BANANAS

Great that Deep Purple don't call it a quit even in the new millenium. We can familiar hooks on this 2003 effort, after long 5 years of waiting. All in all, the band has mellowed and slowed down a bit, not an unsurprising move. Where Abandon bordered on heavy metal, "Bananas" is sometime quite soft to be called hard rock. There are no thought changes, radical adventures nor new compositional approaches.

The band delivers a couple of memorable songs with tasty instrumental hooks such as the second track. Morse guitar playing brings both American and older Deep Purple elements and Airey stepped in the old worn out shoes very well.

Progressively speaking, there's not much to bite at, however "Silver Tongue" has tasty elements with interesting rhythm and guitar changes.

"Never a word" is one of the softest DP tracks ever with mellow guitars and almost no beats. "Contact Lost" has a haunting guitar solo.

Doesn't stand out from the DP album crowd but does not bitterly disappoint either.