The album was recorded at Greg Rike Productions,
Orlando, Florida from February to October 1995 and engineered by Darren Schneider and Keith Andrews. It had a more experimental approach than previous albums. The arrangement to "The Aviator", employed an acoustic folk/country arrangement that had not been heard on the band's previous work since "Anyone's Daughter" from
Fireball. Several of the songs such as "
Vavoom: Ted the Mechanic" featured less keyboard, focusing on guitar. Morse introduced
pinch harmonics to the band's sound, such as on "Vavoom: Ted the Mechanic" and "Somebody Stole My Guitar". "Sometimes I Feel Like Screaming" and "Vavoom: Ted the Mechanic" remained regular features in Deep Purple's live setlist in recent tours. Like the title of the band's following album,
Abandon,
Purpendicular is a
pun; in this case, based on the band's name and the word "
Perpendicular". ==Track listing==