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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 19:37Georgivs, I dutifully report:
It was an ambitious album, proggy indeed. Nothing throwaway, you can hear the word that went into the arrangements. Pity that the production/engineering/mastering is so dull everythings sounds like (promising) demo recordings.
What the album lacks is perhaps three belters among all the more introspective stuff they play on it. There is a lack of immediacy.
But in a way an interesting album. Amazing, how Michael Bradford, who made Bananas sound as overdriven/distorted in places as In Rock, would then produce an album that seems to avoid any presence and a lot of treble too. Something went wrong. Badly.
Michael Bradford is a smart and perceptive guy who knows his music (and his Deep Purple!). Courtesy of Mike Eriksson’s Trinkelbonker site here is a really in depth and insightful interview with Michael about the production of Bananas, well worth a read and your time.
https://trinkelbonker.wordpress.com/2020/03/02/michael-bradford-interview-2003-deep-purple-the-making-of-bananas/
April 29th, 2025 at 23:36@23 Thanks a lot, dear Uwe. I am glad you gave ROTD another try and saw the ambition in it.
Thanks for posting the link to the interview, too. It sheds quite a bit of light into Bradford’s production approach. Even as I generally do not tend to be overly critical of the records I listen to (I’m not Lester Bangs, nor I’m Robert Christgau), I start seeing some issues and where they come from. First, he treats DP like their fan. Questionable. You might know better than approach production starry eyed. Second, he let’s them do whatever they want. He doesn’t lead, he follows, which a producer shouldn’t. Third, he believes that all you need to do is “just get a great band, and put them in a room with good acoustics and let them play”. Wrong. These days (2003 is pretty much these days as opposed to, say, 1973, ain’t it) everything matters: instruments, software etc. I guess this is why Bananas and ROTD sound so undercooked to some. Finally, I really doubt he has got a commercial instinct to project what will sell and what won’t. Calling Walk On a hit sounds very optimistic. A fine song it is, albeit losing steam by the end, but a hit it isn’t.
Projecting this approach to ROTD, I can speculate what happened. Michael just went with whatever the boys suggested, instead of directing them. It was like, you wanted to have it short and sweet on Bananas, which was fine, and now you want it stretched out and proggy, then be it. And devil may care about the sound…
As a result, there is an album that dummies like me do like but connoisseurs like Uwe have concerns about.
April 30th, 2025 at 11:17I prefer it to TBRO, Georgivs! It’s flawed, but it doesn’t sound miserable and suppressed angry.
Re Phil Kafcaloudes’ (I’d have changed that name to Kafka-Loudness for greater literary impact!) work: I’ve received it, leafed through it and read a few parts, it’s great, entertaining reading. Phil mostly knows his stuff; that doesn’t mean that there aren’t a couple of howlers. But then come to think of it: Except for myself, I am not aware of anyone who combines being right all the time with a natural humble stance. 🤣 Who cares if he mistook the Birmingham VHS/DVD audio with the CHOHW CD, we all know what he means. Take MacGregor’s posts, written and toiled over in insular solitude somewhere near the South Pole, they often require a conscientious act of benevolent interpretation too —> hermeneutics, which in the quest for knowledge and human development we all must undertake.
The book is recommended, it’s a great toilet read (I don’t mean that negatively, but song-for-song, album-by-album books aren’t meant to be read front-to-back, at least I never do).
My only gripe: Phil severely underappreciates Mitzi and his analysis of this sparkling jewel in DP’s oeuvre is over faster than you can hear “plop!”. A target lamentably missed.
https://static.wixstatic.com/media/36814e_4b03ecc367374a12a221a00e391a23a9~mv2.png/v1/fill/w_700,h_1144,al_c,q_90,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_avif,quality_auto/36814e_4b03ecc367374a12a221a00e391a23a9~mv2.png
https://media1.giphy.com/media/hcGeh5V8WiQGQ/200w.gif?cid=6c09b9526c5rn6y3wmtg9dkgeztvbpynid2bn1n0vsz8rxl7&ep=v1_gifs_search&rid=200w.gif&ct=g
April 30th, 2025 at 15:39At least ROTD sounds like a rock band, compared to the Ezrin production of throwing mattresses and blankets all over everything. Yes I am afraid I am repeating myself, again. However it is all about the songwriting, those two albums, Bananas indeed and I also throw Abandon into the mix lack quality songs, simple for me and no doubt many others. At least Ezrin brought something back to the fore, the songwriting must be of a certain standard. Regarding Uwe bringing the soap opera drama and politics into TBRO songs and music, that is exactly what he is doing. If he never knew about all that and only had the music to go on, would his view on that album be the same. Me thinks NOT. Those poor ole horses for those worm out courses, again. It is all about the music I thought, not who doesn’t get on with whoever else or who threw a bowl of spaghetti over who’s head etc etc. Music first and nothing else matters, does it? Cheers.
