NOBODY'S PERFECT

Lazy?

Recorded during the tour to promote �??Perfect Strangers�?� and the then forthcoming "House of blue light", this is a fine live album by Deep Purple. With the classic line up having reformed for those albums, all the energy and virtuosity, not to mention personality clashes, returned.

The track list borrows heavily from the legendary "Made in Japan", with no less than 6 tracks being duplicated. These include "Highway star", "Smoke on the water", and "Child in time" of course, as well as truncated versions of "The mule" and "Space truckin'". "Strange kind of woman" makes up the six, but the version here is adapted to include a call and response duet between Gillan and Blackmore, which leads to a burst of "Superstar" from Rice/Lloyd-Webber's "Jesus Christ Superstar". For those in doubt as to the reason for this, Ian Gillan sang the part of Jesus on the original Rock Opera release of "Jesus Christ Superstar". The performances of the other five tracks are faithful, perhaps with hints that this line up has played them so often that they do not now require any real effort, "Lazy" being a little too close to the truth. For some reason, Blackmore's guitar solo on "Child in time" lacks the impact of the original, sounding rather ordinary here.

The new songs are introduced by a spirited rendition of the title track from "Perfect strangers". This wonderful Zeppelinesque song which transfers well to a live environment, concludes with a blink and you'll miss it coda of "Gethsemene" from the aforementioned "Jesus Christ Superstar".

We then dip into the disappointing "House of blue light" for two songs (three if you have the extended CD) of which "Bad attitude" is the most appealing. "Perfect strangers" then contributes another number which made the album such a pleasing return to form, with "Knocking at your back door". The extended intro to the song here, which includes some classical and ragtime piano, only serves to embellish the tension of the studio version.

It�??s good to hear "Woman from Tokyo", the only really memorable track from "Who do we think we are" getting an airing, although it does end with a rather strange Buddy Holly interlude for no apparent reason. The album concludes with a "live jam" in the studio of Joe South's "Hush", a cover of which appeared on Deep Purple's first album. The rendition of the verses here sounds surprisingly like Aerosmith's "Walk this way" until the familiar "Na na na" chorus cuts in.

In all, a fine live album by the legendary line up of Deep Purple. It may have its shortcomings in terms of both the tracks performed and sometimes in the performances themselves, but hey, "nobody's perfect".

Because of its title one could think that it is the supporting tour of "Perfect Strangers", but no : the Purple will start this tour just after the release of "The House Of Blue Light" in January 1987. This record is a collection of songs recorded during several concerts in Europe and the US between May and September 1987. Therefore it lacks in continuity.

Several outputs exist for this work making it difficult (or expensive) for the fan. One example : all versions feature "Child In Time". But its lenght will vary from 6'10 to 10'35" ! The inclusion or not of "Bad Attitude", "Dead Or Alive" and "Space Truckin".

The traditional opener of Mark II is there again : "Highway Star" : shorter than the original version, it seems to be accelerated (as if it was necessary) ! This is an OK version but surely not the best available (specially the intro, which I just adore normally). "Strange Kind Of Woman" seems to get the same treatment. On top of that, was it necessary to include the theme "Jesus-Christ Supertar" in the middle of the "dialogue" Gillan - Blackmore we all know ? My answer is : NO.

"Perfect Strangers" is fabulously rendered. It's the best track so far.

Next track is introduced that way : there's nothing personal; It has nothing to do with sex or anything like that but...no, I'm not that kind of guy... great tits... this one is about this unmanageable woman, it's called "Hard Lovin' Woman". Still, the lyrics are quite explicit :"She didnt wear nothing but a smile, Upon her face, Licking her lips but I had the taste, Her temperature was rising, I was coming to the boil, Her fires were burning, She was pouring on the oil" This is a great track which does not have the recognition it deserves. A highlight here.

"Knocking At Your Back Door" is quite extended : after a smooth piano intro, we get some Tcha�kovsky notes to relax. Jon start a little jazz jam on his own (like he was used in "Lazy") and after four minutes, the song finally starts. "Child In Time" is good but nothing from the other world here.

"Lazy" starts with a heavy jam (quite unusual). It was always Jon's moment to render some classic work. Weird. It takes 1'30" for the true "Lazy" to begin. It last a total of just over five little minutes. On top of that, the band seems really in a hurry (it is the third song they speeded up with no reason). The whole song is reduced by half. Wrong idea.

With this version of "Black Night", we'll have to get used to the "Ho, Ho, Ho, Ho, Ho, Ho,Ho, Ho, Ho, Ho, Ho, Ho, Ho, Ho,Ho, Ho" from the crowd. I REALLY do not like this (hearing it of attending one of their concert). The track as such is superbly rendered.

