"Now What?!" is the name of the latest Deep Purple album, released last spring, but first here's wishing a very happy birthday to Ian Gillan!

He was born on August 19, 1945 in London, England.

According to a review on allmusic.com, the latest offering from the band is pretty impressive (not surprisingly, although they are missing their former keyboardist-extraordinaire, Jon Lord, who passed away last year):

"....one can only marvel at how timeless it sounds, as if it were actually recorded in the early '70s and not tracked a little more than a decade into the 21st century."

Two of the album's tracks are dedicated to Jon Lord.

Taking Lord's place on keyboards is Don Airey, who has an impressive resume, including work with Rainbow, Ozzy and Jethro Tull.

Deep Purple remains one of my favorite bands of all time, and to this day they continue to create great rock music, often described as part progressive, part heavy metal and part R&B.

Aand what a fine mix it is.

Here's one of my favorites, with a stunning guitar hook that will now stay in my brain for the next week (but I'm' not complaining) :-D:

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