After a couple of years in the band, Simon McBride stepping in for Steve Morse has proven to be a great thing. The songs on =1 are full of standard Purple level riffs, solos and unison mid sections, without relying on old tricks. Instead, this album forges a new path for the band, with a pace worth following. It's not that they're playing at high speed, it's that they're playing deep in the groove. They're so in the pocket it's an overall rocking and extremely satisfying listening experience, not unlike seeing the band live. I'm impressed on all fronts considering the over 40 years they've made it through my ears.

If 13 songs aren't enough, which some might find too much for them, I'd go as far as to say they have at least 12 Purple classics to choose from here. Ian Gillan doesn't hold back in the lyric department, including whatever input Roger Glover gave on what rack up to be several fun numbers in the same vein as some of their solo work together. This has always been something I welcome, and they get right into it on "Show Me" with an abstract vocal performance from Gillan, and a grand entrance from Simon McBride. Needless to say it opens with the first of many bangers, and Gillan applies some rap to keep it edgy but humorous, as usual. Talk about delivering right out of the gate.

"A Bit On The Side" is where the groove starts to creep, and a monster groove it is, being the kind of thing worth waiting for by anyone looking forward to this album. This hot number is the first new one in the set line up at recent shows, after testing out their first single. Simon McBride doubles down on the guitar here, for a full blown Purple rocker and probably one of the best on the record. I'm still not sure what's going to go over the most with the fans, but this should easily be one of them. I wouldn't want to be whoever it's about.

"Sharp Shooter" is also of equal greatness to the former, with a coinciding theme to our current socio-political environment, in an uncanny way at the time of writing this. But let's get right down to the madness going on here, as it rivals the previous track for all around excitement. The band are on fire, it's as new as they ever sounded when someone leaves and they pick up new blood. Once again Simon McBride to the rescue here, and Don Airey's Moog makes one of several apperances.



"Portable Door" and its over one million views on YouTube speaks for itself by now, and it's also nicely arranged and fits great between the former and "Old-Fangled Thing" which find the band stretching out on some musicality from the past, combined with some contemporary wisdom making it the first hiccup, if any, on the album. And "If I Were You" seems to be a track about a relationship gone bad and never coming back, which brings the album to its lowest point for me. But no worries, what's to come is also nothing short of amazing as well, and probably takes the better half of the cake.

"Pictures Of You" takes things back up a notch with the second single, also garnering over one million views on YouTube, is not a bad little ballad-ish number to say the least and speaks vastly for itself, as do all three of the album's pre-released singles. And the energetic fun picks back up on "I'm Saying Nothin'" with some more fantastic playing and some of the album's best singing featured, before the third single "Lazy Sod" pretty much seals the album as the all out banger it is. What a groove without being too brash or too fluffy, just everyone captured in the zone, and an overall classic Purple finish with Simon McBride delivering the goods. "Now You're Talkin'" seems to follow what I just expressed with more musical zeil, as it earns its little place tucked away between the groove and the upcoming slower number. I can't say enough about most of these songs, and the way Bob Ezrin arranged them is spot on, to which the credit goes. The same thing follows on "No Money To Burn" with yet another firecracker of a song leading into the album's magnum opus "I'll Catch You" and the epic closer "Bleeding Obvious". These two tacks alone are worth the price of admission for another chapter in the Deep Purple legacy, with the former really satisfying even the least of one one's Purple needs. 
 

"Pictures Of You" video:

"Portable Door" video: