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Not perfect, but evocative
We’ve already mentioned on these pages that there’s a new book out that might be of interest to our readership. It is called Deep Purple From 1984: every album, every song, written by Phil Kafcaloudes, and published by SonicBond.
The book is pretty much what it says on the cover — it is every post-reunion album from Perfect Strangers to =1 reviewed track-by-track, with a brief introduction on the state the band found themselves at the time, the recording process, and the artwork. Selected live releases are included along with the complete studio discography. Each track is reviewed for the music, the performance, and the lyrics. Contemporary quotes from the people involved are sprinkled throughout. Being a collection of reviews, it is necessarily heavy on opinion, while the reference value of the book is, ahem, questionable, as documented in the previous review. One can argue if the author’s interpretation of the lyrics — that often differs significantly from the intended meaning — is as valid. But that’s how the vast majority of listeners would approach it — develop their own understanding of the lyrics. Only a few hardcore fans would go scour the web in the hope to get insight from the horse’s mouth.
That being said, I have found the book an engaging read — Phil certainly knows his way with the words and how to make his point evocative. Yes, it may raise an eyebrow here and there. It may also make you go “hmm, that’s not quite how I remember it”, and put on an album you haven’t listened to in years. Whether this collection of eloquently written opinions is worth £17, it is for you to decide.
What: Deep Purple from 1984: Every Album, Every Song
Author: Phil Kafcaloudes
Published by: Sonicbond Publishing
Format: softcover, A5 (148mm × 210mm)
Pages: 176
Colour pictures: 41
ISBN: 9781789523546
Publication date, UK: February 28, 2025
Publication date, USA and ROW: April 25, 2025
Suggested retail price: £16.99 / $22.95
Thanks to SonicBond for providing a copy for the review and to Phil Kafcaloudes for arranging it.
Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing
I always find other people’s view on DP interesting- whether I agree with them is secondary. Back in the 70s and 80s I was glad about any review of albums from the DP family – whether good or bad -, thinking that any mention is better than no mention.
Bad reviews can be informative and pivotal too – I bought my first Rush and Judas Priest albums based solely on both being panned in the NME. The derision aimed at them heightened my curiosity, I like to form my own opinion on things.
April 22nd, 2025 at 04:26Well I do take some responsibility! I did say at the end of my review that it was well written but what I was trying to highlight were the deficiencies (as I saw it) for the hard core fan – and after nearly 30 years of following the Highway Star I’d say the hardcoreness (sorry Uwe I feel my creation of that word will disappoint you!) on here is quite high. Peace & Love to all
April 22nd, 2025 at 13:18But David, I’m no stranger to hardcore! 😘
Nichts Menschliches ist mir fremd. Homo sum, humani nihil a me alienum puto …
April 22nd, 2025 at 14:41#3
cave! Superbia ruinae ☺️😉
April 22nd, 2025 at 16:18Even the worst Album in the catalogue which in opinion is ROTD, there are amazing enjoyable material to keep your ears happy and excited for years.
April 22nd, 2025 at 21:45Long Live DP
Peace ✌️
Thank Buddha for google translate
April 23rd, 2025 at 06:53Miror si de Profound Purpura librum authenticum habere posset. Communis et singularis indifferentia ad curandum legatum suum data, verisimile non est.
April 23rd, 2025 at 08:04#5 Adel
between ROTD and everything else done after before 1= I don’t see a big difference, I would put them all worse, but in any case you can always find some great little pearls inside
April 23rd, 2025 at 12:47For some reason, and I can’t really put my finger on it, I find ROTD hard to like. It’s a difficult album for me. Bananas had its flaws, yes, but it sounded at least lively, the band on a new journey. And then with ROTD the light seemed to have gone out again – only to be relit with the excellent Now What?!
I think what ROTD lacks is immediacy, there is nothing infectious to it, it has some good songs, but these are all slow growers. I do think it is the weakest Morse era album though far from a catastrophe.
April 23rd, 2025 at 22:061984 onwards , too much filler, I always say you can make a killer album out of every two Purple albums. =1 is a consistent album but only Bleedin obvious sparks more interest from myself. I understand the rockier edge to it but what’s the point with a near 80 year old singer. ROTD and Bananas would have benefited from Bob Ezrin’s input.
April 24th, 2025 at 09:04@ 1 “Any mention/review is better than no mention/review at all”.. exactly what the Donald belives in too! 😀
April 24th, 2025 at 18:47@ 10 I would certainly add A Bit on the Side, Pictures of You, Old-Fangled Thing and I’ll Catch You to the memorable songs on =1..
April 24th, 2025 at 18:54I have two main issues with ROTD. It sounds terrible – the drums especially. RG was talking about a remix a couple of years ago. I hope this happens. My other issue is that the ideas are not fully realised. Some tracks have a good chorus but a poor verse (Girls Like That, Don’t Let Go) or vice versa. Bananas I think has a great set of tracks of which only Sun Goes Down and Razzle Dazzle (why IG rates this is anyone’s guess) are poor IMO and though it sounds better than ROTD I still don’t think it sounds great.
