Deep Purple: Morse Era in Review
With a new album by the mighty Deep Purple coming out in a little over a week, it seems appropriate to take stock of the music the band has produced since its rebirth in 1994, when guitarist Steve Morse joined the band and replaced the irreplaceable Ritchie Blackmore.
Everything changed when the Man in Black walked out and, for better or worse, Purple has not been the same band since.
For an immersive read, listen to the Spotify playlist below, comprised of the standout songs singled out in the article. Unfortunately, the albums Abandon and Bananas are not available on Spotify and are therefore only represented in the playlist by one live song each — and a pair of YouTube vids.
Ratings are relative to Deep Purple’s body of work, with In Rock (1970), Fireball (1971), and Machine Head (1972) scoring a full five stars. Slaves and Masters (1990) receives a single star — even as “Purple Rainbow”, with Joe Lynn Turner imitating Steve Perry on the mic, the band manages a star.
While most of the factual information here is from my own knowledge and double-checked online while writing, a special mention should be made of Martin Popoff’s excellent A Castle Full of Rascals: Deep Purple ’83-’09 which came in handy to refresh my memory and as a reference guide.
Purpendicular
(17 February, 1996) ★★★★
Purpendicular answered the question if Deep Purple could continue without Ritchie. It was a resounding “aye!”
However, this was not the Deep Purple of The Battle Rages On… but a revitalised, rejuvenated group. Throughout the album there are riffs, licks, chord progressions, and influences which would have been inconceivable with Blackmore at the helm. Indeed, it feels like the band eschews their “classic” sound and instead focuses on taking their music forward. The intro riff of Ted the Mechanic, the upbeat first track of the album, is a stark example of this. Choosing that song, that riff, to open the album must have been intended as a statement, a war cry, that this was a new Deep Purple.
Although a different beast, the group maintains its identity. This is made easier by the many line-ups of the past and their distinct sounds but it is really down to Ian Gillan, the quintessential voice of Deep Purple, and Jon Lord’s mighty Hammond organ. To keener ears, Ian Paice’s style of drumming, his ever-present swing, solidifies this. Not to forget that in Gillan and bassist Roger Glover, the band still retained two-thirds of its core songwriting team. Indeed, while the band does not seem to attempt recreating their past feel, they seem to build on it and reshape it with their new axeman.
The material is eclectic, ranging from more or less straight ahead rock of I’m Not Your Lover Now, to the groove of Rosa’s Cantina, from the prog of Loosen My Strings, all the way to the Celtic vibe of The Aviator.
Purpendicular is a vibrant record, made by a band that has found the joy in their craft again.
Standout song: Somebody Stole My Guitar
Standout solo: Hey Cisco (keys, towards the end)
Standout lyric:
Did you know
The warriors of the flat earth
Have become the tyrants of the globe
(Soon Forgotten)
Abandon
(2 June, 1998) ★★★½
Hands down the heaviest record Deep Purple ever recorded. And the darkest. Except for maybe In Rock, this may be the only album the band ever released which can be considered heavy metal through and through.
The confidence of Purpendicular is still there but the sound and feel is very different; where the predecessor was vibrant, playful and eclectic, Abandon is brooding, focused and consistently dark. Even the more upbeat tracks — Almost Human, Whatsername and ’69 — have a cynical edge to them. Compare the ballads of the albums, Sometimes I Feel Like Screaming and Don’t Make Me Happy, and you will see what I mean.
Sound and feel aside, the variety of material is slightly lacking. While good songs one and all, Jack Ruby, She Was and Evil Louie are nearly interchangeable. Whatsername picks up the tempo a bit but is still the same kind of song. This may possibly be due to Jon Lord’s limited involvement in the writing and recording: From what I gather, at the time he was already thinking of retiring from the band and not fully invested in the process. Indeed, it would turn out to be his last Purple album.
Still, there are some cracking numbers on here: Any Fule Kno That has a great groove which finds Big Ian almost rapping — strangely enough, it works. Almost Human is an irresistible boogie, Seventh Heaven is a clever combination of melody and pounding rhythms, and Watching the Sky is a ripping prog-fest of crushing riffs and dreamy soundscapes. There is a lot to like.
In the end, however, when taken as a whole, Abandon is a very good album but it falls a little bit short of great.
Standout song: Almost Human
Standout solo: Watching the Sky (guitar, mid-song)
Standout lyric:
Something ‘bout the way she ignores me that’s vaguely familiar
Makes you wonder what it was you ever did to thrill her
(Whatsername)
Bananas
(25 August, 2003) ★★★½
Full disclosure, I have a personal soft spot for this one: It was the first Purple record I ever bought. I even like the wonderfully weird cover art!
The lads were headed to Reykjavík, Iceland, to play a gig in 2004 so I scooped this one up from the record store — this was the Bananas tour after all. Of course I had heard Smoke on the Water, Black Night and Highway Star but this was the first Purple album I listened to from start to finish. And I got it signed by Glover, Paice and Morse after the gig, which remains one of my best concert experience.
I was, and still am, pretty impressed with Bananas. It is a gutsy album, with the band doubling down on the playfulness and variety of Purpendicular, with the darkness of Abandon all but gone. It has a less modern feel than the two preceding albums and there are proggy touches here and there which may be an influence of newcomer keyboardist Don Airey — in any case, these became more apparent on subsequent albums.
One might say it’s all over the place but I say it works — and not despite being all over the place but because of it. It’s a genuinely fun album.
It’s bit like a modern day Fireball, in the way that it sounds live, the songwriting feels off-the-cuff, and the material is eclectic. There is the straight-forward rock ’n’ roll of opener House of Pain, the heavy boom of Sun Goes Down, the radio-friendly ballad that is Haunted, the moody groove of Walk On, the gentle folk of Never a Word, and the 7/8 beat of the title track.
