LIVE IN LONDON

This album was originally released in 1982 as a single LP. Since the notation in the corner of the sleeve proclaims that it contains "over 57 minutes of heavy rockin' music", an immediate and accurate assumption can be made about the sound quality of the vinyl. This was eventually addressed in 2003, when the album was made available on CD.

The live performances actually date from a BBC "In concert" recorded 1974 in Kilburn, North London. The line up is therefore the mark III one, with Gillan and Glover out and Coverdale and Hughes in. Although the gig was recorded by the BBC, it was not a special performance for television, but part of a lengthy tour of the United Kingdom.

The whole of the first side contains tracks from the then current album "Burn", the first by this line up. Indeed, the first three tracks simply mirror the first three on "Burn", the fourth being Blackmore's wonderful "Mistreated". A long version of "You fool no one" from the same album appears on side 2, along with the only nod to the previous line up in "Smoke on the water". The gig was rounded off with what the LP sleeve describes as an "overlong" version of "Space truckin", which is omitted from the LP, but finally appears on the CD release.

While the sound quality of the live recordings seems to be pretty good, it is totally destroyed by the amount of compression required to get almost 60 minutes of loud music onto a single LP.

In terms of the musical content, the renditions on side one are unadventurous, by and large repeating the performances on "Burn". After an unnecessarily long (for an LP) band members introduction and a couple of brief false starts, side two bursts forth with a spirited rendition of "Smoke on the water". I must admit it does sound rather strange hearing anyone but Ian Gillan singing "We all came out to Montreaux". Coverdale and Hughes make a decent job of the song though, giving it a slightly funky feel. "You fool no one", yet another track from "Burn" closes the LP. The song is substantially elongated through a guitar jam, drum solo, and a wander into "The mule" (from "Fireball"). While it is good to see the new line up developing their songs, this is really just an excuse for the old guard to indulge themselves while avoiding the need to dip too deeply into the older material.

The set list will appeal to those who feel that work of the mark III line up has been unjustly overlooked over the years. Admittedly, it is good to hear a live Deep Purple album which differs substantially from the many others available, but my strong preference is to stick to the fine studio album from which the tracks are taken.

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