BORN AGAIN

When I first got hold of the album and sat back looking at the cover before slipping the needle into the groove I was kind of excited - Deep Purple marriage with Sabbath in part - Wow I thought, this would be something. I adored much of Deep Purple's work and I was a Black Sabbath fanboy. I remember feeling kind of puzzled when the music started and I remained feeling that way throughout the album. I put it a way feeling very let down and didn't look at it again for a few months and then I decided to give it another shot - it couldn't be as bad as I first thought, I believed. On second listen I remember deciding to use the album as a frisbee in the back yard. It just didn't work - kind of like a jigsaw puzzle where half of it has gotten mixed up with another unrelated jigsaw puzzle. The album cover looked like an advert for the movie "It's Alive" but that didn't much worry me until I heard the music which didn't gel with my ears at all. It wasn't so much the music but Gillan's vocals that put me off - it sounded to me like he would rather be any place but singing on the album. Should they have used Dio again here I would probably have taken to the album as the music itself isn't bad but the marriage between a part of Deep Purple and Black Sabbath here needed a quick divorce - a real quick divorce. To me this is a 2 star album in that its only use is for collectors in my opinion - or as a frisbee. It's saved from 1 star only in that there is nothing wrong with the music itself but you can't mix chocolate ice cream with tequila - or you can if you enjoy a bit of the strange side of life.