It has been a while since I’ve had the pleasure of listening to a new Deep Purple album, seven years to be exact. A lot has changed in seven years, none more important and saddening than the loss of keyboardist Jon Lord, who passed away last July. R.I.P. Jon Lord.
For anyone familiar with Deep Purple they will no doubt know about their classic albums from the 1970’s, albums such as Deep Purple In Rock and Machine Head. For me I could listen to these albums most of the time, and I haven’t listened to the post-millenium Deep Purple in a long while. I was very apprehensive of how this would sound as my mind would think back to aforementioned albums, but really I shouldn’t have felt any doubt at all.
What we have here is an album jam-packed full of all things Deep Purple. On the first listen I instantly fell in love with this album, something which is very rare for me to do — it usually takes me four or five listens to really “get it”, to understand an album, to decide whether I like an album or not.
Three main members of Deep Purple remain — Roger Glover on bass, Ian Paice on drums and Ian Gillan on vocals — whilst there Steve Morse is on guitar and Don Airey is on keyboards. The opening track “A Simple Song” starts off the album really well — the single guitar chords ringing out, with a solo as well to show off Morse’s virtuoso playing skills. Then as Gillan’s unique and indistinguishable vocals ring out, I feel the shivers down my spine. When the drums, bass and keys enter, I know that this album will become loved by Deep Purple fans of all ages. I sat there and listened to the rest of the album without taking any notes down…
“Weirdistan” is a groovy number, where the keys really bark their way through the song, and everything just sits below nicely whilst Gillan’s vocals sound as good as the 1970’s. “Out of Hand” is another personal highlight for me, whilst “Uncommon Man” (which was inspired by the classical composition Fanfare for a Common Man) and “Above Beyond” both pay homage to the late Lord, both are just brilliant.
Overall, for me being a long-time Deep Purple fan I can’t help but feel somewhat elated with myself that I took a chance with this album. It’s simply brilliant in both music and the way it has been produced, the music — as always — is of a high standard when it comes to Deep Purple, and I feel that they have responded in the best way following Lord’s passing. I could sit here listening to it over and over again, and I highly recommend this album.