SPACE VOL 1&2 - LIVE IN AACHEN 1970

Apparently, I will be the first one to submit a review for this "work" altough someone else rated this album five stars but with no (or too few) comments. This is a standard live set from the early Mark II. They did not have too much material to choose from to perform on stage. Their decision (and it will last for more than a year) was to include some Mark I numbers. I really would have liked to hear more "In Rock" tracks like "Hard Lovin'Man" as well as "Flight of the Rat". But alas these will never be part of their live set (even on boots). This album, "Live in Aachen" was recorded on July 7, 1970 during a concert at the Reiterstadion. This was first released as a bootleg and then "remastered" for a CD release. Don't be fooled though : this is boot quality (good for boot, but weak for CD).

What do we get here ? Well, the usual boring and extended version for "Wring That Neck" (almost eighteen minutes), a psychedelic very loooooong jamming session for "Mandrake Root" culminating here at over thirty two minutes (!). Fifty minutes for two tracks. I can tell you that you won't listen to these ones quite often and that I did the excercise for this review (listening to them twice) and there will be a looooong time for me before I will listen to them again (if I ever do so). There is one "cover" of "Paint It, Black" which is pretty poor : during the first minute there is virtually nothing to hear, then Jon is playing the riff of the song very aggressively on the keys (this is the only interesting part of this cover). After this, Ian plays a drum solo (not that great either) for more than eight minutes before Jon's conclusion again. This all instrumental number has little to do with the original (which at times is good like in "America" from Yes or "With Little Help..." from Cocker; but this one does not bring additional value to the original and is therefore useless). Only "Black Night" saves the ensemble (but the sound is quite average on this "remastered" effort. To summarize this review, there are sixty minutes of pure improv and five minutes of average Purple. Sound has the boot quality all the way long and is pretty awful during the vocal part of "Mandrake". Even if it gives a good understanding of how the Deep sounded live in 1970, I see no interest in releasing a CD version of this boot in 2001. If you are interested in this mythical line-up get the wonderful double CD "In Concert" from the BBC (released in 1980) which provides a marvelous pictures of the band : one CD for the "In Rock" period, another one from "Machine Head". Do not spend any ? on this one. This is not even for die-hard fan (like I am). One star.