Under the Gun

by Greg Prato

If you already own the such mid- to late-'80s Deep Purple releases as 1984's Perfect Strangers, 1987's The House of Blue Light, and 1988's live Nobody's Perfect, then you'll have zero interest in the 2001 compilation Under the Gun, as it collects highlights from strictly all three. But if you're looking for a Purple sampler that focuses solely on an era (albeit short-lived) when the group's classic Machine Head lineup reunited in the mid- to late '80s, this 15-track set may pique your interest. Save for a few tracks -- including the melodic rocker "Knocking at Your Back Door" and the unmistakably Zeppelin-esque "Perfect Strangers" (heck, you can even pinpoint its "familiarity" to a single Zep track: "Kashmir") -- Purple's '80s output did not come close to matching the group's impressive work from the early '70s. And while live renditions of such classics as "Highway Star," "Strange Kind of Woman," and, of course, "Smoke on the Water" are included, they don't come close to the sheer electricity of the definitive live versions included on 1972's Made in Japan. Under the Gun is a Purple comp that many fans won't feel guilty about passing by.