1336. Deep Purple / Purpendicular. 1996. 4/5

It was often said over the years that the tension that brewed within the members of Deep Purple, and in particular between lead singer Ian Gillan and guitarist Ritchie Blackmore, was what helped them to create the amazing back catalogue of albums in their discography, that the drive to succeed and better each other and the group was what helped to create the superlative albums that the band had released. Perhaps there is an element of truth to that, but it must have made time in the studio and the constant touring far less enjoyable than it could have been. The band had slowly peeled away until its eventual hiatus in 1975, something that was discussed in more detail on the review of “Come Taste the Band”, episode 158 of this podcast. The return of the Mark II lineup in 1984 was heralded, but the old arguments returned, which saw Gillan remove himself from the group again for 1990’s “Slave and Masters” album, and then be reinstated for 1993’s “The Battle Rages On”. 1993 was the band’s 25th anniversary, and the record label and other band members wanted Gillan to return for it, something that Blackmore had been decidedly against, only agreeing to it when he receive what amounts to a $250,000 bribe to be a part of it. Good money if you can get it.
Things surprisingly didn’t improve. Tension was still rife within the group. Of particular contention was that Gillan had reworked much of the material that had been written with Joe Lynn Turner for the new album before he had been moved on for Gillan’s return. Blackmore felt that Gillan's rewrites had made the songs less melodic than they had been in their original versions. On the tour that followed, Blackmore became more disgruntled, and began behaving like a petulant child, often not performing his guitar parts and performing spats with crew and cameramen. Eventually Blackmore quit in November 1993, this time for good. Guitar god Joe Satriani was drafted in to complete the tour, shows that were met with unanimous praise and a feeling that perhaps the tension had finally lifted. Satriani was asked to join the band but declined due to his own commitments. Instead, the band unanimously went for Steve Morse, guitarist for the Dixie Dregs, to come into the band, which occurred in August 1994.
Deep Purple was now in a new and different era. Four of the five members of the Mark II lineup remained, alongside their much younger and sprightly guitar player. The 90’s decade had brought about a huge shift in the style and popularity of music genres, and there had to be questions as to where – or whether or not – Deep Purple and their style of music still fit in the changing world. What would their newest recruit bring to the table, and would that be enough to help right the ship? All would be revealed on the album that retrospect likely shows us was the beginning of the next great chapter of the band, the album titled “Purpendicular”.

With so much pressure on the band and their new guitarist from the outset, both Deep Purple and Steve Morse deliver immediately from the opening track “Vavoom: Ted the Mechanic”. Not only is Morse’s staccato guitar riffing immediately prominent, offering his own playing while comfortably fitting straight into the style that Deep Purple have made synonymous, it fits around Gillan’s vocals and both are comfortable together. It has a live feeling about the track, and Morse with his own eccentricities bounds along. Ian Gillan’s lyrics are based around a story he heard in a bar, and he sings it in the narrative style that he performs so well. It’s catchy, has a terrific groove, and the band sounds as though they are having a great time while playing it. “Loosen My Strings” changes the mood up, coming at you with a melodic yet introspection of both music and lyrics, with the layering of Gillan’s vocals drawing more out of this as a result. This style of song is one that Deep Purple had been developing over its past three albums, with Roger Glover’s bass guitar setting the platform of the dulcet mood. Jon Lord’s keys are subtle but enhance that mood throughout, and the song builds through to the fuller sounding conclusion, with Morse’s guitar solo mirroring the beautiful nature of the song as it fades out. It is a song that echoes the direction the band would take into the new century as the band grew into its age and realised it wasn’t the hard rock trend setter it had been at its peak. “Soon Forgotten” has a darker and more experimental tone, driven by Lord’s organ and the offsetting riff he provides on it. Backed by the equally charged harmonics from Morse it is an eerie and unusual atmosphere created here, very unlike Deep Purple, and yet despite the shift in mood its unconventional structure offers a counterpoint to what most would expect from the band. Its adventurous, it's strange, but it is compelling.
Then comes the track that is the album’s glory, one which constituted the true beginning of the new era of Deep Purple, “Sometimes I Feel Like Screaming”. Beginning with Lord’s beautiful piano organ tone and Gillan’s soft and emotionally wrought vocal, it crashes in with the drums, bass and guitar along with the organ back in control, the rise in Gillan’s power slightly to emphasise the growing to the next level of the song. His articulation of his lyrics moves with the song, as Morse and his guitar beautifully accentuate the same beautiful parameters of the track, before crashing to the higher level as Gillan sings more forcefully and emotionally as Ian Paice’s drums drive the harder aspect of the chorus. Then, just as suddenly we sink back to the moving middle section, Lord and Morse switching the front and centre parts as Gillan continues his mid-range emotive exposition, and then climbing back into the chorus again. It is a rising and falling swell throughout the song, moving motions around as it goes. Morse’s solo is still one of the most beautiful things he has ever produced, and then we build to the powerful crash of the wave that blasts the track home, as Gillan tracks over his vocals to double down on the emotive outpouring he and the band have offered throughout. Words of description here barely begin to explain how amazingly beautiful and powerful this song is. Deep Purple used to write hard rock and metal anthems, alongside their amazing hits like “Child in Time”. This song is a thing of beauty, and while it may well be the final truly great song they have ever produced, it most certainly is that. It remains one of my favourite ever Deep Purple songs.
Having recovered from the emotional journey of the previous track, “Cascades: I’m Not Your Lover” brings you back to earth with the more straight forward and traditional hard rocking track. The energy of the live aspect of the band flows through this song, with Lord and Glover dominating the verse and chorus sections, and the drive coming from Paice on drums and Morse on guitar. Gillan’s vocals return to full strength along the way, and the middle section of the song where Lord and Morse are given their chance to shine give it the full Deep Purple candour. “The Aviator” has a true folk-rock feel about its structure, a surprisingly and somewhat humorous thing given the way their former guitarist went with his music over the following three decades. There are touches of Led Zeppelin about this performance, an understated track that Gillan’s lyrics evokes with flight, freedom and introspection. The semi-acoustic touches add another level to the music that the band has composed for this album. The changing depths to the music of this album is given another nudge here. “Rosa’s Cantina” mixes things up further, a very funk, groove-driven track that wouldn’t have been out of place on the Coverdale-Hughes era albums of the mid-1970's. Gillan’s harmonica also makes an appearance. Paice and Glover strut their stuff here holding down the funky groove, with Lord joining in during his musical interlude.
A return to the true merge of organ and guitar comes with “A Castle Full of Rascals”, a track with the mix of the best elements of each member involved. The break down in the middle, the quieter section that splits the song in two, draws in another element of change within the band’s renewed template. “A Touch Away” is a more melodic song, gentler in output more atmospheric in tone through the guitar and organ moodiness. Like “Loosen My Strings” it signals a deliberate change in the band’s direction, subtle though it is at this point of their career. It is another beautifully composed and played track that does not compromise the integrity of the band’s history while certainly pushing the initial beginnings of the band’s growth into its middle age.
“Hey Cisco” clicks back into traditional Deep Purple territory, and the byplay between Lord and Morse here returns in a more upbeat and fun sense, Gillan’s bouncy vocals drawing off the similar bass line from Glover and the busier drumming from Paice to create an enjoyable and tempo raising track. This is followed the lean back into the blues based hard rock anthem of “Somebody Stole My Guitar”, with Gillan’s best story-telling vocals when he sounds at his most confident. These kinds of songs are often Deep Purple’s best because the band sounds relaxed and the songs come across that way as a result. The album then concludes with “The Purpendicular Waltz”, a whimsical, rhythmically unusual track that blends rock with a waltz‑like feel. It’s a bold ending, once again showcasing the band’s willingness to experiment and that there is a definite air of change about what the band is offering. With their new guitarist on board, and a more collaborative feeling within the group due to Morse’s arrival, it concludes an album that exudes a new start for a band, one that hits all of the right notes.

