pompous quasi-gospel stylization that ends nowhere
and simply represents a waste of precious recording tape. Not offensive,
just unnecessary in this world of ours when we could have been listening
to.. to... to 'Highway Star', instead!
Oh so oh so oh so dull. I give the record an overall rating of 7 because
none of the songs but 'Mary Long' are truly offensive, and 'Smooth Dancer'
and 'Rat Bat Blue' may have enough potential to woo me in the future...
but overall, this just looks like a record made on occasion, and that's
about it. Come to think of it, maybe Gillan and Glover screwed everything
up themselves and then left on the pretext that the band had run out of
steam. Might well be that way.
Our lady graciously asks you to mail your ideas
Your worthy comments:
Tikhonov Konstantin <heavy-horses@mtu-net.ru> (02.04.2000)
A rather mediocre effort. Purple began to piss on each other instead of playing music. Nobody of them was interested in further projects - while Gillan decided to leave, Blackmore with Paice did the same thing, but their managers (through Jon Lord) persuaded 'em to stay. This album isn't quite bad, some songs are good ("Woman From Tokyo", "Mary Long", "Super Trouper", "Our Lady"), but there are no moments of glory like "Highway Star" or "Child In Time". Purple never played material of this album on stage ("Woman From Tokyo" was played a few years later, but 70's Purple and 80's Purple - as people in Odessa says - are two huge differences), and I can't imagine these songs in extended live versions. We have what we have, so my rating is 3. Best song... hmmm... I can't choose. They all can't catch me.
KeithF <KeithF@nycap.rr.com> (07.11.2000)
A masterpiece... and worthy follow-up to Machine Head.
And now a word from the opposition... I've just never been able to fathom
the absolute abuse that Who Do We Think We Are receives from so
many fans while I happen to think it's among their best ever (and I know
I'm not alone... I'm aware of at least two fans that wholeheartedly agree
with me). Mediocre some call it. Mediocre? Hello? Are we listening to the
same album? I know we aren't, because the review that I'm responding to
asks the misleading question "Where's that great SCREAMING?"
Huh? It's right there, silly. Weren't you listening? OK, so Gillan doesn't
scream as much as he did on Machine Head. So what? When did we start
counting screams as the measure of a good album?
I do have a guess, and it's only a guess, but the band themselves have
often (and pretty universally, it seems) commented that they do not care
for this recording. I can only imagine... what with late 1972 and early
1973 being a time of great stress for the band. Bad memories of a period
of time can often tarnish one's view of a solid piece of work. But as for
the fans... only the most astute might have guessed at the problems within
the band (hinted at in 'Smooth Dancer'... it becomes obvious only in hindsight),
and therefore why wouldn't they like this gem of an album? I believe that
a greater percentage of them did at the time. My theory is that over the
years the band's negative comments have rubbed off on many fans, so that
they've adopted the same negative feelings held by band members. It's the
best I can do to explain what seems like a widespread disdain for an album
that I think is spectacular. A few negative opinions are bound to turn
up for any recording, but why so many for this one is just beyond me.
In any event, opinions differ, and here's my differing take on what I consider
to be second only to Machine Head and a close second at that. By
the way, I would rate it a star or two ahead of the admittedly classic
In Rock (which is a kickin album but suffers from horrible sound
which is only somewhat helped by the remastering of a few years ago), and
far superior to the also good but somewhat sleepy Fireball. The
album kicks off with the Catchy pop-metal of 'Woman From Tokyo'. Nothing
particularly special about the subject matter, but then again how deep
were 'Strange Kind of Woman' or 'Highway Star'? 'Mary Long', however, offers
another catchy riff and a little political commentary to boot (with Gillan
taking the blunt-sword approach). I don't really get the AC/DC lyric comparison...
I don't recall AC/DC ever commenting on current events in Britain, or anywhere
else for that matter. Anyhow, 'Super Trouper' is where the album really
takes off. It has that trademark Purple movin & groovin riff that appears
throughout this album, and it's a perfect lead-in to 'Smooth Dancer', probably
the most exciting track on the album. With break-neck pace and a great
solo contrasting piano and organ, 'Smooth Dancer' really rocks. 'Rat Bat
Blue's heavy funk (far superior to the light funk that Glen Hughes later
favored and which ultimately chased Ritchie out of the band) is instantly
catchy and the keyboard break in the middle is smokin' (even if it was
sped up). 'Place In Line' offers a nice little change of pace and a humorous
lyric from Gillan. It's change of tempo about mid-way gives Ritchie and
Jon some nice room to solo... they both shine here. 'Our Lady' finishes
off the album with a stylish and somewhat spacey song. However it's got
a strong melody and I like the arrangement featuring a really heavy-sounding
Hammond.
Some general comments.
Ritchie was clearly not all there when this album was recorded. Whether
it was personal problems with Gillan (or other band members) or just a
general dislike of the material or direction, who knows. But it's fair
to say that he is perhaps not as prominent a player on Who Do We Think
We Are as he is on other albums. He is, however, most certainly present,
and makes some fine contributions. And when he's not soloing, he's laying
down that unique lead-style rhythm guitar that flows with the beat so well.
I can listen to Ritchie play behind someone else all day long. There's
few other guitarists that do it so interestingly. It's the thing that Steve
Morse, great as he is, will probably never get. Additionally, if Ritchie
had taken a more active interest in this album it would very likely have
outdone Machine Head.
Having said all that, what's wrong with an album that puts the spotlight
on Jon Lord? Much as I love guitar, the thing that always drew me to Deep
Purple's sound was the organ. An equal player, an ear-splitting catalyst
to Ritchie, an exciting soloist and adventurous composer... Jon Lord's
organ sound is what set Deep Purple apart. No one had a sound like that.
No one. I for one like the fact that he got a little bit more of the spotlight
this time around. It does not weaken the album one iota for me.
So there it is. I do not expect this to change the minds of any fans who
already dislike Who Do We Think We Are. Since so much of the commentary
out there is of a negative slant, I felt that another voice should be heard.
I hope it may convince the uninitiated to give it a chance.
My ratings:
Record rating = 10
Overall rating = 12
Best Song: 'Rat Bat Blue'
Purple Rocks!
Year Of Release: 1974
Record rating = 6
Overall rating = 8
Pretty average, this one. The days of finger-flashing are gone by,
and this one might even please everybody's parents...
Best song: BURN
I used to think that after Gillan and Glover left the band, it turned
to generic hardcore metal or something like that and was no better and
no worse than everybody else in the business. Boy, was I ever wrong. I
mean, I was totally right in imagining Purple's Mark III as a somewhat
average band; but by no means is this heavy metal. Actually, there's not
even a single truly heavy riff on Burn - and I mean it. The addition
of Dave Coverdale as lead singer and Glenn Hughes as the bassist led to
very significant changes in the band's sound, unfortunately, not exactly
good ones. What I liked about the band in the first place were speed, rashness,
improvisation, and unabashedness, plus a cool Gillan shriek sending shivers
down your back from time to time. Dave Coverdale? Pleeeease! He hasn't
got a bad voice, sure enough, but who can equal Ian Gillan, one of the
best rock singers, in his prime? This wrinkled little dude who sounds like
a cross between Adrian Belew and Stevie Winwood? Don't make me laugh! And,
okay, it would be one thing if I just had to complain about his voice;
after all, it just takes a little time to get used to it, because we can't
live on comparisons like that all our life. Unfortunately, I have to complain
about the musical direction they have chosen here. These tunes are not
metal at all! I know, I know, it's kinda weird to hear me complaining about
an album that it isn't a metal one, but you gotta understand me, Deep Purple
kind of metal was the good kind of metal, the non-vulgarized, un-profanated
kind of metal. And it was speedy, funny and totally ass-kicking. These
songs aren't metal: they're blues, they're R'n'B, they're even funk,
but not metal. Hell, few of them are even hard rock. And they're so DARN
SLOW - even the faster ones sound so loose and comatose instead of compact
and energetic! If you're in for another Machine Head, insomnia cure
guaranteed.
The title track is a classic, of course - no question about that. It's
the fastest and the most energetic one on here, with loads of drive, a
quasi-apocalyptic message (so it has a point), and a rich solo from Blackmore,
not to mention the classic riff which is alone guaranteed to settle the
number in among with all the other Purple classics. But the fun abruptly
ends right there, once and for all. The other songs are all pretty pedestrian.
I don't know why. Maybe it's because they dared to break the tradition
and put on eight, not seven, of them. Maybe Ritchie just didn't get along
well with Coverdale (it's a known fact that Coverdale was one of the reasons
of his departure a year later). But whatever it is, most of this stuff
sounds like a slightly more energized Free: the guitar is still prominent,
but it's completely colourless. No breathtaking riffage or intoxicating
solos for you, just 'wank', as Mark Prindle would say. I'd say that two
of these tunes are okay, but not more. I sorta enjoy 'Sail Away', because
its naggin', bouncy rhythm manages to enthrall me with its repetitiveness,
and it's rather hard to keep yourself from bobbing your head to the steady
pace of the tune; and 'Mistreated', although horrendously overlong, is
still a better blues jam than the above-mentioned Free could ever master.
Even if Blackmore sounds completely uninterested, he still sounds good
- professionalism is always professionalism, after all, isn't it? Anyway,
'Mistreated' could have been a real gem with the addition of Gillan on
vocals... but Coverdale does a good enough job, and the number predictably
became one of the new band's stage favourites.
The other songs just make my jaw drop down, lower and lower and lower.
I mean, 'Might Just Take Your Life'? Gee, I could easily write a song that
has a better melody - mainly because it has none, it's just a dull, overpumped
rhythm. Same goes for 'Lay Down Stay Down', a song that's supposed to be
fast, but instead is simply dumb, marred by an endless Coverdale screamfest
that overshadows even the faintest outbursts of melody. Worst offender,
however, is 'You Fool No One', with its funky rhythm and a vibe that somehow
predicts Eighties' King Crimson: didn't Adrian Belew rip off the melody
for 'Waiting Man'? Only 'Waiting Man' was cool and moody, while this song
just sounds dumb. And what's the deal with that crappy instrumental that
closes the album? Yeah, yeah, it's got a good Blackmore solo and all, but
essentially, I think it's only point is to satisfy one more burst of Jon
Lord's self-indulgence, because mostly, it's all about synthesizers and
how you really do not need to use them...
