AMZ - April 2001 - Glenn Hughes

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April 2001

Vol. 5 No. 5

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Artist	Glenn Hughes
Title	Return of Crystal Karma
Label	Steamhammer
Reviewer	Richard Proplesch
Rating

Since Purple prose seems appropriate here, Hughes’ long tenure with Deep Purple was rumination in bombastic rock that was near-flawless! Yeow! A bluesy, octave-leaping tenor whose voice still rings hard as titanium, Hughes is no slouch on bass chores, either. That he held his own amongst the legendary ego skirmishes of Purp warlords Ritchie Blackmore and Jon Lord was like being a ref between Tyson and Holyfield. Maybe that's why most of his solo albums sound like Purple-hued classics of the past: dramatic, keyboard-driven hard rock with classical-ripping guitar solos and chest-thumping declarations of passion.

Hughes newest release, R.O.C.K. for short, may be the 22nd knockoff of Machine Head (Purp themselves would be culpable for the other 21), but it's hard to flaw the chemistry. The opening "The State I’m In" is a rugged, ascending number (much like "Burn"), that launches from the pad and scorches everything in its vapor trail.

"Midnight Meditated" is a riff-heavy roustabout that gives Hughes a chance to croon the blues before guitarist JJ Marsh splits a few atoms with his nuclear fretwork. For Purple fans, there’s an inspiring "Owed to ‘J’" (presumably Hendrix) that’s rapid-fire and chops heavy, where the instrumental interplay (including a hammerin’ solo by keyboardist Hans Zermuehlen) is truly daunting. Hughes may not change the course of rock history, but his albums are wonderful to reaffirm that some of rock’s finest moments were during the ‘70s.