Product Description

During the '80s, Deep Purple, like Aerosmith, was a hard rock giant of the prior decade that ended up getting a second career chance. Three years after the band's triumphant 1984 comeback, PERFECT STRANGERS, the band released HOUSE OF BLUELIGHT, a follow-up that continued showcasing the band's sweeping brand of hard rock.
Anchored by the solid rhythm section of drummer Ian Paice and bassist/producer Roger Glover, the formidable triumvirate of Ian Gillan, Ritchie Blackmore, and Jon Lord drove these songs of devil women and outlaw living. As always, Gillan's forceful vocals and quirky lyrics brought to life femme fatales in songs like "Call of the Wild", "Hard Lovin' Woman", and the bluesy "Mitzie Dupree". The iron-lunged vocalist even wails a bit on harp before tossing in the kind of glass-breaking phrasing on "Black & White" that made "Highway Star" such a classic cut. When Lord's new-fangled synthesizers aren't replicating string sections on "The Unwritten Law", his trademark organ juices up songs like "Bad Attitude". Blackmore tattoos his distinctive string-bending technique all over BLUE LIGHT and particularly shines on "Dead or Alive".

Track Listing

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

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #7589 in Music
• Released on: 2002-02-01
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: CD
• Running time: 46 minutes

Customer Reviews

The difficult second album.
So the real question was could Deep Purple really hack it. Okay they released 'Perfect Strangers' and it was good, they played at the return of the Knebworth Fair and despite the appalling conditions the show was fantastic. But now comes the difficult second album, just like any new band, the question is can they follow up initial success, with something of equal or better quality or was it just an exercise in topping up the pension fund?

Well no worries on that score this album is sheer unadulterated, classic Deep Purple, great lyrics, good riffs and superb musicianship. Standout track for me is 'Mitzi Dupri' but there are a fist full of great tracks on this album.

I would highly recommend this to any Deep Purple fan and any fan of British classic hard rock music.

Time for a reappraisal?
A reappraisal, because the general feeling about this album has been doomy - mostly from the band themselves! Maybe the sessions, conducted in a haunted building, were too much for everyone except Blackmore (who THRIVES on the tension created by such settings - hear the awesome Long Live Rock'n'Roll album for proof!), and the feelings left were a little bitter. The album 'only' got to #10 in England - the band's last Top 10 album to date - and there was the idea that DP were underachieving. But so what? Many bands now produce chart-topping slabs of bilge (and they did then!). What matters is the music, and this album has only two substandard tracks (by the standards of Purple, the greatest band of all). They are Spanish Archer, which is pretty dull, and Hard-Loving Woman, which has poor lyrics (again, by Gillan's standards). The rest is the bee's knees. Bad Attitude may borrow a little from Yes' Owner of a Lonely Heart, but sounds fabulous. Gillan's vocals are bluesed up, and sound superb. Unwritten Law has really wonderful lyrics (a comment/warning on STDs and so on), plus an inventive, jazzy musical backbone. Call of the Wild is almost like Bon Jovi playing Woman from Tokyo - catchy, but not cliched. Mad Dog is heavier, and very original, with witty lyrics. Love Lord's 'dog bark' solo. Black & White, DP's comment on the press, is another standout - quite funky (yes, Mk2 could be as funky as 1, 3 and 4), hearty, and still humorous. The two duff tracks (to me) follow - they have their fans too - but the real highlights end the album. Strangeways shows Blackmore's fabled Eastern influences, but in an entirely new setting, with Gillan resolutely avoiding any Rainbow-isms. A startlingly innovative number. Mitzi Dupree is also fantastic, with Gillan's vocals and lyrics as good and heartfelt as on the previous album's Wasted Sunsets. He can tell a story, that man. Lovely blues in the DP style (very different from Zep's take on the genre). And the 'speed metal' track is this time saved 'til last - the anti-drug live standout, Dead or Alive. Great, intricate solos from Blackmore and Lord, which fit perfectly with Gillan's impressive performance.

Throughout, Glover is his usual reliable (in the good sense) self, but Paice and Blackmore both show unusual restraint. Those two can show off with the best of 'em, so great is their technical expertise, but here they choose to blend in with the band. The approach works, but it would be good to hear them both stepping to the foreground again with Battle Rages On five years later, the last Mk2 album.

This one, though, can lay claim to being one of DP's most interesting and diverse records, with very memorable songs. And those qualities make a good album, surely? One of Purple's most mystifying moments came not long after, with the (temporary) dismissal of Gillan. Now that was bizarre.

Blue Light review
This album is poor in the quality of sound and music workmanship.It was as if it was made in a hurry.I wouldn't spend my hard earned cash on this album.You play it once and shovel it to the corner for dust to accumulate.it is only good for people interested in Deep Purple music career history.DP are better than this mediocrity!