MONTREUX 1996

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I guess that the Purple needed to release an offical live recording in Montreux, on the Lake Geneva shoreline. Frank Zappa and its Mothers set the casino on fire and there was a lot of smoke on the water, and fire in the sky. The band was there in 1971 to record "Machine Head" on the Rolling Truck Stones been just outside, we made our music there. This set has been recorded during the Montreux ... Jazz Festival on July, 7th, 1996.

Apart from that, the Purple's cashing machine is again on his way. They released already a double album from the same tour : "Live at the Olympia" (recorded in 1996 but released in 1997). This one is a down sized version of the same but released in ... 2006. Is this again an attempt to "fool" the fan ? I would say so.

Some changes though : no brass section (hopefully), so the rendition of "No One Came" is not canibalized as in Paris anymore. Since this one is a one CD only live album, they took some tracks out like "Maybe I'm A Leo" or "Rosas Cantinas". They were anyway the poorest tracks in this tour, so : no problem.

"When A Blind Man Cries" is a forgotten jewel and is rendered superbly here as well. This is by no means a classic Purple song. If you play it to someone unfamiliar with the Purple (even to someone familiar though, but not as nuts as I am) there are little possibilities that they will say : this is a Purple song. A highlight on this CD.

"Speed King" is far much better here. No endless jams like in Paris. The track, and just the track (but no intro). Fabulous. Another major difference between both releases is that Gillan was much more interacting with the audience in Paris (maybe these moments were cut here...). But Swiss audience is generally not the wildiest in the world (désolé mes amis ...).

I guess it is now virtually impossible to avoid "Smoke" in a live set. Being in Montreux, can you imagine ? This version almost saves us from the audience participation (only thirty seconds) which is great. One of the best version since a loooooong time ago.

What is VERY intersting is that we have a version of "Fools" here. As far as I'm concerned I have never found a live version for this one before (even on bootlegs), so it is probably one of the very few times they willl play it live. It was one of my fave on "Fireball". It is a marvelous rendition (there's even some prog moments here!).

Musically, Live In Montreux is a great set. They took out some useless numbers from the traditional tour (maybe they also had to shorten their performance since it xas a festival), they delivered unusual versions for "Smoke" and "Speed" (at least for the last thirty three years). And we have : "Fools".

Negative points is that the CD closes abruptedly after "Fools". No encores and little audience participation. Apparently "Sometimes I Feel Like Screaming" and "Fools" were recorded in Montreux but four years later during the same festival; so, it is still live in Montreux.

Four stars (for the music, not for their marketing strategy).