A fairly weak effort, if you axe me. Even the lyrics have somewhat gone
off the deep end. They don't sound silly, and anyway, these guys never
equaled Bob Dylan with their lyrical stunts, but except for the title track,
with that cool line about 'still I hear - BUUURN!!', the lyrics here are
all pretty crappy, mostly straightforward sexist songs or simply ditties
about failed love and all that stuff. No 'Child Of Time'-style philosophy
here, for sure. 'Sail away tomorrow, sailin' far away, to find it steal
or borrow, I'll be there someday'. Blah blah blah. If you're able to find
a compilation that has 'Burn' and this 'chunka-chunka-chunka' stupid 'Sail
Away', well that's the only two songs you really need off this album. Aw
shucks, just find 'Burn'. Otherwise, get this only if you're a big Bad
Company fan.
Mistreated by you - why haven't you still mailed your ideas?
Your worthy comments:
Tikhonov Konstantin <heavy-horses@mtu-net.ru> (02.04.2000)
Injection of new blood made some changes. Some of 'em was good, some wasn't. First, Dave Coverdale had a very strong voice, but his vocal's technique was totally pathetic, so he looked like a loose cannon. Second, Glenn Hughes had a nice voice too, but his funky preferences spoiled Purple's studio works and his idiotic moos ruined their concerts. This album is strong enough, we have some sparks of inspiration here (title song, "Sail Away", "Mistreated"), but we have some sings of further falling-down too ("Lay Down, Stay Down", "What's Goin' On Here"). Ritchie's guitar rules, his blues direction moved Purple's music back to the diverse world of R&B, and Lord's closing instrumental ("A-200") is nice and pleasant. Lyrics isn't quite bad, but not quite good either. Anyway, this album is better than almost all their later studio efforts. Rating is 8, best song is fantastic "Burn" (one of my all-time Purple's favourite songs).
Ed Metternich <eddiemensch@hotbot.com> (06.07.2000)
Hi George
You're an idiot. Why? Well, I red a lot of your comments on the several
Purple albums and after reading your silly review on Burn, I just
had to laugh. Of course Gillan is a great singer, but so is Coverdale and
aren't we forgetting Glen Hughes who has far more technique then Gillan
will ever have. Don't get me wrong, I prefer Gillan to, but the other ones
are doing a damn fine job as well, and then saying the album is slow. Are
you deaf. Songs like 'You fool no one' or 'Lay Down Stay Down' are much
faster than most Purple songs. And speed....is that neccesary to make a
great song? And where is it said that Purple is a metal band. Please, this
is insulting, Purple is a great HARD ROCK band, like Led Zeppelin(and I
noticed some stupid remarks about them as well, you make it sound like
there can only be one band; I like both, sometimes I like Purple better
and other times I prefer Zep). Ofcourse Purple became a metal act in the
horrible eigties and nineties, but to be honnest, it would have been better
that they just called it quits in the seventies. Same goes for Sabbath,
Lizzy, the Stones, the Who, Queen and Zeppelin and all the other greats
from the sixties and seventies, they all sucked big time after 1979....Okay,
enough complains, afterall, you're a fellow Purple fan!
<RichardMelchior@aol.com> (28.09.2000)
I guess this is one of those strange anamolies of life that this - rather than Machine Head or In Rock - is my all-time favorite Deep Purple album. I'm not quite sure why everyone seems to think it's not a "heavy" album (Stormbringer certainly fits that description, but not Burn) because to my metallically-knowledgable ears this is probably their heaviest piece of vinyl since In Rock. 'Burn' (the song) is a NWOBHM song recorded about five or six years ahead of schedule. 'Might Just Take Your Life' is DP at its meanest and 'Mistreated' is their most intense song since 'Child In Time'. 'Lay Down, Stay Down' may be goofy cock rock, but it's GOOD goofy cock rock (we're talking Deep Purple, after all, not Warrant). Blackmore shreds with impunity throughout the record, and that's fine in my books. I'll take Burn over the tinny, tiny production of Machine Head any day.
Year Of Release: 1996
Record rating = 6
Overall rating = 8
Gee, how many archive releases these guys really need?
Best song: MISTREATED
An okay live recording. I'd say that the very fact of this concert and
the legendary 'settings' far overshadow its actual musical value. I mean
- hey, it's the famous 'California Jam', people! The 'California Jam',
one of the Seventies' biggest rock venues, that took place in Ontario Speedway
on April 6, 1974. If I'm not mistaken, this is where ELP's 'older' parts
from Then & Now come on, too, and there were probably lots of
other classic acts there which I really don't know nuthin' about (well,
I do know some things about Black Sabbath, and I even know some
things about Earth, Wind & Fire, but Seals & Crofts? Who remembers
these guys?). Strange, but true: Purple were the headliners, so
apparently the world was still hot for Blackmore and hadn't yet developed
an allergy on Coverdale, which, frankly speaking, it would be hard not
to develop after this show. Not only that, they bugged the audiences by
not coming out until after dusk, and then there's that story about Blackmore
punching cameramen and explosions ripping the stage to shreds... but anyway,
that's all just legend, and it does not translate well onto disc. Which,
by the way, comes with several album covers and several names: mine is
California Jamming, but it's also known as Live At The California
Jam and under other names.
I won't really go into the largest of details here; if you want to know
what Deep Purple Mark III really sounded like live, please proceed further
down to my Made In Europe review. The setlist is practically identic,
except that here you'll also find 'Smoke On The Water' and 'Space Truckin'.
I'll just make a pre-warning that you'd better skip these two tracks, as
it's painfully clear Coverdale and Hughes were only willing to tolerate
them to please the fans. I'll admit that it's kinda polite that Coverdale
sings 'they all came down to Montreux...', because he himself wasn't
there, but later on he gets all worked up and on repeating the first verse
sings 'we all came down...' again. And that ending? The one where
he instigates a screamfest? Abysmal, simply abysmal; 'Smoke On The Water'
could only survive because of its being a restricted and compact tune,
and trying to re-work it into something more pompous and 'soulful' only
made a complete idiot out of Coverdale. These songs really needed Gillan
to make them come to life - and these assholes cram down the lyrics as
if the feeling were just 'make it quick and get over with that, and if
you can't make it quick, make it as if it were recorded for Burn'.
I mean, if any decisive anti-Coverdale argument should be made, it would
be his trying to sing 'Smoke On The Water'; this is where the obnoxiousness
really stands out.
And the final jam at the end of 'Space Truckin' is rotten, nowhere near
as good as on Made In Japan: sometimes the band seems to get it
on, sometimes they just fall totally apart and just make a lot of Tylenol
demanding noise (particularly Lord - where in the world did he uncover
these hideous synth tones? Even Emerson never caused me so much pain).
They quiet down and pick it up so many times it makes me all fidgety, and
worse, they don't vary the tone much, mostly sticking with the same rondo-type
rhythms every time the tune picks up steam again. Maybe Blackmore was way
too busy venting "his fury on his guitars, the stage, the amps and
finally the on stage television cameras"? Unfortunately, I can't exactly
distinguish the sound of an onstage television camera lumped over by an
electric guitar, so I can't even let my imagination participate in all
the fun. (Likewise, it's very hard to guess what's going on at Hendrix's
Monterey performance without the video - you just hear a bunch of undiscernible
noise, when in reality it was Jimi setting his guitar on fire and splattering
it all over the stage). Result? Twenty minutes of mostly pointless noodling,
preceded by five minutes of equally pointless and even downright offensive
singing (David can't even sing on key when he's shouting the 'come on,
come on, let's go space truckin' lines - somebody call in Ian as guest
vocalist!); stick with the superior Japan version.
To make things even worse, the sound quality is crappy, at least, as compared
to the 'older' live releases: when 'Burn' comes on at the beginning, I
can hardly hear Ritchie's guitar at all. Of course, sound quality was always
a big problem with the Purple gang, but I swear 'Burn' is completely butchered
by awful production, and in general, Ritchie's guitar sounds good only
when it's decibels louder than everything else or just wailing away on
a solo note with the rhythm section taking a break. Oh, wait, my mistake
when I said the sets are identic: there's also 'Might Just Take Your Life'
on here. One could also give the cause of the 'You Fool No One' jam and
say that the opening is borrowed from 'Lazy', which also sets it apart
from Made In Europe. Most of the material is from Burn, as
you might have guessed.
Perhaps this will make a good buy for collectors (more work for you, guys),
but average Deep Purple fans need not bother. If you really need
a live Purple album with Coverdale, Made In Europe is your essential
bet. This is just an archive document - not the very worst imaginable,
but pretty weak. Although, just to perk up spirits, let us mention that
the guitarwork in the solo section of 'Mistreated' is truly excellent,
perhaps even better than anywhere else.
Might just take your life if you don't mail your ideas
Your worthy comments:
Tikhonov Konstantin <heavy-horses@mtu-net.ru> (02.04.2000)
Their famous show in Los Angeles (April 1974). I heard European issue
of this CD, but I didn't found Japanese CD yet, so I will write my ideas
later. Now I make one remark: there are only two official audio versions
of this concert (it was also filmed), California Jamming 1974 in
Europe and Live At California Jam in USA. All other editions are
bootlegs.
PS. The concert itself is very good.
Year Of Release: 1974
Record rating = 6
Overall rating = 8
Deep Purple moving further and further away into the direction of
soulish balladeering with a bit of distortion thrown in for good measure.
Best song: STORMBRINGER
Burn Vol. 2, but even less appealing to fans of Mark II. It is
obvious that Coverdale and Hughes were battling for the domination of the
group with Blackmore - and this album finds Ritchie being alienated further
and further from the heart of the band. Even if only two of the tunes are
uncredited to him (most of the others are signed Blackmore/Coverdale),
I doubt if he was really interested to making head or tails of this record.
Sure, there's plenty of guitar here, but it doesn't rock at all - just
keeps playing the same tired, needless melodies over and over. The title
track is again a classic - like 'Burn', it's a fast, metallic rocker based
around a good, finger-flashing riff that hearkens back to the good old
days of In Rock; however, it also betrays signs of funk which would
otherwise entirely dominate this record. At least it's fast and it's powerful
- really powerful.
But out of the other eight songs, none would rank as prime stuff. Mostly,
they're all written in order to suit the Coverdale/Hughes vocal team -
that is, none are guitar-oriented, but most are singing-oriented. Which
boils down to the problem of your enjoying Coverdale's voice or not. Me,
I don't. I mean, he's got a good voice - but so do a hundred thousand funk
performers. And at times it can get very annoying, not to mention fake:
see the album closer, the dreadful ballad 'Soldier Of Fortune', to witness
how pathetic and whiny Dave can really sound. Oh, and don't try to tell
me that he's 'laying bare his soul' or something: he was nothing but a
middle-class jerk, perfectly happy to find such a good job in such a 'classic'
band. He ruined their sound, and he's the only person responsible for that.
Guess he'll always be a soldier of fortune, no doubt about that. See, there's
just too much of a difference between this "soulful" track and
the rest of the album - it doesn't fit in at all, and so sounds artificial
and unnatural almost par excellence.
