MK III THE FINAL CONCERTS

You know, there comes a point where buying as many of a band's albums as you can leaves the realm of completism and just becomes masochism. Seeing as I'm not a fan of Mk3 to begin with, and I already had a live album of this incarnation (taken from the same shows no less, though the renditions here are not the same as the renditions there), I cannot begin to understand what exactly it was that caused me to buy this (NEW, no less).

Fortunately, it's no worse than Made in Europe, and even better in some ways. The first version of "Mistreated" is absolutely astounding, as Ritchie slowly works into the introduction and then just WAILS that slow, emotional guitar line (missing some notes, but to good effect) in a way that outdoes just about every other power-metal ballad that would be made afterwards. Plus, David continues to prove that there is one song in the world that justifies his existence; I could do without the parts where David is basically whaling solo, but they could be worse, and everything else in the performance is just dandy.

Elsewhere, the other songs that also had renditions on Europe work just as well here as there (heck, I'd say "Lady Double Dealer" works better), and even "Gypsy" sounds better live than in the studio. Come to think of it, the only significant problems (aside from that "You Fool No One" endless drum solo) on here come when the band decides to tackle Mk. 2 material. "Smoke on the Water" is really limp here (tasty introductory licks from "Lazy" aside), done too fast to preserve the intensity that was always its strongest point (not to mention that Dave and Glenn can't sound convincing when singing here). "Space Truckin'," despite some twists in the jam that I appreciate (the quick quote of "Child in Time" especially), has some seriously ugly synth noises, not to mention that Dave isn't at all in tune when he's singing in the verses. And "Highway Star," you may ask? "She's got big fat tits, big fat tits and everything." Enough said, shut your mouth Dave.

Still, it all could be a lot worse. Throw in alternate versions of "Mistreated" (which rules, naturally) and "You Fool No One" (which doesn't really, but whatever), and this can honestly function as all the Mk. 3 Purple you need. Which more or less makes it worth having, I guess.