1970 was a busy year for Deep Purple. Despite the demands of constant touring, keyboard wizard Jon Lord found the time to compose a work that tried, as Purple had previously done, to bring the disparate worlds of classical music and pop together in harmony.
Rock history is littered with failed attempts at this, of course, but Gemini Suite is not one of them. Commissioned by the BBC for performance at the Festival Hall, Lord originally built the 12 Zodiac-inspired movements around the individual talents of the Deep Purple line-up. This idea was abandoned, however, and finally recorded with the London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Malcolm Arnold.
Far from being a series of divided passages à la Days Of Future Passed, this record can now be hailed as a genuinely successful incorporation of classical music into the rock syntax. Full of explosive, bewitching passages that run the gamut from cinematic to pastoral, this is a record that defies many of the ingrained ideas about pretentious, electric white orchestras. It also illustrates Lord’s undeniable talent as a composer. With three covers to choose from and a full, detailed account of the recording process, this is simply one of the best prog reissues of the year so far.
