Perfect Strangers Live

...when reunions actually meant something,this was a major deal,Deep Purple Mark 2 back together,its amazing to think its taken nearly 30 years to get a decent reunion tour album.I've been chewing my fingers off waiting for this to arrive. 2 cd's of live Purple,Glover and Paice as ever, the imperious rythmn section holding it all together,Lord deftly adding layers here and there,no surprises there,however,it is always the 'other two' who can shape a Purple gig,are they on form,are they up for it,well thankfully its a resounding yes to both,sure Gillan's voice is sometimes strained,that said he's pretty damn good for the most part and Blackmore,well what can you say,he's on a mission,not content to play by the book,another reviewer, referred to his playing as 'loose',he certainly is,he's on that path that borders spontaniety and chaos,he straddles it well,just as you think its all going to collapse round about him,he pulls it back from the brink,as a Blackmore nut,i absolutely love that,casual listeners may be less impressed.It is great to hear 5 new tracks along side the classics .they all work well with only 'Gypsy's Kiss' sounding slightly rough.Nobody's Home is an absolute belter,should have remained a live favourite ,the rest well worn favourites 'Highway Star' superb as always and 'Smoke...' just mesmeric as ever,special mention for 'Strange Kind of Woman' also. The DVD is of its time,if your looking for a 22 camera shoot,camera's positioned here there and everywhere,with an editing sequence of new picture every other second(a la Steve Harris of Maiden fame),then your in the wrong place. Its dated approach/quality adds to the charm of this release,i'm not going to watch it over and over,prefer listening to the audio but its a genuine thrill to see the look of joy(yep thats right) between Blackmore and Gillan during the couple of occasions thay have their little interplays,its a pity they couldnt have seen it thru.Gillan of all of them,seems the most up for it,strutting around like the people's champion, fists pumping the air,clenched fist salutes to the crowds,just like the 'Gillan' days. Sound quality,have to say i'm very happy with it,a few have mentioned Lord low in the mix,cant say i felt that,listening on my set up(and it aint expensive by any means),Lord is there up front from the moment Highway Star requires keyboards,for me he's in the mix exactly where he should be,supporting the rthymn section and coming to the fore when the track demands a keyboard flourish or a solo,so i'm perfectly happy with the production. Its an easy 5 stars for another Purple Archive release.

A wondrous gig. All the band are on fire and are playing as one. Phenomenal. Can't say more, don't need to. If you can find a copy of this don't hesitate to buy it.

Ladies and gentlemen, this is a stunning concert from the re-united Deep Purple MkII. The Australian shows were the warm-up gigs for the forthcoming American and European tour, and the band was in a top form. Ricthie Blackmore was brilliant AND communicative(!). He interplayed with the other members (YES, even with Gillan!), smiled a lot, and did his fantastic showmanships with the Strat. Gillans vocals were fine, altough during Child in Time you can hear, that the higher registers aren's so storng as they were in the haydays. The 2CD+DVD edition comes in a modified jewel case, with an illustrated booklet. The picture quality is quite good, there are three good-sounding audio tracks (Dolby 2.0&5.1&DTS 5.1). Many people said, that Jon Lord's Hammond is low in the mix, but you can hear (and see) him, when its necesseary. :) The CD's are also fine, sounds far better than the old (poorly recorded) Knebworth '85 show. Many thanks for Eagle Records, for this release, it's highly recommended and a must have for every Purple fans!

