Deep Purple "Now What?!"

Dear me, I said "Deep Purple" in the previous post on Riverside.  Look what was next in the rotation.  Happenstance, per chance (is that redundant?)?  Maybe, but there was no doubt I would get this upon release once the rumors from two years ago proved true.  BKP delivered a copy ten days ahead of the domestic drop, so it was a win-win situation. 

Just a brief recap for you who do not know me:  Deep Purple are in my Top 5 Bands of ALL-TIME and Ian Gillan may be the best rock vocalist ever.  OK, let's move on...

"Now What" sounds exactly like DP should sound like in 2013.  There are plenty of nods to their past while making the record current.  Are there enough fans like me happy to have new DP music?  Sure (landed on sixteen charts that I know of, #1 on two of those, top 10 on five more, still ranked on seven this week).  Did we have to have it?  No.  Will this album earn them new fans?  Doubt it.  That said, it will still become the 17th entry on my Deep Purple sheet. 

Gillan may not scream anymore, keeping his vocals in the mid-range, but they are solid and clean.  Don Airey's keyboards/organ are outstanding (Jon Lord should be smiling, R.I.P.) and up front in many of the mixes.  The rhythm section of Mr. Paice and Mr. Glover is as solid as ever.  Getting the short shrift, IMHO, is the young pup (58 years old) of the group, guitarist Steve Morse.  He's been working with the band nigh on twenty years yet his substantial contributions are buried in most places.  I had to really concentrate (difficult as it is at my age) to distinguish the fretwork.  I lay the blame on the old fogey producer, Bob Ezrin.  Believe me, that's a joke.  One must not argue with this man's pedigree (Alice Cooper's 70's albums, Kiss "Destroyer," The Babys debut, Berlin "Count Three and Pray," and...oh, yeah, "The Wall").  I'm sure it wasn't an intentional snub, but Ritchie Blackmore would have never allowed it!



Although I'm keeping the complete album, it comes with a caveat.  There isn't one specifically memorable tune amongst the entire proceedings, evidenced by the fact that the first official video is track #11 of 12...



...but it's a great video, nonetheless.  Judging by some of the recent live clips across the 'net, I'm speculating they spent a substantial amount of time in Ezrin's Nashville studio getting Gillan's vocal tracks down.  Years of amazing screaming will do that to ya. 

"Now What?!" sure beats the hell out of recent releases by veteran bands Aerosmith and ZZ Top.  I have the new Black Sabbath but only sampled it so far (fifteen Top 5 chart debuts around the world, including #1's in the US and UK, means it's probably pretty good).  Sure would like to hear some of your thoughts...