Deep Purple’s lacklustre covers album Turning To Crime, in 2021, seemed to suggest that the band were finally a spent force. Then it got worse. Soon afterwards, long-term guitarist Steve Morse’s noble departure to care for his ill wife meant another Purple pillar had fallen. With Ian Gillan, Roger Glover, Ian Paice and Don Airey in their 70s, nobody could have forgiven them catching up on a few Midsomer Murders afternoon repeats.
Instead they doubled down and knuckled down. Morse was replaced by a young pup: 45-year-old Ulsterman Simon McBride, once of Sweet Savage (who also once included Def Leppard’s Vivian Campbell). They retained producer Bob Ezrin, and with their twenty-third album they’ve restated what made them great half a century ago. And they’ve done it without sounding dated. If the worst thing about an album is its idiotic title, then we’re on very solid ground indeed
The Purple of =1 harks back to both their early-70s pomp and the early-80s MKII rebirth. McBride is no Ritchie Blackmore facsimile, although the chunky opening riff to Lazy Sod momentarily suggests otherwise. Instead he brings relatively youthful energy, and when he lets loose on I’ll Catch You and sizzles his way through A Bit On The Side it’s clear he’s both his own man and the right man.
Alongside McBride, the other band members are reinvigorated too. Gillan’s voice is richer than it’s sounded in years. And while he plays the grumpy old man from time to time (‘Give it a rest; it’s not that complicated’, he commands on the kitchen sink closer Bleeding Obvious), he’s intermittently tender, not least on Pictures Of You. Meanwhile, Airey’s upfront keyboards are as vital as his predecessor Jon Lord’s once were.
Pace-wise, at the very moment Purple might have been expected to emulate When A Blind Man Cries, aside from the big ballad If I Were You, they gallop like Black Night, not least on the standout Portable Door, their finest moment this century. Some frisky cooing backing vocals on Sharp Shooter add a new dimension, but at this point nobody seriously wants another Purpendicular-style curve ball. And =1 suggests they don’t need one.
Just when you thought arguably Britain’s finest rock band had nothing more to give, along comes what may be their final rebirth. They’re taking it on the road of course. Can anything stop them? Hopefully not.
