SLAVES AND MASTERS

This is the only album of Deep Purple with Joe Lynn Turner as lead vocalist - and I don't have any problem at all with it. His voice is clear and powerful. All tracks for me are good. The opening track is an interesting one to enjoy as it has god combination of keyboard and guitar work in medium tempo style. Turner's voice is suitable for this track. My best favorite track of this album is "The Cut Runs Deep" - it has all power that typically early Deep Purple has in quite fast tempo. The song has great energy and strong melody. Especially, I love the music riffs combined with dynamic drumming. Whenever I hear this song, my memory refresh back to my days when I installed offshore oil and gas platform for Total Indonesie at Tambora Tunu, East Borneo, Indonesia. Why? Because during the two months offshore installation, I practically only listened to two cassettes: Deep Purple "Slaves and Masters" and God Bless "The Story of". And, The Cut Runs Deep was my spirit for the difficult days I struggled to manage demanding client's requests. What an experience! So I just sung "The cut runs deep .!!!" Wow! It elevated my emotion man.!!!

"Love Conquers All" is a very nice ballad and also "Fortuneteller". The other excellent track that I also like is "Wicked Ways".

Yeah, you may discount my rating to 3 stars because this album is too personal for me. Working in remote area, offshore, for two months with practically no entertainment but those two cassettes - what can I expect? But for sure this is definitely not a less-than- three-stars album.

Peace on earth and mercy mild - GW

Mark V. A short and pityfull episode.

Another album without Gillan as lead vocalist. For me, Gillan IS the Purple's voice (even if I liked very much Coverdale/Hughes). On this one, Joe Lynn Turner (second's choice vocalist in Rainbow after Dio) does what he can. But definitely, he won't be remembered as a highlight in the Purple's catalogue. When you listen to the opener "King Of Dreams", the worse is to be expected : this song is as crappy as it can be. Not rocking enough, melodyless : in one word : boring.

"The Cut Runs Deep" is more hard rock oriented, but weak. It could be a great song for a B or C class rock bands, but from the Purple, I guess that the fan is expecting more. At least it is quite rocking and one of the very few average tracks of this album. It is really irrelevant to go through each song (even briefly like I do for most of my reviews).

Most of them are useless ("Too Much Is Not Enough" probably reaching the nadir of this album). I really deserve a bonus to have endured having listened three times in a row to the full album for the purpose of this review. I doubt I will do this ever again. By doing so, one is still rewarded because the closing number "Wicked Ways" is the second good number of this CD : sustained rythm, hard rocking, nice melody like a Purple fan like. But don't expect anything great.

I am a fan of the Deep since December 1970. I have almost their entire official catalogue and some boots as well (about ten). I still go and see them in concerts nowadays. So, yes : you can tell I am a HUGE fan. But when it is crappy, one has to say it (unfortunately each of the "monsters" has produced one - or more - of that vein during their carreers (Yes, Genesis, Tull, Tramp, ELO etc.). Fortunately, Purple only produced one so far (more to come, unfortunately).

I guess that the fact that this album did receive some high ratings is due to the fact that some "veteran" fans preferred not to rate it. I have chosen (as for almost each band I will review) to go through their albums all the way long : great, average, poor or even worse might be their releases. It will "peak" at Nr. 45 in the UK (Nr. 87 in the US).

This is the Purple worst release. Stay away form this one. A single star.

This sounds like a Joe-Lynn Turner-era RAINBOW album which isn't necessarily a bad thing. Pretty good follow-up to Rainbow's "Bent Out Of Shape". Highlights are "Fire In The Basement"(this one was played quite a bit on the Detroit airwaves)...and "Fortuneteller" which is quintessential Blackmore-composition. "Truth Hurts" has some great toned guitar from Ritchie Blackmore and of Joe Lynn Turner's finest vocal performances. If you like later Rainbow, this gets 4 stars. If you like Deep Purple only, I'd give it 3 stars. However, since I like both, it gets a 4 star rating. A competent and personal favourite recording by the Purps!

The only football team in history to have a string arrangement

"Slaves and masters" is an interesting Deep Purple album in that it is the only one by the band to feature Joe Lynn Turner on lead vocals. Recorded in 1990 this was the follow up to the excellent "Perfect strangers" and the adequate "House of blue light" recorded by the reformed classic line up. Only Ian Gillan is missing here, but with Blackmore, Glover and Turner all present, this could just as easily have been a Rainbow release.

