SCANDINAVIAN NIGHTS [AKA: LIVE AND RARE]

If you are into long live jams by this band, you should get this double-CD immediately. There are some basic versions of their normal live repertoire here, but also some interesting tracks reaching very long durations: "Wring That Neck" runs for over half hour for example! "Paint It Black" is then merely an IAN PAICE's drum solo, with intro and outro taken from THE ROLLING STONES classic. I'm not so fond of his solos, though he's a good drummer, but maybe this track is just an interesting anecdote and boring to listen through. Then "Mandrake Root" lacks only few minutes from the half hour line again. There's also a neat booklet coming along with the CD's, with nice pictures of the ugly guys from the band, and some "informative" cuts from the paper articles of the time (the world's loudest band etc.).

Dull compilation live album from DP. In the Mark II line up they didn't play a lot from the first three albums and the few things they did ended up in long versions. The only interesting tracks are INTO THE FIRE and an instrumental version of the Jagger- Richards composition PAINT IT BLACK. And a song like WRING THAT NECK is okay for 5 minutes, but this is really endlessly. And I missed songs like HARD LOVIN' MAN or LIVING WRECK, which they played live in that period.

IMHO this album is almost as good as famous (and perfect) Made In Japan. It sounds less dense, a little less heavy - there's more space here. Singing is simply great. Comperatively short versions of Into the Fire, Black Night are the highlights. Drums solo based around Rolling Stones "paint it black" theme is good also. Extremely long versions of "Wring that neck" and "Mandrake root" are rather too long, though. In fact the idea is rather simple - they play "wring that neck" with solos - for 10 minutes, and then we have 10 minutes of organ solos, and next 10 minutes of guitar solos - and then "wring that neck" theme as the final. But Lord's and Blackmore's solos do not emerge logically from the composition - it's just random playing: good but not very good. It's rather simple way of improvising - if you compare it for example with King Crimson, or any other real progressive group. So - shorter tracks sound better. Anyway - it's good to have this album. Really good, and different enough from other live albums.

One of interesting point of Deep Purple is that they have different kind of performance from one live set to another. It's by no exception this live set. When it was available (sometime in 2001, I think) I was first actually not iunterested to purchase - cause I think it was just a bootleg version. B ut when a friend of mine told me that this is official album, then I was interested. The concert was recorded by Sveriges Radio at a concert in Koncerthuset, Stockholm, on 12. November 1970. The album was released as Live and Rare in USA in 1992 by Relativity. When I spun the CD at first time, I could sense the live vibes really nice. Wring That Neck became so interesting and explorative in nature. A bit boring for those who are not familiar with Deep Purple. But of course, every body would be interested to enjoy how "Paint It Balack" by Rolling Stones was performed by Deep Purple. (This was actually how I was interested with this CD). Child In Time is also performed longer. That has all become the key characteristics of Deep Purple live recordings.

For those who like rock live recordings, this is a good one to have. Sound quality is not that excellent (hello .. this was 1970!) but it's okay for my ears.

Peace on earth and mercy mild - GW

This live record is pretty much similar to "Live In Aachen". This is normal since they were recorded with four months interval only. The main difference resides in the sound which is far much better here and also in the fact that more "In Rock" tracks are present. Of course we cannot escpape the usual "Wring That Neck" clocking here at thirty four minutes (including the intro from Ian in which he tells the audience : the next "thing" is an instrumental piece ...).! This version is again pure improv. but more bearable than on "Live In Aachen". The same applies to "Mandrake Root" (peaking at twenty-nine minutes). Two good passages though : around minute nineteen, there is the riff from "You Really Got Me" (Kings) and even more interesting is around minute twenty : one can clearly hear what will become the intro for "Highway Star". This recording dates from 12th November 1970 : more than a year before the studio sessions for "Machine Head"! There is "Paint It, Black" with the same format than on "Aachen": an intro and closing section with heaving keys and a long drum solo in the middle (which sounds better though on this one). 100 % instrumental. Both tracks from the original "In Rock" album are also quite extended. The fabulous intro for "Speed King" is almost eliminated ! The middle session is an average rocking jam. "Child In Time" reaches over twenty minutes. In this version, on top of the fabulous guitar solo, we get a keyboard one in the middle section. This will often (but not always) be the format of "Child" live in those early days. As Ian introduces the last song "Black Night" (only released as a single by the time) he will say : we will do a last short song ... (although it lasts for about seven minutes). It is the best tracks of this album. This is a testimony of the early Purple performances but it is only for completionists. Two stars.

Too stoned.

...but furious, in good old DEEP PURPLE style. Some tracks are too long. Space Truckin' on "Made In Japan" is just fine, but "Mandrake Root" here is perhaps too much. Another line of comparison with "Japan" will be a drum solo. It's almost indentical in its structure here, and it's labelled "Paint In Black" - but it's hardly a ROLLING STONES cover. After the techno intro (sic!) and psychedelic melodies, the drums take the main role. One could only wonder what the result may be if only PURPLE have been made a real instrumental psych cover of the song, not only a wrapping paper for Paice's show-off.

