A wasted opportunity
dkavanagh@webaudits.net | Cork, Ireland | 05/30/2000
(2 out of 5 stars)
"This 2CD set could have been great - instead its adequate. Firstly the good stuff - the band sound fired up to be back on home turf for their first UK comback gig and for the most part they deliver an enthusiastic 'glad to be there' performance, albeit with the odd mistake (wake up Blackmore!). The track selection is pretty good too. But ......... what lets this release down is the appalling packaging and some very dodgy decisions on the sound / editing. It seems the BBC lost two of the original tracks, so this may account for the poorly spliced editing. However what is unforgiveable is the sound quality on 'Lazy' - it's significantly different and far worse than the rest of the set. In fact it sounds like a bootleg or a bad soundboard tape that was slipped in as an afterthought ( to replace one of the Beeb's missing tracks perhaps ?). Frankly, it's so bad it should have been left off. Overall, if you're a Purple collector, you will probably want this CD and for the most part you won't feel ripped off, but it's fairly ordinary for something that could have been really special."
Lousy sound, horrible editing but some great moments.
kireviewer | Sunnyvale, Ca United States | 11/22/2002
(3 out of 5 stars)
"This is a live CD from the newly reunited Mk II version of Deep Purple, consisting of Lord, Blackmore, Gillian, Paice and Glover. It comes from the tour to support the Perfect Strangers album. It consists of most of a concert, but is missing 2 tracks. Each disc is 50 minutes long.The sound is loud and noisy. Deep Purple was always a loud band and even set the record for the loudest concert ever. But, they always had a crystal clear sound. This recording is horrible. It is noisy and painful to hear at times. On some tracks, you can even hear the audience talking. The editing is bad, with sharp cuts between some of the tracks. Other parts could have used some trimming. The cheering between tracks goes on too long in some parts. They could have cut out Gillian's stupid remarks between songs. But, most of the music is great. There are only a few bland tracks, like Highway Star and some of the newer songs, which are just noisy copies of the studio versions. On most of the tracks, the band really opens up and twists the songs in new ways, similar to how the band used play in seventies. There is a lot of energy and many great solos. Both Lord and Blackmore get into classical and neo-classical music, playing everything from Bethoven to Ravel. At times, it sounds like Lord is copying Keith Emerson, and even breaks out into America, a popular staple of the Nice and Emerson, Lake and Palmer. Of course, there is some argument of who came first, Lord or Emerson. They both started introducing classical music into rock around the same time. (Before being a pioneering Hard Rock band, Deep Purple was a pioneering Progressive/Art Rock band).The sound is so poor, I give it 3 stars. The music rates 4 stars. This album is certainly much better than the live album, Nobody's Perfect. The best Deep Purple live album is the original Live and Rare (not to be confused with the New Live and Rare), but it is currently out of print. Next best would be Made in Japan."
Reformation of DEEP PURPLE MK II
kireviewer | 03/26/2001
(4 out of 5 stars)
"yes you can ask Ian Gillan, why he did the reformation in the DP reunion 1985 Perfect strangers era? The answer is easy, because Gillan, Glover, Blackmore, Paicey and lordy wanted to repeat their long time ago huge succes in the periode of Mk II early 70's. The reunion tour was succesfull, and the fans have celebrated together with the band. This show was recorded in Hertfordshire England at the Knebworth Park....Deep Purple reached as the loudest rock band on that night. They had circa 300.000 audiences. The fans who have waited for almost 10 years, were really enthusiastic to see the band live again. The opening songs like Highway star, Strange kind of woman, until the final song Smoe on the water and Speed king are great, there are no bad songs on this album. Noticement: The Deep Purple's final era with MK IV Bolin line up was disbanded in 1976, David coverdale formed later his own band called Whitesnake."
Track Listings (7) - Disc #1