Deep Purple's final performance with Ritchie Blackmore has finally been released in its entirety. The so called Mark III lineup (Blackmore, David Coverdale, Glenn Hughes, Jon Lord and Ian Paice) had all but broken up by the time the band arrived in Paris on April 7th 1975. Indeed, the media had already correctly surmised that this final concert was the end for this particular incarnation of Deep Purple. Racked by personality clashes and musical differences, to say nothing of Glenn Hughes' much publicized cocaine addiction, it's a little miraculous that the band had even survived to perform their final concert. When one factors in that Ritchie Blackmore had already recorded the first Rainbow album and that his mind was elsewhere, Deep Purple Live in Paris 1975 is an incredible performance.
Touring on the back of Stormbringer, their most controversial album to date, Deep Purple alternately rock out ferociously and funky. The band really tear it up on powerful live versions of "Burn", "Stormbringer" and "Lady Double Dealer". Then they give the audience a laid back and bluesy rendition of "Mistreated". Listening to David Coverdale emote so passionately makes me wonder why the man is so often dismissed by critics as a Robert Plant clone. The obligatory "Smoke on the Water" brings the concert to a climax before the band does what it does best and jams on not one, not two but three lengthy blowouts of "You Fool No One", "Space Truckin'" and "Going Down/Highway Star" respectively.
I'd love to give this album a higher mark than four stars, but for the fact that a little Glenn Hughes goes a long way with me. He frequently whoops and hollers in between every song and incites the audience to "shake it to the left, shake it to the right" more than I care to hear. It's a little too obvious that the band was falling apart at the seams and when Hughes gets into his numerous funky soul tirades, Ritchie Blackmore simply stops playing and David Coverdale evidently leaves the stage! Still, the performance manages to be intense, loud and lots of fun.
Bits and pieces of this concert have shown up on the scrappy Live in Europe album as well as the more recent Archive Alive. But Live in Paris has been freshly remixed and properly remastered from the original source tapes and the sound quality is outstanding. A nice lengthy essay and vintage photos are also included. Though not up to the impossibly high standards of Made in Japan, Live in Paris is a must for Deep Purple aficionados.
Track Listing
Disc One
- Burn (9:46)
- Stormbringer (5:12)
- Gypsy (6:11)
- Lady Double Dealer (4:35)
- Mistreated (12:49)
- Smoke on the Water (11:10)
- You Fool No One (19:30)
Disc Two
- Space Truckin' (21:21)
- Going Down (5:19)
- Highway Star (11:33)
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