After three spins, this album is great! I was able to hear an advance copy as I think it's officially released tomorrow. Anyway, I was happy to discover that the worst tune is the one that's already been released as a "single", Hell To Pay and even that has a wonderful lengthy organ solo by Don Airey. I'd also say that this is the proggiest Deep Purple album quite possibly since the 70s in some respects. There are lots of guitar and keyboard solos/interplay as we've come to expect, but there is also a wide array of keyboards, with several unexpected analog synth solos. I guess if I had to compare the new album to any Purple record in the past, it would be "Perfect Strangers". The tune "Uncommon Man" sounds like a combination of Purple, ELP and Pink Floyd! I can't really say where it rates in the overall DP canon, but it's much better than "Bananas" and "Abandon" and easily as strong as "Purpendicular" and "Rapture of the Deep", IMO.
"Now What" is quite a collection of diverse tunes, that range from heavy rock, to protoprog, funk and heavy blues. While the album was produced by Bob Ezrin, he really only unleashes the bells and whistles for "Vincent Price", which is a very cool and humorous track. Also, themes of mortality crop up from time to time in the lyrics. If this turns out to be Deep Purple's final album, they've gone out on a high note.
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