Oh well, at least, when he's able to find himself a fast groove, he's damn
good at it - 'Lady Double Dealer' is probably the second best song on the
album. Maybe it's because it's basically a sped up version of 'Stormbringer',
with a somewhat less interesting guitar melody. But it's fast and screechy
and arse-kicking and full of potential, whatever that might actually mean
in the actual case. Unfortunately, these two are the only really fast songs
on the record. Most of the time, it just drags: 'funky rockers' like 'You
Can't Do It Right' or 'High Ball Shooter' should better be left to acts
like Sly And The Family Stone. Not only is this stuff blatantly commercial,
it simply tramples the band's reputation into the dust. These songs might
have been good to headbang to if played live at an arena show, but in the
studio Deep Purple were about as good a funk band as the Beatles. Needless
to say, not a single whiny trace of them remains in your memory after the
fun's essentially over, so why order the special in the first place?
Of course, if you do not wish to regard Mark III in comparison with
Mark IV, preferring to think of it as an entirely different band, the crisis
is not so obvious: after all, one cannot accuse the band of being unprofessional.
In fact, once I got through a few preliminatory listens, I found out that
it is possible to enjoy a couple slower songs, like the Glenn Hughes solo
spot 'Holy Man', which is a rather pleasant ballad, for some reason reminding
me of George Harrison. Maybe it's because it has a superb slide guitar
part, a thing not too common for Mr Blackmore but which he nevertheless
pulls off with enough subtle grandness and dexterity? Or maybe because
of the "non-raunchy" falsetto from one of the two singers? Hmm.
No, no, forget that, I know, it reminds me of the Grateful Dead... eeh...
better drop this comparison business. Oh, by the way, Hughes' vocals are
nowhere near as grating and annoying as Coverdale's, so perhaps one might
forgive him for constantly fighting for the microphone with Dave. And I
guess 'The Gypsy' is okay, too. But truthfully, the rest is so formulaic,
that, unless you're a big funk fan, you'll want to bypass this by all means.
'Hold On' strolls on without any melody at all - underpinned by a grand
total of two or three bass chords, 'High Ball Shooter' strolls on likewise,
underpinned by a grand total of two or three synth notes and a jerky riff
that sounds as a profanized copy of the introductory riff to Sabbath's
'Supernaut', and... all right, I have enough insults in my backpack to
fit all the dreck on this album, but why is this necessary when I already
told you the main point? Dave Coverdale, you're dead meat! Get out of my
way! Maybe Ian Gillan could have saved a couple of these songs, if he were
around (then again, maybe not - he'd washed down a large part of the band's
reputation too, with Who Do We Think...)
Anyway, Blackmore left after this album - and I don't blame him a single
second. If I were in his place, I'd kick Dave's balls, too, and make sure
it would be one DAMN FINE KICK!
Hold on! Mail your ideas!
Your worthy comments:
Tikhonov Konstantin <heavy-horses@mtu-net.ru> (02.04.2000)
Dave and Glenn ruined the colossus. When Coverdale and others began
to reject some of Ritchie's ideas, Blackmore silently went out to make
his solo record, and from this moment he didn't care about band's new album,
he just laid some solos over recorded tracks, played on European tour in
April 1975 and then slammed the door. There are only four good songs here
(title song, "Lady Double Dealer", "The Gypsy" and
"Soldier Of Fortune"), the rest is (as George elegantly expressed
himself in our private discussion) prime shit. While "Burn" was
ruled by Ritchie's guitar, this album rules by Dave's burdening voice.
"Hold On" is pure classic Coverdale, dull and monotonous. My
friend said about Dave's band, Whitesnake: if you heard one song, you heard
the entire album, if you heard the entire album, you heard 'em all. He's
bloody well right! So fuck Dave and fuck his pathetic music! My rating
is 4. Best song is "Stormbringer".
PS. Extremely rare thing: I completely agrees with George's review! My
only objection is "Soldier Of Fortune", Ritchie's acoustic guitar
work here is beautiful.
PSS. This album have a best sleeve in Purple's history. What an irony!
Jeffrey A Morton <whitesnake5@juno.com> (11.05.2000)
Stormbringer may not me fantastic, but the endless Coverdale bashing is kind of nonsensical. Considering the fact that it was not Coverdale, but Glenn Hughes that was bringing the band into funk, and considering the fact that the BIG split in the band was Coverdale and Blackmore as allies ( against Hughes' funk tinged material ) makes these comments even less understandable. Blackmore was a domaneiring fuck, who managed to drive 4 people out of the band in a matter of four years by his tempermental behavior and somewhat lax attitude on NEW ideas. Come on George, new ideas is what makes good bands great, and the refusal to accept new ideas and make them exiting is what has killed the bands popularity in America. They were associated with a passe' kind of music, because when change beared it's head Purple imploded.
<RichardMelchior@aol.com> (28.09.2000)
Taken on its own terms (ie. as long as you forget it's a Deep Purple
record) Stormbringer is not a half-bad album. It's also not a half-good
album - at its best it sounds like Bad Company (who I like) and at its
worst like the Doobie Brothers (who I most certainly do not), and occasionally
tries to sound like Deep Purple.
I really like 'Stormbringer' (the song), 'Lady Double Dealer' and 'Holy
Man'. A lot of people make it sound like Blackmore more or less phoned
in his Stormbringer performances - if anything, he's the star of
the show because he showcased his versatility. He may not have liked the
direction DP was taking, but at least he was always careful to play for
the song. Your stereotypical '80s-style guitar virtuoso, meanwhile, would
have just shredded all over the funky and rootsy stuff. I just wish this
album wasn't so closely associated with Burn, which is a far superior
record.
Year Of Release: 1976
Record rating = 7
Overall rating = 9
Turns out that the guys were still strong in concert; but how much
can you do with such weak material? (And with such a lameass singer?)
Best song: BURN
Again, this live release is kinda muddled up. It was originally a single
LP, consisting entirely of material from Burn and Stormbringer;
however, in the recent past the stuff was remastered and released under
the name Mark III Final Concerts (or sumpthin' like that - haven't
checked the site for a long time), and the contents were upgraded to a
2-CD package, with the inclusion of several lengthy jams that included
older material, too: a 'normal' twenty-minute version of 'Space Truckin'
among them, plus 'Smoke On The Water' and 'Highway Star'. The Russian release,
then, is some kind of weird hybrid: a 1-CD package that adds 'Smoke On
The Water' and 'Highway Star', but, for evident timing reasons, not 'Space
Truckin'. My review will suffer accordingly.
As far as I know, most of the songs were taken from Mark III's final tour,
sometime in April 1975; and, judging exclusively by the way they sound,
they were still able to cut the mustard in a way that almost nobody else
could. Even the songs that sounded completely unremarkable, even dreadful,
on the studio releases, take on a new energy and power in concert, mostly
courtesy of Blackmore. He might have been subdued in the studio, but taken
live he still shines: blistering, fiery solos and crushing riffs abound,
and I'd even say that his finger-flashing abilities have vastly improved
since Made In Japan: the lightning solo on 'Highway Star', for instance,
comes off as if he could play it in his sleep without any efforts. Many
of the songs are extended, and it works: sometimes the jams and the guitar/organ
interplay are much more fun to enjoy than the actual melodies.
One thing mars the pleasure horrendously, and yeah, I think you guessed
that it's Coverdale. The jerk. His idiotic blabber and requests for audience
participation are not just annoying, they piss me off horrendously, as
if I'm being treated like an idiot. He does everything to draw attention
to himself (I wonder why Blackmore never knocked him off the stage. I understand
completely how much he must have hated this guy). The worst blow,
however, is with the classics - he hadn't even had the patience to study
the lyrics! He repeats the first verse of 'Smoke On The Water' twice (double
jerk), and he messes up the lyrics on 'Highway Star' completely, not to
mention that he substitutes the line 'she's got a moving mouth' for 'she's
got big fat tits' (triple jerk). Somebody shut old Dave down, please. And
to think that he really has a great voice! He just doesn't know how to
use it on songs that weren't originally written for his vocal chords -
when he does, as in the blistering vocal rendition on 'Mistreated', it's
a marvel. More often, though, he just shows off and does nothing at all.
So maybe it's not a bad point that they haven't included any other
older material on the original release - it would only get true fans pissed
off. Actually, the older stuff sounds worse than the new one in
general. 'Smoke On The Water' gets vulgarly distorted, sped up and messed
up; and 'Highway Star' is a complete disaster, as it turns out into a sloppy
jam that threatens to fall apart and crumble into dust every few seconds;
Blackmore simply goes berserk with his guitar and plays whatever he wants
to play, while Paice sounds stoned (the drums fall in and fall out in a
completely unpredictable manner).
So, if you want entertainment, stick to the new material, which is, of
course, inferior to the classics, but sounds way more organic and acceptable
than the classics that are mrecilessly butchered. After all, Purple always
shone far brighter when they played live, and so even some of the lifeless
new studio material comes to life on stage - although, to be fair, they
mostly pick out the cream of their new brand of music. Like I said, the
version of 'Mistreated' presented here is terrific - Blackmore plays his
heart out, and Dave sings up a storm, possibly the only time in his career
when I can really compliment him. I could do without the short excursion
into 'Rock Me Baby' near the end, but it's nothing but a minor complaint.
'Lady Double Dealer' and 'Stormbringer' both rock more or less the same
way as on the original release, and 'Gypsy' sucks as much as always; but
'Burn' is the definite version, the one you should place on compilations.
Good mix, too: while on California Jamming I couldn't really tell
Blackmore's guitar from Hughes' bass from time to time, here all the rhythm
and solo work is clear and distinctive. And, for a little bit of inoffensive
humour, check out the intro to 'You Fool No One' where Lord interpolates
some lines from 'Havah Negeilah' on his organ.
In case you haven't understood, though, I repeat that the only people to
whom this album will be of any interest are diehard Blackmore fans. I'm
not one, but I really appreciate the dude's talent, and I have no problems
with tolerating a couple of fifteen minute guitar jams now and then if
they're professional and powerful enough (although I can hardly stand Paice's
obligatory solo spot on 'You Fool No One'). However, there is really no
need to bother finding the complete versions. Coverdale is not Ronnie James
Dio and he isn't fit to treat the classic compositions of his predecessor
with enough reverence. Stick to the original please - if you can find it.
You fool no one! You still haven't mailed your ideas!
