HOBL and NP: House of Blue Light and Nobody's Perfect

[Zzzptm]

For me, this was the first DP album I bought with the Mk2 lineup that made me go kinda...



The first side was very Rainbow-sounding. The second side was more Gillan-y. It seems like the two egos in the band got to have their own side and then not complain about what the other was doing. As such, it's hard for the album itself to come together and gel.

Of the album tracks, "Spanish Archer" is the one I like most. The others... some are fun, some you just have to listen to if you're going to listen to the album... 

In the tours that followed and the Nobody's Perfect album that resulted, the sound wasn't there as before. That was the first time I bought a DP live album and was disappointed with it. "Highway Star" from NP didn't give me the goosebumps the way it did - and still does - from Made in Japan. "Lazy" got cut short. Sad thing was, the band recorded all their concerts, and this was the best stuff they had from all of them. Not a good situation, man.

So, what's all your thoughts on these albums?

[Charger]

House Of Blue Light is by far my least favourite Gillan fronted DP album...it just really doesn't do it for me...

I think Hard Lovin' Woman and Bad Attitude are the only even semi decent tracks. The whole albums just feels bit uninspired...especially after the brilliant Perfect Strangers.

Nobody's Perfect has a perfect title. The fact that it's patched together from tracks recorded all over doesn't help at all. But it does have some good preformances though but also a lot of routine stuff which isn't exactly what Purple is known for!

Knocking At Your Back Door is great though.

[Zzzptm]

Those two songs were my faves when I was in college and the album first came out, but "Spanish Archer" has since grown on me.

Don't know if they ever did it live. It has a great "Pictures of Home" feel to it.