I’ve been a bit lax in keeping up with the Deep Purple
\ngenealogical charts, but if I’ve added everything correctly, we’re
\nnow on Deep Purple Mk V (Mk III was the David Coverdale era, Mk IV
\nwould be the Joe Lynn Turner album). After Ritchie Blackmore flew
\nthe coop for the second time in Deep Purple’s career, former Dixie
\nDregs axeman Steve Morse stepped in to fill the position that some
\nclaimed could never be filled. (I have yet to pick up
\nPurpendicular<\/i>, the first album featuring Morse… gimme a
\nbreak, this gig doesn’t pay well.)<\/p>\n
With the recent release of
\nAbandon<\/i>, one would think that Deep Purple would know the
\npitfalls to avoid in their music. Unfortunately, they don’t – but
\nas often as they stumble, they also fall upon new, unplowed ground
\nfor them.<\/p>\n
I don’t know who’s responsible for this – the band and Roger
\nGlover for production work, or Darren Schneider’s mixing job – but
\nwhoever buried Ian Gillan’s vocals on this album should be hung by
\ntheir manhood. When I listen to an album, I actually – God forbid –
\nexpect to
\nhear the singer<\/i>!!! Simply put, the overall sound of this
\nalbum sucks – and after over 30 years in the business, I’d expect
\nthat Deep Purple should know better. (How do you expect to have a
\nhit single in “Any Fule Kno That” when I can’t hear what the fuck
\nyou’re singing?!? HUH???<\/p>\n
Ahem, pardon me… There are some moments on
\nAbandon<\/i> that show you that there is a lot of new ground for
\nDeep Purple to cover. Songs like “Whatsername” provide a slow,
\nplodding groove that hook the listener almost immediately. If this
\nsong hasn’t been considered for a single, it should be right quick.
\nAnd, for the first time that I can remember in a long time, the
\nband explores an acoustic vein on “Fingers To The Bone,” a song
\ndocumenting the plight of the farmworkers who lose their jobs
\nthrough no fault of their own. If Bruce Springsteen could only have
\ncaptured it so poignantly.<\/p>\n
The rhythm core of the band – bassist Roger Glover, drummer Ian
\nPaice and keyboardist Jon Lord – are strong as ever; I can’t
\nremember a time I didn’t like their work as Deep Purple’s backbone.
\nHowever, Morse doesn’t quite seem comfortable in his role as the
\nlead guitar player yet. Oh, on the decent songs, he shines – but on
\ncuts like “Whatsername,” it sounds like he’s doing a Blackmore
\nimpersonation. (Morse does add his own guitar voice to “Fingers To
\nThe Bone,” which probably makes the track that much more
\nmagical.)<\/p>\n
In a sense, it’s almost like Morse is too technical – aw, who am
\nI kidding, he’s too
\ngood<\/i> for Deep Purple. Sure, the others are talented
\nmusicians. But Morse is a much more technical player, while
\nBlackmore was very much a groove guitarist. Once Blackmore got
\nlocked in the rhythm, all you had to do was sit back and watch.
\nMorse is almost trying too hard. In all fairness, maybe it’s going
\nto take some time to get used to him being in the band; I’ve never
\nreally taken change in Deep Purple that well.<\/p>\n
Much of the music on
\nAbandon<\/i> follows a cookie-cutter formula for Deep Purple:
\nrhythm section, vocals, throw in a guitar and\/or organ solo for
\nflavor. Some of the music, like “Don’t Make Me Happy” and “Evil
\nLouie,” is slower than I’m used to for Deep Purple, and is okay to
\nlisten to. Other songs that could have been cuts worth remembering,
\nsuch as “Jack Ruby,” “’69” and “Any Fule Kno That,” just fall
\nfaster than a diver jumping off a building as pictured on the album
\ncover.<\/p>\n
True, it might take some time before it feels natural for Morse
\nto be in the lead guitarist’s chair for Deep Purple. But unless the
\nsongwriting gets a little fresher and they fix the piss-poor mix of
\nthis album, there aren’t going to be a lot of new fans knocking on
\nDeep Purple’s back door.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":27812,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[5656],"rating":[11204],"class_list":["post-39195","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-deep-purple","rating-rating-c-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/39195","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39195"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/39195\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27812"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39195"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=39195"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=39195"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}