Your worthy comments:
Tikhonov Konstantin <heavy-horses@mtu-net.ru> (02.04.2000)
I almost agrees with your review, George, but while you reviewed some
Mark III The Final Concerts tracks, I reviews Made In Europe
only (I heard Mark III The Final Concerts already, but I didn't
found Japanese CD yet, so I will write comments for Mark III The Final
Concerts later). "Burn" is good, Ritchie's solo is pure gold
(even when he will be bald old man with trembling hands, Ritchie wipes
any other guitarist from the stage!), but when Blackmore putted his soul
into "Mistreated", Coverdale's terrible singing ruined Purple's
stage magic at all. Jesus, I simply can't survive his vile hoarse. Oh Ronnie
James Dio, where are you?! Rainbow's version of "Mistreated"
is stronger than Purple's as well as CD-player sounds superior than Edison's
phonograph. And even if Coverdale could use his voice right, he couldn't
sing "Mistreated". He was full of tearful pity: oh no, my lady's
gone and now I'm committing suicide... Somebody shoot this idiot!!! Ritchie
wrote and Ronnie James sung this song in completely different mood: yes,
she's gone, but I will find her, she will be mine, and even if devil himself
will stand between us, I will gnaw his throat through with my own teeth...
"Lady Double Dealer" is a big disappointment, when Glenn tries
to shout down Dave, you suddenly finds the banality of lyrics. But "You
Fool No One" is a real masterpiece, it begins with Jon's improvisation
onto "Hava Nagila", the song itself sounds much stronger than
in studio, and after it we hears brilliant solo from Ritchie (his famous
"Blues") and furious drumming from Paice. Excellent "Strombringer"
closes Made In Europe version, so in the bottom line my rating is
8, best song is "You Fool No One".
PS. Note that Made In Europe and Mark III The Final Concerts
(Archives Alive in USA) are two completely different releases. They
was recorded in April 1975 and consists of three last concerts with Blackmore
both, but their recordings are not the same, Mark III The Final Concerts
consists of unreleased tracks left after the release of Made In Europe.
While Made In Europe contains the material of Deep Purple Mark III
only, Mark III The Final Concerts contains the entire concert (with
two alternative versions) in the right set-list order.
Year Of Release: 1975
Record rating = 5
Overall rating = 7
Ehn, this is like, heavy funk, man. Proceed at your own risk.
Best song: come on, how kin I pick da best when it's all only ONE???
Well now, this certainly sounds nothing like the Purple of old!
Although, it rarely sounds horrible, but it's just... not Purple.
This is the only studio album of Deep Purple Mark Four, with Ritchie gone
and replaced by jazz rock star Tommy Bolin. Now, frankly, I was afraid
- simply because I got into the band in the first place because of Blackmore
and Gillan and no-one else. I always respected and still respect Jon Lord,
but, well, he's just a good organ player with inadequate ambitions, that's
all. However, Come Taste The Band is certainly unpredictable in
that respect. I thought it would be dominated by the keyboards. Strange
enough, it isn't; apart from a couple annoying synth solos (cf. 'Love Child'),
Lord's instruments are very much kept in the background. On the other hand,
young star Tommy almost jumps out of his skin to make a good impression
and convince the world that Blackmore's departure does not equal
the band's death. Thus, heavy, crunchy riffs, demonic solos and loads of
distortion dominate the album - they set the controls back to 'heavy' again.
Sure, Tommy is no Ritchie: however good he is, he's no 'speed technician',
and he rarely stuns you in the way that only Blackmore can. But he's quite
an impressive guitarist nevertheless, and certainly not worse than, say,
Tony Iommi. So I simply can't complain about the guitar sound on this album.
Yeah, I'd like to complain, but I'm not biased! You see, I don't
take the critics' word, right? I know that Tommy Bolin was a miserable,
heroin-addled junkie who couldn't even play his instrument on stage during
the CTTB tour because he'd damaged his left arm after an overdose.
And he died in a short time, anyway. But first, let us not speak badly
of the dead, and second, lots of great guitarists were junkies. All
great guitarists were junkies, in fact! Okay, not all. Maybe not all. Frank
Zappa wasn't a junkie. But Clapton was, and Keith Richards, and Hendrix,
and Townshend... you know the score. Poor Tommy Bolin, anyway.
But I digress again, filling the empty spaces. Truth is, I really don't
know what to say about this album. Yeah, there's a lot of guitar. And believe
it or not, Dave Coverdale does a superb singing job on many of the songs
- had he finally cleared his throat? Still not up to Ian's standard, but
definitely more hot and pulsating and grizzly than on Burn. But
here my compliments end again. You see, ninety percent of these songs are
funk. Pure funk, just a bit heavier than it's supposed to be. And
none of the songs are truly distinguishable from each other! It just seems
like one long, endless groove that never stops. Only one time they interrupt
it with a weepy, keyboard-dominated ballad ('This Time Around') that sounds
like bad Stevie Wonder or worse Paul McCartney in his Eighties period,
with the usual raunchy roar suddenly replaced by a sleazy, stupid tone
which makes the song sound even more like a parody.
So there's really no getting away from the funk: 'Lady Luck', 'Dealer',
'Drifter', 'Love Child', all of them seem to be ripped from some obscure
Motown tunes. The melodies are probably existent, but I wouldn't know about
it - every time the record says 'stopped playing' I go like 'now what did
these tunes all sound like?' Perhaps the tune that opens the album, the
frantic rocker 'Comin' Home', is a bit more memorable than the others -
but only a teensy-weensy bit, because it's faster. Apparently, they didn't
want to break the 'Speed King' tradition, and started the album with a
speedy riff, boogie-woogie piano chords, ecstatic guitar solos and violent
vocals. But the riff is blurted, the solos sound too close to Blackmore
to be believed (yeah, Tommy does try aping him here, but he hardly succeeds),
the boogie-woogie piano doesn't help much as I can't hear it well even
in headphones, and the vocals are so generic that they're in no way entertaining.
And certainly, the main problem is that there are no trademark riffs -
the ones on 'You Keep On Moving' and 'Drifter' may probably come close
to good, but in that case I would have remembered them. I didn't. So sue
me. 'You Keep On Moving' is often considered a minor classic for completely
unknown reasons - it's as 'zero-tone' a song as could be, with zero percent
energy, zero percent innovation and zero percent entertainment value. Dang
slow, too.
Frankly speaking, I don't think the band could have carried on even if
Tommy didn't stick that stupid needle in the wrong place. It's clear that
they are spent here. The album cover is cool, though. Arguably the most
interesting they ever made, at least, up to that point. Oh, at least the
second most interesting after In Rock. But the songwriting is clearly
in the toilet, with that bastard of a bastard (Coverdale) doing his best
to make the band turn away from what it did best to what it did, well,
just as well as millions of other bands. They had no choice but to disband
after that.
P.S. I actually forgot to say - if you're a big fan of generic funk, you'll
probably dig the hell out of this record. I hardly tolerate funk at all,
unless it's spiced up really really hard, and since this is the funkiest
Purple record ever, well, the reaction is obvious. Hey, whadda I know?
'Lady Luck' might be one of the greatest songs ever written - if not taken
in perspective, of course.
This time around, I need your ideas badly
Your worthy comments:
Jim <Bolinhed@aol.com> (06.10.99)
Your review of CTTB does the inevitable: it assesses the album mainly as a comparison to DP Mark II. To really "get it" I think you need to re-listen to it with fresh ears; as its own beast. Songs like "Owed To G" and "You Keep On Moving" deserve it at the very least. The singing on "This Time Around" sounds stragne because it is Glenn Hughes, not Coverdale, singing. I got into this album late in the game, and as a Bolin fan more than a Purp fan. It took quite some time to catch a few things: one thing is that it has some of Ian Paice's best drumming ever, hands down. The second thing is that as a groove album, like any groove album, it needs some listening to distinguish what become VERY evident differences and details in all the songs. Bolin's opinion, post-DP? He felt that they shouldve re-named the band rather than have to deal with assessments that would inevitably be made from an "I am expecting the classic Purple sound" direction. He was right. As you correctly stated, this was not his or Purple's finest moment. I advise you to check out Bolin's TEASER or better yet one of the fifteen (15!!!!) CDs of previously unreleased stuff that the Bolin Archives have released in the past 6 years!! Nice work overall, this page has been giving me loads of enjoyment.
Tikhonov Konstantin <heavy-horses@mtu-net.ru> (02.04.2000)
Very strange, but I'm still agreeing with George. He's completely right,
this dull effort could be named as anything but not Deep Purple. Blackmore
left, and without his signature guitar Purple turned into the ordinary
funky band. Just one objection (as always): "You Keep On Moving"
is masterpiece. But even this song didn't save all that garbage. My rating
is 3.
PS. In a matter of fact, this album isn't quite bad, but Ritchie Blackmore's
Rainbow's debut wiped this pseudo-Purple without any difficulties.
Jeffrey A Morton <whitesnake5@juno.com> (14.05.2000)
Again, George you go on comparing Coverdale to Gillan, and wrongly blame
Coverdale for the funk element in the band. First of all, it's Hughes that
sings "This Time Around", and second of all, if you listen to
some concert recordings from this peroiod, David Coverdale's voice is at
it's worst. Cracking and breaking, it signaled what every singer goes through
called "Vocal Change." His voice was maturing, but it had to
go through some sort of second puberty to get to it's "peak"
which was in early Whitesnake.
I can't say this enough, it was HUGHES who drug the band into the depths
of funk. 'Commin' Home' is a great song, and it sounds NOTHING like a Blackmore
tune. This is the point where the band completely split into two camps,
Lord, Paice and Coverdale were in the Blues and Rock camp, Hughes and Bolin
in the drugged out funk camp....
Year Of Release: 1977
Record rating = 5
Overall rating = 7
It was probably Jon Lord's idea to release the album, as it mostly
showcases HIM.
Best song: BURN
Yet another live recording, this time from the final concerts
of Deep Purple Mark IV. Unfortunately, just as the guys planned to put
up some recording equipment onstage, Tommy Bolin got that infamous needle
in his left arm, and this seriously influenced his playing abilities.
After all, great player or not, it's kinda difficult to play a guitar with
just one right hand, right? Tommy still tries, though, and must be given
credit for that: the riff of 'Smoke On The Water' is left intact, and sometimes
he even tries to craft a solo, but that's mostly laughable. When he gets
his solo spot on 'Highway Star', I only pity him - this sounds like a ragged
parody on what Blackmore (and possibly Tommy himself, were he in good form)
could really do with that instrument: disjointed, feeble chords with no
power at all. I can't take it as anything other but an absolute insult
- after all, Tommy was a talented guitarist, and out of all possible gigs
the band had to go ahead and release this one? The only similar
case of disrespect towards band members I can recall is the infamous Who's
Last that cathes Daltrey with a severe case of laryngitis or something.
So either Last Concert In Japan was a secret "fuck-you"
to Tommy from Lord or it was just a record company bastradisation (which
is more probable).
