Bassist Roger Glover is the secret sauce of Deep Purple. His pub-rock roots fuel the sonic elixir that gives Purple’s musical bouillabaisse blend of rock, classical, and progressive the extra oomph it needs — and it’s something that’s well in evidence on Deep Purple’s latest, and 23rd, studio LP, the 180g 45rpm 2LP set named/numeraled = 1, which was released by earMUSIC/Edel on July 19, 2024.
It’s Purple’s fifth collaboration with noted producer Bob Ezrin (Pink Floyd, Alice Cooper, Peter Gabriel) over the past 11 years, and their collective in-studio shorthand has found Purple in the midst of their 21st century prime. “It may sound like the ’70s, a comment I’ve heard a few times, but it’s not a conscious thing,” Glover says of the new 2LP set. “It’s just the change of guitarists, like the change in the recipe.” What Glover is referring to here is the DP LP debut of guitarist Simon McBride, who took over for Steve Morse following his departure from the band in 2022 after 18 years of truly creative, inventive fretboard service. Both McBride and Morse have a high degree of respect for the classic Purple sound, adding in their own axe twists and turns when warranted. Listen how Morse expands and contracts on “Sometimes I Feel Like Screaming” (Side Two, Track 1 on February 1996’s Purpendicular, originally a CD on CMC International and eventually a 2011 2LP set via RCA/Music on Vinyl), while McBride muscles up in various movements on the new = 1 track, “Portal Door” (Side A, Track 4).
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