In mid-1976, Deep Purple disbanded, just after the tour following the album "Come Taste the Band", and from then on, its surviving members focused on different projects. A year earlier, Ritchie Blackmore had founded his own band, Rainbow, and Ian Gillan had done the same with his Ian Gillan Band; both had left Deep Purple a few years prior.
Meanwhile, Jon Lord and Ian Paice joined David Coverdale to found Whitesnake, and finally, Glenn Hughes and Tommy Bolin pursued different solo projects. Eight years later, Deep Purple's classic lineup, the so-called Mark II, the one that created such monumental works as "In Rock", "Machine Head", "Made in Japan", and "Fireball", reunited to record a new and highly anticipated album that generated immense excitement worldwide within the rock scene. This lineup, composed of the legendary Ritchie Blackmore, Ian Gillan, Ian Paice, Jon Lord, and Roger Glover, headed to Horizons Studios in Vermont and recorded Deep Purple's eleventh album, "Perfect Strangers". However, the sound departs somewhat from the characteristic style of the 70s, leaning instead towards the more modern sounds of the 80s, creating an elegant and understated work closer to classic rock than hard rock. The opening track, "Knocking At Your Back Door", is the best example of this, as is the concise "Under the Gun", while the party-ready "Nobody's Home" showcases the band's sound. the band's 80s sound. The Zeppelin-esque and epic "Perfect Strangers" is the high point, contrasting with the neoclassical tracks, heirs to Rainbow's sound, "A Gypsy Kiss" and "Hungry Daze", before ending with the breathtaking ballad "Wasted Sunsets".
As expected, the album would achieve enormous worldwide success.
