Albums are rated as follows: * * * * * none more Deep, none more Purple; * * * * the Royal Purple; * * * Darker than Blue; * * more Lilac than Purple; * devoid of Colour.

SHADES OF DEEP PURPLE (1968, Mk I): * *
The Band's first album, and one of three recorded by the original Mark I line-up. The music of this sixties era original band, although heavy in parts, is as much psychedelia as heavy rock. It does however give some pointers to where the band would go and it's interesting to hear the seed of the famous Blackmore/Lord interplay take root. Tracks of note include of course the classic first hit Hush, as a single a track the Mk I line-up never equalled. Mandrake Root is another early touchstone, with brilliant playing that allowed the track to be spun out to ridiculous lengths live. The cover of the Beatles' Help is clunky and unremarkable. Hey Joe is better, the band putting their unique and exuberant stamp on the song in places. Overall, a no more than average debut, memorable mostly for the hit single, but still possessing in parts virtuoso musicianship and evidence of a real talent in some of the players.

BOOK OF TALIESYN (1969, Mk I): * * *
Easily the best of the Mk I albums, although still not excellent, it does shine in parts, and some of the musical passages are strangely funky and quite compelling. It opens with Listen Learn Read On, a number that could only have been recorded in the sixties; it's a strange song and quite an interesting curio in the history of Purple. Wring That Neck is one of the bands brilliant early instrumentals, with a quirky and catchy riff and top-notch band interplay. The cover of Neil Diamond's Kentucky Woman is best forgotten, so too the stab at the Beatles' We Can Work It Out in the middle of the otherwise interesting instrumental Exposition. A couple more decent originals and the album closes with another cover, River Deep Mountain High, which is memorable more for the cracking instrumental sections than the vocal part of the song. Here is where it first becomes apparent that Rod Evans is not much of a vocalist, not for where Purple want to go. His range is just too limited and his style so sixties that he couldn't really cope with the complicated proto heavy rock direction the band was taking. The band are also missing a real songwriter, their best moments are instrumental, and Evans contributes little in the way of original vocal harmonies or decent lyrics. That said you could still tell that the musicians on here are pretty special. If you have to own one of the Mk I albums, this is it.

DEEP PURPLE (1969, Mk I): * *
The original band's last album sees them treading water and provides further evidence of Rod Evans shortcomings. The band, after the success of first single Hush, had failed to make further headway in a commercial sense, and the reason seemed to be a lack of a really talented songwriter and vocalist, although once again some of the musicianship is excellent. Few of the songs on here will be familiar to anyone but the most hardcore Purple fan; the only track the band ever played afterwards form this release being Bird Has Flown. That's a good number, but the Mk II version with Gillan on vocals is much better. At least almost everything on here is self-penned, the band having given up recording over the top cover versions of 60s classics. There is some brilliant musicianship on display but in parts it seems that Lord is winning the battle with Blackmore over whether the band should be Guitar lead or Keyboard lead. Lord even ropes in a String and Woodwind section during twelve minute closing composition April, for a piece composed and arranged by him. A pointer maybe to the strangely hat-stand idea of playing with the London Philharmonic on the Lord written Deep Purple Concerto for Group and Orchestra recording. But Purple at least had developed an identifiable sound, a heady mix of American garage rock a la Vanilla Fudge and Iron Butterfly, British Blues and Psychedelia, and Classical elements brought by John Lord. The world was at their feet.

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DEEP PURPLE IN ROCK (1970, Mk II): * * * * *
This is where it all changed, Evans was sacked, so too Nick Simper. The boys had stolen Episode Six's powerful and unique vocalist Ian Gillan, and with Gillan came best friend Roger Glover. The band had found two other musicians up to their high standard, Gillan being a brilliant singer and lyric writer, Glover a top bassist, song writer, arranger and studio hand. This album was released around the same time as Black Sabbath's classic debut, and along with Led Zeppelin II released in 69, is one of the three most influential records in the formation of Heavy Metal. The band had found their groove and its obvious from the off. Speed King is frantic, distortion laden organ sounds building until the song kicks in furiously with Gillan screaming the lyric. Evans is instantly forgotten. Famous rock producer Martin Birch made his reputation with the band, and he really captures that Heavy sound that all young bands of the day were after. Blackmore is a star born, his breathtaking guitar playing drives the whole album along and for the first time he is clearly the boss. The classic ten minute Child In Time is a stunning piece of music. It opens with John Lord's keyboard line, one of the most recognisable in rock music history. Gillan's words are heartfelt and restrained before he lifts the song into the extraordinary with his repeated wordless pleading, building to a spine tingling scream. Its here that Lord and Blackmore kick in for a blistering five-minute mid section that truly reached new levels of power and musical virtuosity in the rock field at the time of release. Flight of the Rat has spectacular drumming from Paice, his beat driving the whole piece. Throughout the album Paice's drums are heavy and to the fore and frequently catch your attention when he pulls off another great roll or fill. Into The Fire is another classic with a brilliant riff from Blackmore. The album doesn't let up anywhere, it is intense throughout, right up to last track Hard Lovin Man where the musicians get to wig out and really go for it. Purple were making a new form of music, heavy, involved, overpowering, infectious. Huge success deservedly followed.

