Slaves and Masters
Studio album by
Deep Purple
Released23 October 1990[1]
RecordedEarly to mid 1990
Studio
  • Greg Rike Productions, Altamonte Springs, Florida
  • Sountec Studios, Connecticut
  • Power Station, New York City
GenreHard rock
Length46:51
LabelRCA
ProducerRoger Glover
Deep Purple chronology
The House of Blue Light
(1987)		 Slaves and Masters
(1990)		 The Battle Rages On...
(1993)
Singles from Slave and Masters
  1. "King of Dreams"
    Released: October 1990 [2]
  2. "Love Conquers All"
    Released: February 1991 [3]

Slaves and Masters is the thirteenth studio album by the English rock band Deep Purple, and was released on 23 October 1990. This is the only Deep Purple album to feature former Rainbow lead vocalist Joe Lynn Turner, who had joined the previous year after the firing of Ian Gillan. Before hiring Turner, the band had considered singer Jimi Jamison of Survivor, but other obligations made him unavailable.[4]

Following its release, Slaves and Masters peaked at No. 87 on the US Billboard 200 chart.[5] The album dramatically sold below expectations, as compared to Deep Purple's previous album, The House of Blue Light with Gillan, which charted at No. 34 in the US.[5] A song from the Slaves and Masters recording sessions was rearranged for the soundtrack of the 1990 movie Fire, Ice and Dynamite. Jon Lord did not play on the song, which was performed by the four other members of the Mark V Deep Purple line-up.

Despite underwhelming album sales, Deep Purple had a relatively successful tour in support of Slaves and Masters in 1991, especially for the band's European leg. Turner was still a member of the group when they began writing and recording their next album in 1992, but under duress from managers who were eyeing a 25th anniversary tour, Deep Purple ultimately decided to bring back the Mark II line-up for their 1993 studio album The Battle Rages On... A handful of working tracks originally intended for the follow-up to Slaves and Masters would turn up on subsequent solo releases by Turner.

"Too Much Is Not Enough" had been recorded by Turner for the unreleased follow-up of his first solo album Rescue You, and it was also recorded by Paul Rodgers and Kenney Jones band The Law but they didn't release it, either. Turner's original version can be found on the bootleg Demos '88 - 91' and The Law version on The Law II bootleg. Turner re-recorded the song for his album Hurry Up and Wait (1998).

Promotional videos

The album was promoted on television with professional music videos to the songs "King of Dreams" and "Love Conquers All". Both featured members of the band. The video for "King of Dreams" was shot at Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk.

Live performances

With the exception of "King of Dreams", "The Cut Runs Deep" and "Love Conquers All", which have been occasionally performed by Joe Lynn Turner during his solo performances, none of the songs from Slaves and Masters have been performed live since Deep Purple's 1991 World Tour. The world tour set list also included "Burn" and "Hey Joe", which had always been vetoed by Ian Gillan. "King of Dreams" was also part of the set list of the Hughes Turner Project's European and Japanese tours in 2002. This version can be found on HTP's live album Live in Tokyo (2002).

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[6]
Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal7/10[7]
Record Collector[8]

Following its release, Slaves and Masters was met with mixed reception from critics. AllMusic's Alex Henderson gave the album a negative review, saying that "the songwriting is weak and pedestrian, and most of the time, the once-mighty Purple (who were at least 16 years past their prime) sound like a generic Foreigner wannabe".[6] The same concept was expressed in the reviews by journalists Martin Popoff and Joel McIver, who described Slaves and Masters "a bit like a latter-day Rainbow album" and an "extravagant piece of AOR-ness ... incredibly lightweight", respectively.[7][8] However, they salvaged a few songs, such as "King of Dreams", "Love Conquers All" and "Fire in the Basement", which "make at least a reasonable effort to match Purple’s catalogue".[8] Ultimate Classic Rock dubbed Slaves and Masters as "Deep Rainbow," criticizing the album as "worst of both worlds" for combining elements from Deep Purple and Rainbow.[9]

Jon Lord himself, more than his mates Glover and Paice, never recognized this record as a Deep Purple album.[10] On the other hand, Turner openly praised Slaves and Masters by saying it was "probably (the) last great Purple album there was (...) It's a great album, (it) stands up to these days, one of the best recorded, best written (...) I can name every title and just go...who can beat that?".[11]

Track listing

No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."King of Dreams"Ritchie Blackmore, Joe Lynn Turner, Roger Glover5:26
2."The Cut Runs Deep"Blackmore, Turner, Glover, Jon Lord, Ian Paice5:42
3."Fire in the Basement"Blackmore, Turner, Glover, Lord, Paice4:43
4."Truth Hurts"Blackmore, Turner, Glover5:14
5."Breakfast in Bed"Blackmore, Turner, Glover5:17
6."Love Conquers All"Blackmore, Turner, Glover3:47
7."Fortuneteller"Blackmore, Turner, Glover, Lord, Paice5:49
8."Too Much Is Not Enough"Turner, Bob Held, Al Greenwood4:17
9."Wicked Ways"Blackmore, Turner, Glover, Lord, Paice6:33
  • The vinyl edition has "Fortuneteller" as track 4
2012 Friday Music remastered edition bonus tracks
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
10."Slow Down Sister"Blackmore, Turner, Glover, Lord, Paice5:57
11."Love Conquers All" (single edit) 3:25
2013 Hear No Evil Recordings remastered edition bonus tracks
No.TitleLength
10."Love Conquers All" (single edit)3:25
11."King of Dreams" (single edit)4:51
12."Slow Down Sister"5:57

