Purple man gets the blues

Roger Glover is the invisible member of Deep Purple. His muscular, sinewy bass lines have graced the bands classic moments-In Rock, Fireball, Machine Head etc but somehow he has managed to keep his head down throughout their volatile history. On the outside he’s a prolific producer and has been a jobbing songwriter since the sixties where he worked down Tin Pan Alley with another jobbing wordsmith by the name of Ian Hunter. So it’s hardly a shock that this, his fourth solo album, is a credible, quality affair. Recorded on the hop, it covers a period in Glover’s life where he experienced divorce, new love, fatherhood and a series of other emotional but juicy topics for a songwriters pen. He receives some solid support from Nazareth’s McCafferty/Agnew, former Dio/Elf playmate Mickey Lee Soule, Southern Sea Level veteran Randall Bramblett and daughter Gillian. A midlife crisis set to music, it’s an honest, mature collection of songs that connect like a series of chapters in a rock’n’roll soap opera. Imagine Chris Rea, Greg Allman, Mark Knopfler and Norah Jones getting together and writing about the worst and best days of their lives. Yes, it’s that good.