especially nowadays, when heavy metal has become a dustbin
No one has ever convinced me of a clear and fail-safe delineation between hard rock, heavy rock and heavy metal. Dio era Rainbow for instance was a lot more Heavy Metal than either Ted Nugent, Motörhead or Kiss (who all three have always denied to be Heavy Metal and I actually agree with them). The differentiation is as fickle as between Funk, RnB and Soul.
Also, Heavy Metal has by now diversified into so many branches and sub-genres that it says very little other than “loud music with guitar dominance and a certain look of the players”.
For those who said that Jon was not very present in Abandon, I compared the solos with those of Purplendicular:
Purpendicular 12 tracks
Lord 8 solos
Morse 10 solos (including 2 on SIFLS)
Abandon 12 tracks
Lord 10 solos (including 2 in the catchy Jack Ruby!!)
Morse 11 solos
On Aviator, I don’t consider any solos.
With the bonus track Don’t Hold Your Breath there would be one more solo for each.
In seventh Heaven and 69 there are some great licks by Roger featured!
I hope someone here will change their mind about Jon’s contribution to Abandon
I have a distant memory of some of those British rock magazines back in the mid 70’s, even possibly American mags too, mentioning ‘heavy metal’ often and including Status Quo in with the more familiar bands that we are talking about. On the front cover, five bands, Zeppelin, Sabbath, Purple, Heep and Quo. There has been an agenda of sorts from the media and also others to include almost anyone with aplomb. Ridiculous indeed. I never ever looked at it that way and still don’t. It was all rock music, maybe a little heavier and darker at times but still rock music. Dio era Rainbow included. Lemmy always stated the same, ’ it’s rock ‘n roll’. Of course things change and fads become obsessive to many folk. Then the ‘new wave’ of British heavy metal, Motorhead, Saxon, Priest etc etc. Then the American bands Metallica and many others, too many to mention. In todays rock music world it has been blown totally out of proportion and it has been like this for the past 3 decades at least. Fads come and go thankfully. Although this rusted on old chains and heavy drawbridges of metal seems to be becoming too hard to dislodge. Nothing lasts forever though as we know, so even the dungeons and dragons will disappear one day. (Uwe breathes a sigh of relief, he he he). Cheers.
)
I remember a friend showing me that video back in the day, cringe factor indeed. That is the one where JLT says’ I don’t sing anyone else’s drivel’ isn’t it? Anyway the cover says it all, JLT out front, Ritchie behind him. The rest of the band way back in the distance, loathing it no doubt. Cheers.
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Yes I suppose the record (video?) label wanted to make them look more current, I guess!
I don’t remember the content at all, I think it was some sort of documentary type thing.
Be well Mac.
Cheers, J.-
Hard rock is what I can listen to most of an album of.
Heavy metal is what I can listen to at most 3 songs in a row.
Deep Purple is what I can listen to a full album nonstop.
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Uwe, please kindly don’t alienate our internal fan base by using the language they don’t know
I found the review printed on the paper going through some ancient heap of stacked papers, I doubt I have the file in Word anywhere, so I’d need to re-type it. As of now I’m on the holiday over the hills and far away, so it won’t be on the cards until mid-September or if things get hectic, even end of the month. I leave for UK in week 38 for 3 concerts of Roger Taylor’s Violence in the Beautiful World tour, so I’ll be pretty busy until October.
So you have plenty of time to listen to Abandon again in heavy rotation and write a new enthusiastic review! 
Aber auf Polnisch bitte!
Oi, Flavio 
you seeded a sow of idea in my mind that I could clash the 2026 fresh minded, long perspective review with that of youthful 19 YOs devoted hothead (as Marcelo rightly pointed out, we all were heavily opinionated at this age, taking it as the privilege of punchy youth). I’ll see if I have the album in digital on my Walkman, to give it a spin… Just in case it comes to fruition - remember: you asked for it!
Uwe! The 1998 one was in original already in English and this one is gonna be no different, if it emerges out of the shadows.
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Thanks to Marcelo Abandon got a lot of attention. After listing to it again in full, I have to say deserved attention - it’s really an overlooked album, surely lacking the brilliance of the iconic albums but imho it definitely belongs to the better half of Purples vast catalog of studio efforts. Out of curiousity I checked a few facts around Abandon - 8 out 12 songs have (at least for a few times) been played live. Not bad, didn’t expect such a high ratio. I mean the only album played completely live (even including the single B-side When a blind man cries) over the years is Machine Head. But unless earMusic buys the rights from EMI or whomever we will most likely never see (or better hear) a decent remaster/remix including maybe a few pre-release Abandon live tracks from January 1998 (LA House of Blues). Hope dies last…
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Abandon was an album that the band liked a lot and they were excited to play those songs full of groove and complicated arrangements.
Martin, I absolutely want it!
Only Seventh Heaven was played in LA HoB. Any Fule was also done at the Atlanta and two Florida shows. I can’t remember is they then dropped it at Myrtle Beach or New Orleans as they decided it needed more work. I know only Seventh Heaven was done at the three Chicago shows. Though we did also get a wedding, so can’t complain too much…
I haven’t seen a single live performance featuring those songs. I think they probably only played them during the promotional tour, though I could be wrong. I’ve seen them live plenty of times, but I’ve never heard even one of those songs. It’s a shame/pity (I don’t know 
).
Honestly, I don’t remember the setlists from concerts 25 years ago,
but in Italy, they never treated us to surprise songs outside the standard tour setlists… at least there are official or semi-official CDs and DVDs to make up for our bad luck in that regard.
I heard both, several times 1997 - 1999. From memory (and it’s not what it was!) they did vary the set a little in '98, do Seventh Heaven was not played every night
I saw a set immediately after the release of the album where they played pleasantly a lot of stuff from Abandon, five or six songs. I thought the songs worked well live.