Deep Purple: =1 review by ADRIAN THRILLS
When pop was moving towards heavier, more amplified styles at the start of the 1970s, Deep Purple were at the heart of the seismic shift.
Alongside their two great peers, Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath, they totally embodied British rock, and in 1975 the Guinness Book Of Records officially crowned them the world’s loudest band.
But there was always more to the London group than that ear- splitting volume. They played hard and fast, singing about speeding cars (Highway Star) and mysterious women (Fireball), but their music also encompassed orchestral composition and jazz.
Their most famous song, Smoke On The Water — written about a casino fire on Lake Geneva — was based on a traditional blues riff.
Both of these extremes feature on new album =1, its title (‘equals one’) taking a leaf out of Ed Sheeran’s book in its use of mathematical symbols.
When pop was moving towards heavier, more amplified styles at the start of the 1970s, Deep Purple were at the heart of the seismic shift
The seventies group were one of Britain’s most influential bands with a staggering 100million records sold worldwide (pictured in 1975)
Lead singer Ian Gillan (centre) of Deep Purple performs with singer and guitarist Simon McBride (right) and guitarist Steve Morse (left) in Copenhagen, on June 9, 2023
Ian Gillan and Simon McBride perform in Austria on July 13, 2023
The band’s 23rd LP, it plays to well-established strengths, mixing punchy hooks with moments of sensitivity and detours into progressive rock. Fans expecting them to break fresh ground should look away, but there’s still plenty to admire.
Three survivors from the fabled ‘Mark II’ line-up of the 1970s prevail. Bassist Roger Glover and drummer Ian Paice are a rhythm section with power and swing, but the pivotal figure is Ian Gillan.
At 78, Gillan no longer has a four-octave range, but he retains a hunger for storytelling, singing in a lower register rather than trying to hit the high notes with the help of studio trickery.
Deep Purple made this album with Bob Ezrin, the Canadian producer who worked with Alice Cooper on classics like School’s Out, and there’s an appealing crispness to its rockier numbers.
The chorus of Show Me is peppered with vocal harmonies. I’ll Catch You is a bluesy ballad sung with rugged vigour. The galloping Portable Door recalls 1970’s Black Night.
New guitarist Simon McBride, a Northern Irishman who replaced the long-serving Steve Morse two years ago, makes his mark with hard-hitting riffs and fiery solos.
Ian Gillan and Ian Paice in Montreux, Switzerland, on July 8, 2024
Deep Purple’s original guitar hero, Ritchie Blackmore, who left the group for a second and final time in 1993, isn’t particularly missed.
A sense of humour is never far away. On Portable Door, Gillan fantasises about having a handy portal to slip away from awkward situations and into the nearest pub.
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He ponders the art of songwriting while drowning one’s sorrows on the excellently-titled Old-Fangled Thing, before bemoaning his lack of financial acumen on No Money To Burn.
Lazy Sod — ostensibly about his house catching fire after he forgot to turn off the gas — doubles as a satire on climate change: ‘The world’s on fire, and I can’t get my ass out of bed.’
On Pictures Of You, he also rails against the digitally enhanced world of Instagram. ‘Smooth pictures of you are too good to be true,’ he sings.
‘So I’m trusting my eyes again… these cameras never lie.’ In the same song, he also wonders whether he’s past his prime (‘Antenna says I may be losing my touch’).
That’s clearly not the case. Of heavy metal’s original ‘unholy trinity’, Zeppelin and Sabbath are now in the history books. For Deep Purple, the show goes on.
Deep Purple start a UK tour on November 4 at Resorts World Arena, Birmingham (axs.com). Marc Almond starts his tour on September 8 at the Grand Theatre, Leeds (gigsandtours.com).
Marc Almond is best known as the voice of Soft Cell, the synth duo he formed with electronic musician Dave Ball at Leeds Polytechnic in 1977.
But he also has a long-running solo career — defined primarily by his skill as Britain’s most adventurous interpretive singer. He’s set poems to music, covered Belgian legend Jacques Brel and made two albums of Russian romantic music.
On 2017’s Shadows And Reflections, he switched to classic torch songs and 1960s pop, and he takes a typically eclectic approach again on new album I’m Not Anyone.
Almond doesn’t try to reinvent these old tracks, which are expertly orchestrated by producer Mike Stevens. The skill lies in his unpredictable song choices, and k8 the emotional heft he brings to these performances.
Marc Almond (pictured on July 17) is best known as the voice of Soft Cell, the synth duo he formed with electronic musician Dave Ball at Leeds Polytechnic in 1977.
Sticking largely to existing arrangements, he excels on Reflections Of My Life, a 1970 hit for Glasgow pop band Marmalade; he’s joined by flautist Ian Anderson, of Jethro Tull, on King Crimson’s I Talk To The Wind; and dips into 1960s soul — just as he did with Soft Cell’s Tainted Love — on Gone With The Wind (Is My Love), originally by Rita & The Tiaras.
Even when he covers more familiar names, Almond, 67, avoids the obvious. With Don McLean, he could have easily gone for American Pie, but plumps instead for Chain Lightning, a dark ballad that suits his melodramatic style.
For a Neil Diamond song, he chooses the film theme Lonely Looking Sky.
On the road this autumn, Almond remains one of pop’s great mavericks.