PPS: I want to address in advance this notion, seemingly held by many, that classic Deep Purple is "not heavy metal." Defenders of this notion often cite the fact that Purple keyboardist Jon Lord says that he had never heard the term "heavy metal" until the early 80's. Yes, I like them that much more than Led Zeppelin, even if Deep Purple made so many bad albums and the worst Led Zeppelin ever did was "pretty good." So sue me. It may well be that I've become a fool for even considering this, but I am raising my grade of Made in Japan one notch, and thus Deep Purple is now a **** band for me. PS: You know what? Years upon years later, I've realized that the classic era of Deep Purple is still near and dear to my heart, and I enjoy Made in Japan as much as I ever did if not more.
I can only give them *** out of 5, since even the most incredible of 70's metal tires me out more other kinds of music can (give me a break, my first music love was the friggin' Moody Blues), but make no mistake, this is a special ***.
Considering that I am nothing close to a habitual headbanger, and that something like Led Zeppelin II wears down my ears and psyche like nobody's business, that is one incredible accomplishment on the part of the group. Still, why dwell on negatives? The fact is, when I think of Deep Purple, my mind does not instinctively associate them with all of their eventual shortcomings, but instead associates with them the first time I ever heard the first notes of "Speed King," and how within a minute-and-a-half of that track I had fallen in love with the band. It's little wonder that the band is cited so often as one of the primary influences for This is Spinal Tap (though 80's Black Sabbath will always reign #1 in that department) - aside from lots of member turnover, there have been just a few too many albums where the band seems to think that it's hip and cool but really just sounds laughably lame and out-of-touch. Whether through making ill-advised replacements of "classic"-era members, or through a replacement guitarist accidentally making one of his arms numb from bad heroin, or the classic lineup members demonstrating their increasing inability over time to do classic material at classic quality, Deep Purple has done a fairly good job of ripping up a once-impeccable reputation. Despite the stretches of quality, though, and the surprising resurgence of the band from the mid-90's onward, I'd be quite surprised by the notion that somebody who hadn't heard any of the "classic" material but that had instead been introduced to the band through another avenue would have an immediate desire to get as much Purple as possible. It's not as if all of the band's material outside their brief stretch of glory is bad, of course - they've done some very good albums in those times, and even the weaker albums have some good tracks. Unfortunately, assessing Deep Purple means I also have to take into account all of the other years and albums of the band's life, and there's a lot of them. In short, excuse me while I fawn just a bit over In Rock through Made in Japan. And no pocketbook fantasy in the lyrics either - just girls, cars, buildings burning down and one instance of a person's fear during war. Stupid juvenile pseudo-mystical lyrics? Nope! Perfunctory references to Satanism or the occult? Nope! Power chords masking a lack of creative riffs? Nope! Just solid rock'n'roll, only with a heavier bottom, done at blazing speeds, with awesomely entertaining guitar and keyboard solos, and a louder-than-hell, oozing-with-confidence singer that could hit amazingly high notes in tune and with power to spare. The songwriting could vary a bit in quality, sure, but the sound, oh the sound. But Otherwise, RAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWK!!!!įor a brief period of time in the early 70's, Deep Purple was not just one of my favorite hard-rock or heavy-metal bands of all time (here in the present day, not back then, when I hadn't been born yet) they were my platonic ideal for a great metal band. RAAAAAAAExcept For All Those Albums That Kinda Suck. Deep Purple Completely confused by the rating system? Go here for an explanation.