Musical Over Dose is proud to present Since January 2002 another new release, have fun .: about release :. Name .:. Deep Purple - =1 Genre : Rock Source : CDDA Type .:. Album Artist : Deep Purple Label : Earmusic (Edel) Titel : =1 Tracks : 13 Playtime : 52:11 Size : 94,61 MB Encoder : VBRNEW - LAME3.100 - V0 Quality : VBR kbps / 44.1kHz / Joint-Stereo Bitrate : avg. 253kbps [ Tracklist ] 01.Show Me 03:59 02.A Bit On The Side 04:11 03.Sharp Shooter 03:44 04.Portable Door 03:48 05.Old-Fangled Thing 04:08 06.If I Were You 04:43 07.Pictures Of You 03:51 08.IÆm Saying NothinÆ 03:28 09.Lazy Sod 03:41 10.Now YouÆre TalkinÆ 04:05 11.No Money To Burn 03:22 12.IÆll Catch You 03:20 13.Bleeding Obvious 05:51 Total 52:11 Min For a band thatÆs been around for more than 55 years, Deep Purple has been on a bit of a hot streak for the past decade. Its three albums of original material over that spanù-2013Æs Now WHAT?!, 2017Æs inFinite and 2020Æs Whoosh!ùwerenÆt just artistic achievements for the hard rock pioneers but commercially successful in the streaming era, with the first two having been certified gold. With =1, however, time may be catching up with the band. New guitarist Simon McBride meshes with the band well, as expected for someone whoÆs been touring with them for a few years, and the songwriting remains solid. The band simply set the bar too high with Whoosh! In 2020 Deep Purple didnÆt sound like a legacy act. Those songs were fresh and fit seamlessly with the output from the bandÆs prime. But =1 most definitely feels like it was made by a half-century-old band A big part of the change is Ian GillanÆs voice. On single ôPortable Door,ö for example, the guitar and keyboard solos remain very good and the drumming feels roughly the same as it always has, but the vocals suffer. ThatÆs not a knock on Gillan, who turns 80 next year. The aged delivery is not a bad thing, either. Johnny CashÆs American Recordings series is some of his best work not despite but because of the changes in his voice. But the songs need to be written with that in mind, which doesnÆt seem like something the band is used to yet. All that said, songs like ôOld-Fangled Thingö still make the album worth listening to for fans of the band and the genre because they make you remember how great the Æ70s were for rock and metal. The central guitar riff is energetic and heavy at the same time, something not seen since hard rock and glam metal parted ways in the early Æ80s. Deep Purple shows that itÆs possible and it sounds fantastic, to the point it makes you wonder why itÆs not more common. ôPictures of Youöùnot a cover of the song by The Cure despite Deep PurpleÆs last album, Turning to Crime, being comprised entirely of coversùis also a standout. It drives home the albumÆs quality. Deep Purple at partial strength is still better than most hard rock pioneers And that, overall, is the theme of =1. The song begins and it rocks. ItÆs tight, heavy and itÆs distinctly the pioneering sound for which Deep Purple is known. Then, as the song goes on, there are reminders that while itÆs the same band playing, itÆs not 1972. That drop in quality from the previous few albums that actually did sound like they came out of the Æ70s, is where =1 falters. ItÆs not fair to expect Deep Purple to defy time forever. But itÆs also fair to compare Whoosh! and =1 because theyÆre consecutive albums of original material. In my review of Whoosh! I recommended it to modern rock fans as an example of what the genre used to be, because it showed what a previous generation can do without feeling dated. For =1, I can wholeheartedly recommend it to fans of Deep Purple and Æ70s hard rock, but fans of modern hard rock may not see the appeal. And thatÆs OK. May we all still be doing good work while pushing 80 years old, even if itÆs not the same as what we could do at 30. https://deeppurple.com