FIREBALL (1971, Mk II): * * * * *
Could Deep Purple follow the brilliance of their Mk II debut? Course they could, and what's more they go further, expanding the Purple sound and laying on the experimentation without fear. Fireball is a challenging and engaging listen, and for me the most satisfying of all the bands albums. It opens with the fantastic title track which is instantly recognisable as Purple and very much in the mould of the previous album. Second track No No No is a powerful straight-ahead rocker, the riff not dissimilar to Into the Fire. So far the band have stuck to the formula that was so successful on In Rock, but from the third track Demon's Eye on it changes. Demon's Eye sees the Purps take a much more laid back approach and conjure up one of their catchiest tunes. Blackmore showcases his talent for writing unforgettable riffs and the band put a real groove behind it. Anyone's Daughter is acoustic and rustic in sound with great comical lyrics from Gillan. Its one of the most unusual tracks they ever recorded and still sounds great. On the long involved numbers that made up side two of the original album Purple simply do whatever they want, recording three totally differing, but equally excellent heavy rock classics. The Mule places a simple vocal at the start and then its signature riff repeats and repeats in various guises until the whole piece becomes hypnotic. Fools is dark and daring, one minute heavy and full on with Gillan's ghostly lyrics, the next almost silent as Lord patches in an enchanting keyboard piece. Best of the lot has to be No One Came; the song opens on a one-note riff played on Guitar, Keyboard and Bass before Gillan delivers one his most intricate and best vocal/lyrical performances. Lord and Blackmore both contribute sparkling solos and the song heads off into a weird sonic dimension at the end. Deep Purple were flying and producing extraordinary experimental rock.

MACHINEHEAD (1972, Mk II): * * * * *
The third of a trilogy of absolutely essential releases from the Mk II line-up. Purple effortlessly followed Fireball with their biggest selling album, regarded by many as their defining moment. The album opens with oft-used set opener Highway Star, high-octane rock from the start, a real signature Purple classic. The next three tracks show a new maturity in Purples song writing skills. Never Before is almost pop with a distinct Beatles feel and it's strange it wasn't a hit when released as a single. Pictures of Home is the most effective, a driving rocker with soaring vocals, its somewhat of a forgotten gem. It was at the beginning of side two that the band just happened to unleash one of the greatest rock songs of all time in the form of Smoke On The Water. The riff from Blackmore is possibly the most recognisable in rock history, and Gillian's lyric and story capture the listener and carry them into the song. Over familiarity sometimes make you forget how good it really is, but listening again now, it is quite simply perfect in every respect. Lazy, the jazz-tinged "instrumental with vocals", as Gillan puts it, is next. The band are great here, Lord and Blackmore weaving in and out of each other, building slowly and to great effect. Gillan's vocal is relaxed and laid back to begin before he raises it up an octave or two, twisting and stretching the words to fit the note, spectacular! Closing track Space Truckin' is among the heaviest they ever recorded, powerful and over the top in everyway, Gillan screaming the refrain right to the end, the band finishing the album in a bluster of power and potency. With this release Purple passed into the history books and reached a pinnacle in a long and outstanding career.

