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I got both albums when they were released. Except the inevitable "Smoke on the water" and its B-side, "Never Before", I didn't know much about Deep Purple in 1984, the year when "Perfect Strangers" was out. I caught up my delay shortly after, buying "In Rock", "Machine Head" and "Made in Japan". Their tops, as it's often said, and I agree; yet, what they recorded in 1984 and 1986, if it's not exactly comparable, is worth listening carefully IMO.
I was impressed by that vinyl record, "Perfect Strangers", which I've probably listened to about 600 times until I bought the first reissue on CD (very disappointing because of a weak sound!). I've just downloaded both remastered albums, and it was still a pleasure to play them with volume in the last few days.
The compositions in "Perfect Strangers" are awesome, really. All five of them, I mean the only who can call themselves Deep Purple aka Mark II, that is Gillan, Blackmore, Glover, Lord & Paice, all of them are in top shape here...
All 8 songs are powerful, Blackmore's guitar parts are splendid, Gillan's voice and words sound really, really great, and the other three sound like no other could do the job in their place... And it's like the whole of it comes from nowhere in time, and it sure sounds completely different from what was on air in 1984, while never outdated.
I dig every single song on that album, but especially "Under the Gun", Gypsy's Kiss" and "Hungry Daze" that still amaze me more than 20 years later. Blackmore is particularly inspired on these, which in his case means a damn lot!
I was delighted when the same Five released "The House of Blue Light" in early 1987 - though it made me less enthusiastic while listening, because of 2 weak tracks (IMO, "Mad Dog" and "Dead or Alive, which I took out with no regret to put both albums on one CD).
But the remaining 8 tracks are still great tunes, full of ideas and energy, the band kicks ass, though the sound has changed, mainly because Jon Lord experienced different keyboards at times.
Perhaps the record is slightly less memorable than "Perfect Strangers", but it's still very high-calibre music of course.
"The Unwritten Law", "Strangeways" and "The Spanish Archer" are my faves in there.
In the rest of the song, they tend to stick to the structure of classic rock songs, with the extra guts and savoir-faire though.
I think that both records are rather underestimated.
I was impressed by that vinyl record, "Perfect Strangers", which I've probably listened to about 600 times until I bought the first reissue on CD (very disappointing because of a weak sound!). I've just downloaded both remastered albums, and it was still a pleasure to play them with volume in the last few days.
The compositions in "Perfect Strangers" are awesome, really. All five of them, I mean the only who can call themselves Deep Purple aka Mark II, that is Gillan, Blackmore, Glover, Lord & Paice, all of them are in top shape here...
All 8 songs are powerful, Blackmore's guitar parts are splendid, Gillan's voice and words sound really, really great, and the other three sound like no other could do the job in their place... And it's like the whole of it comes from nowhere in time, and it sure sounds completely different from what was on air in 1984, while never outdated.
I dig every single song on that album, but especially "Under the Gun", Gypsy's Kiss" and "Hungry Daze" that still amaze me more than 20 years later. Blackmore is particularly inspired on these, which in his case means a damn lot!
I was delighted when the same Five released "The House of Blue Light" in early 1987 - though it made me less enthusiastic while listening, because of 2 weak tracks (IMO, "Mad Dog" and "Dead or Alive, which I took out with no regret to put both albums on one CD).
But the remaining 8 tracks are still great tunes, full of ideas and energy, the band kicks ass, though the sound has changed, mainly because Jon Lord experienced different keyboards at times.
Perhaps the record is slightly less memorable than "Perfect Strangers", but it's still very high-calibre music of course.
"The Unwritten Law", "Strangeways" and "The Spanish Archer" are my faves in there.
In the rest of the song, they tend to stick to the structure of classic rock songs, with the extra guts and savoir-faire though.
I think that both records are rather underestimated.
It's very adequate here.
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