Deep Purple Perfect Strangers - Greatest Comeback Album Ever?
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- čas přidán 27. 01. 2024
- Deep Purple Perfect Strangers - Greatest Come Back Album Ever?
Rock Daydream Nation is joined by Peter Jones (The Contrarians) where we put a spotlight on Deep Purple and the album "Perfect Strangers"...We discuss the songs, the performances and for that matter cover all things Purple...check out this show!
@DeepPurpleOfficial @deeppurplemusic @deeppurplefamily @RitchieBlackmoreOfficial @OfficialRainbowBand @iangillan @IanPaiceDrumtribe #deeppurple @Valeria_1955@thecontrarians2438 - Zábava
My favorite DP album.
Reunion was great for me as an 18 year old because myself and a buddy got to drive 3 hours away to see them on tour!!! Awesome!!!
Yes,it is for me. My favorite Purple album of all.
Its a good one...for sure
For me it is greatest comeback album.
Agreed 🎉
Its up there for sure!
Great album from a great band!!!
This was the album that made me.a deep purple fan knocking on your back.door with the music video and constant radio play got me hooked and been an Ian Gillan and deep purple fan ever since
I was hooked on the greatest hits Deepest Purple...but this album locked me in for life!
I loved all of it too. I saw 3 nights in a row in 84 and 2 nights of HOBL I loved House of Blue Light too. I don't care who doesn't like it
Great stuff...My view is HOBL is underrated...So I am in the positive camp!
As a “Noo Yawk yewt,” I discovered Deep Purple through FM rock radio. I found the FM bandwidth in 1977, so Deep Purple had already broken up by then. I knew all the so-called Mark II hits from the radio, but didn’t own anything by the band until Perfect Strangers came out. After hearing “Knocking at Your Back Door,” “Nobody’s Home,” and the title track on the radio, l went out and bought the album on vinyl. Obviously, after that, I started going deeper into their previous releases.
I’m very happy l was able to see this lineup live, a few years later. I was in attendance at the outdoor summer concert in New Jersey for the lineup of Guns N’ Roses opening , Deep Purple in the middle and Aerosmith headlining. (This was the show where GNR used footage for their “Paradise City” video.) To me, Deep Purple stole the show; although Aerosmith were huge with Permanent Vacation; and Guns N’ Roses were about to take over the world. Perhaps Deep Purple were about to fall off the cliff after the poor chart performance of The House of Blue Light, but l thought they were great at that show. My younger sister went with me to see GNR and Aerosmith, l went to see Blackmore, Lord, Paice, Glover and Gillan.
Loved the deep (pun intended) dive into this classic album. I really like the chemistry of “The Two Peters.” Keep up the sterling work, men.
Cheers from The Big Apple! 🍎
Rock Out & Prog On… in each and every musical lexicon!
Your pal and mine,
~ The Divine Davey Cretin of Cretin Classics.
PS: This particular platter would probably just sit outside my top five DP LPs. Or maybe 🤔 number five, I’d really have to think about it more. I feel it was a strong comeback record from the British quintet.
I was at the one in the giant stadium and one you're talking about. If that's the case, Deep Purple did steal the show. They were on fire including the seats there during smoke on the water. Bathroom fires people went crazy for Purple.
Lately I've been playing catch up with Who Do We Think We Are (which as a fan I had overlooked)... and I was thinking while listening this morning how the next mk 2 album after WDWTWA was Perfect Strangers 11 years later!... then this video pops up.
I love Perfect Strangers. I saw the tour in an arena. One of the best concerts I've ever seen, and I've seen a lot. What a sound they had, as well as great musicianship and energy.
Edit : nice bit about Martin Birch. I agree he deserves a documentary of his own.
Perfect Strangers tour was an absolute cracker...so much energy!
Who do we think was a real disappointment to me after 3 excellent albums. maybe Richie was uninspired and started thinking about leaving then.
Blackmore hardly showed up for any writing sessions
Great riffs, great nelodies, great playing…. And Gillan did his best with what remained of his voice while showing wonderful maturity in his lyrics. Had we not had his stellar past DP vocal performances for comparison, we might even say that his singing on this record was great. And yeah, no other comeback in rock annals matches this.
Its a mighty fine come back GK....I really do like the Gillan vocals on the album...
Creo fue un gran análisis de un buen álbum no caen en tonterías y obviamente saben de qué hablan les doy un gran Wow que buen trabajo !
