The House of Blue Light

The House of Blue Light is a work marking a fulfilling second chapter after the reunion, on which Ritchie Blackmore’s hard guitar and Jon Lord’s Hammond organ again collide head-on. Ian Gillan’s voice keeps its roughness of old, and the rock-solid rhythm section of Roger Glover and Ian Paice powerfully tightens the whole. From the drive of the opener “Bad Attitude” and the catchiness of “Call of the Wild” to the tension of “The Spanish Archer” and the momentum of “Hard Lovin’ Woman,” the interest of the interplay between members, continued from the 1970s, vividly revives within a more 1980s, refined sound, while a cut like “Mitzi Dupree” conveys the band’s ease. Inheriting the success of the previous Perfect Strangers, it is an album that firmly records the five members’ speed of response and the deftness of the playing, not ending the reunion in nostalgia alone. The spark-scattering exchange of Blackmore and Lord is fully intact in this period too. Letting you savor the lively dialogue of mature players, it is a powerful, fulfilling record.