The mid-1990's was a scene of massive upheaval in the music world that I resided in, along with the real world I was trying to navigate. The result of this was that 1996 was a year that I didn’t go out and find a whole lot of new albums that were being released. And despite my adulation of the band and ALL of the albums they had released up until that point, this album and its follow up passed me by on its release. It wasn’t until Deep Purple made their belated return to Australian shores after 15 years in 1999 that I found out this album and its follow up existed. I saw them live without knowing them, and after that concert I tracked both albums down. So the last Deep Purple album I had listened to had been the previous release “The Battle Rages On” with Blackmore, which I enjoy, but having seen Steve Morse live I was looking forward to hearing what he had contributed to the band in the studio.
This had been an interesting album when I finally got around to hearing it. And that comes solely from what I’ve already spoken about, the change in how Deep Purple were heading with their sound, that begins right here on this album. And that change is gradual over several albums, before they become the comfortable sounding almost lounge club act that they have become over their last couple of albums. Listening to the changes in musical style of the band through songs such as “Loosen My Strings”, “Soon Forgotten”, “The Aviator” and “A Touch Away” was something that, when I first listened to the album, I didn’t think I was prepared for. But in the long run I was wrong. Deep Purple was not the young, brash trend setting band they had been in the 1970’s. And with the movement in music genre that had taken place during the 1990’s decade, the fact that Deep Purple had not followed those trends, and had instead found what they were comfortable in writing and recording, and stuck true to their own core musically while incorporating the changes that THEY wanted to be directed by, meant that their integrity was retained, and for me as a fan I found that to be comforting. What is perhaps ironic is that there can be a case made that this was the kind of thing Blackmore had been pushing for with the “Slaves and Masters” album, and which had been stripped away when Gillan had returned for “The Battle Rages On”.
My CD copy of this album has been out again for the last couple of weeks, and to me this still sounds magnificent. This is still a Deep Purple album, despite what may be presented here in this review. It is a more modern, less bombastic version of the band from their heyday, but so it should be after almost 30 years, and the sound that they initially came from. Deep Purple has reinvented itself three or four times over its journey to this album, each to incorporate newer members of the band, and incorporating their sound into their music. And it has always worked. And it works again here. The core of the band here has been together for an eternity, and it is always a comfort to hear them play together. And Steve Morse is just marvellous, and his contribution to the album and the band is spectacular. None better than on this track, which is still one of the best things this band has ever produced.