Deep Purple
Purpendicular

THE REVIEW

Welcome to the sixth chapter of this success machine known as the Deep Purple. Yes, the Morse era. The man who inherited Blackmore's legendary position. Bolin had tried, but heroin ruined and killed him. For a few months, even guitar hero Satriani tried, but he gave up a mountain of money for his solo career (though now he doesn’t earn mere crumbs). It was Satch himself who recommended Morse, with whom Deep Purple composed their last great album worthy of their trademark (A. Band. On, Bananas, and Rapture Of The Deep do not reach the quality of this CD). Purpendicular is a fresh CD renewed by the ideas provided by Morse. Make no mistake, there's no comparison with masterpieces like In Rock, Machine Head, and Burn, partly because it offers a more pop side, but a track like "Sometimes I Feel Like Screaming," a melodic yet highly creative song, will remain in the setlist for concerts until their future and unlikely retirement. The new purple work opens with an irresistible funk/rock of “Vavoom: Ted The Mechanic” and a fantastic Morse riff.

As you scroll through the track list, the standout tracks are "Soon Forgotten" with its gothic plot, "Somebody Stole My Guitar" for the granitic nature of the riff, "Loosen My String," another very melodic track but with something more compared to “A Touch Away.” On the other hand, "Hey Cisco" is disappointing, as it proves, especially in live performances, to be, as is customary in musical language, empty. Perhaps some de-visitor might disagree with my evaluation, but after spending a lot of time listening to this excellent CD, I couldn't help but praise the compositions and add my opinion to the collection of De-Baserian reviews.