Aaaa-aaa-aaah, aaa-aaa-aaah, AAA-AAA-AAAH!!!

Introduction

If there ever was a band that embodied the word 'inconsistency', then it has to be Deep Purple. Over their career, spanning over 40 years to date, they are responsible for both some of the greatest and worst yields in the metal field, as well as probably the biggest resumé of involved members. Now, I'm not gonna pretend that I'm above the common notion that it is the mark II lineup that came together at first in 1969 (and lasted a whole 4 years) that is the most revered and arguably the best, but that doesn't mean that they weren't worthy at any other point in their career even if taken together, they have sucked more than they have not over the years. I mean, Ritchie Blackmore may have been a total asshole but he was a guitar genius, although his judgement of musical partners has been questionable. Yes, he did cooperate with Ian Gillan and Ronnie James Dio (in Rainbow though), but he also took morons like David Coverdale, Glenn Hughes and Joe Lynn Turner under his wings which has severely affected his own total to his disadvantage, and don't get me started on that medieval crap he's been indulged in for the last 15 years. Oh well, he's a man of integrity and I guess we'll have to respect him for that. And by all means, he is right about Gillan not being able to sing anymore.

But Purple isn't just Blackmore; when at their absolute peak they were an unstoppable machine of five prime units and I dare say that onstage they blew all competition away, including Who and Zeppelin, because if anything, they cared for professionalism. Up until the breakup of mkII in 1973, they all were virtuosos on their respective instrument, especially Blackmore, Jon Lord and Ian Paice, and they put it to good use in their special brand of early heavy metal-with-an-organ-in-it. The organ meant that they had two lead instruments on full frontal display when needed and Lord, classically trained as he was, added that extra touch of baroque modality in his ultra-fast runs that their contemporaries simply lacked. (And no, Uriah Heep could never hope to reach up to their level despite the organ, not that they ever tried though). And for one other thing, they also provided speed; they could play faster than just about anyone, which they did, albeit never in absurdum (and thusly, they invented speed and power metal which is a minus, but as always, great bands are often bad influences). Look no further than "Speed king" (indeed!), "Fireball" and "Flight of the rat" for proof, not to mention the lengthy live rendition of "Space truckin'". Where Jimmy Page would occasionally jam his fingers during fast runs, Blackmore would fire off his arpeggios as fluently as ever. And on top of that (or under, whichever you prefer) Ian Paice would relentlessly drive the whole thing forward with an ingenious accuracy and a feel for swing rarely matched in the heavy rock scene ever since. An yeah, Gillan and Roger Glover did their thing as well.

But good things rarely last long; further into the 70's disaster struck as the mkII lineup split up and the mkIII took over, thusly bringing David Coverdale and Glenn Hughes onto the scene. Purple turned into a bland funk outfit releasing some of the most obnoxious music they ever made, and I've got all the reason to believe that noone is to blame for that but that fake buffoon Hughes, trying to pass himself on as Stevie Wonder's half-brother or something. I hate him and that's that. Coverdale may be but a vain son-of-a-whore, but back then he was mainly an insecure and easily affectable rascal trying to fit in, and I dare say that some of the early Whitesnake stuff is quite decent as well (at least compared to the mid-70's Purple). After recruiting Blackmore's replacement Tommy Bolin, realizing he couldn't play worth a damn and firing him wherupon he overdosed and died, Purple called it a day in 1976. In 1984 the mkII members decided it was time for reuniting for a couple of records before breaking down again, whereupon they hired the fruitcakeish Joe Lynn Turner, broke up, reunited mkII-point-three, fought backstage, got rid of Blackmore (or vice versa), not realising Gillan had lost his voice, hired the redneckish Steve Morse, got rid of Lord (or vice versa), still not realising Gillan had lost his voice, hired Rainbow graduate Don Airey and what they're doing right now I haven't got the slightest clue. Well, whatever keeps them off the streets, I guess. At least, Paice has got an excuse for touring music shops around the world with his drum clinics.

So as you can see, there has been a whole lot going on in the Purple camp over the years, and for most of the time nothing good has come out of it. But most of the stuff they did up until 1972 more than weighs up for whatever they did thereafter, and I do mean some of the mkI output as well, especially their eponymous third album. And whatever may be, "Deep Purple in rock" is and will always be one of my top metal albums of all time, and that alone really accounts for something.