An in-depth look at Deep Purple’s 1990 album, Slaves and Masters—the band’s one-and-only record with Joe Lynn Turner on vocals.
Was it a hidden gem or a misstep in the reunion era?
Join me as I explore:
The controversy surrounding Ian Gillan’s exit
The Rainbow-esque direction Joe Lynn Turner brought
Standout tracks like “The Cut Runs Deep” and “Wicked Ways”
Why the album still divides fans decades later
What do you think of Slaves and Masters?
Share your thoughts below, and don’t forget to like and subscribe for more Deep Purple album deep-dives and classic rock chats. As always, music is the healer and the doctor—keep spinning those discs.
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I actually saw them live on this tour in Burlington, Vermont.
GREAT SHOW!!!
I can't really agree that this is a good DP album; it is very much more Rainbow than Deep Purple. It just doesn't have that Purple feel – you don't feel Lord's and Glover's input. I'd have accepted it as an okay Rainbow v3 album, but stood up next to Deep Purple, it feels really thin, like it's reaching far too hard for commercialism and reaching schmalz and crassness instead.
I never got into it. I don’t think I own it?. I like house of blue light and don’t think an album with turner would be something for me. The battle rages on I quite liked.
Possibly my least favourite Deep Purple album. The problem I have is that both Jon Lord and Ian Paice sound bored. Paicey is such a creative drummer, but it felt as if Slaves and Masters hindered that creativity, as though the commercial nature of the music coupled with having to play within the limitations of a click track and also Ritchie demanding a straighter style of drumming, removed Paicey's natural brilliance.
Tried to like this album but still cannot reflect on the fact this sounds like an upgraded version of the poppy era of Rainbow.
Love the album, and the tour was great too. I saw them in Brussels, they opened with Burn which, to me was all I ever wanted to hear! The show wasn't flawless, but the band was much better than on the House of Blue Light Tour.
Just like MkIV, I wish they could have made another album and tour and get a bit more comfortable as a unit.
I never quite understood why a certain line-up or a "name" is so important to people. As you mention in the video many Deep Purple albums are different from the one before or the one after. Do I love all the albums equally? No. Do I respect the band for doing what they want to do? Yes.
Is it strange that a band with Joe Lynn Turner, Ritchie Blackmore AND Roger Glover actually sounds sort of Rainbow? I really don't think so. To think it's a terrible album because it's called Deep Purple instead of Rainbow or some new project is just immature in my eyes. How is Come Taste The Band and Now What similar? How is Fireball and =1 similar? Do they need to be? I am not saying anyone has to like Slaves and Masters but listen to it for what it is instead of judging it upon what it is not.
I like the album. Blackmore is particularly good on it, but Fire Ice and Dynamite should never have been released under the Purple name. As well as missing Jon Lord, it is also without Ian Paice – it's a drum machine!
Thank you for that!!
I remember Radio One's Round Table used to review the latest releases in the early nineties, and the panel reviewed (much to my surprise) 'Love Conquers All'. Everyone was a little underwhelmed at the famous rock band doing a soft ballad, however Boy George did appreciate the songs ending (cadence).
Saw them at Hammersmith. Started great with burn but it did go downhill a bit with a particularly uninspired solo spot from RB! IMO there are some great songs on the album but inevitably with JLT on vocals it does sound a bit like rainbow but am not too bothered about that.
Well Phil – I did exactly as you said and put on Fire, Ice and Dynamite. So – what did I think. Well – different, thats for sure but it surely rocks on and as you say very American / Foreignerish which I guess is not a bad thing – very AOR. I'm not all in on Deep Purple, but I have quite a few of their albums and saw them live on their "In Rock" tour in the UK back in the day – unforgettable. Talking about different – one of my favourite Deep Purple tracks is "This Time Around / Ode To G" – what an astonishing piece of music that is, and completely different to anything the band had previously done. So they've always tried different things, I dont have a problem with that. Cya Doug
Thank You For This Which takes Me down memorylane of difficult times.
My most troubled DP album to date due to the Gillan/Turner turbolence. Like so many was delighted with the DP reunion & of course when i learned of the I.G removal i was devasted. I forced myself to buy the cassette of this album…
Never connected allthough have admit great sound & production. Highlights: Fortuneteller & To Much is not enough.
Had to revisit the S&M album today since i never knew the song Slow down sister even existed.
Thank You again…
Cheers From The Arctic Circle 🇳🇴
Thoroughly enjoyable video blog phil thank you👏👏👍🎸🎸
Full of fasinationing information,I missed this line up live due to work commitments,but I do enjoy the album ,very much underrated 🎸🎸
Excellent video. Don't get the derision this release gets; it's not a masterpiece but it is a solid 7-7.5 out of ten.
Great discussion….always dug this album. I always thought with King of Dreams they were trying to capture that "Street of Dreams" vibe. Fire in the basement is a killer…Cut runs deep is amazing. Breakfast in Bed has such a cool laid back vibe. My favorite is Fortune Teller! It is also interesting to note how similar sounding Slaves and Battle Rages On were. You can tell they planned on recording Battle with Joe but nixed him at the last second.
Ritchie Blackmore said once that he regrets about the reunion of 1984, i agree with him, since 1984 till present DP released only one great album, Perfect Strangers, DP also had some good and decent albums in the form of Purpendicular, Bananas and Now What? , so in my humble opinion there's no justification for the reunion that yielded 4 decent albums out of 13 albums that DP released between 1984-2024, 4 decent albums in 40 years, that's embarrassing, of course it's always a pleasure to see DP live cause they are still a great live act, Slaves And Masters sounds more like a Rainbow album than a DP album but it's better than most of the albums DP released with Ian Gillan in the last 40 years!!!