Pretty sure the Born Again tour, as great as it was, changed Gillan’s voice forever. He was supposed to take six months of vocal rest after the dissolution of the Gillan band due to a tonsillectomy and he went right out and joined Sabbath.
It wasn't about his tonsils, it's such a minor operation, no one takes six months to recover from such a procedure. The problem was that he was supposed to rest due to nodules on his vocal cords. He did briefly rest his voice but agreed to join Sabbath.
Gillan sings well on the album but we all missed the screams aed he actually sounds better on The Hiuse of Blue Light. Jon's Hammond had a different sound to the 70s, because after Purple disbanded in '76 he stopped using a Marshall to add distortion to colour his sound. When Morse joined Purple he encouraged Jon to go back to his old sound.
Roger's best production is probably on the Abandon album, sounds fantastic.
With regards to Paicey I had read that in Whitesnake Coverdale had asked him to play straighter, more like American rock drummers, and it wasn't natural for Paicey to play that way, it was suppressing his inventiveness. So, his confidence started to go down hill. Plus, in the 80s click tracks reared their ugly head and Ian is no longer keeping time (which he's always been brilliant at) he's following. Live, he's very close to he's old self because he's not constrained by one band leader, producer or machine.
Thanks for this...I hadn't heard the DC telling Paicey to play straighter....interesting.....
Great album and saw this tour. Definitely a great comeback. Just a shame it didnt last.
It was kind of fleeting the magic of the Mark 2 post comeback wasn't it? Thanks for the comment...
Perfect Strangers is in my top 5 DP albums and the title track in my top 5 songs. I still enjoy it when they play it live. Was it the greatest comeback ever? Don't Know. But it definitely was a very successful one.
Its definitely top tier Deep Purple...and I love the title track!
Great album, it's a lot heavier than WDWTWA while also being very melodic and maybe fans were just a bit surprised about that but it was the '80s and DP were always a commercial and melodic radio-friendly hard rock band, it's really only In Rock that stands out as being more heavy. This could've been a Rainbow album too in many ways, the title track could've been on Straight Between the Eyes easily, which may be what took some fans by surprise that were perhaps expecting another In Rock, especially with Gillan coming from Black Sabbath into this there's quite a big difference. I do think Glover's a great producer, I love his roomy warm sound so pleasing on the ear as it would be if played on the radio. As for Paicey's drumming, that changed pretty much from when he joined Whitesnake, after all drummers will do what the style of music calls for not necessarily continue previous styles and his playing always fit the style of music being played at the time in any given band. Early DP drumming is different from the Gillan and Coverdale eras, etc. "Under the Gun" and "Wasted Sunsets" are probably my two stand-out fave songs on this amazing album.
Appreciate your take on this Larry.....Out of all the family tree bands...definitely Rainbow is bigger sonic index here
Seen Deep Purple on this tour in 1985 at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto with Girl School of all bands opening. It is indeed the greatest comeback album for me. Thanks to my older brother having The Purple Passages compilation album I've been a fan since M1 version. They were my #1 band and Ian Paice was my first drum hero , Ritchie was my first guitar hero,Jon my first keyboard hero, at least until 1977 when I discovered a little 3 piece band from Canada. Still in my top 2 bands of all time. This album would definitely be in my top 5 Deep Purple albums. I don't count live albums even though Made In Japan was my first DP album I bought. Don't know who this Pete Jones is, but he sounds like quite a contrarian 😉
Thanks for your comments/reflections!...We all have our different views..makes the world interesting!
Very interesting discussion. I seem to recall - years after buying the CD - hearing the track "Perfect Strangers" in a store and thinking - "this sounds better - production wise - than what I recollect from the CD" - and, after some investigation, discovered that the album had been "remastered". All due respect to Roger Glover but I think (and I speak of the CD even in its remastered form) an "independent producer" might have brought "something to the table" - like, say, on the track "Mean Streak". Whilst I like the album (and I particularly like 'Gypsy's Kiss') for me the "glory days" of Mk II were back in the 1970s.
Your spot on....an independent producer and someone that is not too close to the band...what if?
It's a great comeback album. Probably the greatest. I confidently say that because the album produced classic songs. The only way they could have achieved that was making the album when they were relatively young. So much music still to be made with the Deep Purple name.
