Israeli composer and musicians have self-released close to 50 albums since he appeared back in 2010, and among those 50 or so titles a staggering six have been released this year alone. “Very Heepy Very Purple X” is the second album he was ready with this year, and was released in the late spring of 2019 alongside the companion album “Very Heepy Very Purple IX”.
As one can surmise from the title of the album, this is a production where Rosenfeld, given aid by a multitude of musicians from across the world, has a go at music inspired by and oriented towards the music of legendary hard rock bands Uriah Heep and Deep Purple. Arguably with a certain favoritism towards the latter of these as far as this particular album goes. That this is in fact the tenth album in a series probably indicates just how passionate a relationship the creator has with this type of music.
Guitar and organ combinations is at the heart of just about everything on this album, naturally enough, and the manner in which they are combined will transport the listeners back to the 1970’s (and early 80’s in a case or two) in an instant, giving those who know and love this specific music a lot to treasure in the almost 50 minutes this album lasts.
What separates this album from it’s similarly named companion released at the same time is that this tenth chapter of the series strikes me as a bit more uneven. Mainly because not all of the songs are as compelling as the rest in their overall sound and mood, and due to that other weakness combines into making some of this songs appear as a bit more substandard than the rest. The main weakness elsewhere are the vocals, that range from somewhat weak to passable, with a few glimmering lights here and there throughout. Otherwise this is a rather fine album in many ways, and the mix and production strikes me as being just a slight notch better than the previous album, despite the fact that both presumably were assembled at the same time. This perception may stem from the fact that there are some real treasures on this album, elevating the overall impression ever so slightly.
The instrumental ‘Sabbath’ is first among them, arguably the finest moment of this series of albums so far. With liberal amounts of organ leading the way, this is a strong and expressive take on organ and guitar driven hard rock 1970’s style. Perhaps not the most innovative song in the world, but of you like this type of music this song will make an impact. Fairly close at hand are the powerful 70’s style ‘Hit the Lights’ and the more early 80’s oriented ‘Liar’. Both of them making their main strong impression due to the song itself rather than the performances. That being said, the instrumentalists tends to do a splendid job throughout this album in the first place, but arguably slightly better throughout on the three songs mentioned.
70’s style hard rock in general and the organ and guitar driven variety of it in particular are difficult to explore in a manner that makes a strong impression. Many bands have been active in this field for the past 50 odd years, and it takes some skill to surpass them in general and the giants of this kind of music in particular. At their very best, Rosenfeld and his multiple contributors manage to match the bands of yesteryear this time around. While other songs may not impress on such a level, the quality of the best songs merits that this album should be given a check by the appropriate audience at some point in time. And of that isn’t crystal clear, the target audience here would be those who share an equal fascination for bands such as Deep Purple and Uriah Heep.
My rating: 64/100
