SCANDINAVIAN NIGHTS [AKA: LIVE AND RARE]

"Scandinavian nights" is a sprawling 2CD live set by Deep Purple, taken from their early years. The album was recorded in Stockholm, Sweden in late 1970, but not release until about 18 years later. The current album at that time was "In rock", the first studio album by the mark 2 line up, but the two longest tracks are mark 1 songs.

While Deep Purple were unquestionably part of the proto prog movement, and continued to dabble with prog influences after the arrival of Gillan and Glover, their roots are very much in melodic hard rock. You would think then that with two tracks lasting around half an hour each, one 17 minute song, and two around the 10 minutes, this album would be a prog lovers paradise. Unfortunately, that is not really the case. "Wring that neck" and "Mandrake root" are simply ridiculously long extended jams based loosely on the much shorter tracks which appeared on the early studio albums. There is nothing complicated about them, essentially they each maintain the same rhythm throughout while the band members, and in particular Lord and Blackmore indulge themselves in unashamed noodling. Vocalist Ian Gillan could have gone on a weekend break and still been back in time to perform his next duties.

The songs from the "In rock" sessions, are much tighter, with "Into the fire" and "Black night" being reasonably straight forward renditions. The instrumental section of "Child in time" is substantially extended, the song having become a part of the live set well before the release of the studio album.

The remaining song is nominally a cover of the Rolling Stones "Paint it black", but the reality is that it is a painfully extended drum solo by Ian Paice.

In all, an album for the devoted fan of Deep Purple, and for those who enjoy extended live jams. Everyone else should stick to the studio albums.

The songs here do not appear in the order they were played at the concert, presumably having been rearranged to balance them across the two CDs. It should also be noted that there are some discrepancies in the track timings between those shown here and those on the album covers. These however relate only to the between track chat and how it is incorporated into the track times.

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