Personally, I prefer the House of Blue light. The poster child for underrated. However even more underrated is the 25th anniversary... second reunion of MK 2, the battle rages on what a trilogy by Gillan, Blackmore, Lord, Paice and Glover.
The reunion was Blackmore shining but holding everyone else down. The rest of the band didn’t play at “Purple” levels until Perpendicular.
Not sure I agree...but appreciate your comment...Thanks
@@RockDaydreamNation well if you listen to PS. Did you hear any songs like the Mule and Burn by Paice? Did you hear any songs like Lazy and keyboards solos on every song by Lord? Gillan’s songs were very mediocre and I actually think he was boring until Perpindicular. But it’s just an opinion and I still think it’s a good album.
I would rate it just a small notch below the 5 classic 70s albums, this is great stuff here. Side B is slightly stronger than Side A, which is unusual for DP albums. The first 2 tracks on Side B are arguably as good as any 2 tracks on any Purple or any other album, pure delight.
Thanks for your comment!
I do believe this was an incredible comeback album when it was released in '84. It was the first Purple album I got as a new release. I had a lot of expectations and they met all of them and then some on this album for sure. I would say that, as far as comeback albums go, this one has to be in the conversation of the greatest comeback albums for certain. There's a chance that Ritchie didn't want Ian screaming so much. Ritchie had difficulty dealing with Ian as it was. Maybe, he said something about it? I certainly feel like Ian lost a step after his year in Sabbath and I've heard many bootlegs from that tour. He was wailing all show. Even in between songs. I didn't hear any bootlegs from the Double Trouble tour so I can't speak to that but, I would agree with the prevailing opinion that he may have "blown a tire" prior to Perfect Strangers. I love When a Blind Man Cries but, I think Wasted Sunsets sounds like it could have been on Bent Out of Shape. I think Ritchie shines on this song and I agree with you again on this one. It has become one of my favorite Purple songs all these years later. Hungry Daze was a song that fell through the cracks for me back in the day but, it may be my favorite song on the album now. Ian's screams on here are up to snuff. No sign of the blowout on here. I really enjoy the riff. It may be repetitive but, it's very tight and it sparks my synapses with a crackling electricity. I'm a guitarist though so maybe it hits different in my ears. There was a remaster in 1999 that really brought it to life to my ears. I also have it in my top 5 but I'm more fond of the first half of their career. The Morse era was fantastic but, I never really lived with any of those albums the way I did with the albums from Battle Rages On back through the first with Ian. I like the Coverdale Hughes albums a lot more these days but, they also suffer a bit from neglect on my part. Perfect Strangers was a HuGe deal to us in '84 and the shine hasn't worn off. I would rate it an 8/10.
Not Responsible was on my cassette as the closer in '84 but, I didn't hear Son of Alerik until the remaster came out in '99. Great bonus track.
Am also a guitar player and LOVE Hungry daze! The riff is amazing and VERY fun to play!
Great commentary Patriotpizzaman....thanking you! (and I would rate it around an 8/10 as well fyi)
Fantastic episode. Always enjoy these chats. At the time of release I did not love this album but it has risen in my estimation in years since. Am also a Battle Rages On fan so I'd love to hear Pete Jones opinions on that lp.
I always love chatting with Pete Jones...a chat on Battle Rages On is always on the cards...watch this space....
Loved this record when it came out, I was 15, still have my original vinyl copy. However, what I don't get and don't know why is why they didn't tour the UK for that album. They played one gig at Knebworth which I couldn't make and I had to wait until 1987 to see them. They toured pretty much everywhere else, why not the UK?????
The festival showcase gig was the thing in the 80s...Castle Donington etc...perhaps the album would have sold even more if they did every arena in the Uk?
Mob Rules was affected by drug problems and Martin Birch was going through it along with the band. LLRnR is anything but "muffly", Michael Schenker recorded Assault Attack at the same studio with Martin Birch because he loved the drum sound on LLRnR. Martin hasn't made a duff album production wise, even Mob Rules is amazing despite it not being vintage Birch.
The writing credits thing started with the "Burn" album and Ritchie said "he who writes, gets"
The classical interlude on Under the Gun is the very British Elgar - Pomp and Circumstance March No1 and considering Irtchie and Jon were often dropping snippets of classical and jazz into songs going back to 1968 it is very much "Purple"
Perfect Strangers was rehearsed in writing sessions with Rainbow and JLT IN 1980'-1981' but they couldn't quite get to the finished article. It needed further development. Ritchie was throwing in the scales before Kashmir. Kashmir made him realise you could take the Turkish/Egyptian scales further.
