WHO DO WE THINK WE ARE

This album requires many spins and close listening to overcome the initial dislike - but it's worth it! People obviously expected some more hard stuff as on In Rock, Machine Head, and Made in Japan. What they got was something like a sequel to Fireball. If you think of Led Zeppelin's Houses of the Holy of the same year, DP weren't alone in digressing from the taste of the masses in that year! So maybe there's more behind WDWTWA than just Mr Blackmore being on the warpath again?

The music DP layed down for this album is far from being mediocre - even by their own standards. WOMAN FROM TOKYO is a top composition, very controlled with a beautiful middle section and a very catchy riff. MARY LONG is one of these unconspicous gems like Anyone's Daughter or Pictures of Home - perfectly crafted and played with a satirical text on Mary Whitehouse (does anybody remember her? - well, better not). SUPER TROUPER is certainly unexpected - but not bad. Mr Gillan is using a sequencer here. SMOOTH DANCER is the rocker people expected - and it's the most banal track they had to offer on this recording. The lyrics are addressed to Mr Blackmore: Mr Gillan is obviously toying with the idea of quitting the band. RAT BAT BLUE is another underrated track with fine syncopations by Mr Paice and a riff similar to the one of WOMAN FROM TOKYO. A PLACE IN LINE is blues-rock - or is it a parody (maybe even of Led Zep)? Mr Blackmore's sincere dislike of Blues is well documented. Probably the most disliked track on the album - but even this is not really bad. OUR LADY is completely out of the expectation range for two reasons: it's very slow - and it doesn't contain a solo! So they were proggish enough to experiment with the structure of their songs.

Now what to make of this record? All is not well with it and yet it's much better than its reputation. Since I rated Fireball 4 stars I can't give this one such a rating as well. 3 stars must do.