Whoosh. Deep Purple

A new Deep Purple album reached me, for the first time since 1976 I have to add. Whatever happened in between I simply do not know. Deep Purple has always been a band where members moved in and out of, for a variety of reasons. For obvious reasons the names associated with Deep Purple will forever be Blackmore, Gillan, Glover, Lord, Paice. Had Jon Lord lived the band would probably now have four of the five names in it.

Jon Lord has been replaced by Don Airey in 2002 and Ritchie Blackmore by Steve Morse in 1994. Strangely enough that makes for the longest lasting Deep Purple line up in history. And I haven't heard a single note of it as far as I'm aware. Until now that is.

Probably I ought not to compare Whoosh to the albums I do have. Almost all from 'In Rock' up to 'Come Taste The Band'. I just can't help noting how American Whoosh sounds. The influence from Steve Morse is huge, because of his American brand of metal guitar playing. Ian Gillan's voice is a shadow of what it once was.

What I do hear is competency. Deep Purple in 2020 is a band that knows exactly what it is good at and plays it well. That makes Whoosh an album that is easy to listen to. Starting with the drumming. Ian Paice is still a great drummer. His kit is obviously miked with care to make sure that what he plays is heard loud and clear and mixed in such a way that it's almost as if each part is played separately. Roger Glover's bass playing is tight in sync with Paice's drumming. The groundwork of Deep Purple is still extremely tight.

Promo photo: Ben Wolf

This allows Airey and Morse to be all over the place when called for. What is present less, is the adventure that I found in the earlier albums. Jon Lord playing pure Bach in rock songs or the variation a song like 'Woman From Tokio' offers. This Deep Purple is extremely more one dimensional in its music.

That does not make Whoosh a bad album. I think I can even get to like it if I invest more time into it. Towards the end of the album I am surprised somewhat as I get the impression that the band does let the tight reigns loose for a while and experiments more in a light form of psychedelia. The same goes for the guitar solo in 'We Are All The Same In The Dark'. Morse plays a more light variant of solo, i.e. no Van Halen antics and wails, and finds me there with ease.

Whoosh is classic rock for the ageing rock fan. Once I manage to listen to the album from that angle I notice that I'm getting more and more out of the album. It is not only about the proficiency of playing going on, there's a lot more going on. The experience of decades of playing and composing classic rock music is used to come up with new rock and roll songs, some prog rock and, yes, also some Van Halen inspired guitar playing (I'm not a real fan as you gather). Just listen to Don Airey's piano solo in 'What The What' and how Steve Morse follows that up on guitar. This is rock and roll alright.

In short, Whoosh offers a wide range of rock played just so good. The album grows on me for sure. From I'd never buy this to I think I want a copy alright. The only thing I had to do was set aside my inhibition against old classic/prog rock bands.

Wo.

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