So much for long goodbyes. Deep Purple have set themselves up for the long haul instead. If they’re going to keep making albums like SPLAT!, no one can stop them. Nor should they try. An uncompromising band with something to say is a rare specimen, and it’s important to keep Deep Purple going until they either make a bad record or have nothing left to say. As it stands, I wouldn’t hold my breath.
On 2024’s =1 (who comes up with these album titles?), Purple showed they still had plenty of gas left in the tank. On SPLAT! they refilled the tank with super fuel. In terms of the songs, execution and overall production, it’s almost like the glory days of Fireball and Machine Head. Just to show they mean business, they first released the rapid-fire rocker “Arrogant Boy” as the lead single. On SPLAT!, it’s the first song, which sets the pace for what’s to follow. “Diablo,” the second single and second song on the album, is more reigned in with Keith Urban (yeah, THAT Keith Urban) on second guitar. For a band with two members in their early 80s and two members in their late 70s, this is no retirement oldies tip-toe through the tulips. We’re talking gutsy rock and roll for the ages.
SPLAT! evolves from there, thanks in large to the succinct, hard rocking chops of guitarist Simon McBride. He dances around the expected Ritchie Blackmore and Steve Morse comparisons, while instinctively pulling in bits and pieces from both. At the same time, for his second Deep Purple album, he works in his own panache of tight riffing to seamlessly blend within the band’s inimitable sound and attack. More than anything, it can be said that McBride and keyboardist Don Airey assimilate to the material in much the same way Blackmore and Airey’s predecessor Jon Lord did back in the band’s early 70s salad days. The two come out and interlock to bring “The Lunatic” to fruition and check and balance each other for the next three minutes — in sync and in step thanks to the never-fail team of bassist Roger Glover and drummer Ian Paice.
As he has since 2013’s Now What?!, Bob Ezrin is on board as producer, ably tapping into the strengths of each player to capture the best performances. With singer Ian Gillan, the lyrics are as nonsensical as ever, the keys are within range, and the voice (minus the screams) is as signature to Purple as smoke is to water (!). He has a firm handle on “The Only Horse In Town,” arguably one of the album’s strongest tracks with a spellbinding solo from McBride. “Guilt Trippin’,” with its snazzy jazz-tinged piano intro, has the singer vocally pushing the envelope, without cracking under pressure. From there, he pirouettes over to the crunchy command of “Scriblin’ Gib’rish” and the staunchly prodded “Jessica’s Bra” with the jig of a pirate on holiday. As long as he can stay in his lane and hear the playbacks, Ian Gillan will likely spend the rest of his life fronting Deep Purple.
Perhaps the great unsung hero is Don Airey. Under Ezrin tutelage, the keyboardist, who spent time with Blackmore in Rainbow and later played the epic intro to Ozzy Osbourne’s “Mr. Crowley,” has blossomed into a major architect of Deep Purple’s infectious oeuvre of “whoosh” and “splat”. Airey never strays too far from Lord’s basic framework, but his own magnificent strokes on the Hammond, piano, and synths are deeply entrenched in the mix. He’s largely responsible for why “The Only Horse In Town” is arguably one of the album’s strongest tracks. His brief tinkles across the ivories on the aforementioned “Guilt Trippin’” is another way to surprise the neighbors. His deep turn on “Third Call” sets up the song’s catch-and-release snap around the corners. And again, with McBride at his side, the two are the beat of Deep Purple’s heart and their unquenchable thirst to space truck as ferociously as bands with a fraction of their history or scars.
Not to be outdone, Ian Paice asserts his nimble, in-the-pocket drumming on the album’s title track, which comes across as more of a beginning than an ending. Maybe it’s both. Stand back and watch as Deep Purple continues to tour the world, revisiting the highlights of their past while embracing the present and future. All this gibberish about long goodbyes and retirement is utter nonsense. As long as Deep Purple can make albums as fresh and alive as SPLAT!, any MUMBLES, MUDDERINGS or BALDERDASH of a final bow are completely off the table.
~ Shawn Perry