Interesting take on Hungry Daze, at the time it felt like the most authentic MKII 70's era song, the lyrics very much a tale of Deep Purple from '69 to the reunion. Shame it didn't get ported into the live set as the rehearsal version of it kicks a$$
Jon Lord didn't take a mammoth amount of solos in original MKII purple years.
When Deep Purple was reformed Paice was already out of Whitesnake, Gillan only had a one album and tour deal with Sabbath and was free (and was likely the biggest catylist in the reformation), Jon was seeing the writing on the wall. It was really down to Ritchie and Roger to decide.
Ian Gillan's voice was damaged sometime in 1978-1979 and was gradually chipped away at over the years. Boozing, smoking, partying took its toll. That's not to say his voice still wasn't great in parts. By the HOTBL tour he spent more time gargling out back than singing. Luckily over time he has managed to pare back the party animal.
Trouble- Simple Mind Condition was a great comeback album 🤘
My fave (m2) DP album, hands down. Not a bad track on it. The weakest to me is "Nobody's home". idk what else to say, pretty much a perfect album!
Pound for pound its pretty strong...top to bottom!
Great discussion, A common cunning linguist a master of many tongues what a line lol. I loved this album too, but listening now it really doesn't sound much like a Deep Purple album. Fave tracks title track, Under the Gun, Gypsy's Kiss, Nobody's Home and the incredible Wasted Sunsets 3 solos for Richie in this one. I saw Purple at this time, I remember it was Roger Glovers birthday haha.
Judas Priest Painkiller is my fav comeback album, they were so lost, the thrash bands were taking over whilst Priest who helped inspire that movement were going the commercial route. Painkiller brought them back from the death imo. still regarded by many to be their greatest album.
Painkiller is awesome but surprising it did not do the commercial business....The Big 4 of Thrash outsold them....perhaps a topic for another show?
@@RockDaydreamNation True but more importantly it won them back credibility and the song Painkiller look how many views that has had on youtube.81 million.
Mark II and III are the best. Mark I had some few good songs like April and Hush. However, Hush was not written by DP. My list (studio albums): Machine Head, In Rock, Burn, Stormbringer and Perfect Strangers.
Thanks for sharing!
@@RockDaydreamNation . Concerto for Group and Orchestra also good.
I think an 80s reunion would have definitely been the best timing. Ian could still sing at a high level.. also, it might have been a different sounding album than perfect strangers probably even different songs.
Not Responsible should be where Hungry Daze is.
I always liked nobody’s perfect!, haha. PS is a really good album. I find myself not often listening to any deep purple after 74.
A pale imitation of 'Made In Japan' with some newer tracks to fill it out.
I love Wasted Sunsets. The solo is epic and the lyrics seem auto biographical. Pete Jones is overthinking all this. I didn't and I don't think most people were expecting them to sound like they did in 72. By then, they had matured as musicians and the audience had also changed. I really liked this album when it came out and it still sounds great, but then I'm not sitting around nit picking and over evaluating.
Yes, indeed it is....
I enjoyed your video and you made a good case, but I’ve just listened to the whole album again and I’m afraid it’s still not one of my favourites. The sound/production is fine, but I think that most of the songs are a bit uninspired, with what were - even at the time - some fairly cringey lyrics in a couple of them. Overall I don’t think it was any improvement over “Who Do We Think We Are”, which itself was not as good a collection of songs as the previous three.
To refer back to another of your recent videos, I much prefer “Slaves and Masters” - a top 3 DP album for me, which I also think is better than all 3 of the JLT Rainbow albums. “Purpendicular” is also much better than PS, to my ears. I realise that these opinions may not be widely shared😊
As you mention other bands in the family, I would thoroughly recommend the three Ian Gillan Band albums which I’ve recently got into, of which my favourite is the 2nd one, “Clear Air Turbulence” - possibly now my favourite Ian Gillan recording.
As to best comeback albums, I would offer Uriah Heep’s “Wake The Sleeper” from 2008 - even if the band was always in existence, it appeared a full 10 years after their previous studio album, so I think it qualifies😊. And if it doesn’t, then “Abominog”, which was a reconstituted line up after the previous one fell apart, even if it was only a couple of years before.
Thanks for your comments....I really must revisit Clear Air Turbulence....have not listed to that one in a long time...
