Deep Purple

I've heard talk about this band being a modern version of Deep Purple and after listening to this I can totally understand why some might make that connection....Although the singer doesn't come close to ANY of the Purple frontmen....;)

 
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Deep Purple - Bananas (2003)

Well, it took Deep Purple five years to do the follow up to 1998's Abandon but meanwhile they also had to find a replacement for founder and long time member Jon Lord who choose to quit the band to devote his time pursuing his classical music interests and also to get away from the strains of touring. Decision fell on the former Rainbow keyboard player Don Airey, a well known face in the Purple camp and a respected keyboard player. Released to basically no fanfare in 2003, Bananas didn't do particularly well in the charts - I believe this was one of their worst charting albums in the UK? So the five years of absence for the band had surely made an impact..but apparently did really well in many other European countries.

I won't say too much about the songs themselves this time around. Just a quick run through of what I consider to be the highlights here. First of all I'd like to say that Don Airey does a really good job "filling the shoes" left by Lord. He has the same kind of approach to and does a respectful job of continuing the Hammond tradition in Deep Purple. Great player with respect for the bands classic sound. House of Pain is good, as is Haunted, Sun Goes Down and Silver Tongue....Actually I'm rather impressed by most of the album. it all fits well together and the production is really on point - Gillan sounds good on an album again too! There's some tracks I'm less fond off too though...Razzle Dazzle? too filler and I Got Your Number....

Contact Lost is a really nice tribute to the astronauts of the Columbia space shuttle disaster and a thoughtful way to end the album...Apparently made on the whim by Morse upon hearing of the news.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Shuttle_Columbia_disaster

The tour for the album lasted almost two years and saw Deep Purple play the now famous Live 8 show in 2005...

 
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It was in Nuremberg. Same venue I saw them later in 2006 with Alice Cooper.
 
Perun said:
It was in Nuremberg. Same venue I saw them later in 2006 with Alice Cooper.
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Ah I see. There's a full pretty much pro shot version of the Berlin show from the Columbiahalle in 2003. So I thought if that was the one you went too you'd be more than interested in seeing it again! :D


At the 25:25 mark you can hear the dedication to the Columbia crew as they play Contact Lost...
 
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I always liked Bananas .. not their best album by any stretch, but a lot of really solid songs. My main complaint about it is that it lacks any great songs ... but also does not have anything terrible on it. Overall though a good solid album.

Airey really was a good choice for the band. He and Morse do really well filling in for really legends and both doing a good job on the old songs, while creating good new material that sounds like Deep Purple, but also has their own stamp on it. it. No complaints with either of them.
 
SixesAlltheway said:
@Zare , @Black Bart anything to add before we move on to the second to last entry in the discography?
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I thought I had answered... apparently I haven't! :)

I like Bananas a lot, apart from the two Morse snoozefest episodes (namely "Never a Word" - a bad Aviator- and "Contact Lost", uninspired in my opinion, too bad he has nothing else to play as his solo spot live). My favourite ones:
- the title track
- "Doing It Tonight"
- "I Got Your Number"

I like "Walk On" but it would have fit a solo album of Gillan's better.
Don Airey is the new guy although he is still in the shadow of Jon Lord, who co-signed two or three tracks if I remember well. This has changed since then - I will have to listen to Rapture again but Now What!? is still quite fresh in my ears and Airey rules on it.
 
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