Deep Purple go Bananas!
Published September 01, 2003
Deep Purple - Bananas
What do Deep Purple albums have in common with Star Trek movies? As any trekkie will tell you, Trek movies follow an odd/even rule, where films alternate between good and bad. So it is with Purple albums. They followed the classic Machine Head with the going-through-the-motions Who Do We Think We Are, the revitalised Burn with the patchy Stormbringer. After their excellent 1984 reunion album Perfect Strangers came the lacklustre House of Blue Light. The followup to the fresh and adventurous Purpendicular was the tired-sounding Abandon. On this reckoning, Bananas should be one of the good ones.
Bananas is also the first album not to feature founder member Jon Lord, who decided he was simply too old for the band's endless touring. His replacement on the keyboards is longtime member of the hard rock session mafia, Don Airey, veteran of many, many bands, including Rainbow, Blizzard of Ozz and The Gary Moore band. For the benefit of those that haven't been following the band in recent years, they retain long time members Ian Gillan, Roger Glover and Ian Paice, plus on guitar Steve Morse, who replaced Richie Blackmore three albums ago after the mercurial Man in Black threw one strop too many and quit the band.
So does the album follow the odd/even rule?
Yes, I would say it does. My initial impression on first listening was that the feel was closer to Ian Gillan's recent solo material that to recent Purple albums. Perhaps this was to be expected in a band now without both Jon Lord and Richie Blackmore. However, repeated listens throw up a lot of parellels with Purpendicular, the first album with Steve Morse, indicating that he had a big input in the writing. The classic Purple sound hasn't disappeared, as shown by the opener "House of Pain", one of those songs that invites you to turn the volume up as loud as your neighbours will permit.
Other parts of the album has a loose and relaxed feel, much more so than recent releases. There's a string-laden ballad "Haunted" (Remember Ozzy's "So Tired"?) and the acoustic "Never a Word". The best numbers are saved for the end of the album, the title track, featuring some very ELP-like keyboard work from Don Airey, and the energetic closer "Doing it Tonight", which deserves to be released as a single. Of course, Gillan's lyrics are as sexist as ever, but what did you expect?
Overall, a good solid album. While it's no Machine Head or Burn, it's still one of the better post-reunion albums, and a big improvement on it's predecessor, Abandon. I hope they play songs like "Doing it Tonight" and "House of Pain" on the forthcoming tour, rather than play "Black Night" for the squillionth time.
The Purps aren't done yet.
- Deep Purple go Bananas!
- Published: September 01, 2003
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- Section: Music
- Filed Under: Music: Classic Rock and Oldies, Music: Metal, Music: Rock
- Writer: Tim Hall
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My favorite album with Don Airey playing on it.
an odd/even rule, where films alternate between good and bad. So it is with Purple albums
Rubbish, at least with respect to the 70s albums (haven't heard the later versions of the band). In Rock, Fireball and Machine Head were three perfectly good albums in a row. The ho-hum Stormbringer was followed by the similarly ho-hum Come Taste The Band. And where does Made In Japan fit in?
Rubbish, at least with respect to the 70s albums (haven't heard the later versions of the band). In Rock, Fireball and Machine Head were three perfectly good albums in a row.
IIRC In Rock wasn't that well regarded at the time (see the liner notes in the remaster; Blackmore still does like it). Come Taste The Band is a controversial album that some people love and others hate;
The Odd/Even rule works much better for the 80s/90s output you admit you haven't listed to, although arguably House of Blue Light, Slaves and Masters and The Battle Rages On were three weak albums in a row. Certainly nothing from those three survives in the live set.
As for Made In Japan, I was referring to studio albums; live albums are a quite different kettle of fish.
Star Trek Nemesis (even numbered 10) wasn't that good either, so that sort of destroys the good/bad superstition/theory for trekkies.
In Rock MADE Deep Purple in Britain, and perhaps the rest of Europe. Before that they were just a Vanilla Fudge knockoff (in the eyes of the British). It also cast the die for the rest of Deep Purple's career, bringing Blackmore's guitar to the fore. No wonder Blackmore likes it (whereas Gillian speaks highly of Fireball). In Rock may not have made much of an impression in America, but then neither did Fireball.
The odd/even theory's not bad, except that some of Purple's best songs ("The Shield", "Strange Kind of Woman", "Soldier of Fortune", Lady Double Dealer", and "Bad Attitude") are on the "weak" albums. And once you've heard Machine Head for the millionth time, all those wierd songs on Fireball start to sound interesting. Count me as a big fan of both Stormbringer and Come Taste the Band.
As for what remains in the live set, that may have more to do with a song's improvisational potential than how big a hit it was.
Which reminds me: Pearl Jam now releases all their concerts on CD; wouldn't that be an even better idea with Deep Purple?
"What do Deep Purple albums have in common with Star Trek movies?"
Both are GUARANTEED to prevent you from getting laid, so you might say they're 100% effective contraception.
Hey now :) I'll be here all week, folks.
That is all.
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Don Airey was born to play classic organ-friendly songs like Child in Time.
Deep Purple remains one of my favorite concerts of all time. Saw them outside and they were great. They really beat on their equipment though, namely Blackmoore (not sure if Morse has copied Blackmoore's destructive stage act) with the smash the guitar stuff.
A minor correction, though (unless this is some obscure fact about the Ozzman), the band wasn't named Blizzard of Ozz, that was the title of the first Ozzy Osbourne solo album containing Airey, Bob Daisley, Lee Kerslake, Randy Rhoads, and Lee Kerslake on drums (soon followed by Tommy Aldridge).