April 30th, 2025 at 22:25Thanks for the Michael Bradford interview Uwe, a good one it was. A relaxed down to earth guy and a Rainbow fan too. Cheers.
April 30th, 2025 at 22:58“Uwe bringing the soap opera drama and politics into TBRO songs and music, that is exactly what he is doing. If he never knew about all that and only had the music to go on, would his view on that album be the same. Me thinks NOT.“
Thank you, Herr MacGregor, for profoundly knowing what I (would have) thought several decades ago! 😂
Meanwhile, in another part of town: True facts upon first listening to DP’s mid 80s to early 90s studio output at the time:
– I thought Perfect Strangers ok, but too safe – in the main I was just happy to see and hear them back together.
– I immediately liked THOBL: “Hey, they are stretching the format!” REALLY varied.
– I heard Slaves & Masters and thought “This is obviously not Gillan and JoLT was my least favorite Rainbow singer, but it’s a respectable AOR album, interesting to hear Purple like that. Thank God they still don’t sound as stiff as Rainbow.”
– My immediate thought at hearing TBRO in 1993 was “Great that Gillan is back, but something sounds awfully out of whack here.” Anya (regurgitating an old Rainbow riff) and Solitaire were the only redeeming features. At that point I knew nothing about Ritchie’s still simmering disdain for Ian. I was disappointed of the album – more so than the three before. I’m pretty good at picking up if something doesn’t feel right.
May 1st, 2025 at 13:27The book is an interesting read, I play the LP while reading the devoted chapter and at least it has gotten me to play a few LP’s I haven’t played in quite a while….that makes it worth the price for me.
May 1st, 2025 at 22:38One thing from MB’s interview (also repeated elsewhere) that leaves me perplexed is this categorization of Purple as working class music. Hmm… Where I leave, DP has always been the music of college/university demographics with its Bach influences etc. What about your countries, my friends?
May 2nd, 2025 at 13:34Georgivs, in Germany – correct me if I’m wrong, Max – Purple were not seen as either an academics’ band nor as a real blue collar one like, say, Status Quo or AC/DC, they were in no-man’s-land, just scraping by as BARELY still a little sophisticated.
I think they peaked with academics around In Rock/Fireball when they encapsulated the Zeitgeist and were seen as daring. The previous Concerto, Ritchie’s, Jon’s & Little Ian’s virtuoso image and Gillan’s sociological interest all played into that. But by Machine Head and certainly by Burn, Purple were seen as a hard rock band with very good instrumentalists that had found their niche of stadium rock and mercilessly ploughed it for commercial gain. I love Mk III (and Mk IV), but intellectually it was a step away from Led Zep and towards Foghat or Grand Funk Railroad instead. There is nothing cerebral to Burn (the album), but it kicks major butt elegantly.
Basically from 10th grade on, I always got wry looks for liking DP, be it as a pupil of higher education or as a law student. It wasn’t like saying you’re a Quo , KISS or Sweet fan, DP still had some grudging respect from people who disliked hard rock because you could not deny how well they played it (“underselling themselves with a music a lot simpler than what they could actually deliver” was a common criticism), but they weren’t in the pantheon of intellectual/cerebral music which found favor in the social circles I grew up in:
– Jethro Tull (to me, Ian Anderson is a talented nerd and his music doesn’t roll or swing, his singing is totally mannered, sorry, it’s like watching a staged play);
– ELP (never appealed to me because I found them either cold and heartless or – Greg Lake ballads – unbearably twee;
– YES (Anderson’s vocals are an acquired taste and Steve Howe is not really a rock guitarist to me, he has no raunch);
– Genesis (other than they never really rocked, I probably liked them best among the “academics’ bands”);
– Pink Floyd (a much simpler music than the above four bands, but PF had intellectual appeal because they seemed so “deep” – I liked some of it, but three hours of PF put me to sleep and their sense of earnestness can cross the line to pretentiousness real quick, my God, Roger Water does like to take himself serious!);
– Frank Zappa (ok, perhaps I’m not intellectual enough for that type of music, but I could see he was special – not a great fan of his baritone vocals though – in the 70s, if you said “I like Zappa.”, then that was a coded phrase/chiffre for “No matter what YOU mortal might like, it is insignificant compared to what he does!”, and you really couldn’t argue with that either!🤣).
