Deep Purple-The house of the blue light

Mercury
1987

Background-Deep Purple had reformed in 1984 to record the reunion album "Perfect strangers". It was a solid release and sold pretty well. The band took their time and by 1987 they released another album.


Initial Reaction-I heard this shortly after it's release. I thought that it was decent, but I wasn't really satisfied with it overall. It wasn't as heavy or as catchy as "Perfect Strangers". I never owned it back in the day and only heard it a few time in the 1980's. I picked up a copy on CD cheap to do this review. This was the first time I had heard the whole album in about 18 years.

Review-

Bad Attitude-The opener comes on well enough. The vocals are strong and it moves along nicely, but a little light in the overall sound.

The Unwritten Law-This is a little odd in it's approach. Not bad, but a little poppy and bouncy. Has a good guitar solo though.

Call of the wild-Lots of keyboards in this one. Not bad, but it's almost like the band are sounding their age and aiming for an older crowd as well.

Mad Dog-Starts out alright, but a bit like they are holding back. Unfortunately more repetitive than it needs to be.

Black and White-A harmonica intro leads into a more blues oriented song than the band normally does. The song hits a little more on the classic Purple sound for a minute, but doesn't quite do enough.

Hard Lovin' Woman-A simple straight up rockin' track. Nothing special for this band, but it stands out on this album.

The Spanish Archer-A medium slow pace, but plenty of winding guitar passages and a big thick sound overall. A shame there wasn't more of this fire on the whole album.

Strangeways-This song has more of a feel of old Purple than other songs, but it takes a little time to warm up to.

Mitzie Dupree-Like Strangeways, it takes a little while to get going. Hold on though because it heats up and eventually has some of the best playing on the album.

Dead or Alive-This is moderately fast and they plunge right into it. Yet I can't help but feel that I have heard this band do this style of song much better on more than one previous occasion.

Final word-It's decent overall, but about the same as I remember it twenty years ago. The second half of the album is certainly stronger than the first half. The biggest problem is that it has an overall lighter sound than "Perfect Strangers" or most classic Purple. I really didn't see the reason for toning it down. Not a bad at all and it deserves to be played every now and then. However if you are in the mood for some great Deep Purple then this likely will not be at the top of your list.

***The twenty year album review for October will be Helloween's Keeper of the seven keys pt.1.