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Index

Deep Purple - "Rapture of the Deep"
A track by track runthrough of the album

Money Talks
The first song on the album starts out with a weird noise that I would guess is a heavily processed Hammond in the same vein as the 70's intros to Lazy. This noise turns into a "regular" DP-type Hammond. Jon Lord maybe be gone from the band but Don Airey makes sure the Hammond is as heavily featured as always.
The song itself is a heavy, dark song with a slight oriental, Perfect Strangers-type feel to some of the riffs. There are a lot of things happening in this song and it sets a tone for the album that it all is well-arranged and progressive.

Girls Like That
Steve Morse kicks off the song with a guitar intro that is a classic Morse blend of blues and an Indian sound. When the song kicks off, the first thing you notice Roger's very heavy bass sound. The bass is up front and is sounding really heavy.
The chorus is an easy to remember, sing along-friendly thing with vocal harmonies and all. Could be a radio hit if someone was bothered to release it to the radio and make a decent video to it. The vocal harmonies at the end of the choruses remind me of The Beatles. All in all the song reminds me of something off of "House of Blue Light".

Wrong Man
Another heavy track. The main riff is a chugging thing in the same vein as "Silver Tongue" off of "Bananas". The kind that makes your head nod no matter if you want or not. Once again a catchy chorus. I know a catchy chorus might sound terrible to some people but it works very well to my ears.

Rapture of the Deep
A weird oriental riff played by Steve and Don alone opens this song. This also fits in the vein of the Perfect Strangers album. It is again a song that is well-arranged and progressive.
This might sound like big words but this song pretty much sums up what I would say is what I like about Deep Purple. It's a fairly heavy song with lots of stuff happening and the guys in the band show off how excellent musicians they are without falling into the trap of pointless wanking.

Clearly Quite Absurd
The ballad of the album. I didn't like "Haunted" at all on "Bananas". This is a different beast. While "Haunted" sounded safe, boring and streamlined for radio, this is a beautiful song with - again- wonderful arrangements. Steve's main riff reminds me of "Sometimes I Feel Like Screaming". There's a dark bridge that repeats a couple of times during the song and a church organ in the distance leads up to an excellent Hammond solo filled with sweat and emotion at the end of the song.
The worst thing about this song is the vocal production. Gillan sounds muddled and a bit like he is sitting at a table telling you some sad news. Maybe that was the point? There's also an annoying stereo delay on the vocals. I have to add though that even though I got my copy of the CD from the record company, it is a CD-R so maybe this version is a different mix and/or mastering from the final product. We can just pray that we don't get the same sound problems as "Bananas" and "Abandon" had. Please let us have a new Deep Purple album without technical flaws.

Don't Let Go
As a song, this is a fairly uninteresting song that feels like one of those songs you often find in the middle of an album. It's got great solos though, both from Steve and Don, on the piano this time. This song also has nice harmonies in the chorus.

Back to Back
This is "Ted the Mechanic" at a slightly slower tempo. Don whips out the old MiniMoog for classic solo in the middle.

Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye
Ian Paice gets a good workout in the intro of this heavy song. Especially cool in this song is the Hammond solo. I think Don Airey said in some interview that he had been studying Jon's sound very closely and is trying really hard to recreate that classic sound. That shows here where the Hammond growls in that way we love and that is rarely heard these days.

MTV
This is a real gem that I can't for my life understand why they only include as a bonus track on a limited edition. The lyrics are a hysterical jab at "classic rock radio" and MTV. Great vocal harmonies again and really good subtle use of an aoustic guitar in some places. Lots of things happening again. Excellent!

Junkyard Blues
Not much to say about this song, really. It's a classic Deep Purple rocker with a catchy riff and some nice piano playing by Mr. Airey. Not one of the most important tracks on the album but certainly worth including on the album.
Once again a really strong chorus. This album could really be a hit with proper exposure.

Before Time Began
This is a wonderful song that is hard to describe. It's slow with a psychedelic touch in Steve's beautiful chords in the verses. The DPAS preview used the word "elegiac" which I agree with. Once again I am impressed by the arrangements and the progressive feel to the song.
As the song gets heavier a couple of minutes into the song, I am reminded of that one epic track the band Gillan always included at the end of their albums in the 80's, "Life Goes On", "Demon Driver", "For Your Dreams", "On The Rocks" etc.

Svante Pettersson

Svante is a longtime editor of THS. When he's not working on the site, he tries to change his career from being a sound engineer to journalist.