The House of Blue Light is the twelfth studio album by Deep Purple

Deep Purple

Deep Purple are an English rock band formed in Hertford in 1968. Along with Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath, they are considered to be among the pioneers of heavy metal and modern hard rock, although some band members believe that their music cannot be categorised as belonging to any one genre...

, 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

Ritchie Blackmore

Richard Hugh "Ritchie" Blackmore is an English guitarist and songwriter, who was known as one of the first guitarists to fuse Classical music elements with rock. He fronted his own band Rainbow after leaving Deep Purple where he was unhappy because his favourite musical style wasn't adequately...

 has said much of it was re-recorded. Ian Gillan

Ian Gillan

Ian Gillan is an English rock music vocalist and songwriter, best known as the lead singer and lyricist for Deep Purple. During his career Gillan also fronted his own band, had a year-long stint as the vocalist for Black Sabbath, and sang the role of Jesus in the original recording of Andrew Lloyd...

 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". Added organist Jon Lord

Jon Lord

Jonathan Douglas "Jon" Lord is an English composer, pianist and Hammond organ player.Jon Lord, also known as 'Hammond Lord', is a classically trained piano player. He is recognised for his Hammond organ blues-rock sound and for his pioneering work in fusing rock and classical or baroque forms...

, "We made the massive mistake of trying to make our music current. We discovered that people didn’t want us to do that."

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
   Call of the Wild (song)
   "Call of the Wild" is a song by British hard rock band Deep Purple, appearing as the third track on their 1987 album The House of Blue Light. The song was released as a single later that year, and made it onto the UK Singles chart at #92.-Personnel:...
   
   " (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
  Ian Gillan
  Ian Gillan is an English rock music vocalist and songwriter, best known as the lead singer and lyricist for Deep Purple. During his career Gillan also fronted his own band, had a year-long stint as the vocalist for Black Sabbath, and sang the role of Jesus in the original recording of Andrew Lloyd...
  
  : Vocals, congas, harmonica
• Ritchie Blackmore
  Ritchie Blackmore
  Richard Hugh "Ritchie" Blackmore is an English guitarist and songwriter, who was known as one of the first guitarists to fuse Classical music elements with rock. He fronted his own band Rainbow after leaving Deep Purple where he was unhappy because his favourite musical style wasn't adequately...
  
  : Guitar
• Roger Glover
  Roger Glover
  Roger David Glover is a Welsh bassist, songwriter, and record producer. Glover is best known as the bassist and lyricist for the hard rock band, Deep Purple.-Early career:...
  
  : Bass guitar
• Jon Lord
  Jon Lord
  Jonathan Douglas "Jon" Lord is an English composer, pianist and Hammond organ player.Jon Lord, also known as 'Hammond Lord', is a classically trained piano player. He is recognised for his Hammond organ blues-rock sound and for his pioneering work in fusing rock and classical or baroque forms...
  
  : Keyboards, synthesizer
• Ian Paice
  Ian Paice
  Ian Anderson Paice is an English musician, best known as the drummer of the English rock band Deep Purple. As of Jon Lord's departure in 2002, he is the only founding member of the band who never stopped performing with the group, and the only member to appear on every album the band has...
  
  : 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 Billboard 200 The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...	34

Singles

Year	Single	Nation	Chart	Position
1987	"Call of the Wild"	United States	Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks Mainstream Rock Tracks Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks is a ranking in Billboard magazine of the most-played songs on mainstream rock radio stations, a category that includes stations that play primarily rock music. Modern rock tracks are counted in the Alternative Songs chart.This chart began with the March 21, 1981, issue...	14
1987	"Bad Attitude"	United States	Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks	14

Sales accomplishments

BPI

British Phonographic Industry

The British Phonographic Industry is the British record industry's trade association.-Structure:Its membership comprises hundreds of music companies including all four "major" record companies , associate members such as manufacturers and distributors, and hundreds of independent music companies...

 certification

Music recording sales certification

Music recording sales certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped or sold a certain number of copies, where the threshold quantity varies by type and by nation or territory .Almost all countries follow variations of the RIAA certification categories,...

  (United Kingdom)

Date	Designation	Total Sales
February 27, 1987	Silver	60,000

CRIA

Canadian Recording Industry Association

Music Canada is a Toronto-based, non-profit trade organization that was founded 9 April 1963 to represent the interests of companies that record, artists, manufacture, production, promotion and distribution of music in Canada...

 certification

Music recording sales certification

Music recording sales certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped or sold a certain number of copies, where the threshold quantity varies by type and by nation or territory .Almost all countries follow variations of the RIAA certification categories,...

(Canada)

Date	Designation	Total Sales
March 9, 1987	Gold	50,000