This one's all about giving some love for the Steve Morse era of Deep Purple, a live set recorded in 1999 in Melbourne Park and previously available as one of the DVDs in the 2008 Around the World box set. Now we have the audio version of that concert, and it's a pretty smokin' one, showing the Morse fueled Purple line-up in its early stages, with Abandon being the second studio release from this version of the band. As was the album, these songs are much more guitar driven and heavier than any other release from the Morse era, as the band is in fine rocking form here and Steve especially laying down the classic riffs and blazing solos at every step of the way.
Of course, it's a Deep Purple concert so you have to have "Smoke on the Water" (complete with a little intro from Morse containing some familiar classic rock riffs), "Strange King of Woman", "Woman From Tokyo", "Black Night" and "Highway Star", but give the band kudos for also digging out superb deep album cuts like "Bloodsucker", "Pictures of Home", and "Fireball". The band is tight as a drum as always, and Ian Gillan for the most part is spot on, though you can start to hear that the mighty voice is finally starting to slip in 1999. Of the newer songs, you get a cracking rendition of "Ted The Mechanic" from Perpendicular, and the crushing "Almost Human" and "Watching the Sky" from Abandon, all three sounding fantastic but sadly, if you've seen the band in recent years, they've all but disappeared from the set lists of recent tours. Jon Lord at this juncture was still a member of the band, and you can hear all the fiery trade-offs between his Hammond organ and Morse's searing guitar-it might not be the 'danger' filled frenzy of the Ritchie Blackmore years, but it's still damn good.
The sound is quite good throughout, and like I said, this is modern day Deep Purple rocking and rocking hard and heavy. It might not be Made in Japan, but this is an excellent live document of the band as they were in 1999.
Track Listing
01. Ted The Mechanic
02. Strange Kind Of Woman
03. Bloodsucker
04. Pictures of Home
05. Almost Human
06. Woman From Tokyo
07. Watching The Sky
08. Fireball
09. Sometimes I Feel Like Screaming
10. Smoke On The Water
11. Black Night
12. Highway Star
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