DEEP PURPLE – Now What?! (Special Edition) (2013)

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DEEP PURPLE, perhaps the most influential British rock band of all time, are back after 8 years with an album completely made of new studio material; “Now What?!”.
First of all, let’s dispense with the hype; the record label claiming that the new Purple album is a cross between Made in Japan and Machine Head (or words to that effect) is just that, hype, and a bit unfair to both incarnations of the band, the current and the one responsible for those masterworks.
After all, the two main soloists in the band are different people, impossible to compare to each other.

What is definitely NOT hype is that on “Now What?!” Deep Purple do what they do best, what they have done on numerous occasions in the past; going against the rule book. Consciously or not, they look at what people expect from Purple, and then proceed to not pay any attention to it.
They’ve done it with In Rock, Fireball, Come Taste The Band, Purpendicular and now once again with “Now What?!”.
This is the most unusual, interesting, unexpected album Purple have done for a very long time: the definition of a progressive rock band.

I shall not go into the usual track-by-track thing, I’l just single out things like the plethora of circular riffs on “Aprez Vous”, the complex construction of things like “Uncommon Man”, “Body Line” and “Blood From A Stone”, the hooks and melodies on “A Simple Song” or “Out Of Hand”, the horror movie atmosphere on the appropriately titled “Vincent Price” (a standout with Gillan’s weird, treated vocals and awesome keyboards), and lots of other interesting stuff.
It’s telling that the single features two tracks so vastly different to one another – a classic Purple rocker and what is perhaps the most…sly song they’ve ever done, see, “All The Time In The World” is so simple, almost unremarkable at first listen, but gets you well and truly hooked, until you feel it’s one of the absolute best songs they have ever written.

This is an album quite densely packed with ideas that it can only be fully enjoyed through repeated listens.
Purple recorded and mixed the album in Nashville with producer Bob Ezrin (Pink Floyd’s The Wall, Alice Cooper, Kiss) who has provided some kind of a ‘widescreen’ sound.
Certainly I don’t think anyone has managed to capture Gillan’s voice so well in recent years, while instrumentally the album is dominated by Morse’s bluesier playing, the one that regular concert goers have been experiencing on recent tours, and by Don Airey immense variety of keyboard / synth sounds. Rhythm-section watchers will have a lot to sink their teeth into as well.

“Now What?!” has been well worth the eight year wait since the last studio album. These veterans don’t need to prove anything, they are Hard Rock demigods (at this point, Classic Rock), and still can play & write a good tune.
This is a Deep Purple album to enjoy, explore, cherish and be proud of.
Seeing as the CD is dedicated to Jon Lord, I only wish he was around to enjoy it as well. He would have been very proud indeed.
thehighwaystar

01 – A Simple Song
02 – Weirdistan
03 – Out of Hand
04 – Hell to Pay
05 – Body Line
06 – Above and Beyond
07 – Blood from a Stone
08 – Uncommon Man
09 – Apres Vous
10 – All the Time in the World
11 – Vincent Price
12 – It’ll Be Me (Exclusive Bonus Track)

Ian Gillan – vocals
Steve Morse – guitar
Roger Glover – bass
Don Airey – keyboards
Ian Paice – drums
Produced and Mixed by Bob Ezrin

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