Fire Ice & Dynamite (Music from the Original Soundtrack)

  1. "Fire, Ice & Dynamite" (Blackmore, Glover, Turner) - 4:33

Personnel

Deep Purple
Additional musicians
  • String orchestra led by Jesse Levy
Production notes
  • Recorded in early/mid 1990 at Greg Rike Productions in Orlando, Florida
  • Additional recordings at Sountec Studios Inc. and the Powerstation in New York
  • Engineered by Nick Blagona
  • Additional mixing by Nick Blagona at The Powerstation
  • Raymond D'Addario – production assistant
  • Wally Walters, Peter Hodgson, Matthew Lamonica, Dan Gellert – assistant engineers
  • Mastered by Greg Calbi at Sterling Sound, New York

Charts

Certifications

Region CertificationCertified units/sales
Japan (RIAJ)[25] Gold 100,000^
Switzerland (IFPI Switzerland)[26] Gold 25,000^

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

References

  1. ↑ Popoff, Martin (2018). The Deep Purple Family, vol 2 (2nd ed.). Wymer Publishing. p. 157. ISBN 978-1-908724-87-8.
  2. ↑ "Deep Purple singles".
  3. ↑ "Deep Purple singles".
  4. ↑ "interview with Jon Lord". The Jon Lord Fan Site – Pictured Within. January 1994. Archived from the original on 17 May 2010.
  5. 1 2 "Deep Purple Chart History: Billboard 200". Billboard. Retrieved 5 February 2017.
  6. 1 2 Henderson, Alex. "Deep Purple – Slaves and Masters review". AllMusic. Rovi Corporation. Retrieved 29 April 2014.
  7. 1 2 Popoff, Martin (1 August 2007). The Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal: Volume 3: The Nineties. Burlington, Ontario, Canada: Collector's Guide Publishing. p. 108. ISBN 978-1-894959-62-9.
  8. 1 2 3 McIver, Joel (October 2013). "Deep Purple – Deep Purple Slaves and Masters". Record Collector. No. 419. Archived from the original on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 29 April 2014.
  9. ↑ Rivadavia, Eduardo. "Deep Purple Lineup Changes: A Complete Guide". Ultimate Classic Rock. Retrieved 5 January 2024.
  10. ↑ "25 Years of Deep Purple The Battle Rages On ... – Interview with Jon Lord". Keyboards. January 1994. Archived from the original on 17 May 2010. Retrieved 12 March 2017.
  11. ↑ Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine: "Joe Lynn Turner - Deep Purple, Slaves & Masters (6 of 11)". YouTube.
  12. ↑ Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (illustrated ed.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
  13. ↑ "Austriancharts.at – Deep Purple – Slaves and Masters" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved 22 April 2021.
  14. ↑ "Dutchcharts.nl – Deep Purple – Slaves and Masters" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 22 April 2021.
  15. ↑ Pennanen, Timo (2006). Sisältää hitin – levyt ja esittäjät Suomen musiikkilistoilla vuodesta 1972 (in Finnish) (1st ed.). Helsinki: Kustannusosakeyhtiö Otava. p. 166. ISBN 978-951-1-21053-5.
  16. ↑ "Offiziellecharts.de – Deep Purple – Slaves and Masters" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved 22 April 2018.
  17. ↑ Oricon Album Chart Book: Complete Edition 1970–2005 (in Japanese). Roppongi, Tokyo: Oricon Entertainment. 2006. ISBN 4-87131-077-9.
  18. ↑ "Norwegiancharts.com – Deep Purple – Slaves and Masters". Hung Medien. Retrieved 22 April 2021.
  19. ↑ "Swedishcharts.com – Deep Purple – Slaves and Masters". Hung Medien. Retrieved 22 April 2021.
  20. ↑ "Swisscharts.com – Deep Purple – Slaves and Masters". Hung Medien. Retrieved 22 April 2021.
  21. ↑ "Deep Purple | Artist | Official Charts". UK Albums Chart. Retrieved 22 April 2021.
  22. ↑ "Deep Purple Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved 22 April 2021.
  23. 1 2 "Deep Purple Chart History: Mainstream Rock Songs". Billboard. Retrieved 5 February 2017.
  24. 1 2 "Deep Purple Official Charts". Official Chart Company. Retrieved 5 February 2017.
  25. ↑ "Deep Purple accepting a gold record in 1991 for Slaves and Masters in Japan". 20 December 2020.
  26. ↑ "The Official Swiss Charts and Music Community: Awards ('Slaves and Masters')". IFPI Switzerland. Hung Medien. Retrieved 15 November 2021.
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