Great video, love the deep dives into Deep Purple catalogue. Totally agree about S&M and a live album would be cool to have.
I have it on CD. I only bought Perfect Strangers on LP as after their original run. I like it pretty well. Fire in the Basement is killer. I need to listen to it again. Thanks, Phil.
The problem I have with the album, besides it’s not that good, is that I just can’t accept it as a DP album, it’s sounds too much Rainbow and that the band is 3/5 Rainbow and 2/5 DP. If I rank it as a Rainbow album, it would be on the bottom of the list, and it’s definitely on the bottom of my list of DP allbums. I was very disappointed when it was released, not because of JLT, but because it felt very uninspired and uninteresting.
Listening to it now, there are a couple of more songs that I think is ok, but I still think it’s their weakest album.
Songs I think is up to the required standard is
King of Dreams and Love Conquers all.
To much is not enough is also a good song, but it’s not a DP song, it’s a song JLT brought in.
The cut runs deep, Wicked ways and Fire in the basement are ok but not very exciting.
For the rest of the songs, I feel what they were aiming for, but they just can’t get there, there are some potential, but it leaves me very underwhelmed in the end.
Great album! It's in my top 10 DP studio albums.
I loved it, I wish they sounded like it now.
Phil, I always love your reviews but can't quite agree on this one, though I do agree with a lot of your points on the music. I think the cover version is awful, wicked ways is such an anti climax and perhaps too many slow songs. It is however an album I quite like, though as a latter Rainbow rather than Purple. Fire Ice and Dynamite is my vote for worst ever Purple song…I'm with Lord on that one. Live I think I'd have liked more with new songs and mk III, Turner was ill suited to the others. Thanks for the considered review and keep up the good work.
Thought they gave it a good go live. Saw them at Manchester Apollo. However, JLT was not a strong enough rock singer in my opinion. And fans seemed to think the same
A few memories and anecdotes related to S&M for me, my father wasn't the biggest fan but he played the tape a few times in the 90s when I was a kid. I remember distinctly the chorus of King of Dreams and the piano intro of Cut Runs Deep, told him it was cool but he said 'but Gillan's not on it, it's an American guy called Turner'. I noticed there was an element of flamboyance and flashiness to his singing I didn't hear from the other singers in Purple. Guess I'm not buying the Deep Rainbow conspiracy theory, since I didn't find out Turner had been in Rainbow until many years later, my dad only owned the 1976 Oyster Spanish tape pressing of the debut. Didn't even know how he even looked like, the inlay had the lyrics but not a single photo!
Later in mid-00s, a friend who was older than me got married, he owned the Purplexed CD and chose Love Conquers All to be played in his wedding. The couple split up a few years back though.
A shop of gothic clothing, jewelry and shoes here in Barcelona had a deadstock of original vintage S&M backpatches for years (also of Sabbath's Tyr btw), glad I grabbed one, I dig the artwork and logo. It's also remarkable how Turner managed to pull off the big fancy chorus of King of Dreams live, if you look at videos of the tour, considering he has no backing vocal support to replicate the layers of the studio original. Overall, everytime I play the album I truly enjoy it, but I admit I should give it far more plays!
Nice video Phil, I disagree with just one thing…. Fortuneteller I think is excellent, JLTs vocals are great on this one. Reminds me of Free/Bad Company, especially the bridge to the chorus…
'Empty hearts will echo… Forever in the wishing well'
That newly remastered version of slaves and Masters on music on vinyl sounds great never got to see Tony Martin live that must have been a awesome show you saw back in 1990 I saw deep purple back in 1971 at Long Beach arena and again 1972 at Anaheim convention center the opening act was the original members of Santana saw deep purple again 1976 at Long Beach arena with David Coverdale and Glenn Hughes both those Long Beach arena shows are available on remastered vinyl also have all the original pressings of Black Sabbath with Tony Martin and the new remastered versions also saw deep purple at the Wilton theater 2003 the banana tour they played machine Head in its entirety I had front row seats Ian Gillan was singing highway Star and I was standing right in front of him with a lighter in one hand when he was singing those high notes he closed his eyes and I had two lighters in my hands one in each hand he opened his eyes and hit me in the chest like very cool bro you can't bring lighters into concerts anymore those were the good old days
THE worst DP album by a long way. King of dreams is ok but the rest of it is horrendous. I love rainbow with turner but this was a low point for purple.
Great show Phil. Rotten album tho!!
Another good video Phil. I agree with you 100% about the “gateway album”. I’m sure that must be the same for everyone; I know it certainly is for me. The album I “jumped on” with a band almost always tends to be my favourite.
As far as I understand, the music for S&M was mostly written before Gillan left and the same for Battle before JLT got the boot. Check out JLT's Stroke of Midnight. If memory serves, Kerrang gave it 4/5. Anyway, if Bananas is a DP album, then S&M is more so. I like it. Saw them in Manchester, great gig.
Phil, Is there anywhere I can find that track Fire, Ice & Dynamite aside from youtube??? I listened to it and love it! Have to have it as I think I've got just about everything Deep Purple has released!! My all time favorite band for over 50 years!
The years 1987 to 1990 saw heavy metal at its peak global popularity. Especially, American glam/pop metal. This effort by Deep Purple shows us that the founding fathers of heavy metal can still teach the young headbangers a trick or two! They updated their sound with some atmospheric keyboards. They could rock just as hard as Van Halen or Def Leppard !
This is my dad's (55y/o) favourite Purple album. I'm 19 and just got into this great band.Thanks Phil.