SARABANDE

Following his live 1974 release "Windows", Jon Lord decided that his next album should benefit from the production and engineering facilities available in a studio. He put together a small band of whom only Pete York had played on the previous album, the most notable of the newcomers (from a fame perspective at least) being Andy Summers, later of the Police, on guitar. An orchestra is once again deployed; this time we have the Philharmonica Hungarica Orchestra conducted by Eberhard Schoener.

To understand the motivation behind "Sarabande", we need go no further than Jon's own words: "(it is) that of a baroque dance suite; a form of music which was brought to its highest level by Bach. The title of each track is the name of a dance used in one of those dance suites and I have tried to use the same tempo and feel as an original Sarabande, Gigue etc." The music is therefore written by Lord himself, but he makes his inspiration clear. Ask a music expert though and they will tell you that Lord's lofty pretensions are at times suspect, the "Fantasia" and "finale" here having little to do with baroque, while several recognised baroque dances are overlooked.

The "Fantasia" is actually just that, a fanfare to introduce the album; it quickly leads into the 7 minute title piece. "Sarabande" signals that this will be no "Windows" part 2, the composition and performance both being much tighter. The synthesiser sounds explored by Lord may seem prosaic now, but at the time they would still have been pleasingly new and modern. The synth counterpoints well with the lead guitar of Andy Summers throughout the piece while the orchestra is effectively used as an alternative lead instrument.

"Aria" is a delicate piano and synthesiser duet, it's theme sounding simultaneously familiar yet refreshingly new. The two longest pieces on the album are "Gigue" and "Bouree", both of which run to 11 minutes. "Gigue" would make for a great piece of soundtrack music for a horseback chase in a western or a road movie. Summers is allowed to show his under- appreciated talents on lead guitar while Lord displays his more familiar dexterity on organ. Once again, for no explicable reason, a drum solo by Pete York is again inflicted upon us.

North African desert sounds and styles come to the fore on "Bouree", the soundtrack theme moving straight into "Lawrence of Arabia" (or maybe "Carry on, follow that camel"!) before the gentle "Pavane" restores a more serene order. Once again, Summers shows how his abilities were suppressed during his subsequent career, as he moves to classical guitar. "Caprice" wakes us up again with a start as it dives head first into the most spirited part of the album. It is all over in 3 minutes, making it the obvious choice for a single release. ("Bouree"/"Aria" was in fact the only single release). The album concludes with a brief "Finale" which seems like the album played all over again in 2 minutes.

In all, the general observation that this is Lord's finest solo work from the 1970's gets my vote too. This quasi-classical work finds him blending that style with rock better than any of his other attempts.

Chronologically, "Sarabande" finds Lord dealing with the departure of Ritchie Blackmore from Deep Purple after the "Stormbringer" tour, and preparing to record the band's first and only album with Tommy Bolin. "Sarabande" was actually released after "Come taste the band" by which time it seemed that Deep Purple had run their course.

This would be Lord's last solo album for several years, Jon preffering to work on projects both within and outside Deep Purple. It would also be his last album of this type (i.e. with a full orchestra).

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