May 2nd, 2025 at 16:09Baroque is a good way to look at some of the older rock bands. Jethro Tull indeed amongst others, including the Blackmore and Jon Lord influence in Deep Purple. Throw in Yes, Emerson, Lake and Palmer, King Crimson and the mid 70’s Peter Gabriel era of Genesis and Led Zeppelin too. Then there is the ‘Eastern’ influence in some of those bands, bravo I say. There are plenty more modern day artists who come from that time. Uwe, three hours of any band or artist is way too much, nothing worse than over listening to any music. All things in moderation or ‘just a little is enough’. People either get it or they do not get it. Each to their own. Cheers.
May 2nd, 2025 at 22:44@31 Nothing to correct or even add here, Uwe.
My pleasure.
May 3rd, 2025 at 11:22@31 Interesting. There’s some commonalities with my place. Around here, Purple were a golden mean of sorts. It was something that both drunken metalheads and prog minded intellectuals could relate to even as they would not necessarily have deep affection for Purple music. Needless to say, Purple had and still have their own fans like me and last time they visited (2013 or so) they sold a healthy number of tickets.
Curiously enough, DP were most despised by the alternative/underground types who were heavily into American stuff like reggae, blues, indie etc. I used to be drinking in their company and duly ruined my reputation by identifyin Muddy Waters on a photo as B.B. King and then finished the job by calling Lou Reed David Bowie. People from that company considered most classic rock quasi intelligent music for superficially enlightened squares like me.
There also quite unexpected fans of DP around. The other day I discovered that my dad’s widow is one. Back in 1969 she lived in DDR as her dad was stationed there as a military officer. She and her classmates would watch BRD TV despite strict prohibition and one day she saw DP perform Hallelujah without knowing what that was. Only years after she discovered that was DP. She is a fan till this day.
May 3rd, 2025 at 21:19Oh wow, Georgivs, your family tales keep getting better and better, fighter pilots and now Soviet officer daughters, I’m getting all aroused!
https://youtu.be/09EfAu97TCQ
(That was actually a very good and deep movie, handling a lot of difficult issues well and in a non-exploitative way plus leaving you wondering who the good and the bad guys are throughout.)
Your stepmom must have seen this then, Uschi Nerke announcing DP for the first time on West German TV (Beat-Club, the predecessor to Musikladen):
https://youtu.be/Rk6VYN31v2U
May 4th, 2025 at 18:12Thanks for the links, Uwe. DP boys already look like the big stars they would eventually become.
My family stories may look exotic to you, but here they are fairly typical. Most people from the generation of my grandparents were touched by WWII in one way or another. Course, not everyone was a fighter pilot, but others had their respectable roles, too. It was no big deal serving in the Western Group of troops stationed in DDR as an officer or a draft soldier, either. E.g. I bought my country house from a guy who had served there, so I inherited some Meissen porcelain from him together with the building.
I am not sure about the movie, though. I’ll see if I give it a try. No doubt, it is quality stuff but I have doubts regarding authenticity. I grew up on WWII movies made by the people who actually participated in action or, at least, saw it from the side. It means that even if they were heavily partisan in terms of political affinities, their movies looked believable because they knew what the characters should walk, talk and dress like. Later on, the cinema industry lost the ability to portray the people from the 1940s. I would watch the newer stuff and think there was no way my grandparents were like that.
Ultimately, their main aspiration in the war years was to survive and win, if possible. And their predominant emotion after the war was a sense of relief to have survived. I am sure, they had a place for romance in their hearts, too, but that was secondary.
May 5th, 2025 at 14:32The movie has an interesting twist, but I’m not spoiling it! It is post-war, but all the wounds are still fresh.
Vera Farmigia is utterly credible in her role, she has Ukraine roots, her grandparents were forced laborers/“Ostarbeiter” in the Third Reich and met in a Displaced Persons Camp in Germany after the war, Thomas Kretschmann and Daniel Brühl are thankfully for once cast against type as Wehrmacht POWs and the inimitable John Malkovich plays someone who once had ideals, but whom the Soviet Union’s war experiences have made harsh, ruthless and unforgiving.
May 5th, 2025 at 19:35