Bananas
AMG AllMusic Guide: Pop Albums:
Top
Bananas
- Artist: Deep Purple
- Rating:
- Release Date: September 09, 2003
- Type: Lyrics are included with the album, Enhanced CD-ROM
- Genre: Rock
Review
Bananas has every sign of being a disappointment. Jon Lord's grandiose keyboards were always a focus but he's gone, it's released in the heady age of Radiohead, and it's got one of the oddest titles and the oddest cover art that ever graced a Deep Purple album. Surprise, it's fantastic. New keyboardist Don Airey is an effective replacement, adding new sounds and styles and working the Hammond so well that an uncredited Lord appearance was rumored among fans. Lord has said he's not playing on the album, but he did contribute some writing on the excellent "Picture of Innocence" and "I Got Your Number." Those two tracks, followed by the winding and pastoral "Never a Word," add up to a strikingly impressive suite that bridges the more bombastic first half of the album with the looser and more playful second half. That's right, "Deep Purple" and "playful" in the same sentence. The thunk and chug is still there, but Bananas often turns to mid-tempo boogie and blues, allowing Ian Gillan's wry and witty delivery some deserved space while guitarist Steve Morse's time in Kansas and the Dixie Dregs pays off as never before. The funky light reggae of "Doing It Tonight" is downright smoky-bar slinky-sexy, and if the band doesn't add it to every one of their encores for the rest of their career they're nuts. Filled with hooks and songs that get better with each listen, there's little to dislike about Bananas. Certainly the urgent "House of Pain" could have benefited from punchier production, and there's a noticeable lack of lengthy solos throughout, but these are minor quibbles. Hipsters have already decided, and some hardcore fans will pine for the monolithic sound of Machine Head, but on Bananas Deep Purple sound comfortable, free to do what they want, and more than the sum of their parts than they have in a long, long time. ~ David Jeffries, Rovi| Bananas (1976 Album by Man) | |
| Bananas & Other Things (2005 Album by Monkey Boy) |
Wikipedia on Answers.com:
Top
Bananas (album)
| Bananas | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
||||
| Studio album by Deep Purple | ||||
| Released | September 9, 2003 | |||
| Recorded | January–February 2003 Los Angeles |
|||
| Genre | Hard rock, blues rock | |||
| Length | 51:25 | |||
| Label | EMI (UK) Sanctuary Records (US) |
|||
| Producer | Michael Bradford | |||
| Deep Purple chronology | ||||
|
||||
| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |   [1] |
Bananas is the 17th studio album by English rock band Deep Purple,[2] released on October 7, 2003.[3] It includes "Contact Lost", a short, slow instrumental about the Columbia astronauts, written by guitarist Steve Morse when he heard the sad news of the crash.[4]
This is the first Deep Purple album to feature Don Airey on the keyboards, replacing founding member Jon Lord.[5] The album was recorded in Los Angeles during January and February 2003.[2]
It is also notable as being the only Deep Purple album that features Ian Gillan being backed by vocals other than his own, with the song "Haunted" featuring a female backing singer, Beth Hart.
|
Contents
|
Track listing
All songs written by Ian Gillan, Steve Morse, Roger Glover, Don Airey, and Ian Paice except where noted.
- "House of Pain" (Gillan, Michael Bradford) – 3:34
- "Sun Goes Down" – 4:10
- "Haunted" – 4:22
- "Razzle Dazzle" – 3:28
- "Silver Tongue" – 4:03
- "Walk On" (Gillan, Bradford) – 7:04
- "Picture of Innocence" (Gillan, Morse, Glover, Jon Lord, Paice) - 5:11
- "I Got Your Number" (Gillan, Morse, Glover, Lord, Paice, Bradford) – 6:01
- "Never a Word" – 3:46
- "Bananas" – 4:51
- "Doing It Tonight" – 3:28
- "Contact Lost" (Morse) – 1:27
Unreleased tracks
Since the Abandon album, Deep Purple performed three new songs onstage. "Long Time Gone" was debuted in the summer of 2000 but not included on Bananas. Another new song, "Up The Wall" was played on the 2002 UK tour, and reworked into "I've Got Your Number". The instrumental "Well Dressed Guitar" was unreleased until the next album, 2005's Rapture of the Deep.[6]
Personnel
- Ian Gillan - vocals
- Steve Morse - guitar
- Roger Glover - bass
- Ian Paice - drums
- Don Airey - keyboards
Additional musicians
- Paul Buckmaster - string arrangement and cello on "Haunted"
- Beth Hart - background vocals on "Haunted"
- Michael Bradford - guitar on "Walk On"
References
- ^ Allmusic review
- ^ a b "Bananas". thehighwaystar.com. Archived from the original on 2007-02-15. http://www.webcitation.org/5MfMjWRIz. Retrieved 2007-02-15.
- ^ "At a Glance: Deep Purple". amazon.com. Archived from the original on 2007-02-15. http://www.webcitation.org/5MfMaahX7. Retrieved 2007-02-15.
- ^ "Deep Purple's Shuttle Connection". guitarsite.com. Archived from the original on 2007-02-15. http://www.webcitation.org/5MfMKfRYt. Retrieved 2007-02-15.
- ^ Miers, Jeff. "Purple prose". Archived from the original on 2007-02-15. http://www.webcitation.org/5MfLwkfHZ. Retrieved 2007-02-15.
- ^ The Highway Star - Bananas
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
Post a question - any question - to the WikiAnswers community:
Copyrights:
AMG AllMusic Guide: Pop Albums
Copyright © 2012 All Media Guide, LLC. Content provided by All Music Guide ®, a trademark of All Media Guide, LLC. All rights reserved.
Read more