Anyway, intentionally or not, that's where Lord really steps in and tries
to save the situation. As you turn on the record, you realize there's something
wrong: yeah, it opens with 'Burn' all right, but the main riff is played
on the organ - no guitar in sight, except for some background noises. Huh?
Exigent fans would probably tear the band to pieces, but I guess Deep Purple
were so reverenced in Japan that they could even tolerate a totally disfunctional
Bolin, as long as the kick-ass energy was still there. Truth is, there
ain't that much kick-ass energy either, not on the final record, at least.
Mostly, it's just the usual stuff: once again, Coverdale goes massacring
'Smoke On The Water' (where he STILL can't force himself to learn the third
verse!) and 'Highway Star' ("she got big fat muffins"? ehhh...
what?), and the rest of the material draws heavily off Come Taste The
Band. Much too heavily, in fact: I don't really buy Purple records
to hear average dreck like 'Love Child' or 'You Keep On Moving', which
this album has in spades; at least, we must be grateful it's not a double
LP.
'Highlights' on here include the following: a good enough version of 'Burn',
where Lord really saves the situation from total disaster; 'Lady Luck',
which somehow turns out to be slightly superior to other Mark IV compositions,
possibly because it's one of the rare cases where a song perfectly matches
Coverdale's voice; a few verses from 'Soldier Of Fortune', here presented
as a (rather unexpected) coda to 'Smoke On The Water'; and a totally instrumental
version of 'Woman From Tokyo', again with Lord's organ being the only important
instrument throughout (Tommy had admittedly passed out totally by the time).
Then again, I didn't put the quotation marks for nothing: none of these
'highlights' are spectacular, since all of these songs were really mediocre
according to Purple's highest standards, and uninspired live renditions
don't exactly bring any more life into them. There is, however, a nice
surprise in 'Wild Dogs', a solo Bolin composition where he even gets to
sing, and you know, kinda puts to shame Coverdale and his pompous, but
totally soulless and insincere voice; an interesting and strangely emotional,
if a bit messy, R'n'B tune. In fact, whereas I still regard Coverdale as
a total jerk whose only advantage were solid vocal chords, and every new
recording only consolidates my opinion, Tommy was certainly different.
He was really a good guitarist and looks like a nice kind of guy (some
cool photos are included) - what a shame he had to be such a desperate
junkie.
In fact, my Russian CD edition adds some bonus tracks - taken from their
early 1976 concerts, and you can certainly feel the difference, because
when Bolin finally regains his left hand, you can really see he's an awesome
performer: not right up there with Blackmore, of course, but close, and
at least a worthy disciple. His improvisations and riffage are well worth
your attention, and in certain spots are even lesss predictable than your
usual Blackmore wanking - that's to say, I do not at all feel the necessity
to compare the talents of the two, but am able to enjoy them independently.
So why the record company had to go ahead and release this shitty 'document'
instead of the more deserving stuff is way beyond me and it will probably
always be a great mystery. This is bootleg quality material!
And please - I don't really remember how many times I've already asked
you to slap good old Dave for me - but do it again, will ya? 'We're going
to give you a song from Machine Head... It's about a place called
Montreux, in Switzerland... Frank Zappa and the Mothers...' What kind of
a song introduction is THIS SHIT? (When he can't even bring himself to
learn the lyrics properly!) Or: 'we're gonna give you a song, it's a rock'n'roll
song, it's a rock'n'roll song you all know, it's a song about speed...
(pause for the public to get the hint)... it's a song about thunder...
(pause for the public to get another hint)... it's a song about a killing
machine... (pause for a third hint)... my my my... oh baby... here's a
song for you it's called Highway Star'. If that's supposed to be "crowd-enticing",
I wonder why the Purple-loving crowds didn't bring along the tomatoes.
Oh well, so much for politesse-loving Japanese. Truly and verily the dude
should be hanged head downwards for singing Gillan songs if he didn't have
the least respect towards them. Bring on Mark II!
You keep on moving until you mail your ideas
Your worthy comments:
Tikhonov Konstantin <heavy-horses@mtu-net.ru> (02.04.2000)
Purple's all-time low concert effort. I don't want to discuss this shit at all, I just makes a few corrections. A) Coverdale and Hughes NEVER sung the third verse of "Smoke On The Water". Dave sung the first verse, Glenn sung the second, and together they sung the first verse once again. B) Purple Mark IV played in American tour (early 1976) much more tightly. Their Long Beach gig was released as Deep Purple In Concert in USA by King Biscuit Flower Hour and as Flying On The Wings Of Russian Foxbat (Live In California 1976) in Europe. If you Tommy Bolin's fan, you'll better find this concert. C) George said that 1976 tracks on his CD sounded rather badly. The first release of Deep Purple In Concert by KBFH (in white sleeve) was deleted 'cause its' sound quality was absolutely terrible. The sound quality of the second release (black sleeve) is much more improved, so I think that your CD was copied from the first release, George. D) Don't die of laughing, George! There is extended 2CD release of Japanese concert coming! Yes, I'm thinking the same thing...
Gary Kritcher <MTVTXNetherlands.@mtvne.com> (06.11.2000)
Hi, the reason that the album is dominated by Jon Lord's keyboards was that just prior to the gig (and therefore the recording) Tommy fell asleep on his arm and couldn't get all the feeling back into it by the time he went onstage that night. Consequently, his guitar playing was not exactly 100%! For the album release they had to cover this up somehow, the only way of doing that was to boost Lord's keyboard and wind down Tommy's guitar. And now you know!!
Year Of Release: 1977
Record rating = 9
Overall rating = 11
A magnificent collection of outtakes and live versions. If it were
in print, it'd make a fine companion to 'Made In Japan'!
Best song: CHILD IN TIME
Funny. Seems like, what with the band having broken up after all its
'funky' embarrassments, the world still needed a little Purple around,
and the recording companies threw this out on the market. I doubt if this
archive collection is still around today, but if you ever see it in used
bins or somewhere else, don't hesitate - grab it, steal it and kill for
it! (Disclaimer: that was tongue-in-cheek). It beats every post-1972
'original' Purple album I ever heard, and that's saying something, especially
if you consider that this whole album consists of just six songs, at least
three of which you have heard previously in more 'standard' versions.
Let me tell you all about it now. These are two studio outtakes and four
live cuts, all from the band's glory years (1969-72), and they all smoke.
We begin with a collector's rarity, an outtake from the Who Do We Think
We Are sessions called 'Painted Horse'. It's a bizarre, psychedelic
rocker, with a great Gillan harmonica part and strange falsetto vocals
that we don't often get from our Jesus boy, but they're wonderful, just
like the melody itself. Why the hell did so many insipid hard rock lumbertracks
make their way onto that album and 'Painted Horse' was left behind is way
beyond me.
Next, we are invited to take a look at what happened on September 24th,
1969, right before the live recording of the infamous Concerto For Group
And Orchestra. Well, turns out that the introductory set was much stronger
- who knows, maybe they should have released a double live album
instead? (As a matter of fact, this mistake has been partially corrected
- the new re-release of Concerto includes a part of that set as
bonus tracks). They start the set with an energized, tightened and hardened
version of 'Hush': if you put it next to the studio original from Shades,
well, there'll just be no further need to explain the crucial difference
between Purple Mark I and Purple Mark II. Gillan's soaring vocals are so
much better than Evans' that it makes you wonder... aw, well, it doesn't.
Evans was a perfect foil for his epoch, and Gillan for his. Anyway, this
live version is a total hoot. Then, the weakest spot: an eleven-minute
version of 'Wring That Neck', the instrumental from their second album.
Actually, it's not bad, and it's much more energetic and inspired than
the studio original; but certainly not recommended for haters of 'wankfests'.
Even if it's fast and it boogies. Highlights along the way include: a call-and-response
duet between the guitar and the organ; Blackmore's brilliant finger vibrato
near the end; and a few subtle lines from 'Jingle Bells' that Ritchie unexpectedly
pops in before the ending climax. Heh, heh. And it wasn't even Christmas!
But if you had enough patience to endure this to the end... wow. This record
contains maybe the definite version of 'Child In Time', the one
that beats both the studio original and the Japan version. They
were still fresh from rehearsing it (the liner notes tell us that the actual
recording took place several days before the concert), and the playing
is immaculate. For once, Gillan's voice comes loud and strong out of your
speakers, and he screams like a demon - play this loud and feel your eardrums
burst! The wildest, most thrilling, most chilling SHRIEK alongside Roger
Waters in 'Careful With That Axe'! And, as if in competition, Blackmore
comes up with the fastest, most exciting, most breathtaking solo in his
life, the one that'll kick you right out of your seat and smear what's
left of your body around the ceiling. In fact, the effect is so devastating
that even the audience is left stunned after the song is over, and it takes
them at least a couple of seconds of absolute silence toburst into applause.
Classic!
Back to studio again, with a great In Rock outtake ('Cry Free');
why this pulsating, paranoid rocker with a killer riff didn't make it onto
the album is way beyond me - the only explanation is that it was already
chock-full with classic tunes. It also features a rare element in a phased
solo, a thing Blackmore didn't do that often, and sounds top-notch. And
finally, the album closes off with a live version of their hit single 'Black
Night' taken from the same Tokyo concerts that gave birth to Made In
Japan (there are expanded versions of the album that include it, in
fact). Needless to say, it kicks exactly the same amount of butt as every
great track of that great album, and makes a shattering ending to the record.
And... that's it? Unfortunately, yes. Personally, I would want some
more! Oh, well, guess we'll just have to be patient...
Anyway, if you're a fan, this album is a must for you - how you're gonna
get it, I dunno, but you simply must. I don't know how a Deep Purple diehard
can fare without this version of 'Child In Time' or without 'Cry Free'.
Apparently, though, the US market isn't interested. To hell with you, US
market! When I go check the All-Music Guide and see how many great albums
by great bands aren't currently in print, I sometimes wonder what is this
world we're living in... why can I get all this stuff in Russia but couldn't
get it in the US? Deep and answerless question.
Your worthy comments:
Tikhonov Konstantin <heavy-horses@mtu-net.ru> (02.04.2000)
Fantastic live rarities. "Hush", "Wring That Neck", "Child In Time" and "Black Night" are masterpieces. Two studio outtakes didn't catch me, there is nothing spectacular in it. Your review is acceptable, George, but here are a few remarks: a) your (or your CD's) track order is wrong, the right order is "Painted Horse", "Hush", "Wring That Neck", "Child In Time", "Black Night" and "Cry Free", b) live performance of "Child In Time" isn't the definitive, version from Scandinavian Nights is much more extended (around 18 minutes!) and Ian's singing at the second part of the song is his strongest vocalise for ever and ever, c) this CD was re-released in Japan around a two years ago in original cardboard sleeve, so now it stands on my shelf among others and it still available in record stores. My rating is 8, best songs here are "Child In Time" and furious "Black Night".
