NOBODY'S PERFECT

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".

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