Slaves and Masters in Bloomington, MN

Deep Purple
went through more than their share of personnel changes over the years. In 1990, their lineup consisted of guitarist
Ritchie Blackmore
(who had returned to the
Purple
fold in 1984 after leaving the band to form
Rainbow
following the release of
Stormbringer
in November 1974), singer
Joe Lynn Turner
, keyboardist/organist
Jon Lord
, drummer
Ian Paice
, and bassist
Roger Glover
. Longtime
followers continued to hope that
Blackmore
-- who made promising contributions to the sound of 1984's reunion LP
Perfect Strangers
-- would help the band to reclaim the
metal
throne, but
Slaves and Masters
was hardly the album to further the cause. The songwriting is weak and pedestrian, and most of the time, the once-mighty
(who were at least 16 years past their prime) sound like a generic
Foreigner
wannabe. Even
's input can't save this consistently disappointing CD, which only the most thorough collectors will want. ~ Alex Henderson