I've had the opportunity to live with Jon Lord's new solo album for a while and I have to say that this album is a masterpiece! The Jon Lord solo albums are few and far between but when we do get them they are well worth the wait.
The album starts out with the title track, a song that sets the mood for this album. The title track is a beautiful ballad with piano and cello featuring Miller Anderson on vocals. This is the first time I've heard Miller Anderson and I have to say that Miller is a very good singer, he has got a mellow voice that reminds me of Elmer Gantry from Jon's "Before I Forget" album. There are two more tracks with vocals on this album, both of them featuring the amazing Sam Brown. One of those songs, "Wait a while", is another very beautiful ballad that will be used as a single to promote the album.
Right from the beginning of this album it hit me what a distinct sound Jon has in his music and his playing. If someone had just played me a minute of this record, a fragment pulled out of the middle of the album, I would immediately had guessed that it was Jon's work, and this is without one single Hammond note on the album! I can't put my finger on it, but there is something very unique about Jon's compositions and his piano playing.
As I said - there are no Hammonds, no screaming singers, no howling guitars, no heavy drums on this album - this is not a rock album. This is not a Deep Purple album. This is nothing like Jon's earlier solo albums. This is a soft, beautiful album filled with emotion. This is a private, somewhat sad album. Jon lost both his parents over the last years and I think that has had an effect on the compositions on this album.
I always think you should try to stay away from putting performers in genres or comparing them to others but if I have to do that with this album I would use words and names like ambient, crossover, Pat Metheny, Andreas Vollenweider, Pink Floyd.
When we talked to Jon on the US tour earlier this year he told us that he has signed a solo deal with EMI now so it should hopefully not be 16 more years before we get to hear the next Jon Lord solo album... The next solo album which will, in Jon's own words, "blow your head off!". But for now, you need to go out and buy this beautiful album, "Picture within".
"Pictured within" is released by EMI on October 30.