Label: EMI Records (Europe), 7243 4 95306 2 1
Style: Hard Rock
Country: London, England
Time: 56:23
Format: Flac Tracks 16/44,1 kHz
Size: 389 Mb
Charts: UK #76, AUT #25, FIN #14, GER #16, NOR #6, SWE #32, SWI #46.
In
1994, Deep Purple had been fortified with guitarist Steve Morse’s broad
platter of skills, and two years after the new formation was complete,
Mark VII put out the daringly experimental (at least for the band’s
standards) Purpendicular, which came to a surprisingly good end as far
as quality is concerned. Following their demise in the 80’s and
Blackmore’s final leave however, the foundations of Purple’s fan base
had been shaken. Luckily for the more hardcore of followers, the band
still proudly stood up, trying to provide quality releases. Their next
attempt at this was Abandon, released in 1998. It was also to be the
last release to be recorded with organist Jon Lord, who had been there
since the band’s very humble beginnings, and had helped to shape a
immense part of Purple’s sound. Choosing to focus on composing, he took
the tough decision of departing and left drummer Ian Pace as only
founding member. His eventual replacement would be Don Airey, who is
still with the band as of today.
Deep Purple Mk. VII was:
- Ian Gillan: Lead Vocals, Backing Vocals
- Steven J. Morse: Lead Guitar
- Roger David Glover: Bass Guitar
- Jon Douglas Lord: Keyboards, Organ
- Ian Anderson Pace: Drums
Abandon
has two sides to it. One of those sides shows the Deep Purple of
Purpendicular; the refreshing sounding, revitalized band. The other and
most dominant side, however, is less of a treat, and is rather new Deep
Purple trying to be old Deep Purple again, with results that are mostly
recycled and poorly executed.
Still, the boys recreate some of their
original energy on a few occasions. The most notable of these are the
catchy old-school rockers Almost Human and ’69, of which the former
especially satisfies because of Morse’s excellent abilities. It is in
too many tracks though, that there is so much lack of a powerful
deliverance the album’s listener will quickly grow bored. The first
half’s letdowns still have some interesting features, such as the
loud-soft dynamics and guitar solo on Don’t Make Me Happy, the classic
guitar-organ interplay of Mark II on Seventh Heaven and the dreamy
sequences on Watching The Sky, but make for no more than decent tracks.
It
is most of the second half then, where things truly go wrong. Jack Ruby
and She Was are both a rather laughable event at the band recalling the
funk energy of Burn, and by the time we’ve gotten to Evil Louie, which
borders on decent, our listening attention has vanished into oblivion,
which is too bad considering there is some rather good material to be
found on Abandon. The track that feels most out of place is the closer
Bludsucker, a re-recording of the excellent In Rock track Bloodsucker,
recorded almost 30 years (!) earlier. The instrumentation doesn’t sound
all that different despite that Morse now plays instead of Blackmore,
and the vocals have logically only gotten worse. The purpose it serves
remains completely unclear.
The moment where Abandon comes closest to
touching the feel of Purpendicular is the ballad Fingers to the Bone,
which is led by the most original guitar work on the entire album, a
folkish tone that works tremendously well with the track. Once again,
Morse shows his diversity. The only other track borrowing from the
band’s previous album is opener Any Fule Kno That, which tries to be as
good as Ted the Mechanic was. It gets on the repetitive side, but it’s
still catchy.
Unfortunately, the feeling that ultimately dominates
Abandon is a disappointing one. Unable to recapture the fresh approach
of Purpendicular, it sees Deep Purple sinking into what may have been
the inevitable. Most tracks are decent, that cannot be denied, but it is
a lack of songs that go above that level that puts this effort down a
notch. Sadly enough, Abandon is a rather average release.
(https://www.sputnikmusic.com/review/33108/Deep-Purple-Abandon/) Review by Nagrarok. October 27th, 2009
01. Any Fule Kno That (04:27)
02. Almost Human (04:26)
03. Don't Make Me Happy (04:55)
04. Seventh Heaven (05:24)
05. Watching The Sky (05:25)
06. Fingers To The Bone (04:47)
07. Jack Ruby (03:48)
08. She Was (04:19)
09. Whatsername (04:26)
10. '69 (04:59)
11. Evil Louie (04:55)
12. Bloodsucker (04:27)
No comments:
Post a Comment