Year Of Release: 1984
Record rating = 5
Overall rating = 7
Pretty weak, for a comeback: not a catastrophe, but nowhere as invigorating
as you'd like.
Best song: PERFECT STRANGERS
Perhaps the Deep Purple comeback was a little ill-timed. Nineteen eighty-four,
eh? Not the best time for approaching music-making again, not even from
a 'fresh' point of view... But apparently, the ex-members' careers were
so messed up that they thought a reunion would do no harm. Blackmore was
dissatisfied with his work in Rainbow; Gillan just had a 'stunning' experience
of working with Black Sabbath that he never wanted to repeat; and I don't
even know what the hell the others were doing - I'd bet you anything they
were only too happy to re-institutionalize the band.
Ah, yes, what an ironic title... Sounds like it, though: you'd hardly guess
that this music is Deep Purple. More like 'perfect strangers', indeed.
Complaintive fans are used to whining about how this sounds more like Rainbow
than Purple; since I ain't never heard Rainbow yet, I wouldn't know about
that. What I do know is that most of these songs are deadly dull.
They're all mid-tempo (with a couple exceptions). They're all based on
electronically enhanced drums (Paice, get out of the picture). They're
all based on recycled, almost instantly dated, lumbering riffs that any
contemporary heavy metal band could easily reproduce. They're all based
on uninspiring synthesizer patterns. The lyrics suck. Plus, Gillan had
lost his voice. Any other arguments?
One could make a good point, of course, by saying that the guys were intentionally
moving away from their old patented sound - to try something 'new' and
not get marketed on nostalgia accounts alone. Problem is, there's not that
much 'new' about this sound: your typical mid-Eighties slow hard rock (aka
sludge) excellently fit for MTV. I've played it so many times that I lost
count (I guess somewhere along the way I pushed the 'repeat' button), but
there's still about as much energy there as in a completely spent Duracell.
Apparently, they just forgot to recharge.
A couple of songs, nevertheless, approach 'good', though even this 'good'
is nowhere near the old Purple magic. There is the weird title track, for
instance, based on an ominous, Eastern-influenced melody, that sounds not
unlike 'Kashmir' (yeah, buddy). For some strange reason, this Kashmir-type
sound (I suppose it's based on some untrivial guitar/keyboards interplay)
crops up quite often, most evidently on 'Hungry Daze', an upbeat rocker,
but somewhat of a duffer: personally, I feel bad about Ian and his hoarse
tone as he waxes nostalgic about how 'we all came down to Montreux, but
that's another song'.
Elsewhere, though, the sound meanders somewhere in between mid-Eghties
Yes and mid-Eighties Rolling Stones, with the basic rule that says, the
slower you play, the more it sounds like Trevor Rabin, the faster you play,
the more it sounds like Mick Jagger. Both choices are rote: apparently,
this album predicts both Big Generator and Dirty Work. I
mean, doesn't 'Knocking At Your Back Door' sound like the metallized version
of Yes? It sure does! It has some nice memorable vocal "moves",
of course, but the melody is near non-existent - just a steady rhythmic
thump, that's it. And doesn't 'Under The Gun' sound like something taken
directly off the Stones' worst album? Substitute Gillan for Jagger and
you won't feel the difference! What about the lame metal of 'Nobody's Home'?
Why does it remind me so much of 'Hold Back'? And even when we get to the
fastest song ('A Gypsy's Kiss'), what we get is simply a fast metal song
with the drums overshadowing the guitars and the organ making the only
(not very) significant difference. It is probably supposed to make a certain
equivalent of 'Highway Star' for the Eighties - same tempo and same "mood"
in the solos, but it only goes to show how pathetic the heavy rockers used
to sound in the Eighties. And, to top it off, the boys toss in a thoroughly
bland, uninspiring 'epic' ballad ('Wasted Sunsets') that must have served
as a blueprint for all the further career of the Scorpions. And for Aerosmith's
comeback, too. Sorry, have I unintentionally made you shiver and tremble?
I apologize.
Biggest problem on the album is, of course, with Blackmore. He does insert
a couple of his trademark solos now and then, but on second thought, they
aren't all that trademark: I miss the crunch, the power, the distortion,
the Hendrixy overtones and vibratos. And there are no riffs! No good ones,
at least. It almost seems as if Ritchie was there in the studio just to
lay on a couple of overdubs and then went on to mind his own business.
So in return, the sound is carried forward mostly by electronic drums and
corny synths - which reminds one of Asia rather than Deep Purple.
The CD issue of the album includes one bonus track, yet another
mid-tempo tryceratops called 'Not Responsible'. I guess I don't need to
tell you that if you have to choose between CD and vinyl, your only choice
should depend on the price. Better still, don't buy it at all: I know this
might sound blasphemous, but such albums make me feel glad about Bonzo's
untimely decease. Who knows what kind of garbage Led Zep would evolve into
if they were to continue into the Eighties?
Not responsible for your ideas
Your worthy comments:
Nick Karn <glassmoondt@yahoo.com> (15.10.99)
I pretty much agree that the band simply doesn't have half as much power as it used to, but I'd give it a 6 because none of the songs are particularly nasty or dull (except possibly "Wasted Sunsets" and "Under The Gun"), and I love "Knockin' At Your Back Door" (astonishing intro and truly memorable sing-along chorus... maybe a little like 'metallized Yes', but still a great song) and the title track (again, great melody and epic feel, but not totally a "Kashmir" knockoff). The rest of it is very passable, with the lyrics being a particular lowpoint. Can't argue with you that Gillan's voice is shot either, or that the rest of the band plays like they simply don't care most of the time.
Glenn Wiener <Glenn.Wiener@Entex.com> (15.10.99)
I've said this before and I'll say it again. Deep Purple does not comprimise their style for no one. The guys reunited and what did they give us. The same slam bam thank you maam style that they had in 1971 with Machine Head. The songs are good but like you mention the songs are considerably slower with a little less feeling put in by the band. But for the most part they are all good. A few synthesizer effects but nothing like the way other classic rock bands embraced the eighties.
Tikhonov Konstantin <heavy-horses@mtu-net.ru> (02.04.2000)
The monster woke up. Somebody enjoyed it, somebody didn't. Old problems:
Gillan lost his voice forever, lyrics are vulgar and senseless, sound is
clear, but the mix is unexplainable weird, guitar, voice, organ, everything
drowns into hammering drums. Oh thank you very much, Roger Glover, Mr.
Fucking Great Producer! New problem: band's new material sounds like Ian
Gillan's dull solo projects ("Under The Gun", "Mean Streak",
"Not Responsible"). Of course, here we have some nice moments
(title song, "Hungry Daze", "Wasted Sunsets"), but
the whole album looks shapeless and idle. My rating is 5. Best song is
"Perfect Strangers".
PS. Remastered version contains a bonus track, Ritchie's beautiful long
improvisation jam "Son Of Aleric". It sounds better than anything
on the album itself.
Year Of Release: 1987
Record rating = 7
Overall rating = 9
A lot heavier on the guitars and speedier, too, but the production
is a complete disaster.
Best song: THE SPANISH ARCHER
Either the world has gone crazy or it's just me, but I actually like
this album. I know fans usually consider it a letdown after the relative
'success' of Perfect Strangers, but I really can't see that. I mean,
I hated both at first, but House managed to grow on me, at least,
a little. If anything, the songwriting quality is far, far improved, and
there are even some fast tracks here which finally begin to kick some arse
after you turn 'em on real real loud. Apparently, three years of collaboration
and touring after the infamous ten years gap finally brought some fruits:
this is an album that does suit the 'Purple' moniker, whereas Strangers
was a much more strange and inadequate affair.
What really bothers me about the album is the downright awful production.
Maybe I didn't notice it so much on Strangers, just because the
songs there didn't match their trademark style. But here, even when the
guys finally figure it out right and try to rock out with enough conviction,
their efforts are undermined by Eighties' production values which don't
just suck: they threaten to take the very life out of the songs by introducing
electronic drums, often reducing Blackmore's once powerful riffage to background
noise fodder and drenching everything in corny synths. Once you've sat
through this two or three times, you'll notice that there actually are
good melodies on here; it's just that the production does everything possible
for the casual listener not to notice that.
Sometimes, of course, the songs are not that good by themselves. 'Call
Of The Wild', for instance, begins deceptively with a gruff pleasant little
riff but is soon transformed into a bouncy, but absolutely meatless and
faceless pop number with nothing but the solid rhythm section to boast
about (not to mention the total absence of guitar, a crying shame). But
I'm lucky to say that such tracks are in the minority. Most of this stuff
is all right - never amounting to the same trusty level of old, but you
can really feel the emphasis is on 'rock', not on 'we're back with a bang'.
'Mad Dog', 'The Unwritten Law' and 'Hard Lovin' Woman' all qualify as solid
tunes, for me. Well, they don't offer you loads of excitement, but
it's still much better than your average 'dinosaur' stuff in the mid-Eighties.
They're guitar-based, relatively fast hard rockers with something more
than just a couple of power chords to back each of them, and that's refreshing.
Perhaps someday I'll get to love them even more.
Occasionally, they even elevate themselves to something more interesting
than just your 'bash-it-out' attitude. 'Black & White', for instance,
has Gillan playing harmonica, a stunt that comes off extremely tastefully,
especially in the middle of the song, where he gets to have a solo duet
with Blackmore. Funny enough - the harmonica is the instrument that sounds
the least spoiled by the horrendous production. Oh well, I guess no production
is able to spoil a solid harmonica solo. The most hard-hitting rocker on
the record, though, is 'The Spanish Archer', simply because it's one of
the few tunes that's really and truly dominated by Ritchie's six-string.
The solos he rips out all over the place are easily his best since God
knows when, probably since the 1972 Japan performances. The main melody
is kinda generic, perhaps, but the guitarwork is immaculate and it even
makes me forget the production values - again.
I'd even go as far as to say that the only 'experimental' track on here,
a lengthy synth-basher called 'Strangeways', succeeds where all the Kashmir-influenced
Strangers songs did not: I mean, that main synth riff is so catchy!