Turner turns his hand to the song writing straight away, being the only band member to have a hand in every track. Blackmore and Glover are not far behind though, missing out on just "Too much is not enough", with Lord and Paice chipping in from time to time.

While first impressions are that this album does indeed have more to do with Rainbow than Deep Purple, that view is largely swayed by Turner's vocals. Deep Purple had also been following a more straightforward AOR rock path of late, making "Slaves and masters" an equally natural successor to the immediately precedent DP albums.

The opening "King of dreams" is a mid-paced "Perfect strangers" (the song) like number with Jon Lord providing some strong symphonic keyboards. Blackmore takes an early opportunity to slip in some instantly recognisable lead guitar, the track having a pleasing atmosphere. "The cut runs deep" offers Jon Lord a chance to make his organ the dominant instrument, the track being driven along by him in fine fashion. Unfortunately, the fade on the track is unsatisfactory and clumsy.

"Fire in the basement" will never win any awards for lyrical subtlety, apparently following on from the basic innuendoes of "Knocking at your back door". The song has echoes of "Lazy" in the lighter happy rock it portrays.

There is of course the obligatory ballad, "Fortune teller" fitting the bill adequately without ever really getting going. "Love conquers all" (no relation to the similarly titled Yes song) is another in a similar mode, but thankfully more satisfactory. Blackmore's swirling guitar adds an extra dimension to this Journey like number.

"Breakfast in bed" sounds for all the world like a Free song, Turner doing a passable impression of Paul Rogers. The closing "Wicked ways" has vague prog sensibilities with a slight variation of pace and some effective strings supporting Blackmore's soaring guitar. It is also the longest track on the album at around 6½ minutes, makeing for a fitting climax to an enjoyable album.

The completely different vocal style and sound of Turner can be a little hard to digest for those who are seeking to hear the familiar tones of Ian Gillan. It is perhaps therefore necessary to put any preconceptions aside, and assess this album only on its own merits. On that basis, there is little in the way of prog here, but there is a collection of good quality melodic rock.

The sleeve mugshots of the band members include football positions as part of their description, Blackmore being a winger, Paice is Centre forward, Turner is midfield and Glover defender. Strangely, Jon Lord does not appear to have been selected for the team, his position being "String arrangements"!

Turner would be sacked after the release of this album, leaving the way open for Gillan to return to the fold yet again.

It says Deep Purple on the cover, but it sure sounds like Joe Lynn Turner-era Rainbow!

I really don't like Joe Lynn Turner; I don't like what he did to Rainbow, I don't like what he did to Yngwie Malmsteen's Rising Force and I don't like what he did to Deep Purple. Turner's voice lends itself very well to slick AOR, but not to Metal of any kind. The real blame must, however, fall on Ritchie Blackmore and Roger Glover for bringing Turner with them from Rainbow into Deep Purple and also on Jon Lord and Ian Paice for allowing it all to happen! What were they trying to do? Turn Deep Purple into 80's-era Rainbow? What was the point of that? I'm a big fan of Ronnie James Dio-era Rainbow, but the Joe Lynn Turner-era of that band I find very disappointing. But even those worst Rainbow albums are superior to this "Deep Purple" album. Had Slaves And Master been released in the mid-80's, straight after Rainbow's Bent Out Of Shape album, it would perhaps have been understandable. But to do this Rainbow clone in 1990 after the first reunion that resulted in Perfect Strangers and later House Of Blue Light is strange to say the least.

I will not comment of each individual track here as they all sound pretty much the same to my ears. And if you have heard the 80's Rainbow albums, you know just what this sounds like (only worse!). However, the closing track Wicked Ways is the best song here having a symphonic touch and with a bit more room left for instrumental work outs. For the rest of the songs, Blackmore, Lord, Glover, Paice and Turner seem to be on autopilot and lacking in inspiration. Not surprisingly, this line-up was a one-off and for the next album Ian Gillan would return once more and the battle raged on?

Had this been a Rainbow album ? it sure sounds like one ? it would have been the worst Rainbow album. Now, it will have to be deemed the worst Deep Purple album instead!

Avoid!

