Loosen my strings (Deep Purple) (LP 2346 - 2356)

Deep Purple  Purpendicular (CD, RCA Records, 1996) ****  

Deep Purple  Live At The Olympia '96 (CD, Thames Records, 1997) ****  

Deep Purple  Live At Montreux 1996 (CD, Eagle Records, 2006) ***

Deep Purple  Abandon (CD, EMI Records, 1998) ***  

Deep Purple  Total Abandon Australia '99 (CD, RCA Records, 1999) ***  

Deep Purple  Bananas (CD, EMI Records, 2003) ***  

Deep Purple  Rapture of the Deep (CD, Edel Records, 2005) ****  

Deep Purple  Live At Montreux 2006 (CD, Eagle Records, 2007) *** 

Deep Purple  Now What?! (CD, EMI Records, 2013) ***  

Deep Purple  InFinite (CD, EarMUSIC Records, 2017) *** 

Deep Purple  Whoosh! (CD, EarMusic Records, 2020) ***  

Genre: Rock

Places I remember: Fopp; HMV; JB Hi-Fi.

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Vavoom: Ted The Mechanic (Purpendicular)

Gear costume: Rosa's Cantina, Sometimes I feel Like Screaming (both Purpendicular) 

Active compensatory factors: What are the odds that Deep Purple Mark 7*, in the mid-nineties, would pick themselves up and with a new guitarist forge and sustain a new vital career in music.

A long shot, right! But somehow, with Ian Gillan revitalised as a vocalist and lyricist, new guitarist Steve Morse from Dixie Dregs playing sublime guitar, and the other guys (Glover, Lord, Paise) back on form (although Ian Paice is always consistently great), blow me down if they didn't do just that - re-invent and innovate in the late nineties and then as Mark 8 (without Jon Lord) into the new millennium.

The production is superb on Purpendicular - Glover's bass lines are crisp and crystal clear (Glover wasn't producing - maybe that helped). The songs are well written, there's some interesting experimentation (there's no DP formula type songs), and the musicianship, as indicated earlier, is fabulous.

There are a number of highlights on Purpendicular that the band tap into in their revamped live set from the time. Live At The Olympia '96 is a superb live double album. 

It feels like a true live document and the set list is perfect: the best songs from Purpendicular alongside deep cuts from the early Mark 2 albums, plus including a visit to Perfect Strangers, and hits (Black Night is the fifth song up and includes a great audience/ guitar interplay section).

In fact, Steve Morse is superb throughout. His playing is his own even though he's often needing to play Ritchie's parts. 

The Live at Montreux 1996 album also documents the reborn band of the mid nineties. It has a couple of bonus tracks from their Montreux appearance in 2000. 

It's not as essential as the Olympia set - mainly because the audience doesn't go apeshit like the Olympia one does, but the vibrancy of the music is still there.

Deep into the nineties - 30 years after they started as a band, came Abandon. Roger Glover and the band are back on production duties for this one.

Steve Morse cements his position as the guitar foil needed in this hard driving rock album. He's also the star of the Total Abandon Australia live double CD album.

The live setting brings out that tight ensemble Deep Purple sound superbly and Total Abandon delivers big time. They were at the end of a long 1998-1999 tour and they sound fully on form.

The highlights are many but I can't go past Steve Morse's intro to Smoke On The Water (where he moves from classic Jimmy Page, Hendrix, Clapton, Van Halen riffs into Ritchie's classic Smoke On The Water riff) and then that version. Ian Gillan's stage announcements throughout the gig are once again a treat as well.

Into the naughties the band trooped but without Jon Lord. His knee injury brought on a retirement from DP and the recruiting of Don Airey as his replacement. 

Bananas was the studio album that emerged in 2003. It's a good start to the Don Airey/Steve Morse years with that signature DP sound present and correct. My only quibble is that it's too long as a CD and I tend to drift off towards the end.

Rapture Of The Deep continues that success and avoids the too-long CD syndrome. Although these albums probably fly under the radar of what's current in the naughties there is something very reassuring about their very presence. 

On songs like Wrong Man, Steve's intuitive understanding of what sounds like a good DP riff is a terrific attribute. he's definitely a great guitarist and fits the DP aesthetic so well.

The concurrent Live at Montreux album (2006) has the old standards yet again - there's no way they can't play Highway Star and Smoke on the Water but Space Truckin' really needs to be retired IMHO. Thankfully there is also a lot of the new material from Rapture (including Wrong Man) and I never get tired of Pictures Of Home.

The next studio album, Now What?!, came out seven years after Rapture of The Deep. In the meantime, Jon Lord had passed away (2012) and, fittingly, the album is dedicated to him.

The music is immediately recognisable as Deep Purple, which is as it should be. They proved in the past that moving away from their pulse beat and core sound wasn't a good move. The usual CD issue of it being too long returns for Now What?! It's probably three songs too many.

And, I'm not crazy about Don Airey's use of synths at the expense of the organ. That Hammond B3 is a crucial ingredient!

Bob Ezrin produced Now What?! and he was on board four years later for InFinite. In truth, I'm not sure it matters who produces Deep Purple albums, they are so used to each other by now they just do what they do.

Anyway, InFinite and Whoosh! continue the story (with great sleeve covers - it must be said) and what remains pretty remarkable is how Ian Gillan sustains his powerful delivery throughout all of these late period albums.

Highlights in this final trio of albums include Apres Vous and Vincent Price on Now What?!

Weak bit: I'm not sure why they decided to cover The Doors Roadhouse Blues on InFinite. It's a pretty weak version.

Where do they all belong? *Mark 6 had Joe Satriani filling in for live shows - nothing was released with the Mark 6 band to my knowledge. So that's it. The end of the Deep Purple albums in my collection. 

I haven't bothered to buy their most recent album at exorbitant prices - Turning To Crime is a covers album and the last to feature Steve Morse who left the band after its release. It's on Spotify (of course) and I've listened to it once. If I manage to find a copy in a shop I'll buy it, but I'm not making a special effort.