Deep Purple - Appraisal

Well the current line up of Deep Purple has been around for quite a while, nearly 20 years. Only 1 line up change and no one is making any fuss about Jon Lord (RIP) retiring when he did.

Now it's fairly well noted that "there is no Purple without Blackmore" etc. Which of course is not true. There most certainly has been all shades of ... etc...

I think they have made some consistently fine hard rock albums but not heard any new iconic songs like the Mk2 line up made. And then did again in the 80s.

The remasters  and reissues of the back catalogue have been very high, complete Made In Japan concerts etc. Nice box set of Machine Head. Fireball sounds superb; MK1 albums remastered and sounding good / better.

I do think the Concerto was well improved 30 years later. The DVD and 2 CD set being a real highlight for me, Deep Purple with orchestra is really quite something. It made superb ballads even more so. Rock band with orchestra - the quintessence of prog rock. Social cultural impact of the two genres fusing was once divisive and reactionary in change, now its unified and ... reactionary in acceptance. (What was all the fuss about?)

I would not mind a revisit of the Gemini Suite either - now there's an over looked prog rock piece for you.

So, quite a good band (in concert superb) but the trail blazing efforts of long ago are not likely to be scared up again due to writing styles being a little formulaic. Consistent in tempi / rhythm styles, nice guitar and Morse does do some fantastic instrumentals, expected and excellent  suitable keyboard work, witty Gillan words and a driving rhythm section - you kind of know what a new Purple album is going to be like. Good / bad? Probably not bad. They only really awful thing this band has done in years is that terrible idea of the cover for the Bananas album.

Infinite should be out soon. Promo album Limitless giving an indication.

What can one, should one, expect of this great band that is now coming to the end of a very long road.

Didn't they do well... or should it have been wrapped up 15 years ago?

I have a somewhat strange relationship with Deep Purple in that I vastly prefer mk 1 to anything that came after. Give me Tale Of Talysin over In Rock any day
I saw them live in KB Hallen Copenhagen - must've been 97 or maybe 98 I forget - but it was with Morse and Gillan. A great performance to these ears only marred by a small but very loud part of the crowd boohing over the fact that Child in Time didn't get played.

Nowadays I rarely if ever reach for an album of theirs. In many ways they represent a time in my life where I was discovering classic rock like Sabbath, Zep, Stones, Bowie, Doors, Jimi, Vanilla Fudge and so forth, but I have moved on musically. It's not that I don't like these artists but there is so much more out there - especially if one caught the experimental bug somewhere along the way.
The only times I really hear any of these (maybe except for Bowie, Stones and Jimi) are at parties where they seem to be the ONLY rock artists general music fans can abide to (collectively know of)...or over the radio where they play the same 3-4 top hits.
"Hmm let's see - we need a Deep Purple track for the show tonight. Let me just look through the band's 50 year old career then!"
Man comes back with a big smile on his face and a copy of Machine Head.
"Smoke On The Water it is!!!!"


Edited by Guldbamsen - April 04 2017 at 06:26

Played the crap out of Made In Japan back in the day. Liked everything up until Burn but then pfffft.

Slaves And Masters was, for me, an odd record. Other than Fire In The Basement everything sounded so well, ordinary. Worse, the single, what's-it's-name-again is distinguished by having the only Purple instrumental break where nearly nothing happens - solo wise.

I just think Lord's Concerto is absolute diamond. Even the first one at least has Lord's amused commentary on the...DVD or DVD Audio. I have both so it's probably the DVD.

But, yeah, a lot of fine consistent hard rock albums with some really top melodies in the ballads.

Virtually any and all albums have great value (some dodgy live ones - Made in Europe for one) just avoid the endless compilations. I just wonder how Purple can stand having so many come out and dilute the impact - or is it a way of keeping the name on the CD shelves...

Not as overrated as Kiss or U2.

I  own the early ones  -MK1- up to and including the MK2 ones...In Rock, Fireball,  Machine Head....beyond that they never really interested me. Even with those I always found them to be a bit too unimaginative  at times....good guitar work by Blackmore but often mediocre songwriting.

^ oh man......yet another surprising quote on this site when it comes to discussing mainstream classic 70's hard rock bands.....

Edited by Tillerman88 - June 21 2017 at 17:31

I don't mind "Made in Japan" but much prefer Mk 1, the way the guitar and organ were used in a more varied psychedelic rock style.

Actually i remember that i saw Gillan on the 'Glory Road' tour about 1980 (?) and they were brilliant! He had a great band of talented musicians and they gave a great show.

The Dark Elf wrote: I have always been of the opinion that as long as you own Made in Japan, you pretty much have everything you need from Deep Purple. Nothing I have heard since sways that belief.

I don't have much from them, but I guess it's the most essential release, and a really great one at that. I might add a few other live albums to round it up... the ones I got are "MK III, the final concerts" and "Come Hell or High Water", which have some songs missing on Made in Japan, or has heavier or different versions that I also enjoy. Perhaps a few songs from the 80's would be missing too from the live albums. And to complete the live collection, in a related note, I would also include "On Stage" from Rainbow (as well as the studio "Rising", or get some other of the live albums from the same era that does include "Stargazer").