"Speed King" - oh well, they were too stoned. Hilarious. Although there are some nice moments, interplays between Blackmore and Lord, resulting with traces of salsa within the hard rock realm.

THis record is ocassionaly too clumsy, but I'm giving it an extra star for the energy. Fans will certainly enjoy this. Although my recommendations is to get a monochrome video of the same era (and the same country) because it's certainlty worth it to see John Lord and his kinky moments on Hammond organ. And that other madman in black. No, not Gillan on bongos.

This concert was broadcasted by the Swedish radio in 1970 and eventually released on a 2- CD in different versions (another version is entitled "Skandinavian nights"). If you compare this material to their later live work like "Made in Japan" the music on this 2- CD set sound more in the vein of bands like Vanilla Fudge, Rare Earth and Iron Butterfly: studio versions are very stretched to tracks with a running time from more than 10 minutes and even at about half an hour and contain many extended soli on guitar, organ and even drums.

The first track from each CD ("Wring that neck" and "Mandrake root") contain around 30 minutes of dynamic and powerful heavy progressive rock featuring mindblowing soli from Jon Lord on the Hammond organ and Ritchie Blackmore on his Fender Stratocaster with spectacular use of the tremolo-arm. The Rolling Stones cover "Paint it black" starts very promising with fiery electric guitar but unfortunately Ian Paice decides to do a long drum solo. Of course he is a great drummer who did very well on "The mule" from "Made in Japan" but on "Paint it black" it was not the right place for his drum solo, this song sounds better with organ and guitar duets. The renditions of "Child in time" and "Black night" are good but the recording quality is not perfect. This 2-CD set features a powerful and convincing performance from Deep Purple, later they even matured live with "Made in Japan" as their pinnacle.

LEGENDARY HEAVY PROGRESSIVE ROCK!

A long weekend in Stockholm

"Scandinavian nights" is a sprawling 2CD live set by Deep Purple, taken from their early years. The album was recorded in Stockholm, Sweden in late 1970, but not release until about 18 years later. The current album at that time was "In rock", the first studio album by the mark 2 line up, but the two longest tracks are mark 1 songs.

While Deep Purple were unquestionably part of the proto prog movement, and continued to dabble with prog influences after the arrival of Gillan and Glover, their roots are very much in melodic hard rock. You would think then that with two tracks lasting around half an hour each, one 17 minute song, and two around the 10 minutes, this album would be a prog lovers paradise. Unfortunately, that is not really the case. "Wring that neck" and "Mandrake root" are simply ridiculously long extended jams based loosely on the much shorter tracks which appeared on the early studio albums. There is nothing complicated about them, essentially they each maintain the same rhythm throughout while the band members, and in particular Lord and Blackmore indulge themselves in unashamed noodling. Vocalist Ian Gillan could have gone on a weekend break and still been back in time to perform his next duties.

The songs from the "In rock" sessions, are much tighter, with "Into the fire" and "Black night" being reasonably straight forward renditions. The instrumental section of "Child in time" is substantially extended, the song having become a part of the live set well before the release of the studio album.

The remaining song is nominally a cover of the Rolling Stones "Paint it black", but the reality is that it is a painfully extended drum solo by Ian Paice.

In all, an album for the devoted fan of Deep Purple, and for those who enjoy extended live jams. Everyone else should stick to the studio albums.

The songs here do not appear in the order they were played at the concert, presumably having been rearranged to balance them across the two CDs. It should also be noted that there are some discrepancies in the track timings between those shown here and those on the album covers. These however relate only to the between track chat and how it is incorporated into the track times.

What's the difference between jazz and a Deep Purple improvised concert like this one ? Answer in a PM to me, please. This double CD is all but name a jazz album.

Most of this live album is loosely their songs with massive long improvisations extending them. There is a lenghty drum solo here in addition to very lenghty works by Blackmore and Lord. Child In Time is extended to twenty minutes. Mandrake Root to around the half an hour mark. Even Speed King is pretty much improvised here to ten minutes. This is jazz in all but name. Only Black Night is reasonable true to the studio version. Well, it under ten minutes long anyway.

The result is great music.......... but in small dosages. Listening to this two hours of music is pretty much impossible in a sober state of mind. The music is great. Don't misunderstand me. But it is also overblown and more ELP than ELP ever was ELP (sorry the pun. I am a weak, weak person). The sound quality is not particular great. But it is a good documentation how the likes of Blackmore and Lord was on stage. This album also justify Deep Purple's inclusion in ProgArchives and should appeal to all progheads. It is overblown and at least one hour too long. But it is also a great album. Btw. this review is also too long and included a lot of jazz. Just like this album.

