From official site (www.thehighwaystar.com)
http://www.thehighwaystar.com/specials/bananas/stathis.html
My, oh my.
When they say EMI has decided Deep Purple's new album will be a priority release it means this: I was taken to a conference room at EMI Greece, and left alone to listen to the advance CD, which is watermarked (so they'll trace it if it appears on the net). They won't give a copy to anyone for the time being, perhaps they'll let some slip a fortnight before release (August 24). Record labels do this with artists of the stature of, say, Metallica. Good news.
Track listing:
House of Pain
Sun Goes Down
Haunted
Razzle Dazzle
Silver Tongue
Walk On
Pictures of Innocence
I've Got Your Number
Never A Word
Bananas
Doing It Tonight
Contact Lost
12 tracks, not one is sub-standard.
Immense sound, great orchestrations: female vocals, harmonicas, pianos, synths, effects, but all done very tastefully, it's definitely Deep Purple. Progressive Deep Purple.
Don Airey is possibly the star of the show, he provides the most varied keyboard sound on a DP record since The House Of Blue Light in 1987. I don't think there's any Jon on it, at least I couldn't detect any. Don gives it some classic Hammond sounds and solos, though.
Steve sounds like Steve - and like Blackmore in places. Roger is all over the place, a huge presence, Paicey is God, and Gillan is in very fine voice with lots of variety singing-wise.
There's 4 songs (Walk On, Never A Word, Doing it Tonight, Contact Lost) that sound like nothing DP have ever done. Is this good? Yes it is.
The CD opens with House of Pain, which is a very catchy, classic mid-tempo DP song, sort of like Bad Attitude but better (Oops, there goes another THOBL reference), with screams, guitar/organ trade solo, harmonica solo, in short a great live song. Sun Goes Down is slow-to-mide tempo, very heavy with a fat hammond intro and "treated" vocals. Razzle Dazzle is very commercial sounding, great funny lyrics, with a honky tonk piano solo. Silver Tongue is a "typical", angular Morsey riff with a great call-and-response vocal bit. Walk On - a slow blues, one of the absolute highlights of the album, delicate bluesy guitar, piano and organ to the fore, and some INCREDIBLE singing. This cries out for a 20-minute live version with jams.
Pictures of Innocence starts as a shuffle and develops to an Almost Human-like tempo and feel, fantastic lyrics, incredible organ solo, one hell of a song. Never a Word you'll hear and won't believe your ears : it's possibly Episode Six, could be The Byrds, even the Beatles! I can't really describe it, it's a great song that will stick in your memory and you'll hum it for ages. What a vocal performance!
The title track Bananas is a fast, aggressive song which reminds me a bit of Cascades, the lyrics are amazing, even referring to Alice in Wonderland at some point. The solos you'll have to hear to believe! It goes a bit baroque towards the end, and Gillan plays it out with some tasty harmonica. Doing it Tonight is funky as hell, with a sort of a jerky rhythm pattern, agressive lyrics and vocals. Great song, but too short... ....as is the case with Contact Lost. It's approx. a minute and a half, an instrumental with plaintive guitar that sounds unlike anything Steve has played in his whole career, I think. Again I can't really describe it, but even if you didn't know the circumstances after which it was written, you'll be moved to tears. I was.
On listening to the CD, I caught myself quite a few times standing up and exclaiming "YES!!!! This is Deep Purple! Well done!". And that's all I can say, really. What a band...
Rog, if you're reading this, congratulations to all six of you, mate, this is fantastic.
August 24 is so damn far away... :-(
Stathis Panagiotopoulos
http://www.thehighwaystar.com/specials/bananas/stathis.html
My, oh my.
When they say EMI has decided Deep Purple's new album will be a priority release it means this: I was taken to a conference room at EMI Greece, and left alone to listen to the advance CD, which is watermarked (so they'll trace it if it appears on the net). They won't give a copy to anyone for the time being, perhaps they'll let some slip a fortnight before release (August 24). Record labels do this with artists of the stature of, say, Metallica. Good news.
Track listing:
House of Pain
Sun Goes Down
Haunted
Razzle Dazzle
Silver Tongue
Walk On
Pictures of Innocence
I've Got Your Number
Never A Word
Bananas
Doing It Tonight
Contact Lost
12 tracks, not one is sub-standard.
Immense sound, great orchestrations: female vocals, harmonicas, pianos, synths, effects, but all done very tastefully, it's definitely Deep Purple. Progressive Deep Purple.
Don Airey is possibly the star of the show, he provides the most varied keyboard sound on a DP record since The House Of Blue Light in 1987. I don't think there's any Jon on it, at least I couldn't detect any. Don gives it some classic Hammond sounds and solos, though.
Steve sounds like Steve - and like Blackmore in places. Roger is all over the place, a huge presence, Paicey is God, and Gillan is in very fine voice with lots of variety singing-wise.
There's 4 songs (Walk On, Never A Word, Doing it Tonight, Contact Lost) that sound like nothing DP have ever done. Is this good? Yes it is.
The CD opens with House of Pain, which is a very catchy, classic mid-tempo DP song, sort of like Bad Attitude but better (Oops, there goes another THOBL reference), with screams, guitar/organ trade solo, harmonica solo, in short a great live song. Sun Goes Down is slow-to-mide tempo, very heavy with a fat hammond intro and "treated" vocals. Razzle Dazzle is very commercial sounding, great funny lyrics, with a honky tonk piano solo. Silver Tongue is a "typical", angular Morsey riff with a great call-and-response vocal bit. Walk On - a slow blues, one of the absolute highlights of the album, delicate bluesy guitar, piano and organ to the fore, and some INCREDIBLE singing. This cries out for a 20-minute live version with jams.
Pictures of Innocence starts as a shuffle and develops to an Almost Human-like tempo and feel, fantastic lyrics, incredible organ solo, one hell of a song. Never a Word you'll hear and won't believe your ears : it's possibly Episode Six, could be The Byrds, even the Beatles! I can't really describe it, it's a great song that will stick in your memory and you'll hum it for ages. What a vocal performance!
The title track Bananas is a fast, aggressive song which reminds me a bit of Cascades, the lyrics are amazing, even referring to Alice in Wonderland at some point. The solos you'll have to hear to believe! It goes a bit baroque towards the end, and Gillan plays it out with some tasty harmonica. Doing it Tonight is funky as hell, with a sort of a jerky rhythm pattern, agressive lyrics and vocals. Great song, but too short... ....as is the case with Contact Lost. It's approx. a minute and a half, an instrumental with plaintive guitar that sounds unlike anything Steve has played in his whole career, I think. Again I can't really describe it, but even if you didn't know the circumstances after which it was written, you'll be moved to tears. I was.
On listening to the CD, I caught myself quite a few times standing up and exclaiming "YES!!!! This is Deep Purple! Well done!". And that's all I can say, really. What a band...
Rog, if you're reading this, congratulations to all six of you, mate, this is fantastic.
August 24 is so damn far away... :-(
Stathis Panagiotopoulos