That was great, and I've now subscribed. Amazing that an 8-songed album can inspire over an hour of conversation, all of it interesting. My views differ, with Knocking at Your Back Door being a real favourite, Under the Gun another winner, then the album dipping a little until Gypsy's Kiss, Wasted Sunsets, and Hungry Daze. Perfect Strangers is great too, but I have to be "in the right mood" (I'm confused - what guitar solo?). Nobody's Home and Mean Streak are great by most standards. Isn't the riff of Nobody's Home a little close to Lay Down, Stay Down? I agree fully that Blackmore's playing is deeply affecting on an emotional level - as with Michael Schenker and Gary Moore.
It totally isn't but great show all the same ..loving the channel ❤
Awesome! Thank you!
Peter from memory Richie actually initiated the reunion and he wanted Ian Gillan. He tried to get Gillan to join Rainbow a few years prior. The Battle Rages on that will be hot discussion, I think Peter you are not a fan of that one?
Hey JayJay...I remember the story and that was around maybe 1979...but come 1984 I am not sure he would have been the first to sign....
@@RockDaydreamNation He contacted Jon Lord to discuss it, when he was still with Whitesnake, so he was keen himself. I don't know who else it could of been because Gillan was in Sabbath.
PS is a great record but TBRO and Purpendicular are even better.
Yeah, Deep Purple's *Perfect Strangers* had two fantastic songs. *Perfect Strangers* & *Knocking at Your Back Door* were great. The rest of the album was awful. I thought their next 1987 album *The House of Blue Light* was much, much stronger. I loved the first 8 songs. Last two I skip.
Then the wheels finally came off on the Mark II line-up with that terrible *Nobody's Perfect* live album.
Other bands better comeback albums (in my opinion) .......
The Kinks ..... Low Budget (1979)
BTO ..... Bachman Turner Overdrive (1984)
Fleetwood Mac ..... Fleetwood Mac (1975)
Pink Floyd ..... A Momentary Lapse of Reason (1987)
Thanks for your comment...(ps some really strong come back albums in your list)
Gillan's voice was never the same after Sabbath.
I’m a fan of Mk II.. to me, the last good Deep Purple album was Burn. I stopped following after that. In Rock can’t be duplicated!
Thanks for the comment....Burn is my favourite DP album of all time....love In Rock as well...cheers!
good album....but just RAINBOW with Gillan singing....they seemed to have lost that heavy PURPLE sound they had on in rock/machine head/burn/come taste the band....
....better live at KNEBWORTH....I saw them in 85....
Ah Knebworth...read about that...the rain, the mud...would have loved to be there!
The opening track started great, but dragged on way too long, as you alluded to. I don't think Gillan sounds "lazy" on it, at all. I felt he sounded melodic, but the problem was the length of the tune and Blackmore's dominance - where is Lord? The lyrics were tasteless, although humorous at times. Jon Lord wasn't given as much room as I would have liked on the album. But he shined on the title track, which was a masterpiece. Overall, it was a good, melodic album but lacked the heavy Deep Purple sound of the 1970s for the most part, not altogether. They had changed a bit, but could have been huge had they gotten along better in 1973, 1988 and 1993.
Thanks for your comments....
As a life long DP fan I find this Lp underwhelming. Perpendicular is a whole lot better as a rebirth album.
Lyrically poor. Some good guitar moments but not enough Jon Lord to make it a great DP Lp. Drumming is disappointing. Very predictable. All a bit 80s. Bit faceless sadly. A whole lot better than the next one but nowhere near as good as mk2 first time round. All a bit plodding.
Thanks for your views...appreciated...
Any Deep Purple past 1975 is really quite boring. Ian Paice was the greatest casualty of the reunion. He got streamlined by Blackmore and the playing became more rock-steady rather than the creative and explosive draumming he did until Stormbringer or even Come Taste the Band... So I basically agree with what was said up to 4:00 - And I never cared about any of the offshoots either. Rainbow, Whitesnake are just boring to me. I did like some early Gillan. He did a nice version of Child in time and Mr. Universe hat it's merits....
I actually lived in Adelaide when they played Memorial Ground in 1985. I could hear "Space Truckin" in my bedroom from three km away wondering where it was coming from, because I wasn't aware of them being in town... 🤣
All ridiculous comments
@@thomassblaquelourde4389 In any case confirmed by the gentleman in the video, at least as far as Ian Paice's development goes...