Morse-era Deep Purple always shines when the band finds itself up against the wall. The first time this happened was with their first release in 1996, Purpendicular. A lot of people weren't sure how the band could exist without Ritchie Blackmore, especially since the last time he left the band quickly folded after a single album. Also, was history going to repeat itself in that they brought aboard a relatively unknown American guitarist? Attempts to recruit a big name either never happened (Jeff Beck) or only worked very briefly (Joe Satriani).
Thankfully, Steve Morse re-energized the fans and ultimately gained wide acceptance by the fans. They confidently released a second album Abandon, which was free of the doubts that plagued their first album, but ultimately rang a little hollow. After four years of serial touring, it seemed like the band once on the verge of a messy breakup was just going to trail out to the oldies circuit. More doubts re-appeared when Jon Lord announced his retirement. Sure, Don Airey was a familiar face, but was he Purple material?
As the run up to a new album continued, the doubts increased. A new producer, Michael Bradford, was so far outside the Purple family nobody was sure how his presence in the studio, in the the writing, and even adding his own guitar playing, were going to impact the band's direction. Even more hand-wringing ensued with the album title was announced. What kind of Deep Purple album title is Bananas? And what the hell is up the cover? What's this? Beth Hart is dueting with Ian Gillan on a song ("Haunted")? Needless to say there was a lot of risk taking going on. If Abandon was punning on "A band on", Bananas might as well be "A band losing it's f&*%ing mind". Right?
For a second time, Deep Purple thwarted the naysayers. For almost all of these concerns, the band was able to calm the building panic. Bradford added a freshness of perspective that Roger Glover had been unable to provide on the previous album. I think people also came to their senses about the cover and title. Sure, without listening to the album, it may seem like a "Gillan run wild" type of concept, but the band has always been a bit sillier in a good way since shucking Blackmore, who's now a serial Ren-Faire attraction. Sure there were some people who couldn't accept the duet piece, but there was plenty out there for the fans to gt excited about. Morse and Airey hit it off almost right away, with an epic bridge/finale on the title track. Songs like "Sun Goes Down" and "Silver Tongue" show the band is nowhere near wimping out. Meanwhile, the band continues the Morse-era tradition of at one acoustically-oriented song in "Never a Word". Good stuff all around.
History repeated itself when the band stormed into their next album, Rapture of the Deep. The same confidence both lifted and sunk that album and once again the band seemed to adopt the "serial touring" trajectory, this time for eight years, lasting until their third "risky" album: Now What?! As the elder band members approach age 70, it's probably time to work out a graceful retirement strategy, but it doesn't seem like with that album they are quite there. Perhaps the next album will finally break the cycle, and we can get a confident and adventurous album in the same release!
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