Perfect Strangers Oxford MS

Perfect Strangers

Deep Purple

Mercury Records, 1984

REVIEW BY: Bill Ziemer

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED: 02/17/1997

Formed in England in 1968, Deep Purple has gone on to become oneof the most successful (and longest lived) rock bands in history.At one point, Deep Purple was listed by the Guinness Book of World Records as rock's loudest band.

Deep Purple has had its share of lineup changes. By the early'70's, disputes between vocalist Ian Gillian and guitarist RitchieBlackmore caused Gillian to defect, being replaced by DavidCoverdale. Eventually, Blackmore departed to form Rainbow, and wasreplaced by Tommy Bolin on Come Taste the Band. Afterward, Purple remained silent until1984, when the classic lineup reformed to release Perfect Strangers.

If Deep Purple ever had a weakness, it was a lack of identity.In the early days, they were a band with a fat organ sound. Later,Blackmore's guitar work became more prevalent and they became ahard rock outfit. But there was never any consistency, and youcould never be sure what you would wind up with on a Deep Purplealbum.

Perfect Strangers was a departure from all of theseproblems. It could be their best work. If not, it's certainly theirmost rounded. It's a rock album from beginning to end, and quitefrankly, they never sounded so good together.