I am reviewing the CD/DVD/L.P. edition. This set features a 1984 live in Australia show on DVD, 2-CD set and 2-L.P. set. The song contents are the same in each format. The reunited "Mark 2" line-up(Ian Gillan/Ritchie Blackmore/Jon Lord/Roger Glover/Ian Paice) was touring behind their reunion album "Perfect Strangers"(5 of the songs from the album were performed in this show) plus a selection of 1970-1972 hits. The group was not exactly picking up where they left off(where the group was when they split acrimoniously in mid-1973). Because of the need to fit more songs into this 2 hour show, songs would no longer be played at 15 to 20 minute length(mid-1980's audiences might not have had the attention span for such prolonged jamming, anyhow). There would also be no more exchanging solos(duels) between guitarist Ritchie Blackmore & keyboardist Jon Lord. The sound mix seems to underscore this change, because whenever Jon Lord isn't soloing, his keyboards are mixed down near inaudibility, then they become audible for solos. Ian Gillan's voice is already not quite what it was between 1969-1973. Certainly his normal vocal range is unaffected, but his high scream range is somewhat hoarse, less well controlled and with a reduced note range. Gillan takes some time to warm up(the vocal on "Nobody Home" is somewhat ragged) then he sings generally O.K., giving his all on Deep Purple classics such as "Child in Time", "Lazy" and the group's signature song "Smoke on The Water". The performance is a good one, if not quite up to the brilliance of a show that I saw in Florida in that same tour. The sound quality of the recording is generally quite good(excepting the questionable decision to mix Jon Lord down when he's not soloing). Ritchie Blackmore, Ian Paice & Roger Glover give fiery performances with abilities and passion undiminished by the years. I assume that the only audio source in existence is direct to stereo audio captured by the video crew, and that the recording does not exist in a remixable format. The surround sound on the DVD seems to be a simulated "upmix" from stereo. The picture quality of the DVD (which is NTSC) is generally excellent, however, the supplemental 22 minute documentary, in which all of the group members (excepting the notoriously un-talkative Ritchie Blackmore) are interviewed, is of fuzzy, less than VHS quality. The 2-CD set sounds fine(it contains the same stereo mix as the DVD). As for the 2-L.P. set, the records are flat, and the pressing is admirably quiet. The "Side Two" grooves were very, very slightly off-centre, but not enough to be audible. As for the 12" x 12" 3-panel gatefold L.P sleeve(which contains both vinyl records, the DVD & the 2-CD set), of all the vinyl L.P.'s I've ever received via mail, this L.P. sleeve was the most severely creased and damaged. I dreaded taking the vinyl records out of the sleeve, expecting that, surely, they would be shattered. Luckily the records arrived intact. Amazon.co.uk did a superb job packing the product(with no visible external damage to Amazon's carton), which means that the product was already damaged before Amazon.co.uk ever sent it. It had been damaged either at the factory, at the record company's warehouse or at Amazon.co.uk's warehouse. But the point I'm making is this: If Amazon warehouse/packaging facility workers see that a product is already quite visibly damaged, THEN DON'T DESPATCH IT to the customer. The cost of mailing the damaged set back from the U.S.A. to the UK would be prohibitive, and a replacement might be no better. Yes, the L.P.'s, DVD & CD's play fine, but the the badly damaged sleeve annoys the collector in me. The version with the vinyl records is exclusive to the UK, whereas the CD/DVD version is offered worldwide. I've been collecting Deep Purple group and solo recordings since 1970(when I was 14), and I have a large CD, DVD & L.P. collection of Deep Purple and Purple-related recordings, so the condition of the product DOES matter to me.

If you like Deep Purple this is an absolutely brilliant album.

Not sure why other people had to wait but my copy arrived on the release date as promised. I hadn't watched the DVD until tonight, not really a big fan of videos, DVDs or Blu Rays to be honest I'd much rather listen to the music but watching the DVD meant I heard the music from start to finish. I seldom play a CD all the way through these days. Other reviewers have said that Jon Lord is low in the mix can't say that i'd noticed but when I listen again I'll pay more attention. What I did notice that was that although these weren't perfect renditions they were certainly well played. Perfect Strangers is one of my favourite Purple Studio albums and I prefer their live work so when I ordered this I couldn't wait for it to be released. This is alive recording of my favourite songs from both the 70s and 80s and Purple deliver.Ian Paice and Roger Glover underpin each song with their rhythm work, Jon LOrd as ever is superb on the keyboards, Ian Gillan delivers a very good vocal performance which is ably matched by Ritchie Blackmore. Is this their best live recording? Probably not but it is yet another excellent live performance.

short but sweet, i missed this tour, was 14 at the time and did'nt have the cash. I remember purple was on rockline, and so many people phoned in the phone lines went down. Crazy. I think the sound and video quality are great , i grew up with vhs so i am pretty satisfied with the picture on this. Probably my favorite album by them, and i especially love live albums. Great price. It's funny how 2 of the best albums of the year are old stuff, like this and rush vapor trails remix. Goddamn excellent, recommend this to any fan of hard rock, and it belongs in the collection of every deep purple fan.

