KNEEL & PRAY

Deep Purple's "Kneel and Pray" is a live Montreaux performance 2 years before some stupid with a flare gun burned the place to the ground. It has the infamous MkII lineup with Ritchie Blackmore on guitar, Ian Gillan on vocals, Roger Glover on bass, Jon Lord on organ, keyboards, and Ian Paice on drums. The 2 disk set features early performances of 'Speed King' and 'Child in Time' and the only surviving performance of 'Kentucky Woman' with this lineup'. It also has early songs such as 'Hush' and features a lot of banter from Gillan, being polite with the crowd as well as dealing with hecklers "Please escort that man out".

Powerhouse performances of 'Child In Time' (12:38) are simply wonderful with Jon Lord's crazy organ finesse and Gillan screaming mania. 'Wring That Neck' is a 20:30 instrumental that wears its welcome out for me but has some amazing organ playing and Blackmore's lead breaks to save it. The Jon Lord solo is of course absolutely brilliant and he gets a chance to unleash his trademark genius on this. Gillan ends by demanding the crowd cheer on Jon Lord and why not?

The version of 'Paint It Black' (10:48) is different than the Stones, focussing on organ, fiery guitar and no vocals and culminates in a huge Paice Drum solo that showcases his flair admirably and takes up most of the running time. He uses cowbell and a ton of cymbals to augment the timpani, snare and bass drums.

There is a mammoth version of 'Mandrake Root' clocking 22:08 to marvel at. Gillan introduces by talking about all the rabbits he saw on the hill, English speaking rabbits he saw in Switzerland, and a half eaten flower, then mentions the lovers taking a love potion, a drug and how it takes effect; yes he is probably stoned himself. Midway through the song Jon Lord unleashes a crazy organ solo including all sorts of weirdness including a rendition of 'Eleanor Rigby'. It becomes a psychedelic freakout when the guitar comes in total improvised style and a real mindbender, at times quite messy and abrasive without a shred of melody; nothing like the Deep Purple of the last 10 years. 'Kentucky Woman' has heart and soul and one of the better songs here. Overall it is Deep Purple in an extreme raw form doing what they do best; a ton of pioneering prog rock from the masters of Montreaux.