WHO DO WE THINK WE ARE (1973, Mk II): * * *
The Mark II line-ups last album, that is until the reformation. This is a pretty good release, and excellent by anybody else's standard, but its not quite up there in the classic bracket with their other releases of the period. By this stage internal ructions between Gillan and Blackmore had surfaced and Gillan has admitted it effected the music. Because the band weren't getting on the drive for musical invention and progression was stifled and for the first time Purple didn't offer anything new in the way of direction. That said there are still some cracking numbers. Woman From Tokyo was another hit single, another instant classic and is easily up there with earlier singles. Mary Long is my personal favourite, and the band has recently revived this number for inclusion in the live set. Gillan satirises the right wing establishment and their ideas of decency cleverly in the lyric. Smooth Dancer was an obvious swipe at Blackmore from Gillan, but whether the man in the silly hat noticed is open to debate. If he did he never let it effect his performance because his guitar line here is brilliant and snake like. The beautiful Our Lady is also memorable. Although they didn't know it at the time, this would be the last recording by this line up for 11 years. Its not a bad way to bow out, albeit temporarily. Gillan resigned after the tour for this album, and as Glover had come in with him, the man in black thought it would be a good idea to sack him as well. This would be the start of Blackmore's legendry inability to keep a steady line-up together in whatever band.

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BURN (1974, Mk III): * * * * *
So in came Purples third vocal and bass pairing, in the form of the unknown David Coverdale and former Trapeze leader Glenn Hughes respectively. How could this band possibly follow upon the genre defining heavy rock releases left behind by the Mk II line-up? Quite simply they didn't try to. Purple's sound shifted and took on a much more bluesy soulful feel which made them sound quite different from the previous incarnation. This is still definitely in the Heavy Rock idiom, but at times very different from the histrionic Mk II sound. The opening title track is probably the most traditional Purple song on the album, and the band showcase the fact they now have two great vocal talents, as bassist Hughes is also a truly gifted singer. It's a great driving forceful blues rock number with Coverdale and Hughes trading vocal licks to great effect. Second track Might Just Take Your Life exemplifies the band's new direction perfectly. The guitar riff from Blackmore is much softer and the whole thing is about catching a groove rather than capturing the raw power of Mk II. Sail Away is the first of two great ballads written by Coverdale and Blackmore. Its strange treated riff is instantly memorable and one of the man in black's most original. The second big slow number is Mistreated, a classic to this day, still sung by Coverdale in Whitesnake on occasion. It is a blustering, rambling blues track with powerful singing from an emotional Coverdale. In fact Coverdale sounds amazing throughout, no mean feat considering his youth and the fact this was his first professional band. It takes big swingers to step up to the Mic and attempt to fill Gillan's shoes. He did an admirable job. Other tracks include the funk driven, ethnic vibe of You Fool No One, and Jon Lords unusual but captivating instrumental A200. I don't know where the inspiration for this came from, I think Lord had a new keyboard at the time, or quite how he achieves the weird organ riff that carries it along, but it is a brilliant and surprising way to close another classic album.

STORMBRINGER (1974, MK III): * * *
The second and last studio album by the funky and elastic Mk III line-up. This is no match for its predecessor, but it's still a top-notch recording and probably the bands most commercial release to date at the time. The title track and opener continues in classic Deep Purple first song style. It's powerful and relentless with another killer riff from Blackmore. The track proves that Purple could still whip up a fair amount of rock fury, however the remainder of the album somewhat belies the bands hard rock reputation. It was a new direction that some fans, and apparently Blackmore himself didn't appreciate. The rest of the tracks here are pretty laid back and soulful, definitely Glenn Hughes' influence. His influences were much blacker than Purples, early blues and the beautiful 60s soul of the Mowtown label. He is all over this album. Love Don't Mean a Thing is a great funk number with humorous, if somewhat sexist lyrics, Coverdale and Hughes swapping singing duties every few lines. Blackmore is more than happy to take a back seat and let the bass line carry it along. Both singers get a track to themselves, Hughes on the sweet and thoughtful Holyman, Coverdale on the classic ballad and album closer Soldier of Fortune. The two songs highlight their differing singing styles and influences perfectly. Holyman is a soul ballad and Hughes never lets the vocal get beyond relaxed making the performance sound effortless. Soldier of Fortune is a blues rock ballad Coverdale deliberately imbuing his vocal performance with drama and breaking power. Both are excellent songs. The remainder of the album is made up of decent funky soulful rockers and its obvious from the lack of incendiary guitar playing that Blackmore wasn't too interested anymore. In fact he called this album "Shoeshine Music" and promptly cleared off to form Rainbow. It was the beginning of the end for Purple and their commercial heyday.

COME TASTE THE BAND (1975, MK IV): * * * *

Never has an album polarised fans as much as Come Taste the Band. Purple fans have been known to draw firearms to defend their point of view on this much-maligned recording, such is its effect on people, or not as maybe. It is an album that has us fans at each other's throats, so to speak.