Great

I bought the “box set” that had the 2 discs of the audio as well as the concert DVD along with a booklet. “Box set” is a bit of an overstatement. It is a CD case from which I have a hard time removing the CDs but the DVD seems to slide around a bit too free and easy. I’m hoping it doesn’t end up getting scratched. While the packaging was disappointing, the concert itself did not disappoint. The mix seemed to favor Blackmore’s guitar and Ian’s singing over the other instruments. Blackmore seemed reinvigorated with the reunion. His sound on this concert is fatter due to the effects than I am used to it being. He was aggressive much of the night. I wouldn’t say these were his best solos, but he’s leaving nothing back. Ian Gillan had an uneven night as his voice seemed to have some rough spots (I suspect he had a cold).. This is part of what drove Ritchie crazy, Ian didn’t seem to take care of his money maker. At times he seemed to forget some the lyrics as well. He discovered effects too, and there are songs with lots of echo on his voice. There are some differences between the 70′s edition of Deep Purple Mach II and this edition in addition to the technology. They seemed to up the tempo on many of the old songs. The solos were not as long either. As a result, they played far more songs than you’d find on any of their concert albums from the 70′s. They had 5 songs from the new album, Perfect Strangers, as well as some old standards taken mostly from In Rock and Machine Head. There is one holdover from Ritchie's Rainbow days- Difficult to Cure. So there is something for everyone, and no one should be disappointed. This was a great concert. As the liner notes indicate, this concert was from the beginning of the tour, before they added the lasers. The focus of the concert experience is the music and the dynamic between them. They were enjoying playing with one another again. Everyone has the chance to show their chops, except Roger. This set should find a home in any fan's collection. Just take special care of that DVD.