Maybe it does sound a bit corny and all, but to me, this is as interesting
and memorable a note combination as can be squeezed out of that miserable
instrument called 'synthesizer'. Hah. No, no, of course synthesizers can
do better, but you got my hyperbole, didn't you? The song itself probably
goes on for a bit too long (seven minutes, and it don't really get better
than that), but it's fun anyway. And they close the record with two more
generic rockers, one real slow, but with a real funny riff ('Mitzi Dupree'),
one real messy, but real fast ('Dead Or Alive'). So, what I mean is, there's
plenty to appraise about the record. Ironically, it gets despised more
often than not, and even fans bash it. And, as far as I understand, the
band members didn't get a hoot out of it, either, as Gillan called it quits
soon afterwards. Rumours say he was kicked out of the band by Ritchie (only
to get his revenge a few years later, when he rejoined once again and kicked
out Ritchie himself). Gee, some people really never know how to get along
with each other.
Call of the wild! Mail your ideas!
Your worthy comments:
Tikhonov Konstantin <heavy-horses@mtu-net.ru> (02.04.2000)
Harder than the predecessor, but problems are the same. Ritchie did some fantastic solos and saved some songs. While "Bad Attitude", "Spanish Archer", "Strangeways" and "Dead Or Alive" are full of strong and energetic playing from Mr. Blackmore, the rest of the album still looks like pathetic Ian Gillan's solo efforts. This is the best Purple's album from 80's (could somebody imagine that in 1972?). Rating is 6, best song is "Strangeways".
Year Of Release: 1993
Record rating = 5
Overall rating = 7
More 'Perfect Strangers', albeit with a slight emphasis on the guitars
this time. Production sucks, as usual.
Best song: ONE MAN'S MEAT
Before this, the band recruited professional frontman Joe Lynn Turner
and recorded an album called Slaves & Masters which I'm not
getting any time soon. It seems to have been a predictable disaster, so
Turner was fired and the band decided to get Gillan back into the band.
Thus the line-up for Battle is the classic one again; unfortunately,
it doesn't really lead to a classic result.
The usual critique of this period is always based on the rough relations
between Ian and Ritchie; they never gelled fine, and it was more or less
evident that Ritchie wouldn't last long in the band after he'd been overruled
by his pals insisting on Gillan's return. After all, he spent a lot of
energy and zest in the past years to kick Gillan out of the band twice
- and now his pals were clearly intending that Gillan's presence in the
band was almost more essential to its existence than Blackmore's own. So
they spent quite a lot of time fighting and quarrelling and everything,
until finally Blackmore called it quits (there's a great story about him
demonstratively ripping to shreds his Japanese visa when they were all
but ready to embark on the tour), and he's probably never coming back any
more. Replaced by Steve Morse, for all and eternity.
Nevertheless, this here album is still a Blackmore/Gillan collaboration.
And I must say that I don't really see how the main flaw on here could
have been their endless battles in the studio. Actually, the guitar work
is quite fine - Blackmore rips it up on some cleverly constructed riffs
and adds typical flashy solos everywhere; and the vocals are buried
a bit down in the mix, but then again, so were the vocals on Fireball.
For me, the major problems preventing me from really liking the work are
more or less the same as on the band's Eighties records. First of all,
the pace is again dreadfully slow - nearly every song is midtempo, rolling
along at a relaxed, monotonous pace, and even the breaks between tunes
are hard to notice. Second, the same PS formula is used again: each
and every guitar riff is steadily accompanied by an annoying, banal synth/organ
pattern. I hate that. On their early records the band could utilise
all their instruments carefully, making each of them sound independently
of one another and at the same time contributing greatly to the sound.
You could concentrate on the fire of Blackmore's guitar or the dizziness
of Lord's 'dirty' organ playing, or you could just be amazed how well they
blend with each other. Here it's practically impossible to follow any single
instrument - they are all meshed into a sludgey, uninspiring, lethargic
mess that only pretends to be 'rock'n'roll' but is really stupid, formulaic
adult pop with a lot of added distortion. Or, if you wish, it's simply
sleazy, megalithic 'heavy metal' with not an ounce of creativity or fire,
clearly recorded exclusively under the pressure to put out new and new
product. Typical example: Blackmore solos. I can't really imagine myself
missing a Blackmore solo on the early records, but I clearly don't give
a damn about his solos on here. And why? Because they're so darn muddy!
And they're all obscured with the naggin' synth patterns - like tiny speckles
of gold you have to sift out of endless tons of ore.
A couple of these tunes can probably stand up to time. The title track,
built on what might be the best riff on here, is well worth hearing just
because of the riff and the powerful scream 'THE BATTLE RAGES ON!' It really
has a powerful feel to it, although speeding things up wouldn't hurt either.
But once you heard the title track, you've heard them all: 'Lick It Up',
'Talk About Love' and a handful other tunes are built according to exactly
the same pattern, but they lack impressive riffage and are thus completely
dismissable. 'Anya' is the only song that could be called 'standing out'
on the record: not really a ballad, rather a memorable synth rocker with
an Eastern-influenced mystical feel; no wonder that the main riff of the
song is a total rip-off of 'Strangeways' from House Of Blue Light.
The lyrics are absolute mushy gibberish, though: something about a girl
with the Russian name Anya who has gypsy blood and for some reason deserves
a delicate acoustic intro where Blackmore plays some fine Spanish guitar.
Either way, what should I really have to do with this 'Strangeways' rip-off?
Ridiculous.
So when the best track on record - 'One Man's Meat' - suddenly falls on
you at the tail end of the album, it's something like a completely unexpected
surprise. In style, it's actually much closer to the next mark of Purple,
the one with Steve Morse: the guitar riff isn't at all spoiled, as this
time around Lord's keyboards are pushed deep in the background, and the
song is completely guitar-dominated, with elements of heavy funk and a
good, memorable melody. Gillan even pulls out his harmonica at the end,
a thing that he really never abused on this record.
Still, like I said in a million previous cases, one song never makes an
album. None of the other stuff is really that offensive, although sometimes
Gillan's grating, whiny vocals really get on my nerves; and if you turn
the volume up REAL REAL LOUD, you probably won't be lulled to sleep until
the third or fourth song comes along. That's why I still give it an overall
rating of 7 - 'bad', but not 'horrendous'. That's what it is. Now go get
yourself a pizza and a used copy of Fireball and forget all about
this crap. Sometimes I really wonder - why do people keep pumping out pleonastic
and totally unnecessary 'product' when it's obvious that they really do
not wanna do it?
The battle rages on! Your turn to mail your ideas!
Your worthy comments:
Tikhonov Konstantin <heavy-horses@mtu-net.ru> (02.04.2000)
Gillan out, Gillan in. Nothing changed and I can't say more that I said about Perfect Strangers and The House Of Blue Light. Ritchie's solos still rules sometime (title song, "Anya"), sometimes they did some nostalgic R&B pieces ("Ramshackle Man"), sometimes they makes me funny ("Time To Kill"), curios ("A Twist In The Tale") or sad ("Solitaire"). All unmentioned songs are unremarkable, still makes in Gillan-style. Ritchie was damn right when he said to others, "You can continue to screwing yourselves, but I'm leaving!" My rating is 6, my favourite song is "Solitaire" (only 'cause it is not quite usual as all others).
Year Of Release: 1996
Record rating = 8
Overall rating = 10
Maybe they're not as substantial as before, but at least they're
still able to put out a decent heavy metal album in the Nineties.
Best song: VAVOOM: TED THE MECHANIC
The Purpendicular lineup, with Steve Morse replacing Ritchie
on guitars, seems to be the band's most stable since the early years of
Mark II - and they're probably going to stay like that until the end, unless
Blackmore gets sick and tired again and begs the rest of the band to get
him in again, on bended knees. But somehow I doubt this is going to happen
- the late Eighties/early Nineties have amply demonstrated Blackmore and
Gillan's incompatibility.
Anyway, who the hell cares? When the opening funky, dirty, throbbing licks
of 'Ted The Mechanic' hit you in the face, it's like you're born again
(and no, this is not a masked reference to Gillan's humiliating Black Sabbath
period). Steve is an exceptional guitarist indeed, and if anything, he's
far too immaculate for me - rising to almost robotic heights at
certain times. I loved Ritchie as he was, with all his blurts and mistakes;
in my opinion, he had a real, living drive which Steve substitutes for
an ideal, virtually impeccable technique. The solos on 'Ted The Mechanic'
and 'Cascades: I'm Not Your Lover' are astonishing, from a professional
point of view, but the problem is, there are far too many impeccable guitarists
in the world nowadays. Dang, almost every generic metal band has an impeccable
guitarist; you simply have to be 'not like everybody else' to stand out.
And Steve, well, he's probably unlike many, but not unlike anybody
else. Actually, if you're searching for something distinctive, better look
for it amidst the riffage, not in the solos. Because the riffs here are
good - concise, cleverly crafted and creative, and never concealed behind
a barrage of power chords as is so usual in the world of metal.
Well, I'd probably say that the record doesn't really live up to the promise
of 'Ted The Mechanic' - that funky, mastodontic groove is never recaptured
as perfectly in any of the other numbers - but it's still enjoyable, and
arguably the band's most entertaining effort since Machine Head,
and hey, that one was twenty four years ago. It took a long time, dudes.
Some reviewer whose opinion I've met on the Web said that this is actually
closer in style to Fireball, and I enthusiastically agree. I mean,
there are no obvious smoking highlights here, like 'Highway Star', or 'Child
In Time', or 'Smoke On The Water', and the songs don't tear your soul apart
- the energy level is pretty low (not in a bad sense of the word) even
on the more hard-rocking numbers, and the hooks are rare and barely noticeable.
It is, indeed, more in the Fireball tradition: moderate, non-cathartic
or ecstatic, but solid and increasingly rewarding with every next listen.
In fact, I didn't pay much attention to it first time around, but it grows
and grows on me and is actually still growing even now as I'm typing this
review and the dark, ominous mood of the grizzly 'Rosa's Cantina' is setting
in. That's why the album gets the same rating as Fireball: believe
me, it deserves that.
Some of the numbers I could easily live without on here. Notably, the band
doesn't do well with power ballads: I mean, the genre itself is so miserable,
right? How many impressive power ballads have you actually heard
in your life? Of course, the genre runs the gamut of brilliant, from Queen's
'The Show Must Go On' to vomit-inducing, like Aerosmith's 'Crying', but
overall it's just painfully generic, and 'Sometimes I Feel Like Screaming'
is no exception: long, boring and, of course, containing a 'climactic'
solo from Steve that sounds just like all the 'climactic' solos in power
ballads. Some of the more straightforward rockers also sound insecure and
inferior in the light of all the better stuff: 'Somebody Stole My Guitar'
and 'A Castle Full Of Rascals', for instance, are highly average, and the
only good things that can be said about them is that Steve never allows
the songs to be transformed into a horrible tuneless mess - the riffage
is solid (even if it reminds me of an uninspired Tony Iommi trying to come
up with a real song).
