I f*cking love DEEP PURPLE!

This is a f*cking killer album...

Sounds like I'm gonna have to check it out.

New Deep Purple? Nice, will have to look into this further.

It is a killer album - I am surprised at how much I love it

Yeah man, this new album surpassed my expectations but then again I like all the Morse DP.

I really should expand my DP collection. *sigh* One of these days...

MetalGuy71 wrote:

I really should expand my DP collection. *sigh* One of these days...

I think you'd love this new album, you should be able to find it on sale somewhere. It's worth every penny.

S.D. wrote:

MetalGuy71 wrote:

I really should expand my DP collection. *sigh* One of these days...

I think you'd love this new album, you should be able to find it on sale somewhere. It's worth every penny.

Eh, maybe. I've listened to the songs you and others have posted. It's pleasant enough, but nothing that really grabbed me. If I were going to start, I want to go back to the classic 70's stuff first and work my way from there. But it's also something I'm not rushing into either.

Ya never know. I'll say I'm not interested , then pick it up for shits & giggles this weekend anyway.

MetalGuy71 wrote:

I really should expand my DP collection. *sigh* One of these days...

You and me both. The only Purp stuff I've got is a couple of compilations.

I fucking love Deep Purple too. One of the only real long-standing bands who's new output is still completely on par with their old.

MetalGuy71 wrote:

Eh, maybe. I've listened to the songs you and others have posted. It's pleasant enough, but nothing that really grabbed me.

It's one of those albums that needs to be listened to all the way through to get the full picture, in my experience those are generally the most rewarding ones.

I have burned myself out on DP except for the Morse stuff and of that particular era I think "Bananas" is their best.

Akeldama wrote:

I have burned myself out on DP except for the Morse stuff and of that particular era I think "Bananas" is their best.

The Morse albums are very nice and I find myself listening to them more often than any of the others these days.  

My favorites in order:

1. Purpendicular
2. Now What?!
3. Rapture of The Deep
4. Bananas
5. Abandon

Also must mention a couple very fine live releases from this group.

Live At The Olympia '96. This is one of my favorite Deep Purple releases regardless of lineup.

They All Came Down To Montreux 2006

Just noticed they were a decade apart, interesting.

Yeah, I think I'll take a day and jam all the Morse stuff in order. I have those two live albums but I'll admit I've never listened to them.

I picked up Now What over the summer and my only complaint is that I should have gotten it sooner. Great album.

MetalGuy71 wrote:

I picked up Now What over the summer and my only complaint is that I should have gotten it sooner. Great album.

Yeah, it's a fantastic album, somewhere between good old-fashioned rock and progressive rock.

I got a good deal on the deluxe gold-issue version with 2 bonus tracks and a 2nd disc of live material. The bonus tracks are ok, nothing essential, but the live disc is excellent too.

http://www.amazon.com/What-Gold-Limited-Deep-Purple/dp/B00GY6Z662/ref=tmm_acd_title_1?_encoding=UTF8&sr=&qid=

Yeah, the live disc is great, this band is chock full of excellent musicians, something lacking on a lot of modern live albums.  

Steve Morse said when he first went to audition for Purple back in 1995 he was blown away by the level of talent in the band, he said it was like playing with a group full of top-level session musicians.

I bought Now What?! on LP, then got a download of the live tracks.

MetalGuy71 wrote:

I got a good deal on the deluxe gold-issue version with 2 bonus tracks and a 2nd disc of live material. The bonus tracks are ok, nothing essential, but the live disc is excellent too.

http://www.amazon.com/What-Gold-Limited-Deep-Purple/dp/B00GY6Z662/ref=tmm_acd_title_1?_encoding=UTF8&sr=&qid=

Props for this MG; I'm gonna grab this (at last) this weekend even if it means putting my Opeth collecting on hold.

I've only heard the album on Spotify and it BURNS. Was an honorable mention for my top 10 last year.

I got mine off of ebay for under $10 shipped, so you might want to shop around. But yea, if you're gonna drop the coin, might as well get the double cd version. I'm not usually one to go ga-ga over live releases, but since my Purp collection is severely lacking, I figured "what the hell?" It was worth it.

Blasted this today after work, took all my troubles away. Don Airey is a worthy replacement for Lord; a lot of the bottom end, arpeggios, and staccatos are very much Lord. My favorite track when I first heard the album last year was Above and Beyond (which I just found out in the liner notes was written for Jon) and now Vincent Price is a close second (I hadn't heard it until today), sounds like something that belongs on In Rock. Either way this is one of those albums where every song pretty much carries extra weight, no filler and no mediocrity anywhere. Morse is a golden god, on fire with every (MEMORABLE) solo, and Ian sounds just fine. It's amazing to find a lead vocalist who had at some time lost his upper register that he was known for but can still carry on with a fantastic timbre. Overall, this album is being moved to my 2013 top 10, possibly replacing Metal Church (which was my #1).

On a side note, I was shocked to learn that the album has a DR of 6 db! This isn't obvious to me at all, and even in my truck I was able to crank it with no distortion, although I had to lower the bass by a moderate amount. And the instruments have great separation, while their timbre is incredible. Why am I hearing more dynamic range and clarity than the DR data suggests??

The primary reason?  The album was produced by Bob Ezrin, he knows what shit is supposed to sound like.  A crappy recording will sound even worse when badly mastered...a really fucking good recording isn't damaged quite as much.  

The instrumental tracks for Now What were mostly recorded live in the studio, it was a great sounding room with lots of real space between the instruments, good mics to capture it and a master producer deciding where to place everything to truly capture the sound of the band.

Also...even though I talk a lot about dynamic range, it's not the only variable in whether an CD is going to sound good.  A lot of mastering is the EQ choices and how the combination of that EQ with the compression sounds, across different volume ranges.  Over the years I've had brickwalled CDs that sounded good...and I've had CDs with lots of dynamic range that sounded like mud.

What are some thoughts on this live release?


I saw a used copy and thought about picking it up, but I wanted to do a little research first.

MetalGuy71 wrote:

What are some thoughts on this live release?


I saw a used copy and thought about picking it up, but I wanted to do a little research first.

It's phenomenal, parts of two different concerts, one from '70 and the other from '72 if I remember correctly. Only caveat is both of those concerts have also been issued complete in recent years. I first got this particular collection in the early 80s on LP so it brings back a lot of memories.

I would definitely buy it, Deep Purple are a "live act" through and through and you can't go wrong with anything from this era.

S.D. wrote:

The primary reason?  The album was produced by Bob Ezrin, he knows what shit is supposed to sound like.  A crappy recording will sound even worse when badly mastered...a really fucking good recording isn't damaged quite as much.  

The instrumental tracks for Now What were mostly recorded live in the studio, it was a great sounding room with lots of real space between the instruments, good mics to capture it and a master producer deciding where to place everything to truly capture the sound of the band.

Also...even though I talk a lot about dynamic range, it's not the only variable in whether an CD is going to sound good.  A lot of mastering is the EQ choices and how the combination of that EQ with the compression sounds, across different volume ranges.  Over the years I've had brickwalled CDs that sounded good...and I've had CDs with lots of dynamic range that sounded like mud.

I've never thought of it that way, of course there are few examples of brickwalled albums that actually sound lively that come to my mind. I'd really like to hear the vinyl version of this album to see what kind of difference there is.