There are several stand-out tracks: Sun Goes Down, Silver Tongue, Walk On and I Got Your Number are some of best tracks of the Morse years. On the other hand, House of Pain and Razzle Dazzle are bit pedestrian, Haunted and Never a Word are just kind of there. There are ups and down but it amounts to a solid album and a worthy entry in the Purple canon.
Standout song: Silver Tongue
Standout solo: I Got Your Number (keys)
Standout lyric:
When the shine wears off
And he’s on to something new
Try not to think about
How good I was to you
(Walk On)
Rapture of the Deep
(24 October, 2005) ★★★
Rapture of the Deep brings back some of the darkness and heaviness of Abandon but retains the jamming feel of its immediate predecessor.
You’d think this was a good thing but the album feels less inspired than the previous three with Morse on the banjo. There is a notable lack of strong hooks, as if the songs have not been entirely fleshed out. Indeed, the album was written and recorded in one five week session, with Bananas producer Michael Bradford taking something of a hands-off approach. The production does not help matters either, the drums sound thin and the guitars and bass are muddy, resulting in a raw and rather cold sound. On the positive side, there is not really a weak song in the bunch. The title track and Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye are definite keepers, and Back to Back is a good bit of fun which would have fit nicely on Bananas.
A workmanlike but respectable effort, Rapture of the Deep is the weakest Morse Purple album in my opinion.
As an aside, I saw the band twice as they toured in support of this album: In Nürnberg, Germany, in 2006, and again in Reykjavík, in 2007. After the latter gig I got to meet the whole band outside the venue, getting my copy of Rapture signed by all band members — pictured above.
Standout song: Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye
Standout solo: Money Talks (guitar)
Standout lyric:
Be what you are I tell myself
And myself tells me we can’t be anybody else
(Don’t Let Go)
Now What?!
(26 April, 2013) ★★★½
Eight long years passed from the release of Rapture of the Deep and Deep Purple was (yet again) a different band when Now What?! came out.
With Gillan pushing seventy, his voice is more subdued, the legendary screams all but retired. Don Airey had been in the band for over a decade and his influence is clearly felt in the songwriting and soundscapes. Producer Bob Ezrin, with his apparently very hands-on approach, became a de facto sixth member of the band, scoring writing credits on every track, reportedly pushing Steve Morse in new directions, and cranking the organ and keys to, at times, Doors-ian levels in the mix.
While there are no towering standouts, the material is strong throughout. Uncommon Man, with its thundering brass-like motif, is first among equals — it is indeed good to be king. Vincent Price, bordering dangerously on cartoony, is the odd song out. Likely placed at the end because it didn’t make sense anywhere else, it deprives the album of the perfect ending of All the Time in the World’s bass drum fadeout.
Among the best sounding Deep Purple albums ever, the sound is warm and thick, with plenty of low-end and keyboards. The guitar sometimes gets a little lost, melding into the bass and keys but cuts through where it counts.
Focused and cohesive, yet effortless, Now What?! is one of the highlights of the Morse era. It is the first part of the band’s impressive final chapter.
Standout song: Uncommon Man
Standout solo: Weirdistan (keys)
Standout lyric:
Rest on your sadness
And tomorrow we’ll find
That souls having touched
Are forever entwined
(Above and Beyond)
Infinite
(7 April, 2017) ★★★
Whereas Now What?! is a solid album throughout with few standouts tracks, Infinite is all peaks and valleys.
A full third of the original material is subpar, throwaway material by Purple standards. Either One Night in Vegas or On Top of the World on its own would have been forgivable but both of them, with the musically and lyrically lazy Johnny’s Band thrown in? Not so much.
On the other hand, Get Me Outta Here, The Surprising and Birds of Prey are utterly superb. I would venture that the last may be the best song of the Morse era. The remaining original songs are all more than acceptable but it is still a very uneven album.
Then there is the uninspired, lumbering cover of The Doors’ Roadhouse Blues. With a little less than forty minutes of original material — twelve minutes less than Bananas, the shortest of the previous Morse albums — the track seems an obvious filler. It’s the longest number on the record and to add insult to injury, it’s tacked on at the end, depriving the album of the perfect ending (this again?!) which would have been Birds of Prey.
Infinite is a problematic album but on the strength of the aforementioned towering triumvirate of tracks and the solid first trio of songs, it clinches three full stars.
Standout song: Birds of Prey
Standout solo: A tie between the keyboard and guitar solos of Birds of Prey
Standout lyric:
Something awfully wrong with this deal, babe
Any fool could see its true
Can’t you understand how I feel, babe
You got me, but all I got is you
(All I Got is You)
For the uninitiated, which one to start with? I would say Purpendicular. It simply is the strongest album, perfectly balancing hard rock, catchy hooks and variety. Then go for Now What?! followed by Infinite, the two most accessible of the bunch. The three in between are more advanced: Abandon is a bit dark, the eclecticism of Bananas may repel the greenhorns, and the workman-like Rapture does not have much to pull in a newcomer.
If you’d put a gun to my head, I would rank the six albums thusly:
1. Purpendicular
2. Now What?!
3. Bananas
4. Abandon
5. Infinite
6. Rapture of the Deep
Don’t hold me to this, it’s a living instrument. You can put the gun down now.
The Morse Era has spanned 26 years and soon-to-be seven albums. It’s a grand body of work and impressively consistent. However, with all band members save one being in their seventies and some, if not all, openly speaking of retirement, Whoosh! will likely be their last.
Then again, they said that about the last album. And the one before that.
