LAST CONCERT IN JAPAN

The dedication to Tommy Bolin does not, unfortunately, change the fact that 'Last Concert in Japan' is one of the weakest releases of the entire Deep Puprle canon, a 1977 live album capturing the last gig of the Mark IV lineup in Tokyo, is a muddy recording that does not really present any of the appeal of this particular iteration of the band, and if their then-last studio album had been a fine exercise in funk-rocking, this live release seems to have almost nothing to do with 'Come Taste the Band', the album supposedly supported on that tour. The final product here is a dreadful recording of an obviously poor concert, with Bolin virtually missing, his playing is by far one of the most abysmal guitar recording to have ever appeared on a Purple album, with Glenn Hughes later claiming that the band's axe-man had been "out of shape" that very evening, confirmed by the really bad recording. He is, of course, covered up excellently by Jon Lord, who seems to steal the show in Tokyo, even getting a solo spot that goes under the name of 'Woman from Tokyo' on the official tracklist.

And this is where the other major source of confusion comes from as half the selected setlist is made up of songs that were not recorded by this lineup of the band. The hefty but unsuccessful trials of 'Smoke on the Water' (which is relatively acceptable here) and the really tasteless playthrough of 'Highway Star' prove why such recordings should not have been included on the live album. Below-par performances of other classic tracks recorded by the MKIII lineup grace the setlist, like 'Burn' and 'You Keep On Moving', while Bolin even gets to play a song off of one of his solo albums, completely irrelevant here. The only decent recordings seem to be the ones of 'Love Child' and 'Lady Luck', quite expectedly. Just a very poor and confusing live album, far off the excellence and liveliness of 'Made in Europe', for example, released some years prior; perhaps this project should have been abandoned by Deep Purple as it hardly serves them any favour in documenting them as a solid and exciting live force.

Social review comments

Review related links

• Send comments to A Crimson Mellotron
• Report this review (#3182814)
• Buy DEEP PURPLE music online with PA partners
• Show all DEEP PURPLE MP3/Stream
• Go to DEEP PURPLE page for videos, full discography with ratings, reviews and much more
• Go to Last Concert in Japan page for more details, where to buy and ratings/reviews
• Search the Forum for DEEP PURPLE related discussions