Who Do We Think We Are <\/i>was the seventh studio album by Deep Purple and the fourth and last (until 1984) to include the classic Gillan, Blackmore, Glover, Lord, and Paice lineup. Gillan and Glover left the group following the release of this album and were replaced by vocalist David Coverdale and bassist Glenn Hughes. <\/p>\n
Infighting and ultimately personal changes, plus the release of such strong and classic albums as Machine Head <\/i>and Live In Japan, <\/i>have served to overshadow Who Do We Think We Are. <\/i>All of this is unfortunate, as I consider this album to be one of the group\u2019s strongest. It also contains my favorite Deep Purple song.<\/p>\n
This is a short album clocking in at just over 34 minutes. The brevity of this release provides a tight structure for the group, especially Ritchie Blackmore and Jon Lord, which is missing on many of their releases. The solos and improvisations are kept under control, too, which is welcome.<\/p>\n
The classic Deep Purple track \u201cWoman From Tokyo\u201d kicks off the album. Crashing chords, subtle bass, changing tempos, good vocals, and a solid piano line which connects the two parts of the song all add up to a memorable track. <\/p>\n
Three better-than-average tracks complete side one of the original LP release. \u201cMary Long\u201d has pulsating rhythms behind Ian Gillan\u2019s screeching vocal performance, and the lyrics even tell a story, which is rare for Deep Purple. \u201cSuper Trooper\u201d is really too short, but Blackmore sets a melody and Jon Lord underpins this guitar sound with some solid keyboard work. \u201cSmooth Dancer\u201d returns the group to frenetic paced rock & roll. It is Jon Lord\u2019s keyboards that drive this song rather than Blackmore\u2019s guitar. <\/p>\n
The second side of this album provides some of the best listening in the Deep Purple catalogue; for one, \u201cRat Bat Blue\u201d is my favorite cut from the group. Blackmore\u2019s opening guitar chords sets the stage for Ian Gillan\u2019s vocals, and the track itself looks ahead to Blackmore\u2019s next group, Rainbow. It is really five minutes of rock & roll bliss. Meanwhile, \u201cPlace In Line\u201d is a slower blues oriented track that places the emphasis squarely on Ian Gillan\u2019s vocals. Deep Purple in slow mode is always a welcome addition to any recording. \u201cOur Lady\u201d is not of the quality of the first two songs but comes across as an average Purple song with Blackmore\u2019s guitar and Lord\u2019s keyboards providing the foundation. <\/p>\n
Who Do We Think We Are <\/i>is an overlooked gem and should be essential listening for any listener interested in Deep Purple and the evolution of hard rock.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":59,"featured_media":29420,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[5656],"rating":[5613],"class_list":["post-40997","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-deep-purple","rating-rating-a-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/40997","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\/59"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40997"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/40997\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29420"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40997"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40997"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=40997"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=40997"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}