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Bananas
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Reviews of Bananas Interviews New album stuff Related sites Imaginary reviews |
Wow!This is what I call a fun, ballsy, fresh, bright and creatively wicked CD. Unlike their previous release, Abandon (1998), there are absolutely no filler tracks on this album. It has a great mix of straight ahead rock (House Of Pain - arguably the best opener of a Purple CD since Burn, - and Silver Tongue), progressive rock (Bananas, Sun Goes Down), bluesy rock (Walk On), late '65 Beatles rock (Never A Word), and party rock (Razzle Dazzle, Doing It Tonight). There are a couple of tracks on here that are a bit of a departure for them: The ballad Haunted which is a great song complete with strings and a female back-up vocalist - again, a very un-Purple move, but it works really well. Doing It Tonight has a very un-Purple like rhythm and melody to it, but it is one hell of a fun song! Gillan, Paice (God, he's good), Glover, and Morse are obviously still sounding impeccable as a recording unit, and Don Airey seems like a half decent replacement for Jon Lord (although there have been a few times over the past six listens that I have thought, "What would Jon Lord have done if he was on this CD?", but I guess that's my problem. I didn't, however, wonder what Blackmore would have done on Purpendicular - Morse's first recording with Purple.) There are lows: Don Airey's use of a synthesizer can be a bit irritating from time to time. Also, the mix is a bit shaky here and there: Gillan's vocals, as great as they sound these days, seem to be a bit too high in the mix on a few songs, and on "Bananas" and "Doing It Tonight" Steve Morse's guitar solos seem to be too low in the mix - especially in his solo duels with Airey. In my opinion, Purpendicular remains to be the masterpiece of Morse era Purple, but Bananas is a great CD all the same. To beat Purpendicular would be one hell of a tall order (akin to beating Machine Head in Blackmore era Purple). Although Bananas is a consistently fun and enjoyable CD with a really fresh feel to it, Purpendicular's songs, for the most part, seem to be of a higher calibre. Steve Morse era Purple CDs: Purpendicular (1996) - 9.5/10
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