Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: Hughes Turner Project
Label: MTM Records
Release: 2002
Rating: 2.5/5
What could be better than a joint tour after releasing a fantastic album, with a little Deep Purple, Rainbow and solo-career classics thrown into the set list on top of its songs? These two legends picked the only right place to give birth to this live release. Japan, of course. Fanatical fans there buy up anything that even slightly “smells” like Deep Purple by the ton.
Backed by authentic Japanese musicians, who are generally known as the best Deep Purple “fakers” on the planet (endlessly grateful and loyal to the grave), Glenn Hughes and Joe Lynn Turner kick things off with “Devil’s Road” from their joint project. And the whiff of Deep Purple live is more than stunning. Massive layers of hammond lines pouring and erupting out, an almost copy-pasted version of Blackmore’s good old guitar style and that sound only he could ever have. The solos in “Death Alley Driver” or “Spotlight Kid”, which Joe Lynn sings entirely on his own (orig. Rainbow), tell you everything about that right away.
The sound is phenomenal and the instruments sit in perfect balance. Glenn Hughes, on top of his unmatched vocal performance, plays bass the whole way through, too. The two singers click incredibly well in the duets, and that goes not just for the songs from the joint project but also for “I Surrender” (orig. Rainbow), “Dark Days”, “Can’t Stop The Flood” (both orig. Joe Lynn Turner solo) or “King Of Dreams” (orig. Deep Purple). On those four, Joe Lynn once again takes the lead, while Glenn complements him fantastically in the transitions and the chorus. The extreme contrast in color and style between the two singers that we hear on their joint studio album has come to life more than successfully on stage, too.
And “Stormbringer” (orig. Deep Purple)… ahhh, if you haven’t lost it yet, you’ll lose it at “Stormbringer” for sure, 100%. What a jump in the atmosphere to an even higher level. The stuff Hughes pulls out of himself after all these years!!! Still the greatest of the greats today. While the worn-out Deep Purple of today are practically stumbling around the stages and we can only hallucinate about their classics from the MK III lineup, you can enjoy the jackpot of this record, “Mistreated”, played the way Deep Purple would have played it in 1974. And listening to both classics, it’ll become totally clear to you why David Coverdale and Glenn Hughes “couldn’t” make it work in Deep Purple. Because Hughes could already sing exactly like Coverdale back in Deep Purple (and on top of that, his voice could do plenty of things David can still only dream of today). And both Purple classics will undoubtedly convince you of that. Unbeatable!
In short, a perfect hard rock dream. The sound is fantastic, everything is played with incredible precision (of course, you’ve got Japanese players in the lineup) and with total feeling, and the whole release has that sense of freedom. In other words, a full dose of improvisation. Hughes and Turner simply don’t know how to disappoint. A must for every true hard rock fan.
Lineup
Glenn Hughes – vocals, bass guitar
Joe Lynn Turner – vocals, guitar
Akira Kajiyama – guitar
Toshio Egawa – keyboards
Yoshihiro Kudo – drums
Production
Glenn Hughes, Joe Lynn Turner & Akira Kajiyama
Track list
01. Devils Road (6:07)
02. You Can’t Stop Rock & Roll (4:45)
03. Death Alley Driver (4:23)
04. I Surrender (4:11)
05. Stormbringer (4:41)
06. Dark Days (3:58)
07. Mistreated (9:15)
08. Can’t Stop The Flood (3:42)
09. Better Man (6:00)
10. Ride The Storm (4:04)
11. King Of Dreams (6:44)
12. Street Of Dreams (5:02)
13. Spotlight Kid (5:00)
14. Against The Wall (Unreleased Studio Bonustrack) (4:33)
