DEEP PURPLE – The House Of Blue Light [Long Versions Pressing] *HQ*

DEEP PURPLE - The House Of Blue Light [Long Versions Pressing] *HQ* - full
HERE

Legend DEEP PURPLE are about to release a new album nex Friday, and it’s the right moment to feature here their very good 1987’s album “The House Of Blue Light”.
Recorded April–September 1986, released on January 12, 1987, this was the second recording by the reformed Mark II line-up of Ritchie Blackmore / Ian Gillan / Jon Lord / Ian Paice / Roger Glover, and the sixth studio album overall by this formation of the band.
While “The House Of Blue Light” has been reissued but we prefer this original German CD pressing for one reason: some tracks like ‘Black & White’, The Spanish Archer’ and especially ‘Strangeways’ are quite longer than other CD versions, like the American / Japanese pressings. You have more Blackmore guitar to enjoy!
The remastered reissues all use the short versions, and the improvement in sound quality isn’t relevant, so we recommend this “The House Of Blue Light [Long Versions Pressing]“.

Following the success of 1984’s Perfect Stranger, the band ran into difficulty getting the follow-up album recorded, with much of it re-recorded after unsatisfactory initial attempts. Bassist Roger Glover had spent much of the late Seventies and early Eighties working as a producer and began providing this service to the band once the Mark II lineup reunited.
He chose a remote theatre in Northern Vermont to record the album using a mobile recording unit to try and find the appropriate atmosphere for the creative process. Still the band struggled to gel during recording and production and some earlier personal rifts began to resurface.

On the first ‘side’ of ”The House of Blue Light”, the band seems to make a concerted effort to nail an ’80s-flavored rock radio hit and many have compared these songs to those by guitarist Ritchie Blackmore‘s band Rainbow, which had a lifespan between the two major Mark II runs.
This is especially true with the bouncy song “Call Of the Wild”, an accessible keyboard driven tune with refined vocal hooks. “Mad Dog” and “Black and White” further this trend as upbeat, straight-forward 80s rockers.
The album’s opener “Bad Attitude” features keyboardist Jon Lord and his signature sound of playing a Hammond organ through a Marshall stack to form one of the coolest rock tones.

A stand out is “The Unwritten Law”, which is intense, drum-driven, and dramatic. Vocalist Ian Gillan hearkens back to his dynamic younger years with vocal improvisation while Paice carries the day and adds further evidence that he is one of rock n roll’s most under-appreciated drummers.

The second side of the album is much more varied. After the intense, riff-driven “Hard Lovin; Woman” comes the excellent “Spanish Archer”, with a surreal Eastern flavor provided by Blackmore. With all members playing and singing with an intense, reckless abandonment, this song is a bona fide classic for any era of Deep Purple.

“Strangeways” follows as a lyric-driven screed on society, which is cool and entertaining nonetheless, while instrumentally is pretty busy, very Purple. The ‘extended long version’ featured here is even more enjoyable.
The bluesy “Mitzi DuPree” is one of the more unique songs on any Deep Purple album as Gillan guides the listener through a literal story about an exotic woman over some tavern-style piano by Lord and cool bass by Glover.

Although the album didn’t sold as expected, the music of ”The House of Blue Light” has stood up to the test of time very well. Deep Purple kept their momentum through 1988 with the successful live album ‘Nobody’s Perfect’, before personal issues lead to Gillan leaving the band again for a short spell.
Highly Recommended

 

01. Bad Attitude 5:04
02. The Unwritten Law 4:54
03. Call Of The Wild 4:48
04. Mad Dog 4:36
05. Black & White 4:39
06. Hard Lovin’ Woman 3:25
07. The Spanish Archer 5:31
08. Strangeways 7:36
09. Mitzi Dupree 5:05
10. Dead Or Alive 5:00

Ritchie Blackmore • guitar
Ian Gillan • vocals
Jon Lord • keyboards
Ian Paice • drums
Roger Glover • bass guitar, vocals

 

out of print

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1 Response

  1. Derrick's Pop says:

    Thank you

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