The Purple brings us back to emasculation with "Woman From Tokyo" : an intro that has little to do with the original (fifty seconds), a portion of the track (1'30") and a "finale" combining traditional numbers (as Mark III did with "Smoke" or "Highway") and a Gillan's talk about Buddy Holy which ends in a total indifference. This is completely useless.

Since "Smoke" has never been a fave of mine (you can read what I thought about it in my "Machine Head" review) and that it seems impossible from those days onwards (I am suffering every time I see the Purple live - next time on my agenda will be in May 2007 in Antwerp) to avoid the audience participation I just skip it regularly. The final part of it is a thanks message to the audience (I could identify the source of this recording thanks to it : it was recorded in Oslo (May 23rd) because Gillan is referring to people having made such a long way to come to the concert (even from Trondheim, he says). As you have understood, it is not a highlight for me.

"Hush" closes the list but it is a studio recording... This review refers to the original CD release (1988). The extended version contains "Dead Or Alive", "Space Truckin" and "Bad Attitude".

With this live album, it seems that the Purple wanted to leave the stage as soon as possible. Some numbers are shortened excessively (altough they have always extend some of them on stage - too much at times) or performed too fast. There is of course no trace from some great songs from the Mark III or IV era (Burn", "Mistreated" or "You Keep On Moving"). I have never understood Gillan's reluctance in singing those ones. Since he sings "Hush" from Mark I, he could have done it for some other great Mark's ones... Two stars.

This is a weak live document. Actually, it's not that weak - it's hard to imagine such thing from a band such is DEEP PURPLE - but it certainly lacks a lot. Energy? Continuity?

Maybe my expectations were set too high; after all, I love "Made In Japan" too much and I was expecting something on a same level (I was a Purple newbie in a tender age). Well it certainly doesn't sound like a legendary 70's live recording - but this record is not short of energy. No, that's not a problem. It's even humorous - but rarely funny. My impression is that band was not actually functioning as a band, more like a group of a too egoistic individuals. Lord's excerpts of classical music (Fur Elise) are absolutely out of place here. Not to mention a few verses from "Jesus Christ Superstar".

I like the band's tendency to change the original tracks during the live performance - sometimes they're prolonged, sometimes shortened, sometimes part of the medley. Maybe it's a cliche, but I like it. However, in this case, revisions are simply weak. The band tried to what they were doing the best, but this time without any notable artistic value, because they were simply bored. Of being with each other, I guess.

Well, I was bored too.

A thing or two that are good on this live record: Lord's musical pun - his teasing of audience (and me) with unfinished "That's It!", and for the sake of seriousness, an excellent performance of "Knocking At Your Back Door".

I play various kind of music during this holiday season and this morning I played this live album by Deep Purple: "Nobody's Perfect". This compilation of live performances by Deep Purple was released in different versions and labels. In the UK, it was released under Polydor in 2 LP formats while in the US under Mercury with the same format. The CD versions also two kinds: double CD as well as single CD (with some track omissions) both released by Polydor. Mine is the single CD version and I am satisfied with the CD, including the sound quality which is much better than "Made In Japan". It's probably the technology used is significantly different. The band's performances recorded here vary with four tracks (Highway Star, Strange Kind of Woman, Perfect Strangers, and Woman From Tokyo) were taken from the same concert in Irvine Meadows, California on 23 May 1987. Four other tracks (Hard Lovin' Woman, Child In Time, Black Night, and Smoke On The Water) were taken from concert in Oslo, Norway on 22 August 1987. Two tracks (Knocking At Your Back Door and Lazy) from concert in Phoenix, Arizona on 30 May 1987. The remaining track (Hush) was taken from live jam recorded at Hook End Manor on 26 February 1988.

As far as live album, this is a very good one to enjoy as the members of the band demonstrate their full effort for the performances. Ian Gillan still can sing high register notes on "Highway Star" as well as "Child In Time". The famous "Strange Kind of Woman" which was best recorded during "Made In Japan" live record with its great break featuring great shout of Gillan responded wonderfully by Ritchie' guitar solo.But with this version Gillan performed differently even though it still have similar style. There is a good insert of "Jesus Christ Superstar" during the performance of this track. Jon Lord provides great classical music keyboard / piano solo during the opening of "Knocking At Your Back Door" (11:26). "Lazy" is also not performed as "Made In Japan" style but it's still an interesting live track.