3 stars

(Note: this is actually a review of "Live in Stockholm - 1970" but it's the same tracks, just in a different order)

One of the more impressive aspects of Mk. 2 Deep Purple is that, for a band that only lasted for about 4 years, their live albums are surprisingly varied despite having a lot of material in common. At this point, the band had somewhat limited options as a live unit, at least if it wanted to minimize sung material from the Evans era and not lug an orchestra around to do the "Concerto" over and over. Well, this is a 2-hour live set, with a grand total of seven tracks, and the band's chosen approach is to stretch the instrumental parts out as far as possible. Sometimes this produces great results, and sometimes it produces results that aren't so great, but it all makes for a pretty interesting step in the band's development as a live act.

The album starts off somewhat conventionally, with "Speed King" (complete with rousing noisy introduction) stretched out in a way that feels "natural," if that makes sense. That is, it's made into an 11-minute piece (when the original was well less than half of that), but it does so by expanding the glorious midsection that already featured interplay between Lord and Blackmore. Ian gets in a fun interlude as well, and he clearly has a lot of enjoyment doing his own interplay with Ritchie. "Into the Fire" gets a slight expansion, but it's mostly done fairly close to the original, albeit with some fierce intensity (the only thing that bothers me is that Ian is very noticably flat through the entire song). "Child in Time," though, probably crosses a line of excess that it shouldn't. I mean, the usual "main" parts of the song are still as great and rousing as usual, but I kinda feel like part of the greatness of that section was the relative efficiency of it. Stretching the track to almost 20 minutes seems like a mistake to me, even if it's hard to identify a point where the playing becomes tedious, and I still genuinely enjoy this version (this is miles away from the mechanical, soul-less versions of the 80's and 90's).

Where the album predictably loses me is in the next three tracks. "Wring That Neck" and "Mandrake Root" are each stretched out to half an hour, and they sandwich (of course) a Paice drum solo (this time with "Paint it Black" serving as the intro and outro music). "Wring That Neck" could reasonably last a good 10 to 15 minutes (a pretty impressive feat, I think), but by the end it really feels like we're listening to warmup exercises by the guys as individuals and as a unit. "Mandrake Root" contains a lot of aspects that would later get reconstituted in the awesome live "Space Truckin'" performances, and there's some nice jamming beyond that, but again, how is somebody supposed to feel like listening to this for half an hour?

Fortunately, things end on a really rousing note with a fantastic rendition of the great single, "Black Night," done in a mere seven minutes. All in all, then, this is a really up-and-down album, and I'm not sure I'd recommend it as a whole to most Purple fans, but I'd definitely recommend the best parts. And, well, there's so much historical value that somebody with significant interest in the band will almost certainly want to hear all of it.

The value of live albums might surely be discussed. In my opinion there are only few live albums that actually makes some sort of difference. I used to really get into recordings of concerts but I have grown sort of less interested. There are live albums that are truly great and some of those made by Deep Purple ranks among these. While most people go for 'Made in Japan', and quite rightly so, there are other of Purple's that are just as good or at least interesting. This album is, I think, very interesting out of two reasons. First because it is recorded in Stockholm, where I live, and secondly (and most importantly) it showcases the very beginnings of MKII in a live setting. Having just released 'In rock' it is amazing to hear not only 'Child in time' but also 'Into the fire', which is one of those great songs Purple made. 'In rock' is, as you most surely is aware, one of those great transition albums where Purple went from the past to the present and totally re-shaped themselves into loud, hard-hitting power machines. And they managed to bring that noise and heaviness to the stage. In fact, they did more than that. They did it with a bang and great glory.

The chemistry between the instrumentalists is great. Unbelievable, actually. The noise and armageddon created and still they are attentive to each other. Obviously it is Lord and Blackmore who takes the center stage. The way that Lord treats his Hammond organ is beyond belief. The noises and sounds he portrays... And Blackmore? Well, he's Blackmore.

Two tracks range for half an hour. 'Wring that neck' and 'Mandrake root'. If you like long jams these two must be your oversized cup of tea. I dare say that I do not listen to these tracks all the way through on every listen but they are certainly interesting and the playing is great. I just wonder what Gillan was up to when the others excelled in soloing. He can't be playing the congas throughout, can he? (I heard a story once where he claimed to have made love to a girl during one of these long solos.) Anyway, great playing.

'Child in time' has always been a great song to do live. Again the organ plays the main part and what a part. The song is such a great one to do live, since it builds and builds into this amazing climax. Also, to hear 'Black night' performed live at this stage is great. If you're into drum solos yous hould listen to 'Paint it black', where Paice gets his chance.

SO, the question: is this at all essential? Well, maybe not. I mean, it's great to hear these guys perform their music and they do it with enthusiasm and power but does it add anything to the legacy of the band? I'm inclined to say yes, actually, since it is such an early example of MKII playing live. If you go amiss your life won't be spoiled but if you are a fan I do think you could do well to listen. I'm stuck somewhere between three and four stars but I think I 'll go with the latter. It is a great recording and it is nice to hear them play before the ego's shoots the band into pieces. If you're a fan, take listen. If you're just a casual listener, go for 'Made in Japan'.