Deep Purple “Slaves and Masters”
Review by
Gatot
(Gatot Widayanto)
[Special Collaborator Honorary Collaborator]
Posted 2:42:08 AM EST, 10/20/2006
This is the only album of Deep Purple with Joe Lynn Turner as lead vocalist – and I
don’t have any problem at all with it. His voice is clear and powerful. All tracks
for me are good. The opening track is an interesting one to enjoy as it has god
combination of keyboard and guitar work in medium tempo style. Turner’s voice is
suitable for this track. My best favorite track of this album is “The Cut Runs Deep”
– it has all power that typically early Deep Purple has in quite fast tempo. The song
has great energy and strong melody. Especially, I love the music riffs combined with
dynamic drumming. Whenever I hear this song, my memory refresh back to my days when I
installed offshore oil and gas platform for Total Indonesie at Tambora Tunu, East
Borneo, Indonesia. Why? Because during the two months offshore installation, I
practically only listened to two cassettes: Deep Purple “Slaves and Masters” and God
Bless “The Story of”. And, The Cut Runs Deep was my spirit for the difficult days I
struggled to manage demanding client’s requests. What an experience! So I just sung
“The cut runs deep …!!!” Wow! It elevated my emotion man…!!!
“Love Conquers All” is a very nice ballad and also “Fortuneteller”. The other
excellent track that I also like is “Wicked Ways”.
Yeah, you may discount my rating to 3 stars because this album is too personal for
me. Working in remote area, offshore, for two months with practically no
entertainment but those two cassettes – what can I expect? But for sure this is
definitely not a less-than- three-stars album.
Peace on earth and mercy mild - GW
Comments from www.progarchives.com reader:
just read your interesting review of this album! it is probably the most
hated DP-album, but i like it immensely for what it is, and, hey, feb.17th
1991 was my first ever DP concert (with JLT on vocals), and that wasn’t
half bad – and of course one doesn’t forget that.
but anyway, allow me to share MY "slaves & masters" story with you. not
quite as edgy as your offshore-experience, mind you, but i’ll give it a go.
when the album was out i had a full time job at a local McDonald’s
restaurant in northern germany where i used to live at that time, waiting
for my approval to start my studies. one night after opening hours, we
were clearing up the store and the kitchen area, abusing the stereo system,
which is obviously used during the day to "entertain" punters with very
crap indeed "muzak" so to speak, to crank our favourite albums for the
hard cleaning job. we were certainly a bunch of metalheads at that time.
one thing we should have considered though – it was springtime, the air
was mild and people were sitting outside during the day. that’s why there
were speakers outside to convey the "muzak" onto the terrace, which
SHOULD HAVE BEEN TAKEN INSIDE after opening hours.
alas, that did not happen. you know how it continues. the entire western
part of my then hometown was BLASTED with said deep purple album for
hours on end until the police arrived and told us of numerous complaints
about the "monsters of rock" festival at this late hour. i don’t need to tell
you that i am still laughing manically about that story.
well, that’s my two cents that will forever be linked to a very underrated
album. it is exactly what that particular version of DP could come up with
and for that reason alone it deserves some credit, even if one does not
like the music, which is understandable. i like it and i still play it
occasionally as it constantly reminds me of "a very good time" 
peace on earth and mercy mild, indeed!
best regards,
iguana
