"LIVE IN CONCERT 1972/73"

As the other reviewers have stated, I have to say the same thing, This is as close to as Made in Japan as one can possibly hope for! This DVD consists of two different concerts, the first in 1972 in Denmark (black and white footage) and the second in 1973 in New York (colour) I also have to add that in those days they didn´t have over twenty cameras filming one concert like they do nowadays.

First lets begin with the negatives, so we can get it behind us and move onto the tasty bits! The only negative thing here is the cameraman who annoyingly focuses on Roger Glover or Ian Gillan, while Blackmore is delivering one of his classic solos! He couldn´t have picked a worser time, because the solos are in Highway Star and Child In Time!

Ian Gillan delivers the goods in "Child In Time" It´s exactly like the recording on Made in Japan. He hits all those high notes with ease! It´s great to see a young Gillan singing this all time classic opposed to the version on "Come hell or high water" where he sings over a backing track! This is 100% true! All you need is good set of headphones, but back to this DVD..

During"The Mule" it is little Ian´s turn to shine! Sitting behind a small Ludwig kit (one bass drum, one tom tom attached to the bass drum, and two floor tom toms and a snare drum) he delivers one of the best solos in drumming history! Drumming with his shoulders hunched up in that classic Paicey way of playing he does the same solo as the one on "Made in Japan"

Ritchie Blackmore´s solo on "Lazy" is absolutely brilliant. It´s a clever solo with a hypnotic feel that sort of pulls you in. As always, his playing is clean and never sloppy, not to mention that Blackers tone! I usually rewind this part and watch it about four times before continuing with the concert!

Before the opening of "Fireball" you see two stage hands run onto the stage and attach a second bass drum to Paice´s kit! I thought that was rather amusing.. Ritchie can´t seem to decide when to actually come into the song and leaves Ian Paice drumming an extended intro to Fireball!

They even do a cover of a Little Richard sond, "Lucille" where Blackmore does a grand imitation of Chuck Berry´s little hopping across the stage! All the band seem to be having a great time and this is in stark contrast to the other concert..

The New York Concert 1973

There are three songs from this show, Strange Kind Of Woman, Smoke on the water and Space Truckin´ While Blackmore and Gillan do the guitar-voice copy each other routine it is easy to see that something is not quite right. The tension between Blackmore and Gillan is so thick you could cut it with a knife (a blunt one at that!) It´s not surprising that Gillan actually decided to quit a few days later. The only ever footage of Deep Purple MK 2 doing Smoke on the water is on this DVD, wher Ritchie does a great solo. The show ends with Space Truckin´where Jon Lord does a spaced out keyboard solo, rocking his Hammond back and forth and generally going over the top!

One of the nice things on this DVD is it has an Optional Commentary which gives you a lot of extra information. So instead of me typing another ten pages, get it now and listen to it for yourself. Absolutely Essential!!