MADE IN EUROPE

There's some nice 70's hard-rock going on in this one. The versions of "Burn" and "Stormbringer" played here are awesome performances, but sadly I feel that the other compositions are terrible, so the good playing can't save them. There is also no way I could see this as a progressive rock, so I can't give very good rating to this considering the rating criteria presented on this site.

4,5 stars really!!

Before Blackmore left the band, Purple did one last great decision , to record the last concert Ritchie played with them. And although this record would come posthumously, this put a lot soothing into my heart back then as it reconciled me with Purple (their break-up was another good news to me as they would avoid dragging their names through a bunch of even more horrible albums than CATTB).

Although, I wish someday, they will expand this record to a double (since this album is only a single vinyl) record containing the full Paris concerts (where this album is mainly recorded if memory serves), this album is a real must for all Purple fans, and the group was still a live attraction even though the horrible Stormbringer album was taking roughly a third of the live album. Burn, Mistreated and the expanded You Fool No One (where most of the members are allowed solos - just the right length too) are simply marvellous and the two tracks from that dreaded album actually make more sense in this live version than on the studio album.

A fitting goodbye present from Blackmore to Purple fans!!

The tracks here come exclusively from the Mark III era : three tracks from "Burn" and two from "Stormbringer" which is a bit reductive for a "Live in Europe. A great version of "Burn" which will almost be the case, this song being one of the best of the Mark III era. "Mistreaded" is beautifully rendered with a great guitar solo from Ritchie for the grand finale. There we are : these two songs really belong to the best ones from their whole catalogue (IMO). The last vocal portion of the song (about two minutes) is really Plant oriented. I would have really love to hear a rendition of this track by Led Zep (but it is hopeless, of course).

"Lady Double Dealer" : this hard rocking and melodious song at the same time has the typical sound of Mark II ("Machine Head" period). Great rendition. Jon Lord will even improvise a key solo (non-existing on the studio album). A quite extended version for "You Fool No One" with a traditional Jewish song as intro, a long Richie solo in the middle - this one being average - and a good drum solo from Ian at the end, typical for a live set in those days to have a long drum solo (the Purple still does now - I went to see them in January 2006 in Brussels). This short album closes with "Stormbringer" : this one is very close to the original and rather dynamic.

This record gives a very good idea of the Mark III concerts (I was lucky enough to see this line-up during one of their first concert ever in December 1973- Brussels). Strong hard rock with beautiful instrumental passages from Jon and Ritchie. This is a typical landmark for the Purple concert all the way through till Mark ...? It was Recorded live (in 1975) on April 4th in Graz (Austria), on April 5th in Saarbrücken (German) for most of the tracks, and on April 7th in Paris with the "Rolling Stones" Mobile Truck (sound is excellent). There is a more extended version of the Mark III era available on the record called either "Paris, La dernière Séance" or "Final Mark III Concerts". the latter title is more appropriate but I will tell you more in my review of this double CD. Four stars.

Ritchie's first last gig

The use of the "Made in.. " title is no coincidence, and is clearly intended to associate this live album with the critically acclaimed "Made in Japan". "Made in Europe" however does not feature the classic Blackmore/Gillan/Glover/Lord /Paice line up. Instead we have the band which recorded the "Burn" and "Stormbringer" albums with David Coverdale and Glenn Hughes in for Gillan and Glover.

The performances captured here took place in 1975 in Austria, Germany and France. The last of these, in Paris in April 1975 marked Ritchie Blackmore's final gig with the band (for the time being as it turned out). Interestingly the sleeve notes talk of this album as an "Epitaph, a final testimony" to Deep Purple, saying that it is unlikely that this line up will ever appear on stage again.

There are just five tracks in total, all taken from the two Deep Purple albums which feature Coverdale and Hughes. The line up did play older material at these gigs, including "Highway star", "Smoke on the water" and "Space truckin'" but these are omitted. Recordings of these from the same gigs have however subsequently been made available on the "Archive live" album.

The opening title track from "Burn" stands proudly alongside any of the band's greatest songs, this rendition being completely faithful to the studio original. "Mistreated", another magnificent song, was the only track on the "Burn" album which featured Coverdale singing alone. He and Blackmore jointly composed this masterpiece of blues rock which contains one of Ritchie's finest guitar solos ever. Notably the song was also included on Rainbow's first live album. The rendition here includes a superfluous "interpolation" of the blues song "Rock me baby".

"Lady double dealer" is one of two tracks from the sub-standard "Stormbringer" album. This song and the following "You fool no one" from "Burn" illustrate all too clearly the funky direction the band adopted while Hughes and Coverdale were part of the line up. Performed live they sound worse even than they did on the studio albums. "You fool no one" is extended to almost 17 minutes through some guitar pyrotechnics by Ritchie. While his playing is of course technically impressive, here it is unfocused and rambling. Unfortunately we also have the band comfort break here, otherwise known as the drum solo. The length of the track may simply be symptomatic of a lack of rehearsed material.