But what's all the fuss? Is it because of the music? It's not really that much of a departure from "Stormbringer" and that wasn't that badly received, just a few mumbles of discontent. Is it because Mr Blackmore wasn't on board? Possibly, but then again, his efforts on "Stormbringer" were hardly note-worthy. The truth is, it's a combination of both these factors. Rock fans like Rock music…it's that simple. They don't like change, especially change that is drastic.
The loss of Blackmore and the introduction of new guitarist Tommy Bolin (ex-James Gang/Alphonse Mouson) was bad enough, had he been a guitar player who was a carbon copy of Mr B., but he was the exact opposite. He was funk driven, soaked in jazz, he even smiled for God's sake! He played with untrained passion and flair, a million miles away from Ritchie's classically trained runs. He had to be told when his strings needed changing. He was in short, the wrong man for the job. That wasn't his fault, though! They chose him, and when the band gelled it produced some really great stuff. "Getting tighter" is one of the best Purple songs there is…full stop. A full-on funk masterpiece highlighting Hughes' voice and Bolin's mastery of the guitar. Opener "Coming Home" is essentially a solo for Bolin to show off, it's also a cracker. Coverdale's ode to Hughes' drug problem "Dealer" is another tune of note and "Ode to G /This time around" is quite simply beautiful, to say nothing of the sublime "You keep on moving". The final example of the Hughes/Coverdale harmony vocal in full flight. As you may have gathered from reading this I'm a fan of Deep Purple Mk IV. Their flawed genius was at worst cringe-worthy and at best awe-inspiring. Come Taste The Band is a great album…It's not the best Purple record, but it's far from the worst. That was still to come.

PERFECT STRANGERS (1984, MK II [2]): * * * *
Eight years later, a new decade, a greatly altered musical landscape and Purple decide to return. In between times of course the ex members of the band had enjoyed great success with Rainbow, Whitesnake and Gillan. By 84 Rainbow had split and Gillian's rather progressive and hippy solo work had gone out of fashion. However Metal itself was in the middle of a renaissance with the New Wave of British Heavy Metal featuring young bands like Iron Maiden and Def Leppard. The most successful Purple line-up, both commercially and creatively, sensed unfinished business and reconvened to record an excellent album that proved they could still pass muster. Perfect Strangers is a brilliant rock record and two of its tracks deservedly became instant Purple classics. Knocking at Your Back Door is the first of these and opens the album. Blackmore pulls off a signature riff reminiscent of the famous score for the Spielberg movie Jaws before the song breaks in to reveal a lyrically clever verse and chorus. Its as if the band had never been away. The second classic is the title track, a weird mix of phased double tracked vocals and eastern tinged guitar. Lyrically the song seems to deal with the band itself and the personal problems between Gillan and Blackmore. Both these songs are easily the equal of past glories. The rest of the album isn't quite there. It's all pretty direct heavy rock dominated by Blackmore, Lord somewhat surprisingly taking a back seat in many songs. Nobody's home is probably the best of them; it catches that real authentic Mk II feel and wouldn't have sounded out of place on Machinehead. Wasted Sunsets is the ballad and features a refreshingly raw feel and a guitar solo that sounds like it was done in one take. Hungry Daze looks back lyrically to the heady times of the early 70s and features a nice mid-section where Lord pops up and the band almost let go enough to reach that weird aural plateau they once occupied. Don't get me wrong these are all good numbers, its just that none really stand out as classic and there seems to be a deliberate lack of musical experimentation in places. It sounds as if the band wanted to play it pretty safe with their first comeback album. And who could blame them. It worked, Perfect Strangers was a huge record which saw the band right back at the top and headlining the Knebworth Festival the following summer in front of 200,000 punters.