However, no sooner do they speed up the pace that a half-classic is born:
'Ted The Mechanic', 'Rosa's Cantina' and 'Hey Cisco' are wonderful, brave
stabs at recreating the 'speed groove' of the early Deep Purple, and even
if early Deep Purple is impossible to recreate without Ritchie (not that
he was ever intent on doing that himself), they do come close. Perhaps
the greatest flaw is not Steve Morse, but Ian, whose fading vocals just
can't compare to the powerful screaming of old: after all, what could you
expect of his old whiny wheeze? Not that his singing is bad - it's just
so sad when you think of how outstanding he used to be... I guess my feelings
could be better if I ever could forget the past, but unfortunately, I can't
do that.
Nevertheless, these rockers are superb. And the few 'experimental' grooves
work all right, too - the strange, complex time signatures on 'Soon Forgotten',
accompanied by Morse's guitar howls, really set up a special atmosphere.
The two 'non-power ballads', 'Aviator' and 'A Touch Away', add a nice breath
of diversity, and both have cute little poppy melodies - again, not great
ones, but interesting, and proving that Purple are still a force to be
reckoned with in the songwriting department. A minor force, perhaps, but
where are the major ones? Gone they are. Finally, the album closes on yet
another booming note ('The Purpendicular Waltz', another weird rocker,
with Gillan doing an outstanding job on harmonica and more tricky time
signatures again - just listen to Ian Paice keeping the time), and you're
left with the kind of feeling that a hungry working man gets after chewing
up his average dinner: not in seventh heaven, maybe, but full and satisfied.
Undeniably, this is the best the old boys could weed out of themselves
after all these years, and kudos to them for that.
In conclusion, I'll just say that I wasn't right by placing the main emphasis
exclusively on Mr Morse. Everybody's superb: Glover's bass still keeps
beating out the shit of the amplifiers, Lord is still able to play a mean
organ, and Paice hasn't lost a thing. Actually, Paice has to be considered
one of rock's most underrated drummers ever - his technique is incredibly
impressive once you gave it a good scrutinizing. Not everybody can do these
stunts on 'Purpendicular Waltz', that's for sure.
Sometimes I feel like screaming! MAIL YOUR IDEAS!
Your worthy comments:
Tikhonov Konstantin <heavy-horses@mtu-net.ru> (02.04.2000)
Only Purple stands on the same rake twice. It's a good album, but not Steve Morse, not any other guitarist will never be a replacement for Ritchie, and without his guitar this is a completely another band, tightly played band, but not Deep Purple. New Purple couldn't (and will never) catch me as old Purple did. My rating here is 5. No best song. PS. Purple tries hard, but Blackmore's solo projects (Rainbow / Blackmore's Night) still wipes 'em anyway.
Nick Karn <glassmoondt@yahoo.com> (02.05.2000)
My personal tastes say this album is actually better than In Rock
and Machine Head! Even though I had read glowing reviews of this
one, I'm still quite shocked at how consistent and high quality most of
it is. Maybe it's because I'm blown away by Steve Morse's knack for creating
great riffs and playing melodic solos that serve the song perfectly (see
the amazing mood piece "Loosen My Strings"). Maybe it's because
the lyrics are actually good. Maybe it's because the production values
are much better than their earlier stuff. And finally, maybe these guys
may not have as much speed as before, but technically, they've still got
it, particularly the rhythm section of Glover and Paice (the powerful,
fun grooves of "Vavoom: Ted The Mechanic", "Rosa's Cantina",
and the not as substantial but still good "The Purpendicular Waltz").
I disagree about "Sometimes I Feel Like Screaming", though -
to me, it seems much more cleverly constructed, thoughtful and emotional
than your average ballad, especially nowadays. It's my favorite cut here
because of the brilliant chorus and Morse's playing towards the end. I
find it extremely hard to deny the heartfelt vocal performance of "A
Touch Away" and the powerfully gorgeous melodies of "The Aviator"
for similar reasons. Excellent stuff.
The rockers "Cascades: I'm Not Your Lover", "Hey Cisco"
(extremely catchy chorus and great verse setup) and "A Castle Full
Of Rascals" (the latter with a phenomenally haunting midsection) have
impressive, memorable force. Even "Somebody Stole My Guitar",
which many regard as filler, is entertaining. Extremely impressive material,
especially for a band that's this deep into their career, with "Soon
Forgotten" and "The Purpendicular Waltz" being the only
relatively weak cuts, although they're not bad by any means. A 9 for this
one, and probably my favorite album of 1996.
Year Of Release: 1998
Record rating = 8
Overall rating = 10
Gritty and flashy, without too much diversity, but who asked these
guys to be diverse, after all?
Best song: ANY FULE KNO THAT
Very similar in tone and style to Purpendicular, but not exactly
a carbon copy. I give both records the same rating, but that's because
Abandon is at the same time better and worse. When I first threw
it into the deck, I was simply blown away. I said, 'wow! Whoever
heard of a thirty-year old hard rock band that manages to rock JUST AS HARD
as thirty years ago and maybe more without repeating the same tired pattern
over and over? A nine, hell, maybe a ten, right here and now!' However,
as I was moving deeper and deeper into the heart of the record, I felt
more and more bored; somewhere around tracks 8 or 9 the boredom reached
a climax and I just had to take it off. It got better, eventually, and
ending the record with a re-make of 'Bloodsucker' (now and forever known
as 'Bludsucker') was a brilliant idea, but I still have some problems with
sitting through the whole record from beginning to end.
The big improvement in quality from the previous record is that the band
has finally perfectly gelled together. No doubt, this had a lot
to do with Purple's endless touring in the mid-Nineties: out of all the
dinosaur rockers, they are probably the most active and energetic band
to remind the world of their existence at the turn of the century. Not
a single song here sounds half-finished or too raw or too insecure: these
guys know perfectly well where they want to go and what they want to do.
And this time, they never sound strained: Steve Morse's fabulous lead guitar
work fits in with the organ and the bass and the drums to a tee. Plus,
it never looks like generic heavy metal: distortion and loudness are never
abused, and the riffs are all, once again, precise and catchy.
The falldown, then, is in that Abandon was certainly designed as
a 'pull-no-stops' heavy metal record, and the style is pretty monotonous.
Nearly every following track sets the same formula: a trademark hard riff
around which the band flash their patented tricks - Steve's fluid solos,
Gillan's screechy and, let's face it, grating vocals, Lord's dirty organ
and Paice's impeccable drumming. Two of the songs step away from the formula:
'Don't Make Me Happy' is a power ballad, and not a very interesting at
that (the best moment is Steve's weird Santana-esque soloing), and 'Watching
The Sky' cleverly alternates melancholic, slow, moody passages with the
usual gruff, chaotic noisefests. Apart from that, it's all your well-known
bash-a-thon. And here is where the differences between the old Purple and
the new Purple finally become obvious: while I never got tired of the incessant
bash-a-thon on, say, Deep Purple In Rock, Abandon's bash-a-thon
is a bit hard for me to swallow in one entire gulp. This certainly has
to do with two factors. First, Gillan's shot vocals really don't add much
to the excitement: previously one of the most expressive and enthralling
singers ever, Ian now has trouble while even singing soft, tender passages,
let alone the furious screeching on the harder ones. Second, much as I
respect Steve Morse, these riffs are still somewhat generic and they don't
really grab me. Songs like the slow, boring 'Fingers To The Bone', or the
stupid and completely unoriginal 'Jack Ruby', just don't make me all that
happy. Actually, almost the entire second half of the record is forgettable:
once you've played it straight in a row, you won't really be wanting to
hear it again if you have the alternative to put on Machine Head
instead. Most of the songs there are far too similar to each other to be
that enjoyable; heck, they're all mid-tempo! How do you expect to get away
with that, when 'She Was' and 'Whatsername' are basically the same number,
with slight cosmetic differences?
Aw yeah, all right. Let's pay attention to the good stuff instead - there's
plenty. Actually, it's the same case as with Purpendicular: they
only need to speed it up and the result is heavy metal nirvana for everyone
involved. 'Any Fule Kno That' (sic!) is a blistering rocker with elements
of rap thrown in, but I manage not to notice that, cuz it's so funky and
exciting anyway, and 'Almost Human' nearly matches it in terms of grooviness.
I do, in fact, enjoy that type of bouncy rhythm playing which Steve brought
into Purple: Blackmore never played like that, preferring to make all his
notes equally strong, while Steve brings in all that terrific funk and
thus makes Purple step away from generic metal. '69' is also one groovy
number, almost punkish in its speed and destructiveness; the riff which
underpins it is one of Steve's best. Also, like I said, the 'ballads' are
quite good. And what about that closing 'cover' of 'Bloodsucker'? Well,
here's a good polygon to compare the Gillan of old with the new Gillan
- to give him credit, he can still sing the 'WAAAH-NO-NO-NOOOO' line, although
with just about half as much conviction and aweful force as before. Elsewhere,
they render the song just as crunchy and breathtaking as before, with Steve
not necessarily imitating Ritchie's solos, but throwing in some of his
own, and even Lord does not repeat himself. Nostalgic? Unnecessary? Perhaps,
but what a great way to close the album after all that average midtempo
metal in the second half...
In any case, I must say that this is not a real disappointment, the record.
After all, one must pay their due to Purple: hell, they are the ONLY heavy
metal band with a thirty year legacy behind them to rock as hard and genuinely
as they do now (not convinced? just look at Aerosmith or Black Sabbath
or whatever Jimmy Page is currently up to!) In that sense, Abandon
is just as much of a masterpiece as Purpendicular; amazing, simply
amazing how the guys still hold on. Okay, so it's often boring; so what?
Nothing on here, and I mean nothing, is offensive, or unprofessional,
or just bad. With a little bit more variety, and a bit more vocal
practice (Ian really has to work harder than that), they have every single
chance to make their next album a minor chef-d'oeuvre of Nineties 'retro'
metal, or, since their next album isn't coming out any time soon, to be
the pioneers of the Third Millenium Heavy Metal, whatever it is going to
look like. My bets are on these guys; let's wait and see. Unless, of course,
they all die of measles next year, in which case I have no hopes for heavy
metal at all.
Any fule kno that this is the place to mail your ideas
Your worthy comments:
Tikhonov Konstantin <heavy-horses@mtu-net.ru> (02.04.2000)
Pathetic copy of Purpendicular. While Purpendicular was
fresh and diverse, Purple's next effort is uninspired and dull. If they
will make another album in this monotonous pseudo-hard style, I'm think
that I will die somewhere in the middle of the listening. Hey, men, be
honest, you're NOT Deep Purple anymore! My rating is 2.
PS. Purple will play in Moscow next week but I'll be damned if I'll go
to listen Gillan's horrid shrieks. I've had enough!