The House of Blue Light

The House of Blue Light
Studio album by Deep Purple
Released	12 January 1987
Recorded	1986, The Playhouse, Stowe, Vermont
Genre	Heavy metal, hard rock
Length	50:38 (Original 1987 CD edition) 46:16 (LP and 1999 CD remaster)
Label	Polydor (UK) Mercury Records (US) GONG Records (HU)
Producer	Roger Glover, Deep Purple
Deep Purple chronology
Perfect Strangers (1984) The House of Blue Light (1987) Slaves and Masters (1990)

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[1]
Kerrang!	[2]
This table needs to be expanded using prose. See the guideline for more information.

The House of Blue Light is the twelfth studio album by Deep Purple, released in 1987. It is the second recording by the re-formed Mark II lineup.

The album's creation was an exceedingly long and difficult process, and Ritchie Blackmore has said much of it was re-recorded.^[3] Ian Gillan has remarked on how strained relations within the band compromised the album: "I look back at House Of Blue Light, there are some good songs on that record, but there’s something missing in the overall album. I can’t feel the spirit of this band. I can see or hear five professionals doing their best, but it’s like a football team, it’s not functioning. It’s like eleven superstars that are playing on the same field but are not connected by the heart or by the spirit".^[4] Added organist Jon Lord, "We made the massive mistake of trying to make our music current. We discovered that people didn’t want us to do that."^[5]

Several tracks on the LP version are shorter than those of the original CD released in 1987. The 1999 CD remaster used the original vinyl master tapes, and so its running time is correspondingly shorter than the original CD version as well.

Two promotional videos to the songs "Bad Attitude" and "Call of the Wild" were produced. However, only the first featured members of the band.

Track listing

1. "Bad Attitude" (Blackmore, Gillan, Glover, Lord) – 4:43 (5:04 on original release)
2. "The Unwritten Law" (Blackmore, Gillan, Glover, Paice) – 4:34 (4:54 on original release)
3. "Call of the Wild" (Gillan, Blackmore, Glover, Lord) – 4:50 (4:48 on original release)
4. "Mad Dog" (Blackmore, Gillan, Glover) – 4:29 (4:36 on original release)
5. "Black & White" (Blackmore, Gillan, Glover, Lord) – 3:39 (4:39 on original release)
6. "Hard Lovin' Woman" (Blackmore, Gillan, Glover) – 3:24 (3:25 on original release)
7. "The Spanish Archer" (Blackmore, Gillan, Glover) – 4:56 (5:32 on original release)
8. "Strangeways" (Blackmore, Gillan, Glover) – 5:56 (7:35 on original release)
9. "Mitzi Dupree" (Blackmore, Gillan, Glover) – 5:03 (5:05 on original release)
10. "Dead or Alive" (Blackmore, Gillan, Glover) – 4:42 (5:01 on original release)

Personnel

• Ian Gillan: Vocals, congas, harmonica
• Ritchie Blackmore: Guitar
• Roger Glover: Bass guitar
• Jon Lord: Keyboards, synthesizer
• Ian Paice: Drums

Production notes

• Produced by Roger Glover and Deep Purple
• Engineered by Nick Blagona
• Recorded at the Playhouse, Stowe, Vermont, with Le Mobile by Guy Charbonneau, 1986
• Mixed at Union Studios, Munich, West Germany by Harry Schnitzler
• Mastered at Sterling Studios, New York by Greg Calbi

Charts

Album

Year	Nation	Chart	Position
1987	United States	The Billboard 200	34[6]

Singles

Year	Single	Nation	Chart	Position
1987	"Call of the Wild"	United States	Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks	14[7]
1987	"Bad Attitude"	United States	Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks	14[7]

Sales accomplishments

BPI certification[8] (United Kingdom) Date Designation Total Sales February 27, 1987 Silver 60,000

CRIA certification[9] (Canada) Date Designation Total Sales March 9, 1987 Gold 50,000

References

1. ^ Rivadavia, Eduardo. "Deep Purple The House of Blue Light review". Allmusic. Rovi Corporation. http://www.allmusic.com/album/the-house-of-blue-light-r5344/review. Retrieved 2011-09-17. 
2. ^ Simmons, Sylvie (8 January 1987). "Deep Purple 'The House of Blue Light'". Kerrang!. 137. London, UK: United Magazines ltd.. pp. 10-11. 
3. ^ DPAS Magazine Archive. Issue 33, January 1987
4. ^ Rockpages.gr Interview with Deep Purple singer, Ian Gillan
5. ^ Jon Lord Interview at www.thehighwaystar.com
6. ^ "Billboard album chart history-Deep Purple". http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/retrieve_chart_history.do?model.chartFormatGroupName=Albums&model.vnuArtistId=4436&model.vnuAlbumId=802834. Retrieved February 21, 2009. 
7. ^ ^{a b} "Billboard singles chart history-Deep Purple". http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/retrieve_chart_history.do?model.chartFormatGroupName=Singles&model.vnuArtistId=4436&model.vnuAlbumId=802834. Retrieved February 21, 2009. 
8. ^ "BPI certified awards Silver". http://www.bpi.co.uk/platinum/platinumright.asp?rq=search_plat&r_id=22339. Retrieved February 21, 2009. ^{[dead link]}
9. ^ "CRIA certified awards". http://www.cria.ca/cert_db_search.php?page=1&wclause=WHERE+artist_name+like+%27%25pu%25%27+ORDER+BY+cert_date%2C+cert_award+&rcnt=63&csearch=20&nextprev=1. Retrieved February 21, 2009.