Portable Door — A Mini Review of Deep Purple’s Latest Single
Yesterday saw the release of a new single from legendary British heavy rockers Deep Purple. Named Portable Door, this comes less than a week after the announcement of their upcoming studio album: =1. This album will also be their first with former Sweet Savage guitarist Simon McBride, who took the place of Steve Morse after the latter retired from the band after a nearly 30 year stint with Purple.
I have admittedly not kept up with modern-day Deep Purple as I’ve always stuck to their classics with Richie Blackmore, one of my guitar icons, but the fact that the guys are still putting out new material and touring despite some members pushing 80 really did warrant a listen from me. This could potentially be their final album and I would want one of the most important bands to my life to finish off strong.
And strong this song is! I didn’t know what to expect with this new guitarist, but this song really sounds like a classic Deep Purple tune! The riff that kicks the song off immediately reminded me of Pictures of Home. The song’s bridge has McBride and keyboardist Don Airey miming each other with a neoclassical melody that would fit in any Deep Purple classic. The guitar solo is intense, yet tasteful and melodic at the same time, a departure from the blisteringly-fast, technical and precise approach from Steve Morse — As well as the blues-meets-medieval classical style of Richie Blackmore. I’m not sure if McBride had any part in writing this song, but I admire that he emulates the classic sound of the band while also throwing in his own unique approach to the guitar parts on this song. Immediately following the guitar solo is a keyboard solo from Don Airey. It’s definitely reminiscent of the late Jon Lord, but the two always did have a similar approach to the instrument — You really could say Airey was the perfect man for the job after Lord retired in 2001. And while singer Ian Gillan may not be able to hit some of those screeching high notes that he could reach in his prime, you have to admit he still sings quite well for a man who’s nearly 79 years of age.
Overall I really like this song, more than I was expecting. This sounds like a tune that would be right at home on a classic Deep Purple record such as Machine Head or Perfect Strangers. I will not be giving this a rating like I do with full album reviews, but so far this is bordering on a Modern Classic rating from me. This is one I keep listening to on repeat. I’m getting very excited for more releases from the album, which I’ll be reviewing here as they come. Here’s to hoping this new album sounds as good as this!
The new album from Deep Purple, =1, will be released worldwide on July 19th, with a tour likely to follow. As mentioned above, I will be reviewing any further singles released from the album as well as the whole album itself when it releases.
