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BANANAS
- PEELED & EXAMINED, PAGE THREE....
I
wasn`t sure at first but its never been off my car cd for days
now. Only one I categorically don`t like is Razzle Dazzle and
that's mainly for the banal lyrics. Would have liked Contact
Lost to have developed more and lasted longer and I positively
love Haunted, especially very loud. Interestingly all the songs
on the AOL webcast showed up well, or so I thought but then
its all about opinions n`est pas? ... Brian Cizakowsky
The
band is still alive and kickin', full of energy and ideas. For
Purpendicular they had to evolve from the stale formula of Blackmore's
ideas of a Rainbow/Purple sound, and they succeeded, this new
record shows where the band should have gone right after Purpendicular
itself. I still don't like one track, Razzle Dazzle, too commercial
to my ears, but the rest is really good or great, no fillers,
and great musicianship. The most positive note is Paicey playing
like a fury, with accents and subtle enbellishments to every
song, and Morse/Airey dueling in each instrumental run. Airey
sounds like Emerson in some songs (eg. Bananas, my favorite),
and Morse has taken full control of this band, trying to blend
his fast playing to the old-style of Blackmore. And he has succeeded!
Listen to the solo in Sun Goes Down. You can hear Morse showing
the three bended note style of Blackmore's playing and morphing
it into his trademark scale run. This record is a winner. Songs
like Silver Tongue/ I got your number/ House of Pain and Picture
of Innocence are among the best rockers DP have done since 1984.
...Luke Beyond, Italy
'Pictures....' has a real 'Rosa's Cantina' feel to it and 'Bananas'
has a real 'Highway Star' vibe (trust me, listen and learn).......switching
gears mid-verse. 'Sun Goes Down' - off-the-wall organ intro
into a real rocker worthy of any reunion album. 'Doing It Tonight'
with its slightly Arabic/Middle Eastern feel is one I am not
sure about yet but I will give it another chance. I was slighly
surprised at 'I Got Your Number' and 'Haunted'....these tracks
kicked the proverbials live but lose it slightly. 'Walk On'
is over-rated and am not sure what the fuss is about. Production
sucks, big Ian's lyrics are amongst the worst ever but hey -
it works for me! ...Raj Kohli, London
Dear
fellow-followers I could have sat here and written about each
track on Bananas. You might have been a little bored though,
as each of us likes different things about the album. However
I really like the whole package. Not at first. I thought mmm
this is interesting, not what I thought it was going to be.
But it has very quickly got into my brain and I can't stop hearing
bits and riffs and I even find myself singing! There is one
track which I love ,which I just have to mention and that is
"Walk On". It stays with me and I can't wait to hear it again.
Going back to the point of- not what I thought it was going
to be - what were any of us expecting for heaven sake? Lets
just expect good rock from a band that's been rocking for many
a glorious year. A band who has never let us down. They are
enjoying life and it shows. If like me you are a fan (33 yrs
or more) then celebrate the fact we have another album plus
it will mean the boys get to tour over here again. All the British
do is complain, just look how well the album is doing in Europe!
Come on lets be supportive. I love them. I'm going to put on
Bananas again , if you can't hear it ('cause I'm going to play
it loud ) then you don't know what you're missing !! Regards
...Annie Graham
I
really like Bananas, but I really must admit that it no longer
feels or sounds like Deep Purple. In fact it's the least Deep
Purple sounding album, they've ever done ... Slaves & Masters
has been called a Rainbow album, but it's streets ahead of Bananas
as a DP sounding album. This begs the question "Is Purple really
Purple without a Lord or Blackmore?", to my mind at least 2
of the founders need to be present. Don't get me wrong, I love
all the musos that ever played in Purple, Rainbow, Gillan, Whitesnake,
etc. But Bananas feels/sounds more like an excellent DP solo
project, based on a Gillan/Glover project/idea, only better
(not saying that they are bad, on the contrary). So to sum it
all up, "I was disappointed, but not totally". I will of course
give the album a thorough thrashing, but feel it's too middle
of the road to be Purple ......... purplish maybe or a darker
shade of pink? ...Tim Hall (Adelaide)
Bananas
is the best reunion album (so far). Purpendicular was a wonder,
but not as a killer as this one. We have six real classics and
five more great songs. True that Razzle Dazzle is well below
the Bananas standard, but I think it would have been a gem on
TBRO and a good standard song on PS. Not on Bananas. Thanks
to the band and Mr. Bradford. ...Atica
more
reactions to Bananas on page one.... &
two...
