LIVE AT THE OLYMPIA 96

It seems to me like Deep Purple Mark II without Ritchie Blackmore. And I like Steve Morse guitar playing. It's quite surprising that this official bootleg has a good quality of studio and enjoyable to spin the CD. The first impression you might get from this live album is the setlist that combines nicely the old tunes as well as the new ones. From the opening part "Fireball" you might guess that the band still have a drive to play it after decades of the first release. The opening dynamic drumming work makes this song energetic and uplifting. It reminds me to the old days when the 70s music was in its glory days. It flows to the next classic song "Maybe I'm A Leo" which caught into my attention because I did not really pay into attention the original version of this song. But this song rocks! Ian Gillan plays it excellently on vocal part.

"Ted The Mechanic" is probably the song style that you would never find in earlier albums of Deep Purple. This song does not sound like Deep Purple but it's good that they explore the new boundary with music using horn section.Some friends of mine call that this is one of prog music by Deep Purple. "Pictures of Home", for me, is the best song of any Deep Purple songs. It has great composition and structure. When I say structure is how the band fills each segment different with the other in varied ways.I have to give two thumbs up for Steve Morse' own interpretation of Pictures of Home different than what Ritchie played in original album version. Both are enjoyable but Steve's is quite unique in style. The bass and drum parts also give the contribution beautifully. I also regularly re-play this song whenever I spin the CD.

It's also interesting to enjoy "Black Night" which is sung in modern equipment and a bit adjustment of Gillan's singing. "The Perpendicular Waltz" creates another music nuance which is very interesting to observe and enjoy.

On rarities, I have never found any Deep Purple "Live" albums contained also "When A Blind Man Cries". It would have been one of the band members was quite tired of distorted equipment. "Perfect Strangers" is a nice song, performed excellently by the band.

Overall, I find that this official bootleg album interesting and may be not well recognized by many people. But I have never been disappointed with this good performance by the band. On live vibes, it's not as good as "Made In Japan" but it's enjoyable. Keep on rockin' ..!

Peace on earth and mercy mild - GW

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