April 25th, 2025 at 07:591968-1976 great albums (evolution there are 3 bands inside one) a great burden for everything that came after, comparisons, great expectations that something like that will come true again with time ….. something to be the child of a famous father. From 1987 The House of Blue Light today (PS quality – performance-wise the same as the seventies) is not quality (DP scale) but it’s not bad either, there’s a gold coin on every album .. Well, we all don’t run so fast nor are we as durable as in the twenties-thirties yers
DP band of incredible harmonies, classic..best RnR band
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GDQWm6bRnQ
April 25th, 2025 at 10:53Folks, we need to have a serious conversation. Naturally, we can and sometimes should be critical towards the DP output. But sometimes it gets too much. For Lord’s sake, this is not an LZ forum and we are not the Rolling Stone journos. If some casual music listener drops by here, s/he might decide this is a den of DP bashers. Like, everything starting 1984 is of poor quality, has no spark etc.
My simple point is that music is to be listened to and enjoyed, not endlessly criticized. For starters, let me restore the good name and reputation of ROTD. It is a fine album that reflects the proggy ambitions of our guys that had been long suppressed. The title composition is a fine track, right up there with any prog/hard rock song there is. Steve’s solo on it is easily Top 3 of his whole illustrious career including Kansas, SMB, Flying Colors etc. Before Time Began is not far behind. The guitar/keyboard interplay on the Junkyard Blues is among the best in their career. On Money Talks IG shows his still formidable range like very few younger singers are able to. There is a few tracks that can qualify as ‘filler’ but they have their moments, too. DP’s filler is another band’s masterpiece. Speaking of not being immediate, again, ROTD was meant to be proggy and thus intentionally a bit indirect. Finally, it was ROTD that marked the start of DP’s commercial resurgence. Neither Abandon, nor Bananas had sold particularly well. ROTD sold respectably despite average showing in charts and paved the way for Ezrin era releases. Let’s give our boys credit where it is due.
April 25th, 2025 at 12:13What David says @13.
Georgivs, you put up a good case for ROTD and I find that interesting to read. (That ROTD saw Purple gradually moving upwards commercially had perhaps also to do with EAR Music getting behind them as their then new record company, they were the first record company to really care about them and their legacy.)
Re “sometimes it gets too much”: I don’t mind bad reviews of my favorite artists if they are backed up by sensible argument. I generally have a lot of positive vibes with the Purple family, even with the more arcane roots and branches, I’m indiscriminate in my urge to collect it all. But at the same time, I’m not just a cheer leader for the band, I poke fun at them, see things for what they are and it’s a fact that nearly all DP members were/are such good musicians they can even elevate mundane stuff to something special. I’m happy that the HS is not a cult where twenty people post in a row post how great everything is DP do. I mean, yes, we do have the occasional fervent Ian Gillan disciple here, but I wouldn’t really karin naming them (oops, bad spelling …).
I see the HS as a thinking (wo)man’s site dealing with all things Purple, but I’m happy it’s not just a fan echo chamber.
April 25th, 2025 at 17:26Georgivs @ 15
Thank you! Well said!
April 25th, 2025 at 19:16Yes the sound of ROTD is odd in particular the dustbin sound of the drums and Big Ian’s occasional screams should be cut out, but on the other hand to me there are some of the best lyrics and more progressive tracks from this line up (ROTD, Before Time Began, Junkyard Blues, Wrong Man, Money Talks, Clearly Quite Absurd etc). I often return to this album and would really like a remix/remaster but wont hold my breath.
April 25th, 2025 at 20:11True, very true, Georgivs. A fine album it is with some tracks that are up there with the best.
April 25th, 2025 at 20:41‘Do you want the truth, you can’t handle the the truth’
April 26th, 2025 at 07:54Famous quote from Jack Nicholson in a Few good men.
The Truth is ROTD is a very dark mysterious ambiguous with lost of contradictory musical directions and hilarious cover and the most weird production and sound sound mix ever.
If DP fans talk non stop about ‘who do we think we are’ ROTD is no difference.
The most famous quote from IG when promoting the album in an interview. He started by saying ‘ROTD’ is a condition I am familiar with.
The album represents how everything can go wrong in a band with great musical talent when they get together and hire a producer with a pop background and never learn from the previous experience with Bananas and that producer.
Two things I can’t understand is the exclusion of the best fun songs in ‘Things I never said” and ‘MTV’ and making them bonus track and songs like Back to back, Don’t let go and Junk yard blues are main tracks which is so absurd.
The production and the sound mix is so weird and sounds like nothing else.
ROTD is like a love and hate relationship when you wake up from a nice dream you realise that the reality is hard to swallow.
We will talk about ROTD for years as it’s a very complicated album that no one understand how to navigate through it.
Peace ✌️
Ok, I will give ROTD another listen today since so many people whose judgement I trust fly the flag for it here (btw: I always thought that the more complex and ballady numbers were the strong ones on it).
I really like WDWTWA for the popish, Beatlish influences it has, Super Trouper and Our Lady are the type of tracks you hear on no other Purple album. It’s my favorite Mk II album after Machine Head because the songwriting – much to the chagrin of Ritchie -really diversified on it.
April 26th, 2025 at 14:09@21 Dear Uwe,
May I politely inquire you about the outcome of your revisiting of ROTD? Does it remain as reviled as it used to be or its standing in your eyes has improved somewhat?
April 27th, 2025 at 19:37