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HOUSE OF BLUE LIGHT (1987, MK II [2]): * * *
After the success of Perfect Strangers the band followed it with their most commercial release to date. It was the mid eighties and polished AOR was the order of the day, the likes of Bon Jovi and Leppard high in the charts. Purple, mistakenly in hindsight, decided to play the game and came up with a set of well produced (over produced?) adult rock songs. This was probably Blackmore's doing, the man said to be obsessive in relation to scoring hit singles. "You're no one unless the postman whistles your song on the way down the street" someone once told the enigmatic black minstrel, and he took it to heart. This is still Purple and still rocks but it has that eighties sound which hasn't dated well and now sounds inappropriate. Call Of The Wild is the worst offender, cheesy lyrics and big chorus that just doesn't sit well with the band. It became a failed single. Elsewhere there are some diamonds hidden in the dust. Strangeways is a brilliant prog-rocker carried along by an absorbing Lord riff, Gillan's lyrics are excellent. Spanish Archer is nearer to a jam, the guitar line based around lucid soloing from Blackmore interrupted by a verse now and then. It's a simple structure that works well. Mitzi Dupree was recorded live after the band spent a night in the pub, it's the most natural song here, and largely escapes the over-the-top production. The two opening tracks are effective enough, Bad Attitude typical of the band and Unwritten Law featuring a nice stuttering Blackmore guitar riff. Elsewhere however, tracks like Mad Dog and Hard Lovin Woman can be described as no more than filler. No songs from this record came to be regarded as classics. The new direction wasn't to Gillan's liking and once again problems arose between him and Blackmore. The legendry vocalist wasn't given the chance to resign this time around and was sacked after the band had toured House Of Blue Light and released a live album.

SLAVES AND MASTERS (1990, MK V): * * *
Purple regrouped and with Gillan gone this was now very much Blackmore's band. So he flexed his muscle and hired ex-Rainbow frontman Joe Lynn Turner. Turner of course was Rainbow vocalist during their pop rock days scoring the big hit single I Surrender. It was obvious what direction Blackmore had in mind. At this stage the guitarist seemed uninterested in pushing the musical envelope and more interested in getting on MTV. The resulting album was not surprisingly radio friendly and featured the big rock ballad single, Love Conquers All. By Purples standards this Bryan Adams type song is scraping the barrel. It wasn't as bad elsewhere, like any group of talented, experienced musicians Purple are incapable of making a really bad album, just some not as good as others. Where this album really suffers is in the overall feel of it, Joe Lynn Turner just doesn't sound right for Purple, his voice much too middle of the road white rock. The whole thing ends up sounding like a Turner era Rainbow record with John Lord guesting on keyboards. The more purple sounding songs like Fire In The Basement and Wicked Ways are crying out for Gillan's signature squall. King of Dreams wasn't bad, if slightly over atmospheric. Truth Hurts and Breakfast In Bed are the only two songs good enough to make you forget this is meant to be Deep Purple and just concentrate on the music. Consequently they sound less Purple than anything else on the album, but are its two best numbers. It was obvious this line-up wouldn't last. It lacked all credibility with the music press and most fans. Deep Purple's star had never sunk lower in terms of popularity. Thankfully after a short tour Turner was shown the door.

THE BATTLE RAGES ON (1993, MK II [3]): * * *
All hail the return of Ian Gillan. The band sat down after Turner's departure and agreed that Gillan was the only singer for Deep Purple. Whether the man in black agreed or just kept quiet is open to conjecture. Either or, the resulting album wasn't half bad, the band at least making an attempt to return to the more balls out heavy rock sound of the original Mk II days. Opener and title track The Battle Rages On is excellent, with another signature riff from Blackmore. It was the first classic they had written in a long time. Lick It Up, Talk About Love and Time To Kill are all straight ahead rockers, these songs have catchy choruses and guitar licks but the production is a million miles away from House Of Blue Light. Anya is a beautiful number, Blackmore pulling off an astounding piece of classical guitar at the beginning before the song moves into the epic with a huge guitar and keyboard motif. So the riff at the opening of the verse section is lifted directly by Blackmore from Rainbow's Stranded, but its used to much greater effect here. Ramshackle Man has a real live feel and is reminiscent of Green Onions by Booker T And The MGs. Some of the remaining tracks, as on House Of Blue Light, are just this side of filler but taken as a whole this was the band's best release since Perfect Strangers almost ten years before. But once again it wouldn't last. Legend has it that the personality clashes were there again from the off and that Blackmore airmailed much of his contribution to Roger Glover on disc. It's a credit to Glover's production skills that the album has a generic feel and hangs together as one piece. Gillan was again bemoaning Blackmore's lack of musical risk taking and domination of the band, also bemoaning the fact he controlled the live set and stuck rigidly to tried and tested classics. Gillan wanted to branch out, experiment, play some of the older rarer tracks live. The band was hardly riding the crest of a wave in terms of success. In fact they were in danger of becoming a parody of themselves, touring around the world with the same hairy old set list. At last the four other members picked up the balls to sack their lead guitarist. Goodbye Mr Blackmore.

