Here's something I've never tried before. To review a new album. I bought Infinite a month or so ago, it came out earlier this year & as we were due to see Deep Purple thought I'd invest in the album as it was odds on they'd play a couple of tracks off it & infact they played four.
The opening track 'Time for Bedlam' is a cracker. It's a real belter to start off the album with a very tuneful guitar solo from Steve Morse, I can vouch for the fact that its a great track to hear live as well, the next song, 'Hip Boots' is bit of a strange one. 'You can bury me up to my neck in shit,' has to be one of the oddest opening lines to any song, it's an OK sort of song in many ways, not especially memorable apart from some of the words! After seeing Ian Gillan on stage I think its more hip replacement rather than hip boots!!
'All I got is you' has a very laid back opening and a brisk short instrumental between verses, the keyboard solo by the great Don Airey was rather reminiscent of Rick Wakeman on the keys for Yes.
'Get me outta here' is abit heavier with a riff that rattles along like a train, the production by Bob Ezrin, who is no stranger to Deep Purple, is spot on. A good balanced track I think, of course Ezrin's work is impeccable having produced such luminaries as Alice Cooper, Doctor Feelgood and Peter Gabriel.
'The surprising' is the sixth track, it's another slowy one. It's got the pace of a slow moving train, that's no criticism, it's moving along and no one is going to stop it. It's a very fluid track.
'Johnny's Band' tells the story of a band (DP maybe!?) from humble beginnings playing pubs, hitting the big time & then the downward spiral. Not a bad track, abit pedestrian compared to some maybe. If you want some alittle different the 'On top of the world' is your man. With talk of Ambrosia and Morpheus and the beautiful Venus it's all abit mystic, but the gag at the end brings it down to earth ( sorry, no pun intended, that was a Rainbow album!)
'Birds of prey' has a very good guitar solo by Steve Morse again. He knows his stuff and no mistake, he ain't no Ritchie Blackmore but maybe that's a good thing. 'Roadhouse Blues' that hardy perennial originally by The Doors is known by all & brings the album to a close. Got to say I've always liked the Quo version myself but here DP make a very good fist of it. That bass line that Roger Glover lays down just keeps the song on the rails and holds it all together.
There's a fair amount of swearing on this album that I think is abit unnecessary, I'm not offended by it, just think its superfluous. The album as a whole won't go down with the classic Deep Purple albums such as 'Machine Head' or 'In Rock' but its an expertly crafted album in the hands of a band of old troupers who all know their stuff. it has a maturity and a certain amount of guts that I like. The more I play it the more I like it.