The title track from "Stormbringer" stands virtually alone on that album in terms of representing what the name Deep Purple really means. The rendition here is relatively brief and faithful to the album version.

In all, while "Made in Europe" captures the essence of the Mark III line up well, it only goes to show that without Gillan and Glover they were an inferior product.

I actually always liked this live set more than the legendary "Made In Japan"! Maybe it's because of the Coverdale/Hughues vocals, or the brilliance of the farewell Blackmore's guitar playing, or because it mostly contains songs from excellent "Burn" album. Definite moments are, of course the extended versions of heavy blues "Mistreated" and improvisation jam of "You Fool No One" with jovial introduction including the theme of "Hava Nagila". Recommended for heavy rock and heavy prog lovers.

PERSONAL RATING: 4/5

P.A. RATING: 3/5

By definition, "Burn" is really a killing track that blew me away the first time I listened to the cassette of the album. I remember when the first time my big brother Henky recorded me this album from LP to cassette and I played the cassette many times until it got ruined due to many spins I made. And now with CD I have no limitation on number of spins I can make. Burn is still a wonderful track especially with this live version as track opener here with this live performance. Ritchie's guitar work is really stunning and it characterizes the song really well, combined intertwiningly with Jon Lord inventve keyboard / organ work. It makes this song very powerful.

"Mistreated" is being performed longer with long guitar solo and it flows wonderfully from start to end. For those who think Deep Purple is Gillan without him it's no longer Deep Purple anymore, you must listen to this live set carefully man! You will find that Deep Purple sound is still at its best here without Gillan! The duet vocal of David Coverdale and Glenn Hughes is truly excellent. "Lady Double Dealer" is a great track from "Stormbringer" album that I really love as well and it's better being performed live in this live set.

"You Fool No None" takes longer than original and it's the longest track in this live set. The powerful and jaw dropping drumwork by Ian Paice combined excellently by Ritchie's guitar riffs and melodies make this song is very energetic and much more lively than the original version. The live set concludes excellently with "Stormbringer".

Overall, this is an excellent addition to any rock musi collection where the live set was taken from two albums in Hughes / Coverdale era: "Burn" and "Stormbringer". Highly recommended to rockers!

Peace on earth and mercy mild - GW

I really like this album, although five live tracks is a little too short for such brilliant band. When it was rereleased in CD format I was very disappointed since it is obvious that they played more songs than it was present in the simple LP issue. Anyway, I still think that some tunes like Burn, Lady Double Dealer and Stormbringer are better versions here then on their original studio counterparts. Jon Lord delivers a fine a Hammond organ solo on the latter track (absent from the original).

The vocal duets by Coverdale and Hughes are simply fantastic! Hughes is one of rock´s best ever vocalists and here he is in top form (and he does it while playing the bass!). The remaining two tracks are good, but really they are a bit too stretched out for my taste. However, I guess it is allright since it was still the 70´s and that was common place, especially if you had the chops to do it good. And chops DP members did have!

It was a good final chapter for the Deep Purple MKIII line up, although it would be much better if it included the whole show. It would make a good companion to the classic Made In Japan (and make it essential). 3,5 stars.

I've gotta hand it to them, at least DP Mk. 3 was kind enough to still put on good live performances, thus keeping me from losing total faith in the DP franchise. This is a live album taken from the last few concerts before Ritchie would storm out and form Rainbow, and it knocks the crud out of the two studio albums Mk.3 put out. It largely helps that, of the five tracks here (there are actually expanded versions of this with more tracks, but I haven't found them), only one of them really sucked in its original form, and three of them were among my favorites of those two albums. The two title tracks are here, and each rule as much as they did as before and then some. "Burn" has an incredible fire to it (tee hee, I'm punny), as if Ritchie hoped that the better he played, the sooner his dreadful experience would end, and "Stormbringer" is helped by the synth tones not being anywhere as disgusting as in the studio version. Man, that's some quality material there, even if David sounds ridiculous introducing each piece...

"Mistreated" is also a major highlight, as it lets David shine in the one song where I consider his vocals an asset, as well as letting Ritchie stretch out and express his moody pissitude in a constructive manner. Hey, it's not "Child in Time," but what is? As a great moody blues workout, this is easily the equal of, I dunno, "Since I've Been Loving You."

Of course, there's the other two tracks to deal with, and that's where things start to fall apart. Well, ok, "Lady Double Dealer "is alright (though not that much of an improvement from before), but "You Fool No One" takes almost 17 friggin' minutes. I do appreciate how the funky drumming stands out even more here than before, but the song itself was never that enjoyable, and it certainly doesn't help that Ian uses the track as, you guessed, his chance to solo. Ah man, if I considered the big drum solo a drawback on Made in Japan, how am I supposed to feel about it on a lesser live album?

Still, it's quite alright. I don't rate it extremely highly because I can't think of it as really essential (nothing from Mk. 3 is), but it's good for a couple of listens. Which is definitely more than can be said for Stormbringer.