PERFECT STRANGERS

My personal favorite from DP. Back in the early eighties I had heard about a seventies rock band called Deep Purple, but it wasn't until the release of this album that I was introduced to their music. And what an introduction!. What we have here is the classic Purple sound achieving maturity, whatever that is supposed to mean. Ian Gillan's voice was showing signs of damage by then and that keeps him from screaming that much, forcing him to sing more melodic lines (and a lot of multitracking too).Blackmore is in top form, doing some of his best solos here (at least studio ones, since he's known for playing much better live). Lord sounds very inspired, with beautiful organ passages. Glover does his job as usual, away from the spotlight but adding a very solid basement. The only one missing is Ian Paice, who seems to be playing way under his abilities. The album opens with one of its best and most known songs, Knocking at your back door, with its classic intro that leads to a very powerful riff, among Blackmore's finest, in my opinion. And speaking of the guitar god, he is in for a killer solo on Under the gun, a song that includes a simple but very effective hammond riff. Nobody's home is based on a bluesy hard rock motif, while Mean Streak is a shuffle. Both of them are good songs, but probably the weakest ones in the record. Side B opens (I still have the old vynil) with the classic Perfect Strangers, arguably the best song this band ever wrote, with its irresistible Kashmir-like feel . Well, most everyone knows that one, is such a good song that perhaps Ritchie felt it didn't need a solo. Then comes A Gypsy's Kiss, another of the highlights of the album, in the vein of Highway star but with more melody, and a beautiful interplay between guitar and onrgan in the middle section. And the beautiful Wasted sunsets...first of all I must state that this is no eighties power ballad (And I have nothing against power ballads, btw). Hair bands didn't use hammonds! Gillan doesn't sound exactly like a "milk and honey" singer. and you will hardly mistake Blackmore's warm tone for the overprocessed sounds of the time. If any, I find shades of CSNY's Almost cut my hair here. In the end we have the effective Hungry Daze, with an hypnotic riff and Gillan's only high screams on this album. One point that has been talked about is the lyrics. Well, Ian Gillan was never exactly what I would call a poet!. And here's he's doing no worse that in the band's classic albums. I mean, Speed King, Highway Star or living wreck are no better that anything here, lyricwise. Actually, Deep purple is the example that comes to my mind when I have to explain that I can enjoy a band's music even if the lyrics are awful. As with most "reunion" albums, someone must argue that the main reason for this comeback was the money, and it may be so but then who cares if the music is that good?. Sadly, in their next album they would "update" their sound, porobably in search of their "owner of a lonely heart", which they didn't get, partly because their image didn't fit the MTV era. But that's another story.