DEEP PURPLE IN CONCERT

Oh man, what a timeline nightmare. Released in 1980, documenting Purple's 1970 and 1972 shows (from before the Made in Japan shows, no less), reissued and expanded in 2001. So naturally I stick it right after Made in Japan in my CD rack. Whatever.

Actually, there is a method to my madness, namely that this acts as a fine companion piece to Japan. The first disc is taken from a 1970 BBC session with John Peel, showing an underground jam band that hadn't yet released In Rock, while the second is taken from a 1972 session done a month or so before the release of Machine Head, showing a well-established band promoting a fabulous album. In addition to friggin' marvelous renditions of "Speed King" and "Child in Time" (the latter of which has an interesting moment where Gillan almost falters in the high-pitched wails, only to effortlessly pull back into his normal range long enough to collect himself and nail the screams), the first disc also features 18 minutes of "Wring that Neck" and 17 minutes of "Mandrake Root." Truth be told, I start to droop a bit around the 10-minute marks of each of these, as there's really only so much of this kind of jam that I can take at one time, but that's definitely not to say they're totally unenjoyable. They each kick a good deal of booty for a very solid while, after all.

Disc 2 is a bit more interesting to me as a whole, mainly because it gives a chance to hear prime DP play MH numbers in a bit of a different way than on Japan. The emphasis is much less on "Let's see just how fast and insane we can make these numbers without falling apart" and more on "Let's just make sure these numbers kick a lot of ass," but that's sure not a bad thing. Six of the seven Machine Head numbers are done here ("Pictures of Home" is left out), in addition to "Strange Kind of Woman" and an awesome cover of "Lucille" by Little Richard, and while they may not be as otherworldly at times as Japan, they nevertheless chug along as unstoppable crunchy machines. Heck, I'd definitely say that this is my favorite version of "Lazy" that I've thus far heard, perhaps because of the clarity of the sound, and "Never Before" reveals a potential to me that I didn't really see before. And needless to say, the other tracks rock me into the ground, just as always.

For some reason, I put off getting this for a good while, but that was silly of me. It's not quite as revelatory perhaps as Japan, but it's still a rip-rolling good time for the prime DP consumer that I am. If that's you, you should swipe this up faster than Ritchie's "Highway Star" solo.