Lost/Forgotten Album #300

[Jon]

Not only is this the twenty-ninth album in the series I thought all by myself, it also happens to be the 300th album in the L/F series!

It all started with Akimbo Alogo from Kim Mitchell, posted in June of 2010. Now, if you want to get really technical, there are those 19 albums posted on that site that shall rename nameless, but we're only talking about those posted on this here site.

So, go ahead and celebrate.........

............while listening to this week's selection!

Deep Purple's The House Of Blue Light was released in 1987 and is the followup to the platinum certified comeback, Perfect Strangers, both of which feature the Mark II lineup.  

Even though The House Of Blue Light reached #34 on the US charts. it has not been certified. Actually, Perfect Strangers is the last Deep Purple to receive a certification in the US. 

Personally, I dig this album and mostly agree with allmusic.com's review (which, of course will be posted below). Unlike them, I really dig "Bad Attitude", it sounds so epic in my imagination. 

Though it was considered a disappointment upon its release (indeed, its production was much too sleek at times, and it lacked the creative daring of Perfect Strangers), 1987's House of Blue Light has actually stood the test of time just as well, if not better, than its predecessor. The second effort from the re-formed Mark II lineup, this album showed Deep Purple searching for an '80s-flavored hit single, and by doing so, sounding uncomfortably similar to guitarist Ritchie Blackmore's other band, Rainbow. Virtually all of the record's first half suffers from this (especially "Unwritten Law" and "Bad Attitude"), but things improve with the Eastern-flavored melodies of "The Spanish Archer" and "Strange Ways." The eerie sound textures explored on the latter evoke memories of classic Purple, and finally allow some space for soloing from Blackmore and keyboardist Jon Lord. And the telltale lyrics to the equally interesting "Mitzi Dupree" (based on a true story), are vintage Ian Gillan, as the singer combines James Bond-style international intrigue with high comedy.

The House Of Blue Light

1. Bad Attitude
2. The Unwritten Law
3. Call Of The Wild
4. Mad Dog
5. Black And White
6. Hard Lovin' Woman
7. The Spanish Archer
8. Strangeways
9. Mitzi Dupree
10. Dead Or Alive

Availability: The remastered version runs around $7, but here's where it gets interesting. The original CD release (featured here) has a run time of 50+ minutes while the remastered version is the same as the original LP release and has a run time of 46+ minutes.  The original release does not have extra songs, just longer versions of some of the songs.

[Scott]

[Jon]

I hope not. That movie sucked, but the sequel was allright.

Wanna know why?

I'll show you:

[Scott]

[Jon]

[Scott]

I loved the return of Mark II when Perfect Strangers came out. Still enjoy that album to this day. I have no good reason why this one went completely ignored by me. Still never heard all of it to this day, to this very day!

The review claims this sounds like Rainbow on the first side, I guess they want me to read that like it’s a bad thing? Can’t do that…

You’re right about the opener, it’s really good! I really liked the pop-ish feel of The Unwritten Law. But I can hear the production issues in it, at times its very thin, but maybe that’s the intent? Call of the Wild would have fit nicely on Perfect Strangers… You know what is missing from this so far though? Jon Lord’s keyboards, he really needs to be a stronger presence at least up front, that’s what I think. Mad Dog is a nice riff! The thin production is gone for the most part now, so there’s an unevenness about this. There’s some Jon Lord finally, more more more though!! But so far so good…

Black and White is great! Love the harp and the guitar going back and forth. Lord provides a solid backing as well. This band is sooooo good!! Hard Lovin Woman has that thin sounding production again, maybe it’s the drums? This, for me, is the first misstep on the album, a minor misstep because I loved the guitar solo, but everything up to this song has been a bit better.

Totally back on track with The Spanish Archer – best song yet!!! Strangeways is quirky cool. I still think this album is lacking some Jon Lord solos, he way too good to leave in the background like this. Makes me wonder why….

Mitzi Dupree, sounds like a track straight off of Who Do We Think We Are, and that’s a great thing! Smokin’ closer, now here’s your Rainbow sounding track. This could have fit on Straight Between The Eyes.

Missed Jon Lord on this more than I thought I would but other than that this needs to be in my library… and soon. Congrats on 300 bro!!!

[RJhog (Admin)]

I do own this album.  I bought it a few years back, so it's not one that's been with me for a long time.  As a matter of fact, I have only listened to it once.  It seems like I didn't think much of it, one way or the other.  But we'll get a fresh perspective today.

I do like that first song.  Actually, I like the first two songs.  The get the album started right.  But the third song is just as I remembered, not much to write home about.  And Mad Dog is more of the same.  Not sure if that's a keyboard solo or what.  I guess it's keys.  It does pick back up a bit with Hard Lovin' Woman.  Nice riff and solo. 

Unfortunately, the rest just kind of fades into the background for me.  It's not bad in any way, it's not just something that I find memorable.  I do think that I prefer Ian Gillan as the band's vocalist.  And I did enjoy their last album, so even though that has nothing to do with this post, I said it anyway.  I think they have a new one in the works as well.

Oh yeah, happy 300!  Hard to believe that many albums have been posted on this site.  Thanks for all of the hard work!

[Scott]