Perfect Strangers by Deep Purple (Polydor 1984)
Returning the echo of a point in time . . . distant faces shine
Tracklist:
Side One, Vinyl
1. Knocking at Your Back Door 7:09
2. Under the Gun 4:40
3. Nobody's Home (Blackmore, Gillan, Glover, Jon Lord, Ian Paice) 4:01
4. Mean Streak 4:26
Side Two, Vinyl
5. Perfect Strangers 5:31
6. A Gypsy's Kiss 5:14
7. Wasted Sunsets 3:58
8. Hungry Daze 5:01
Bonus Track CD
9. Not Responsible 4:53
Bonus Track, Remaster 1999
10. Son of Alerik (Blackmore) 10:01
All songs written by Ritchie Blackmore, Ian Gillan and Roger Glover except where stated
Lineup:
Ritchie Blackmore – Guitar
Jon Lord – Organ, keyboards
Ian Paice – Drums
Ian Gillan – Vocals
Roger Glover – Bass
Album produced by Roger Glover and Deep Purple
When Ian Gillan left Deep Purple in 1973, he released a trio of surprisingly flat sounding jazz-rock albums, albeit containing some terrific musicians and at least one great album cover in Ian Foss's Clear Air Turbulence (1977). Following a Live at the Budokan album (1977), he changed the line-up, shortened the band name to Gillan and released a promising self-titled album (1978), available only in Japan/Australasia. The following year saw a return to the Ian Gillan of old, with the wonderful Mr Universe (1979), made all the more remarkable by flying in the face of a dreadful production. At around the same time, he performed a triumphant set at Reading Festival, broadcast on BBC Radio 1's Friday Rock Show introduced by Tommy Vance. Gillan built on this success with the more refined Glory Road, a succession of increasingly commercial Gillan albums and even a stint with Black Sabbath for the Born Again album (1983) and tour. Deep Purple, in the mean time, with Glenn Hughes from Trapeze and the unknown David Coverdale sharing vocals, released a series of patchy records, which had moments of brilliance like Sail Away on Burn (1974), but were moving away from the established Purple sound. It all became too much for guitarist Ritchie Blackmore, who formed his own band Rainbow and made the glorious Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow (1975), featuring members of Purple support band Elf including Ronnie James Dio. Other solid and big-selling records followed under the Rainbow banner, but were eventually marred by the succession of lineup changes.
More than ten years after Ian Gillan and Roger Glover left Deep Purple, the second incarnation of the band reappeared in 1984 with the ironically titled Perfect Strangers album and a single, Knocking at Your Back Door. Arguably the best known track on the album, Knocking at Your Back Door opens proceedings in style, with a distinctive drumming phrase forming the intro, that must have been beguiling even to non-heavy rock fans. Gillan brought the punning lyrics from his solo career, 'So we put her on the hit list/ Of a common cunning linguist/ A master of many tongues' [among many others in this song alone!] and exciting guitar work at the close of the track showed that Ritchie Blackmore had lost none of his brilliance. Despite the intervening years, or because of them, Deep Purple were back with music to stand alongside their classic era and to rival the best of their independent projects. Gillan's lyrics sometimes make me cringe, but I cannot help loving this track.
Under the Gun is an attempt to replicate the dirty feel of In Rock (1970), with added anti-war lyrics, a hangover from the Falklands Conflict. One can hear tight bass playing from the underrated Roger Glover and tastefully restrained keys from Lord - astonishing in an era dominated by synthesizers and over-production. Blackmore has free reign and Gillan shows he can still scream with the best of them. Gillan's intonation is fascinating to behold, especially when considering the music press had it that his voice was gone before the Mr Universe album (made when he was only in his early thirties). Nobody's Home combines the feel of the two previous tracks, giving us more of Gillan's punning lyrics and a grinding riff.
For two people who struggled to resolve their differences, Gillan and Blackmore demonstrate almost perfect symbiosis on Mean Streak; Gillan pausing at the end of a phrase just long enough for Blackmore to introduce his well-placed guitar runs. Indeed, this chemistry was never better demonstrated than on Mean Streak. Jon Lord adds an organ solo, frustratingly on the fade, as, in keeping with the times, Purple were aiming for shorter songs. The title track rivals Knocking at Your Back door for a fantastic intro, with another Lord organ part, which segues into an exotic Kashmir groove. Although a great track, I would have expected Deep Purple to have risen above Led Zeppelin, so Jon Lord adds a spacey synthesizer just to show this is Purple after all. Gypsy's Kiss is one of the best tracks on the album to the extent that, apart from the list of nonsense lyrics, it could have been on Machine Head (1972). It is great. Wasted Sunsets, by contrast, is the slowest and weakest song on the album, despite Gillan's constantly dynamic singing.
Hungry Daze has some epic sampled strings, which again brings Zeppelin to mind, but Gillan's growling brings everything back to earth. I'm Not Responsible is driven by a funky bass line from Roger Glover and again Gillan screams as in days of yore. I saw Gillan live many times and I do not recall hearing him swearing on stage, but he (pointlessly) employs the f-word here in yet another pun, 'I got no ticket, but I'm gonna take a ****ing ride'. For once the lyrics appear clear and when Gillan denies responsibility, regarding ladies of the night, we know what he really means.
Bonus instrumental, Son of Alerick, fully deserves to be on the album, giving Blackmore opportunity to shine with a Shadows-on-testosterone workout. He is an elegant guitar player of the highest order. An (almost) final word should go to drummer Ian Paice who was a technician, rather than a showman, in a way that has rarely been replicated in heavy rock. In hindsight, Paice was shamefully overlooked among his showy bandmates and percussive peers. Lyrics throughout the album may allude to the band's situation, but their impenetrability makes it difficult to draw a meaning. Production is credited to Roger Glover and Deep Purple, the presence of the former ensuring quality.
To conclude, Deep Purple MKII lived up to expectations when they reformed and, in Perfect Strangers, and recorded an album which was as good as classics such as In Rock or Machine Head. The inconsistencies of MarkIII were almost forgotten, but unfortunately they could not consolidate the success of Perfect Strangers. Disagreements between Gillan and Blackmore resurfaced to the extent that the follow-ups, beginning with House of Blue Light (1987), contained moments of brilliance amongst mediocrity, which continued until Blackmore departed for the last time in 1993. His replacement, Steve Morse from Dixie Dregs, joined a line-up which has survived to this day, with the sad exception of Jon Lord, who retired and died in 2012 (to be replaced by the veteran Don Airey). Before his retirement, Jon Lord observed, 'Ian Gillan thinks he can go on forever.'