Finally, found some time to listen to new Deep Purple album ‘Whoosh!’. I wasn't not much excited after they have posted 10 minute pre-listening session on YouTube. But after listening to the album twice, I can say that, it's a great album.

The album boasts of catchy hard rock riffs, classic trademark Deep Purple organ-guitar interplay between Airey and Morse, excellent vocals by Gillan and a tight rhythm section of Paice and Glover. Except for 2-3 tracks, the album sounds really fantastic and tight. The best part is even at 70+ years of age, Deep Purple members don't hesitate to experiment with new concepts and odd-time signatures, thereby taking some songs to prog-rock regime (like Step by Step).

The standout tracks of the album are Throw My Bones, Drop the Weapon, No Need to Shout, Step by Step, What the What, The Long Way Round, Man Alive & And the Addess, the surpise rework of the lead-off instrumental track from their debut LP, Shades of Deep Purple.

The stars on this album are Steve Morse (for his classic guitar riffs and solos) and Don Airey (for his amazing organ and piano works), both of whom are eventually from prog rock background (Dixie Dregs and Colosseum II respectively), So, no wonder ‘Whoosh’ sounds a lot like three Mark I era albums (‘Shades of Deep Purple’, ‘The Book of Taliesyn’ and ‘Deep Purple’) coupled with Mark II reunion album, ‘Perfect Strangers’.

Don't expect any traces of In Rock, Fireball or Machine Head here; this is Deep Purple of 2020...matured, confident and experimental.

Whoosh is a great album in its own right, sounding trademark Deep Purple with modern age production.

Rating: ****

Reviewed by Aveek Chatterjee

Aveek Chatterjee is a Calcutta-based corporate professional and a passionate fan of classic rock, prog and blues of ‘60s-‘70s. He’s an amateur musician and stills finds time to intermittently play drums while jamming with his son on guitar. He’s an avid collector of LPs, CDs and DVDs, all from the classic era of music. However, his Audio Technica turntable and the collection of 1000 odd vinyl LPs featuring many rare and hard-to-find albums are his prized possessions.