Deep Purple's The Battle Rages On Appreciation Thread

A sister of my significant other passed away (RIP) and we got her cd collection filled with Deep Purple, Whitesnake, Uriah Heep (she got lots of Ken Hensley solo records too) and other classics.

I've now been going through the Purple albums as I haven't really much listened to them before. Only knew the biggest classics and never really was that interested in checking out what their albums are like. Well, now I have that chance and I've tried to listen the albums honoring her memory. I think she'd like her collection listened to at least one more time...

Anyway, I checked some lists online of what people think are Purple's best and Purple's worst albums. On one list The Battle Rages On was listed as the worst. It was lower than Bananas! On the other lists it never gets much higher. I think at best I saw it being the 13th out of 19 albums on that list. Even Scott on his website just kinda skips it only mentioning it was a misstep. I saw this one was included in the bunch of Purple CDs I now have and had no hurry in getting to that.

Well... Now I put the album on the player and WHAT! The first track sounds better than pretty much anything I have heard on the previous albums! I tried to go through the albums chronolocigally but decided to skip from Strombringer first to Bananas and then to this one as I kinda suddenly had morbid curiosity to take a quick listen of these supposedly worst albums.

I got nothing out of Bananas, but damn The Battle Rages On sounds GOOD! Anyone else here who enjoys this album?

I personally love 'The Battle Rages On' , underrated album, the title track, 'Anya' and 'Ramshackle Man' are stand out tracks to me.

I can tell you that I love everything from "Deep Purple In Rock" through "Perfect Strangers" 70-84. "Stormbringer" is a great album!

I only have a handful of DP albums. I pick them up on occasion when I find the price is right.

I admittingly have passed on picking up The Battle Rages On however due to the poor reviews I've read over the years and the fact that whenever I do find Deep Purple in the used bins, that's the one that shows up most often. Never a good sign in my opinion.

I don't believe I've heard a single note from that album.

I'm kind of in the same boat as MetalGuy when it comes to Purp. I'm a casual fan at best. I own Battle Rages On but couldn't tell you when I listened to it last. Ditto for Slaves & Masters, which I purchased from a used bin the same time as Battle. I took'em home, played'em both a few times, went "cool," and they went on the shelf.

To be honest, when I'm in the mood for Purple, I tend to reach for either the Deepest Purple or When We Rock, We Rock... compilations.

Here is what I remember about The Battle Rages, I have not listened to it in close to twenty years.

The songs at times sound like remakes of old tracks. The same guitar sound was used on a Rainbow song,  Or another track reminds too much of another Purple song. So I found that distracting, Kind of rehashing old material.

The Rolling Stones put out a record around the same time and they did the same thing but better imho. Voodoo Lounge I think it was called.

Just my 2cents

I going to crank up "The Battle Rages On" see what I about it now.

Revisiting older records once in awhile can truly change what you remember. It can go the other way at times, Some of your old favorites do not stand the test of time.

This is one of their albums I've never heard.

Never heard a song off it but then again, I'm not a huge fan of them and really only know what's played on the radio.

For those who haven't heard a note from that album and wouldn't necessarily be interested enough to look for the songs on Youtube, here's a couple of my favorites. Just click play and take a listen.

Been a while since I've spun it, but I remember some stand out tracks, but also remember it not being near as good as anything prior...

Have never heard it. I'll have to check it out because I love Bananas.

Thus thread inspired me to dig out The Battle Rages On earlier this week and give it a spin on my way to work. I listened to it a dew times and tho it sounded OK while it was playing, it kinda went in one ear and out the other.