Overall, this is a very good compilation of Deep Purple live performances in 1987. Fans of hard rock music who enjoy live record must have this CD. Keep on proggin' ..!

Peace on earth and mercy mild - GW (i-Rock! Music Community)

Seemingly not content with spoiling its reputation via mediocre studio efforts, Mk. 2.x decided to release a live album that would destroy the myth of this Purple lineup as an impeccable live band. It should be noted that my version is 11 tracks long, whereas there's a 14 track, 2-CD version now out on the market, so it's possible that those three tracks could change my mind about this album. However, I'm not counting on it.

Strangely enough, it is by far the 2.1 tracks that come across best on this album. I liked the studio version of "Perfect Strangers" a lot, but I'd take a good guess that this is the definitive version, as there's just enough of an increase in tempo (at least, I think so - maybe it's just the live vibe, who knows) to add a lot of energy and intensity to an already tense piece. "Hard Lovin' Woman" also works very well live, and I almost don't even mind the song morphing into "Under the Gun" halfway through (I can't believe that Ritchie and Co. had so little shame that they could play that "Pomp and Circumstance" snippet in front of people). Best of all, though, is "Knocking at Your Back Door," largely because it's introduced by Lord having fun on his keyboards in the sort of way Keith Emerson would back in the 70's (ie piano improvisations where he would reference all sorts of pieces from all sorts of styles). And hey, let's not minimize the song itself, which benefits a ton from the live vibe.

Unfortunately, these three recent tracks are chunked together in the middle of the album, surrounded on both sides by mediocre (and worse, sometimes MUCH MUCH WORSE) renditions of the old classics. If you, like me, didn't care for Ian's singing on the last two studio albums, you'll be horrified by how he single-handedly destroys the first two tracks on this album. "Highway Star" starts off fine instrumentally, and the verse singing is at first passable (Ian sounds older, but not in a horrid way), but when he tries to scream "I love it! I need it!" it no longer sounds like a masterful singer going into the upper register. Instead, it sounds like a man with no upper register squealing like a pig, hoping that nobody notices and calls him on it. Arguably, however, what happens to "Strange Kind of Woman" is even worse. Remember how he could do those perfect imitations of Ritchie's guitar lines in the mid-section? Well, to put it nicely, you don't get that here. Instead you get Ian yelping indiscriminately in response to Ritchie, only somewhat in tune with him, pretending that he's doing the imitations that he once could, but instead making a total fool of himself. Heck, I'm not even that glad to hear Ian singing blurbs from Jesus Christ Superstar - it's just more material that he once could sing well that he can't sing well anymore.

Ian is not the sole responsible party for making this album such a pain to listen to, however. If you don't believe, just check out the agonizing version of "Child in Time" that comes after the 2.1 chunk. Ian tries his best here, and some credit has to be given for that; the lower range sounds thinner than I'd like, but that's a given now, and while the upper-level screams don't get the perfect power they once had, the energy and effort put into trying to get to that level at least gives a slight boost to Ian's singing here (slight, mind you). No, what mostly hurts the piece is everybody else, particularly Ritchie; the cathartic mid-section is denigrated into Ritchie playing generic hair-metal "shredder" scales, without an ounce of the moody, passionate creativity that made this piece one of my favorite pieces ever made by a metal band. There is NO WAY I would regard "Child in Time" as highly as I do if this was what the soloing in the original consisted of - that was shredding with purpose, this is just shredding to shred. Besides, Ritchie doesn't even bother to shut up when the rest of the band does, like he's supposed to in that section! And the rush to the finish? LAME.

The last four live tracks aren't anywhere near as bad as this, but hardly very inspiring. "Lazy" is straight-forward, uninspired and short - enough said. The ending "Smoke on the Water" is at least better than it was when sung by Coverdale, but I'm bothered by the way the band sped it up, as if to get it over with; by doing so, it loses a lot of the pounding intensity that made it so attractive in the first place. On the other hand, I'm pretty happy to have another live version of "Black Night," a non-LP track from the early 70's (I eventually obtained versions from the band's prime, so this version isn't quite as a revelation for me anymore, but it's still nice), and "Woman from Tokyo" is as mindlessly fun as ever (and there's Buddy Holly quotes at the end!), so that's at least something.

As a strange bonus, the band ends this live album with a new re-recording of "Hush," and from a certain twisted perspective, it kinda rules. But one nice studio surprise isn't enough to totally undo the effect of so many mediocre live "interpretations" of classic material. Consider the grade an extremely generous reward for the band making me like the 2.1 material as much as I do here, and don't hurry out to look for it.