IN CONCERT WITH THE LONDON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

This pretty new live album by the Purps, features a decent set-list, however, knowing Deep Purple, they always make stunning live perfomances.

Disc 1 featuring a bit of what the members of Deep Purple have being doing in different projects, the only song really being worthwhile from that bag, is the version of Take it off the Top which originally written by Dixie Dregs, full of great solos, and well the composition, as you should already know, is great. Then, they bring two Deep Purple tunes, the bluesy Wring that Neck, a bit jazzed-up with the symphony, and then there's the energetic, and slightly modified version of Pictures of Home, with Ian Paice shining like always.

Onto with Disc 2, you got the Concerto resurrected, sounding really fresh, and better done musically in most of the aspects, mainly the solos. The compositions of the Concerto's as a whole is a mixed bag, however separately Concerto Movement 1 standouts with its really grandiose composition, a real masterpiece of classical and hard rock which any rock fan must listen to once in their lives. The other two movements on the other hand are pretty hit or miss, mainly the 2nd, which features bad-suited vocals from Ian. Anyways after the refreshing resurrection of the Concerto, you got a great live version from, minor-hit, Ted the Mechanic; there's Watching the Sky from their mediocre album, Abandon, however this version of the song is quite bearable; after that comes another classic tune from Purpendicular, Sometimes I Feel Like I Screaming, with excellent guitar playing from virtuoso Steve Morse, as well as very strong vocals from Ian Gillan. Finally ending with the classic of all classics, Smoke on the Water, in which this is my favorite version of it, surely because it's the first one I heard, but the live feel is so present and the power of Steve's guitar and Ian's singing, it's so well done.

Like I said in the brief introductory paragraph, Deep Purple always make stunning live performances, so you really can't expect them doing bad stuff live, however, almost the entirety of Disc 1, is boring due to not being really Purple tunes. Still Disc 2, makes this album worthy for buying, with the updated Concerto, and some few modern tunes by them, done great.

3 stars

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