ABANDON

Abandon (or A Band On as it can be interpreted as well) is the second album from the ongoing Steve Morse era of Deep Purple. Coming two years after the magnificent Purpendicular, the level of music stays roughly the same.

I'm not one of those Blackmore fanatics and I have always been able to enjoy DP albums without him. In fact I think that Come Taste The Band and Purpendicular are masterpieces. It's not the case with Abandon, although what we have here is an excellent album.

The style of the album is quite similar to Purpendicular, but the emphasis being more on guitar than keyboards, and that makes the music a bit more metallic. The production sounds somehow cold as well. Lord is a bit more invisible than with Purpendicula, but otherwise the band sounds like they're having a ball. Gillan sounds especially good, and his lyrics are great. The songs are all good, altough there are some which I would classify as fillers, Jack Ruby for example.

All in all, one of my favourite Purple albums and also one of their most unique ones. 4 stars.