We can speak about Bananas for one second Just because I understand
You have to get them off your chest
So I was scrolling my Facebook feed and it turns out Bananas was released 23 years ago today. Which is probably how long I have owned it too.
Anyway. I read the comments of said post, and many people - even those who, like me, loved the music inside - said the cover is horrible. In all honesty, I have never understood how it is this divisive? It’s definitely not in the same league as Twisted Sister’s Come Out And Play, Spooky Tooth’s Ceremony or Pantera’s Metal Magic, to name a few that I would understand to be an acquired taste. What do you think?
Also, any favourites from the album? In my case it’s a little ridiculous, since from the top of my head I would say House Of Pain, Haunted, Walk On, Never A Word, Bananas, Doing It Tonight and Contact Lost, which only leave out Sun Goes Down, Razzle Dazzle, I Got Your Number, Silver Tongue and Picture Of Innocence, all of which I enjoy almost as much.
It’s a solid hard rock album—nothing prog-related, which I appreciate. Bananas and Abandon are the last albums featuring Morse that I really enjoy: they’re more direct, without any long, exhausting flourishes. As for the cover art? I was stunned when I first saw it, but in the end, they’ve done worse, and plenty of times too.
There used to be a great live youtube video from the Gothenburg show on that tour, but it’s been taken down. They were in top form!
the first album of new Deep Purple music that was released after I became a fan. regardless of the horrendous artwork (and subsequently the ugliest tour t-shirt I own. by anyone), this album will always hold a very special place for me.
I think the music stands up well - several good songs and very good performances.
Now if only we could have a re-release on vinyl, with no brickwalling…
I recall the Bananas tour in 03 quite well, the boys played an wonderful open air near a lovely styrian sea, my lady and me had so much fun, and yes i still like the overall vibes of Bananas, if i had to pick my favourite songs it was: Walk on, Doin’ it tomight, Got your number but i never skip one of the other tracks when i give it a relisten
I gave it a listen at the weekend for the first time in a while. The music is great, but I would love a re-mix. It existing one isn’t as bad as Rapture’s, but I’m sure it could be improved.
With regards the sleeve - there’s a story there. I can’t remember the details, but I think it’s the wrong photo to what the band had sent/were expecting. The “right” one may have been the bicycle one used on the back cover/tour book. I’m sure the full story is still out there somewhere.
There’s nothing to talk about. With few exceptions (Picture of Innocence, Never A Word, Contact Lost). And Up The Wall, for as long as Jon played organ on it.
Other than that, every other unnamed track has something about it that puts me off so much, I don’t even want to engage in a detailed study, what it is. Life’s too short for sh*t. I could maybe give the title track Bananas a bit less slack, because it’s… Er… so bananas, that it’s adventurous to almost a point of enjoyment. But everything else about this record is WRONG, Walk On being the worst uselessly dragging plod that they ever recorded. Hey, Ezriño, cut that one down to 3:20, you will, thus, finally do a humanity a favour on your killing (cutting) floor. Oh and I forgot - I used to like Sun Goes Down when the album came out.
We are currently paying something like 2€ a kilo, a bit extra, if you want fair trade. For the disc, a used copy is fetching for 8 to 80 euros, so it seems you can get anywhere from 4 to 40 kilos of bananas for Bananas.
I like the cover. It’s one of the better Purple covers in my opinion. I like the tracks Sun Goes Down, Silver Tongue, Razzle Dazzle and the title track. House of Pain doesn’t sound like Deep Purple. I’m listening to the album right now after some years. They play most songs too slow. I listened to Now What!? a few days ago, same there, most songs are played too slow. Thanks Simon for bringing the speed back to the band!
I like both the title and the cover - it’s like a Frank Zappa album.
The album has a lot of variety, I thought that pleasant.
Don was still finding his feet, but you could already tell where he would be different to Jon in his further evolution.
The music is good, the production leaves much to be desired. Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy that Purple broke with Roger’s production cycle and made an attempt with Bradford because he paved the way to Ezrin. And Ezrin is the best thing that happened to Purple in a long time.
Sonically, the album sounds unpleasantly harsh in some frequencies. I think Bradford, for all his love of Rainbow and DP as a teen, doesn’t really have an ear for the production of hard rock. Yup, it should be remixed. It would be more deserving of that than ROTD because the songs are overall stronger.
House of Pain, Walk On, Haunted + I Got Your Number are all outrageously catchy for DP standards. When it came out, Bananas was perhaps the poppiest album Purple had done since Mk II came together in 1969.
I don’t mind the cover, but I found an interview with Roger where he says it was the photo of the bike covered in bananas that he showed Gillan and said “here’s the new album”.
It’s also worth remembering that 7 tracks made it to the live set at the time. Sadly not Razzle Dazzle though IG, Don and some chap called McBride did eventually give us that.
splendid album, very varied, probably the most varied of the Morse era, sometimes I even prefer it to Purpendicular in the sense that when I listen to Bananas again I never get bored.
Doing It Tonight
Never a Word
Walk On
Haunted
Silver Tongue
Sun Goes Down
Picture of Innocence
Contact Lost
these are my favorite songs
I also like I’ve Got Your Number and House of Pain, but I would have liked them to be a little harder.
I probably just rule out Razzle Dazzle, but it’s not that bad.
I could listen to Walk On on loop twenty times in a row (as I did) and never get tired of it, a jewel.
Me neither. I had a t-shirt with the album cover that I literally wore to shreds, and while it was new-ish, actually got a couple of compliments on it. Go figure…
I actually think Bananas is a pretty damn good record!
I love the cover - my only question is how do those guys in the photo feel about being on the front cover of an album? I’m sure when Roger snapped the photo, he and they had no idea where it would end up! I’ve always been curious about who they are and if they know they’re on the front cover of a record by a major rock band!
I love the music as well. Some of my favourite tunes are:
Sun Goes Down
Walk On
Picture of Innocence
Never A Word (Gillan’s vocals give me chills every time I hear it!)
Bananas
Contact Lost
I agree the production is muddy, and I find Don’s organ to be too low in the mix. One thing I really like about the production though is how dry Ian Paice’s drums sound - it’s a nice throwback to that classic dry 70s drum tone he used to get. I actually prefer the original drum sound in the original mix of Rapture to the remix - but I love everything else about the remix. If Bananas were to get a remix, I would keep the dry drums, just not bury them in the mix so much.
