COME HELL OR HIGH WATER

Well this isn´t Made In Japan, but it still has some great moments. The highlights here are "Anyone´s daughter" "Perfect Strangers" and an extended version of "Anya" with some great playing by Blackmore.

Listening on headphones, one can still hear the great duelling between Blackmore and Lord on tracks like "Highway Star" One thing I picked up on "Child in Time" is that there is a backing track! If you listen carefully you can hear the Made In Japan voice in the background to help Gillan along! That is my only real complaint about this album, but besides that, and the fueding between Blackmore and Gillan, it is still a great album.

I got this one from my brother somewhere in 2001. It had been a very long time ago since I had listened to the Purple any more (I will change my mind though in 2003). My first feeling was : whow ! One of the band I loved the most in my youth (back to '70- 73) had produced another great live album (in the meantime, I have discovered about another fifteen of those).

Honestly the more you listen to it, the more you notice its defects : some of their gigantic songs are not very well played here : "Highway Star" and "Black Night" for instance : I just hate the audience responding with their oh, oh ; oh, oh to Ritchie's riff ; this is a reminiscence of my "No More Heroes" period which I still very much use as a guideline nowadays. So, when I go and see them, I am always suffering.

This tour was supporting their last studio album, so we get "A Twist In The Tale" and more interesting "Anya" which is IMO, the best track of this live album. Quite extended version, great keys : the Purple as we like : all mighty and harmonious at the same time.

The clash between Ritchie and Ian was rising again : this time, Ian will get rid of Ritchie (I guess he was so impossible to live with, than the other members of the band could hardly go into another direction). Ritchie's rendition in "Highway Star" is pretty weak. His traditionally fabulous guitar solo in "Child In Time" is cut down here. There are a few organ breaks from Jon that are totally out of purpose in the context of the song (don't get me wrong : I have always appreciate Jon's work, but this is not the Child In Time we all want to hear). Gillan is great though.

"Speed King" starts with "God Save The ... King" I guess; then skips the wonderful noisy intro of the studio album to enter straight into the track. The band then develops an average jam and suddenly play the "Burn" intro for 15 seconds ... A bit too much of a mixing for me.

A two minutes almost classical guitar intro will lead to "Smoke". This one was not at all my favorite on "Machine Head" but turned to be a Purple anthem after their MIJ adventure. This version is great (till 6'30" when Gillan asked the audience participation and is quite useless from then on).

There is a Japanese / US version of this live effort with three additional tracks Lazy (4'18"), Space truckin' (2'39") and Woman From Tokyo (1'53"). Since I only have access to the European version I can only be suspicious about these "bonus tracks" : the Purple used to play over twenty minutes gig for "Space Truckin", so a bit more than two minutes sounds a bit strange. They will be used to a very short format for "Woman" unfortunately. This album is quite average and I would rate it 5 out of 10. Since I am biased with the band, I will upgrade it to three stars.

If you really want to get hold on their best live album (IMO), you should grab their "In Concert" from the BBC (double CD : one from the "In Rock" era the other one from "Machine Head") : this has never ever been achieved again (you can read my review of this one for a ... deeper description).

Going, going..gone!

Recorded during Deep Purple's 25th Anniversary tour in 1993, this CD was released some seven years before the DVD with the same title. The reformed mark 2 classic line up were on a world tour when their performances were captured in Germany and the UK.

The then current album "The battle rages on" contributes two of the nine tracks, including the decent "Anya". There is plenty of the classic Deep Purple here too, indeed this collection overlaps significantly with the "Nobody's perfect" set from six or so years before, and to a lesser extend with "Made in Japan".

In terms of the performances, Blackmore's guitar work is wonderful of course, but from time to time he misses his cue as, it has to be said, does Ian Gillan. At the time Blackmore was on the verge of leaving the band for what would appear to be the final time, deciding to abandon the band prior to the Japanese leg of the tour.

The classic Deep Purple songs such as "Highway star", "Child in time", "Black night", "Smoke on the water", etc. are all present, joined by the newer classic "Perfect strangers". The latter song is every bit as good as the "Made in Japan" favourites. The only week point really is the aforementioned title track from "Battle rages on" which is received politely by the audience. "Speed king", omitted from the DVD version, is given a spirited run through and there is a very effective lighter section where "Anyone's daughter" from the "Fireball" album is given a fine dusting down.

In all, a highly enjoyable live album from Deep Purple. In view of the numerous high quality live offerings available from them it is far from essential, indeed I would recommend the DVD of the same name which includes interviews with four of the band members (guess who's missing!), and many more tracks.

To celebrate the end of holiday season, last night I played loud this Deep Purple Come Hell or High Water CD at my car while driving home. Yeah ..! It rocked, man! It's really fit the situation because the first track was Highway Star (6:40) where I can hear Gillan still rock with his old age, actually. Ian Paice drumming is also top notch! He played his drum set like crazy. I like his style of drum playing. Ritchie performed his solo differently from other concerts. And ..of course Uncle Jon Lord still played great Hammond and keyboard throughout the song. Roger Glover played his bass dynamically. One thing interesting was Gillan still performed his high register notes vocal work. Black Night (5:40) as usual...involving the crowd to sing along Oooo ..oooo ... OOO ... Oooo!!!. This is one of the interesting thing that Deep Purple has always done with their live concerts. Ritchie performed his solo combined with Lord's keyboard work. Usually Gillan commented Superb! but this time he said Unbelievable! responding to the crowd shouts.

A Twist in the Tail (4:27) has been rarely performed on stage but this time it had a chance. The song reminds me to Rainbow's Lost In Hollywood in its rhythm section. Perfect Strangers (6:52) was responded highly by the crowd especially during the part where Glover played riffs with his bass guitar like Led Zeppelin's Kashmir. Anyone's Daughter (3:57) is a country-based music that I skipped last night because it's not rocking at all. Child in Time (10:48) was performed excellently with great keyboard work by Lord and powerful vocal line by Gillan. The other three tracks are also excellent with Anva (12:13), Speed King (7:29) and Smoke on the water (10:26). It was a surprise that part of Burn, especially the introduction, was also inserted. Unfortunately no vocal because I don't think Gillan is willing to sing Coverdale's tune.

Overall, this is a very good live performance by Deep Purple who is still rocking!

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