PURPENDICULAR (1996, MK VII): * * * * *
Steve Morse, largely unknown to the general public, but already somewhat of a legend among other guitar players and musicians, was hired as a permanent replacement for Blackmore. No one knew what to expect, but upon release of Purpendicular the bands decision was vindicated. This is an astounding piece of work and easily the best album to feature the Purple moniker since Burn way back in 1974. Coming it at over an hour with twelve tracks and not a single note of filler, not an ounce of fat anywhere, this was the bands longest and most involved release ever. Morse is quite simply superb, being confident enough in his own abilities not to try and sound anything like Blackmore. The album opens with Vavoom: Ted The Mechanic and the difference is discernable straight away. Gillan is free here to write whatever lyrics he wants and to indulge in his complicated vocal melodies. The song tells the story of a meeting with a man of the world in a bar, it's captivating. On Loosen My Strings Morse comes up with his first brilliant guitar melody for purple, a beautiful and melodic lead line around which Gillan wraps an equally melodic vocal melody. Next up is Soon Forgotten, very much a Jon Lord number featuring a heavy overdriven organ riff as powerful as any guitar riff the band has ever recorded. Sometimes I Feel Like Screaming is the real album highlight and Morse's guitar line is again breathtaking, especially as it spins around the end of the track for well over a minute. Its great to hear the band sound so alive and free, so uninhibited and unafraid to go where the music takes them. The Aviator is a real surprise coming across like mid period Jethro Tull. It sounds like nothing they have recorded before and showcases a real lightness of touch from Morse. There is a lovely Latin feel running through a lot of the album, which is best showcased in Rosa's Cantina and Hey Cisco. Again Purple make an effort to expand their sound to great effect. A touch Away is an effecting ballad, played with restraint and sung plaintively; it's a million times better than Love Conquers All. Closing track Purpendicular Waltz is no more than an organised jam, Gillan sounding as if he's making some of the lyrics up on the spot, but it is strangely mesmerising and you can almost feel that spark of invention, almost see the electricity in front of your face. At this stage in their career many thought Purple were past making truly great music, they were wrong. Amazing what a new guitarist and a weight lifted from your shoulders can do.

ABANDON (1998, MK VII): * * *
Another cracking release, this isn't a classic like Purpendicular, buts its third in the pecking order after Perfect Strangers in the list of albums made since the reformation. After the release of the previous album the band toured relentlessly and re-established themselves as a creditable rock act and a serious concert draw. The resulting studio album is very much a road record, the songs being loosely structured in places and obviously resulting from live jams. Purple are simply enjoying themselves here and flexing their musical muscle. The musical interplay is intense and involved, and at times jaw-dropping. Opening track Any Fule Know That is in a similar wordy style to Ted The Mechanic, but just not quite as brilliant and as its second time around, not as original. Don't Make Me Happy is another cracking ballad, reminiscent of the distant classic When A Blind Man Cries. The song sounds so natural and untouched by modern production techniques. It's a Purple track you couldn't date as it could have been recorded at any time in their Gillan history. Finger To The Bone is probably the best song on the album. It's a touching story of redundancy with a deceptively simple guitar riff and a classical piano line that grows on you until you are hooked by its sincere gravitas. Two other great tracks lie back to back in Seventh Heaven and Watching The Sky. In these tracks the band really show off their musical chops and play off each other in expert style. Gillan too is given free reign to spin intricate lyrics and vocal melodies around the expressive and complicated musical backing. He hasn't written songs this involved since the Ian Gillan Band days. The album doesn't quite last the distance however, and in the middle there is a bit of slack with two or three tracks that, although pleasantly performed, could have been left in the vaults. Penultimate song Evil Louie picks the CD up again with a cool stop/start groove in the verse and preening guitar melody in the bridge before Gillan delivers one of the best choruses on the album. We even get a re-recording of Bludsucker from 1970's In Rock at the end, where amazingly Gillan sings the chorus in an even higher key than on the original.

In conclusion Purple have a new album out in October, produced by shit hot producer of the day Michael Bradford. The word is it's set to be a classic. Gillan declared during the recording process that he thought the band were ready to make their Sgt Pepper. Bradford's studio reports have been encouraging and very complimentary about both Purple's musical talent and the direction the band is taking. A full review will of course appear on www.imarocker.com upon release. We await its arrival with baited breath.

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