A good album to my ears

Deep Purple enter in the '90's full of potential , not necessarly with strong and intristing ideas , but with pozitive attitude for sure. Slaves and masters was the first DP album of the '90 and one their best from that decade (i simply don't enjoy very much the Morse era) with hard rock atmosphere combined very well with AOR sounds and elements. On this album we have as vocalist John Lynn Turner, who made his contribution on 3 studio Rainbow albums and one live in early to mid '80's and on Odyssey of Malmsteen from 1988, befor joyning DP boat. Well the album is not average as many said , quite contrary is a good hard rocking album with strong vocal parts and tight musicianship, of course not as great as the '70's DP albums but nevertheless a good album with strong pieces. Slaves and masters is a little weaker than the predecesor House of blue light, who was for me, a truly solid come back of this legendary band, better than perfect stranger from 3 years before. About the tracks here, we have everything from slow to mid tempo to faster pieces, the progressive elements are none, but doesn't stop to be good album all the way. The Cut Runs Deep and Wicked Ways reminds me of good old Rainbow (with Turner at voice), in fact this album is very much alike with Bent out of shape of Rainbow (last studio album with Turner ) from 1983. So , finally a good Deep Purple album, nothing really special like early years , but a decent and very well played album in hard rock meets AOR tradition. Every musician is top notch and delivering strong moments on each instrument. 3 stars for Slaves and masters.

AOR created by one of the founders of Heavy Prog..

Slaves & Masters is Deep Purple's most uneven album, sounding sometimes way too similar to Turner-Rainbow-era, while it's not mainly the fact of having Joe on vocal duties, which by the way is a great singer, though a bit more in the AOR-ish style than in the Heavy Rock realm of vocalists, the similaritie is due to Ritchie's song-writing, being very parallel to that of Rainbow from some few years back. The riffs, the chorus', etc..

However, for Deep Purple standards this is not that of a low-weight, due to previous release, The House of Blue Light, which was simply weak. Slaves & Masters is not weak, on the contrary is the pretty fresh for Deep Purple's catalogue, and makes a place of it's own, while by no means in the heights of their 70's classics, first of all because the music in here is not Heavy Rock, second Jon Lord's organ is layed-back, definitely something not usual for DP, and last but not least, there's the, sort-of, cheesy feel due to Joe's vocals, however like I said earlier, he's not a bad singer at all, he's just not meant for Deep Purple.

To finalise this short review, I'll just mention some highlights which can stand pretty well alongside the best tunes from Perfect Strangers, House of Blue Light, The Battle Rages On and of course alongside the best tunes from Rainbow-Turner era. These are: the catchy, but with a dark atmosphere ala Perfect Strangers, opener, King of Dreams; then there's the fantastic bluesy-esque Fire in the Basement, with it's killer riff, and it's mind-blowing organ solo; then there's the extremely catchy, and almost sing-along style, semi-hard rock tune, Breakfast in Bed; finally, the closer, Wicked Ways, is something worthy to check if you liked tunes from their 2 previous albums, with a very blurry prog feel, with it's short, simple, but very effective instrumental passage with strings and a guitar solo leading it, it's SO INTENSE! just make you sure to hear it with loud speakers!

All in all, the album has a good bunch of enjoyable AOR/semi-Hard Rock tunes, more than those from The House of Blue Light, and definitely more entertaining than from those.

I find it a good album, there's barely 2 songs I don't enjoy from it, so I have to give it a 3 stars rating, with the definition of a 2 stars. It's good, but definitely for fans from Deep Purple AND Rainbow.

Well, it was only a matter of time; Ritchie kicked Ian out of the band again. In came one of Ritchie's buddies from late-period Rainbow, one Joe Lynn Turner, bringing the Mk. count up to 5. Now don't get me wrong, I don't think Joe is a bad vocalist; heck, I like him way more than I do Coverdale. Furthermore, from a pure skill standpoint, he's a big improvement over late 80's Gillan. Unfortunately, while it is kinda nice to be rid of Ian's shattered vocals, those vocals at least made me remember at all times that I was listening to Deep Purple, even if only a shadow of prime Deep Purple. With Joe at the mic, though, there's NOTHING here to make me think I'm listening to a band significant enough for me to want to review them.

