To my shame, I had no idea that I had fulfilled that promissory note, and actually owned this copy of the re-issued, re-mastered, re-extended CD version. My records show I bought it six years ago to the day, along with six other CDs (including Tiger Bay, The Roots of Van Morrison and Greetings from LA). So it's more or less guaranteed that it was a fiver from Fopp. Nevertheless, it's evidence of how little my brain, heart or ears were engaged that I got it on a whim, played it maybe once, or maybe never, then shelved it and forgot about it. Eyes bigger than tum. Decadent and dumb.
It shows how our perceptions of album length have changed that this was once a double album that seemed like a gargantuan magnum opus, but now it fits neatly onto a single CD — thus obliging the label to add a second disc of bonus tracks. They are decent enough to acknowledge, "In reality the bonus encores here are for the hard-core fans," though the bonus Lucille is more interesting and enjoyable to me than some of the longer noodling on the album proper. See, though I can hear what I liked when I was thirteen — the drama and the grandeur of the music — now it's the bluesier elements that appeal, Jon Lord's chugging organ riffs rather than the Ritchie Blackmore's screeching and squawking. Deep Purple have been co-opted as a Heavy Metal band, but someone (presumably Ian Gillan, though he's only credited with vocals) is playing a harmonica on Lazy. You don't get a lot of harmonica in Heavy Metal.
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