Additional information
Deep Purple: David Coverdale (vocals); Ritchie Blackmore (guitar); Jon Lord (keyboards); Glenn Hughes (bass); Ian Paice (drums). Recorded live in Europe in 1975. Deep Purple: David Coverdale (vocals); Ritchie Blackmore (guitar); Jon Lord (keyboards); Glenn Hughes (bass); Ian Paice (drums). Compilation producers: Mike Howell, Simon Robinson. Recorded live in 1975. Includes liner notes by Simon Robinson. All tracks have been digitally remastered. This previously unreleased concert album documents the final days of Deep Purple Mark III, the edition of the band that featured David Coverdale and Glen Hughes. Derived from two shows in France and Austria, from the same tour that produced the heavily-doctored LIVE IN EUROPE album, it's far better than that critically-derided effort, featuring the band sonically unadorned, doing what they do best--making the audience's ears bleed. Perhaps because they knew this was the end, the players are unusually relaxed, especially guitarist Ritchie Blackmore. In his big solo section on "Mistreated," he noodles around flamenco-style during the French show, and on the alternate version included here from Austria he cheekily quotes from "Deutschland Uber Alles." Keyboardist Jon Lord also displays a sense of humor on "Space Trucking," working in an extended bit from "Thus Spake Zarathustra," while vocalist Coverdale is even more over-the-top than usual, sounding for all the world like an opera singer who's just stuck his finger in an electric socket.
