Yes, in the dusk of their career, the Purps are suddenly everybody's darling (when critics used to despise them).
It's an excellent album, very varied, proggy in places and they are - as always in the Morse era - unafraid to try new things, yet the trademark "gorgan" (guitar & organ riffing) attack remains; as a laugh they also covered the song that started their debut album in 1968, an instrumental, drummer Ian Paice is the only one who can be heard on both versions:
This is the most intriguing song on the album; it's typical Ian Gillan ingenuity how the tiptoeing musical theme (Gillan only starts writing lyrics and melodies after the DP tracks are mostly finished, the band does not have a clue what he will come up with) inspired him to the lyrics "Step by Step":
Deep Purple hit the dance floor:
Latching on to their rhythm & blues roots:
Ian Gillan calling his inner Elvis, I always like it when he does that, not to mention rhyming "Joanna" with "piano"!!!
The most lighthearted song, with lovely call and response riffing and fills from Steve and Don:
This track kicks off the album, catchy chorus (not always DP's forte) and I love Don Airey's symphonic interjections in the verse.
Gillans witticism, stream-of-consciousness observations and general wordplay put him in a league of his own as a lyricist in the hard rock genre. Has a, say, Led Zep lyric ever made you laugh
or think? Even if you squeeze yourself so hard the brain juice runs down your legs?
