Bananas

Bananas

"Have you ever had a rock that just keeps on rolling/ Ever seen a train coming down the track" Ian Gillan deadpans on the first song off <I>Bananas</I>. This tune gives you every single 1970s hard rock cliché at once, as it careens from cheesy guitar solo to cheesy organ solo to cheesy dual organ and guitar solo, with a gratuitous use of the cowbell effect right through the whole track. The song is a bit like seeing your grandmother in hot pants. Things do get better from there on out, though not tremendously so. Deep Purple’s first studio album in five years has new songs that for the most part sound like their old songs, which is not really such a bad thing. "Haunted," however, presents a new template for the band, a Macy Gray-style ballad. Really. The album brims with trademark DP choogling; original members Ian Paice and Roger Glover remain one of the most solid, thunderous rhythm sections in rock. If you can’t get enough of this band’s mountainous sound, with its thunderous organs, screaming guitars, and vocals that veer from ominous to operatic, this one’s for you. <I>--Mike McGonigal</I>