THE HOUSE OF BLUE LIGHT

A bit over two years after the release of their very good reunion album "Perfect Strangers" and this one. I am not quite what they did in the meantime. They only performed four concerts in the US in 1985, none in 1996. Their first tour will take place after the release of this album in January 1987 and they will do about sixty-six shows. So, this is a grand 'pa rythm. This could have left some time to prepare a great follower to "Perfect" but it will not be the case.

Some CD releases contain longer versions of almost each song from the original vinyl album : some by a few seconds but "Strangeways" for instance last for 7'36" while the LP version is only 5'55" long. Ian Paice (one song) and Jon Lord (three) have brought little contribution to this work. This is valid since "Come Taste The Band". All other songs are co-written by Blackmore, Gillan & Glover.

"Bad Attitude" and "Unwritten Law" are good rock song, maybe too FM oriented but that was in the mood, no ? "Call Of The Wild" is an AOR pop-rock oriented song of little interest. The best track so far is "Mad Dog" : great rocking tune with excellent musicianship (but who can doubt about that) ? Good guitar riff and strong / high vocals. A very dynamic song. "Black & White" is a funky / bluesy one (no wonder, with such a title) ! This could have been a typical Hughes song ! Good beat but the song is loud and heavy. Not really great.

"Hard Lovin' Woman" is a clone for "Smooth Dancer" from "Who Do You ...": not as good as its model but still OK. "The Spanish Archer" is one of the very few highlights of the album : great drumming from Paice for this very classical Purple song. In the vein of the "Machine Head" era (which says sufficient). Great hard rocking number : each member of the band plays superbly and Gillan is at his best. Ritchie's solo is specially accomplished. The best song form "The House" definitely.

"Strangeways" is the longest track song of the and is a hard-pop rock (whatever it may mean) song with some Oriental influences : not as noticeable than in "The Mule". I would rather say that it sounds like the Tull on the album "Roots". The beat is very consistent and hypnotic but this song is too much extended in the CD version. Just an average tune.

Lyrics for "Mitzi Dupree" are quite sexual oriented (it's about a meeting in a plane between a singer - from Purple ? - and an entertainer). I quote : "Well I knew right away, that I'd seen her act before In a room behind a kitchen in bangkok, and three or four times more in singapore She may not be the first , but i know she ain't the worst She was mine, but i ran out of time". Quite explicit, right ?

The rythm is kind of heavy and on par with the rest of most of the album (which means below average). "Dead Or Alive" is the third good track and the closing number. Hard rocking beat with great organ and guitar. A good way to close this album.

The House of Blue Light is not a bad album but it lacks in great and memorable moments. It will reach substantially lower spheres in the charts than its predecessor (no miracle) : Nr. 10 in the UK and 34 in the US. Two stars for this quite average effort (maybe 5 out of 10 if I could rate on this scale).