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I
think almost every single Purple fan expected and deserved
better than this. Personally, having heard all the Sgt Peppers
talk, I thought it was time for Purple to reinvent themselves.
The songs that stand out are the opener, Haunted, Razzle Dazzle,
Walk On, Bananas, Never a Word and Contact Lost, but none
of these could be called a classic. The rest are boring and
unispired. The guys seem to have tried too hard and have forgotten
the magic of simplicity. The truth is, though, that the production
and individual performances are excellent (with the exception
of Steve, who is still trying too hard to prove he 's one
of the best virtuosos, with his flashy, but "shallow", empty
solos). Maybe this album is ahead of our age, but right now,
it doesn't say a lot to me. And, this proves that the Man
in Black is the only one who's left to keep the dream alive...
Sgt Peppers??? Gimme a break Ian ... Jim Spyropoulos
Really
can't understand all the negative reviews on this one. It's
an excellent album. No it's not In Rock or Machine Head, and
it's not the 1970's either. A lot of the tracks only took
two listens before I was hooked. House of Blue Light and Battle
Rages On took about 7 years. House of Pain does sound like
it could have been co written by Mr Blackmore but so what,
his influences should still be heard on new albums he had
been playing with four of the current line up for many years.
Purpendicular was excellent, Abandon was above average, Bananas
is excellent and will probably outstrip Purpendicular after
we have had it about a year. Sun Goes Down/Haunted/Silver
Tongue/Bananas are all future classics. Let's just hope the
band have the balls to drop 90% of the old material when it
comes to touring. I want to hear more Morse era stuff plus
Strangeways / Mitzi Dupree / Hungry Daze. And what about No
No No / The Mule / Flight of the Rat. How many of us would
buy a ticket to watch that? I suspect there would be no need
to drag along a co-headliner to attract people if it was the
case. ...Kevin Reihill
Is
the album GOOD? Yes, Is it great? No, Is it Sgt. Pepper? Lets
hope not. It appears that this is a Gillan project, heavy
on the vocals and ballads. Deep Purple needs Blackmore if
for nothing else to keep Gillan in check. The songwriting
is good but I miss the fire, the passion, the anger that Gillan/Blackmore
provided, maybe they hated each other's guts but they were
great together. It does appear that the band is having a great
time and producer Michael Bradford has taken MK8 to a new
horizon. Don't get me wrong I still follow Purple more than
ever, and think Bananas is very good, just not the same. ...Jim
Stoff Highland, IL
Well,
after having attended a set of three rather uninspired summer
gigs this year, Deep Purple have a new album that leaves me
with the same impression I had during the live gigs: great
musicianship, everything very well and neatly performed ....
but no extras, nothing magical, nothing really stunning. Is
this what they call routine? After quite a few listening sessions
I still have to admit that few songs stay in my mind. House
Of Pain is a good opener, which might survive among the classics
in a live set, I already enjoyed Haunted live and it keeps
standing strong on the album, Razzle Dazzle is a funny piece
of music and I Got Your Number was also a pleaser live and
so it is on this album. Never A Word is just a very beatiful
piece of music, but it will not add up to the Deep Purple
legend. I do remember some nice guitar riffs and bits and
pieces of music.... but I really have to make an effort to
remember songs, song names or catchy lyrics. As a conclusion,
I think Bananas is hardly any better than Abandon, and does
not reach the level of Purpendicular at all. Anyway, Deep
Purple tends not to play any recent stuff anymore live and
safely stick to its classics. ...Ludo Verhaege, Belgium
Good
album. Some excellent songs, some good songs and a couple
of duds. So not 10 out of 10 but a good 7 or 8. House of Pain
makes a good opener but it's not to special. haunted is excellent,
and then you have to wait two or three tracks for the really
good album to kick in. Picture of innocence is terrific and
sums up the world gone mad. Love Bananas. Would have been
better to put Contact Lost in the middle so we ended on a
high point. Gillan's a bit dominant in the mix. It's not Machine
head or Burn, but those days are 30 years in the past, so
let's live with today - Good effort and finally puts Abandon
to rest (Thank goodness). ...Kevin Staden
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