You have to forgive me, oh faithful reader; I just don't know how to adequately review an album like this, mostly because I tend to avoid music like this like the plague. I know that some people like this sort of music - I've even read somebody's claim that "Love Conquers All," a generic power-ballad that makes me puke up food that doesn't yet exist, is one of the best ballads ever written. I guess the rest of the album isn't as bad as it could be - once I get past the Final Fantasy synths and "evil" ominous vocal sounds that open the album, "King of Dreams" isn't that bad, "The Cut Runs Deep" is ok (I kinda like the segue from the generic Renaissance-like opening to the generic metallic riffage), and ... uh ... well, I don't passionately hate any single track on here (except for the aforementioned power ballad). "Fire in the Basement" actually has a decent opening riff, albeit a rip of "Wring that Neck." But sheesh, even those little details don't really save these songs, and there's not much I can figure out to say otherwise in the plus column. The album, as a whole, isn't that heavy, it's not that memorable, it's ... just a smoother, less awkward, slightly less artificial- sounding version of Blue Light, except without a couple of cool riffs or great guitar solo passages.

I guess I just can't understand why Ritchie thought the world needed more generic hair metal with stupid "mystical" album covers, or why the rest of the band members decided to shed all bits of individuality they might have had left. And honestly, I just don't understand how this could have ever been what "cool" people listened to. If ever there was an album that could remind me why Nirvana was a good and necessary thing for the music world, this is it. This isn't the worst music experience of my life, but it's hardly a time I'll look back on and cherish.

Released in 1990, 'Slaves and Masters' is Deep Purple's 13th studio album. With all of DP's albums, this one holds the distinction that it is the only album released by the Mark V line-up of the band, even though the line-up was active from 1989 to 1992. The Mark V line-up was exactly the same as the famous Mark II line up with one exception: Ian Gillan had been fired from the band (again) and Joe Lynn Turner, former lead singer for 'Rainbow' from 1981 to 1983 and then later for Yngwie Malmsteen. Ian Gillian is the lead singer most recognized from DP, and previously, he had been replaced by David Coverdale in 1973, then readmitted to the band in 1984, only to be fired again in 1989.

For 'Slaves and Masters', Turner definitely brought his 'Rainbow' influence with him as many fans think this album sounds more like an album from that band even though the other members, Ritchie Blackmore, Roger Glover, Jon Lord and Ian Paice were all regular members of DP. Apparently, the other band members considered hiring Jimi Jamison (Survivor) to sing on this album, but he, thankfully, was not available. However, even with Turner, the critics panned this album calling it too lightweight and weak, more AOR than anything else released by the band. Jon Lord says that he never recognized this album as a DP album, while Turner says it was the last great DP album.

Turner's vocals definitely don't have the power and emotion that are often present in Ian Gillian's vocals, and in reality, there just isn't any comparison as Turner definitely sounds more radio friendly than DP ever sounded. His vocals also don't have any distinct sound to them, so with this more accessible sound, the album could have easily been from 'Rainbow', 'Europe', or 'Bon Jovi' as much as it could be from DP. It sounds like pretty much most of the pop-metal that came from the 80 and early 90s.

It's not all a wasteland of middle of the road blandness however as 'King of Dreams', the opening track, proves with a good amount of Lord's organ, and the appearance of some organ solos throughout some of the tracks also help one to hear shades of DP from before, but its never enough to raise it to a higher level. Blackmore gets in a few good guitar licks and riffs here and there, but again, most of the punch is gone as the songs are filed down to near-pop music levels. The fast boogie does shine through on the instrumental break of 'Fire in the Basement', but the fire from the instrumental breaks gets doused by the vocal melody. Nothing else much happens on the rest of the album until you get to the last track 'Wicked Ways' which, during the instrumental break, the tempo slows down and you get some nice strings and guitar similar to the work on 'Perfect Stranger', but by now it is too little too late.

Turner would remain for the tour for this album, but DP was pressured to bring back Gillian for the Anniversary tour that was coming up, so they nixed Turner and Gillian returned, this time to stay. Unfortunately, DP was left with this rather deadweight album as a stain on their discography. Yes, they had released some mediocre albums in the past, but this one is just too boring and AOR sounding, an album where DP sounds like they are trying to be inspired by 80s and 90s pop-metal when they should have been showing them how it should be done.