Search - Deep Purple :: Gemini Suite

Hard Rock and Light Classical don't mix seamlessly...

R. L. MILLER | FT LAUDERDALE FL USA | 11/10/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"...and that's what's so good about this album. Most times it's been done ("Days Of Future Passed", "Procol Harum Live With the Edmonton Symphony", ELP's "Works Live"), there has been an attempt to blend the two forms in a way that won't clash. But composer-organist Jon Lord implied strongly in the liner notes to this work's predecessor "Concerto For Group & Orchestra" that the rock band and the symphony orchestra were practically natural enemies. The searing hard-blues soloing of guitarist Ritchie Blackmore has no direct counterpart in the symphonic environment, nor do Lord's own solos--Hammond rather than pipe organ, stylistically closer to Booker T than Bach. The only things that blend in all that smoothly are the drum and bass solos. Perhaps Lord overstated the "enmity" between the two ensemble types a bit--I can relate to that, sharing Lord's membership in rock's original generation. After all, the classical crowd called our stuff "noise"--we called their stuff ponderous and boring (BOTH generations were being abysmally narrow minded). It is that very dichotomy that differentiates this piece from the general run of either genre. Not that there should have been too many more such fusions--you've got the concept of overkill at work there. But occaisional musical "WWF Smackdowns" like this piece and the "Concerto" do tend to rescue us from when things fit too well together. This is the better of the two, but if you don't have the other, go get it."