Ted the Mechanic

[Zzzptm]

As the first song on Purpendicular, it has a tall order, namely matching all the other power openers of previous DP albums. As such, I feel it does the job properly, albeit in a different vein.

While "Speed King", "Fireball", and "Highway Star" are the songs of twentysomethings ready to take on the world, "Ted the Mechanic" is music for an older crowd, who still want to rock, but they have to mind their knees, hips, and backs. Don't want to throw anything out, you understand. That's not to say DP was wheezing along with Morse - far from it! But they were older, they were wiser, and they were more concerned about comfort than with speed.

What I loved about it was that not only did the guitar part bounce along with the rhythm, we got a chance for Gillan to do his note matching thingy again and have a fun time with it. That, and the line about "the banjo player took a hike" make that song for me.

[Billy Underdog]

It's certainly a groovy, weighty riff, and that's always good

[Zzzptm]

It's certainly a groovy, weighty riff, and that's always good

It's chunky style music, yeah. And Gillan's lyric is so much fun, with topics in different directions and sound effects and what-not. It's a great, great song, even if it doesn't try to bash one's head in.

[Billy Underdog]

It's certainly a groovy, weighty riff, and that's always good

Actually one of the many songs that popped up when my new band have been talking about what sound we aim for, which led us to form the genre Lead Rock... As in the metal, not lead guitar...

[Charger]

Ted probably has one of the best riffs ever made. So groovy and quirky.

[Zzzptm]

Let's enjoy it, then, shall we?