Mais bon sang, pourquoi ce fabuleux concert de Purple à Sydney en décembre 1984 est-il resté inédit pendant 29 ans ?! Depuis sa reformation cette même année, il y a eu pléthore d’albums live (plus ou moins convaincants), les années 80 étant pauvres d’enregistrements de qualité. Il y a bien eu le bien nommé « Nobody’s Perfect » avec ses versions sabotées des grands classiques, et « In The Absence Of Pink » à la production plus qu’imparfaite, alors que le seul concert filmé connu jusqu’alors était « Bercy 1985 » (jamais paru officiellement, mais diffusé à l’émission allemande RockPalast et dupliqué à grande échelle par des fans avides de purpeuleries) avec un Ian Gillan presqu’aphone. Jamais j’aurais pu penser qu’un autre concert -l’un des premiers de la fameuse tournée de « Perfect Strangers »- ait pu être filmé et enregistré de manière professionnelle. Si le package 2 vinyles + 2 CD + DVD était paru en 1985, nul doute qu’il se serait vendu par trains entiers à l’instar de « Perfect Strangers » l’année précédente. Le concert qui nous est « offert » (il faut quand même débourser 30 euros pour la version complète avec les vinyles, ou 19 euros sans) est une sorte de « Made In Japan » des années 80, 11 ans après le split de la légendaire MKII. D’une moyenne d’âge de 39 ans à l’époque, les musiciens étaient encore jeunes et présentables (bien qu’ils fussent déjà considérés comme des « papys du hard-rock » à l’époque), mais surtout heureux de rejouer ensemble. Blackmore et Gillan cabotinent sur scène, s’échangent des regards, des sourires, ce qui n’arrivera plus à la fin de cette tournée éreintante, l’une de plus profitables de 1985. Jon Lord quant à lui, redevient le soliste qu’il était au début des années 70 (après avoir été sous utilisé chez Whitesnake), maltraitant son orgue comme un damné et faisant la nique à son compère Ritchie. Le répertoire interprété ce soir là (et durant toute la tournée) est exceptionnel, combinant la quasi-intégralité de « Made in Japan » (les rappels « Black night » et « Speed King » y compris, mais sans « The mule », le solo de batterie étant incorporé à « Lazy ») au meilleur de l’album « Perfect Strangers ». Ainsi, 5 titres de ce très bon disque sont interprétés en début de set (sur le 1er CD donc) après l’incontournable « Highway star » introductif (avec un Blackmore encore soucieux de ne pas saboter son solo), à peine entrecoupé par un « Strange king of woman » des familles avec ses fameux échanges guitare/voix qui avaient fait la légende de « Made In Japan ». Ca commence par « Nobody’s home », petite chanson percutante sans grande envergure mais qui lance bien un concert (à l’instar d’un « Lay down stay down », « Lady luck » ou « Into the fire » sur d’autres tournées). Purple inaugure « Gypsy’s kiss », morceau speed avec ses échauffourées néoclassiques guitare/orgue, accouplé au fameux « Blues » que Blackmore interprétait déjà sur « Made In Europe » et sur « On Stage » (Rainbow). Puis nous avons droit au nouveau « classique » « Perfect Strangers », seul titre de l’album a être resté dans les set-lists du groupe depuis cette époque. Ce morceau, interprété trop sagement ici, évoluera au fil du temps pour prendre plus de profondeur et d’épaisseur. Suit l’étrange et turbulent « Under the gun » qui, sur scène, prend une dimension particulière grâce à un Blackmore déchainé dans des soli furieux. Le dernier titre de « Perfect Strangers » est son autre standard et single, « Knocking at your back door » qui lui vaudra les foudres des ligues conservatrices et religieuses américaines. En effet, pour la petite histoire cet excellent titre vantait avec humour les vertus de la sodomie et du cunnilingus… Deep Purple MKII n’ayant jamais réellement percé aux States (qui ont toujours préféré Rod Evans ou David Coverdale –ayant par ailleurs tous deux élu domicile en Californie- à Ian Gillan, dont l’humour européen n’a jamais été apprécié ni compris outre Atlantique), ce morceau a fini de ruiner la réputation du groupe. On se souvient de la pluie de projectiles divers et variés (dont Jon Lord fera les frais le soir où il reçut une canette de bière en plein front) qui attendait le groupe a chacune de ses dates américaines. Mais les australiens sont plus sympas : « Knocking at your back door » constitue par conséquent la meilleure plage du 1er CD avec son synthé entêtant, ses solis de guitare à rallonge et l’interaction synthé/voix qui rajoutent de l’intérêt par rapport à la version studio. Par contre, « Lazy », anormalement accéléré, amputé d’un couplet et rehaussé d’un solo de batterie se révèle très en dessous de ses versions antérieures. Il y a des monuments auxquels il ne faut pas toucher… La deuxième partie du concert, symbolisé par le 2ème CD, enchaine les grands morceaux du groupe, de « Child in time » à « Smoke on the water » en passant par « Space truckin’ », « Black night » et « Speed king », avec les solos de guitare et de claviers autour de l’instrumental « Difficult to cure » (version orientalo-rock de l’ « Hymne à la joie » de Beethoven). Remarquable (surtout Jon Lord qui réussit à nous tenir en haleine pendant plus de 6 mn) ! Certes Gillan ne monte pas aussi haut dans ses hurlements que sur « Made In Japan », mais la version de 15mn de « Space Truckin’ » est plus digeste que celle de l’album live précité (avec « Jésus que ma joie demeure » de Bach en intro). Quant à « Black night », Deep Purple l’interprétait encore sans se sentir obligé de faire gueuler le riff à l’unisson par le public (des « oh, oh, oh-oh… » qui m’ont fait détester cette chanson au fil des années). Et « Speed king » est vraiment très bien interprété avec ce qu’il faut d’échanges solistes, avec en prime l’évocation du riff de « Burn » à la grande joie de la foule. Bien sûr, il y a « Smoke on the water » en rappel ! Très bonne version de 12mn avec une douce intro instrumentale dans l’esprit de « Son of Alerik » (l’instrumental en bonus du remaster de « Perfect Strangers »)… Une set-list de dingues, je vous dis ! Si la tournée 1993, retrouvera partiellement cet équilibre entre anciens et nouveaux titres (Cf l’indispensable « Live In Stuttgart »), l’alchimie entre les musiciens ne sera plus jamais pareille à ce qu’elle était dans les premiers mois de la reformation. Quant aux concerts actuels du groupe, s’ils sont toujours bons, force est de reconnaître qu’ils tiennent plus du Tribute-Band usé que du véritable Deep Purple, symbolisé par le présent « Perfect Strangers Live ». Un maître-achat pour les fêtes !

Banda legendaria , muy buen directo

Durante la loro lunga e onorata carriera i Deep Purple hanno rilasciato un numero consistente di dischi dal vivo sulla scia di Made in Japan, considerato dai critici e dagli appassionati il miglior album rock dal vivo di sempre. Quel disco era stato inciso dalla versione II del gruppo, quella tradizionale tanto cara ai fans di tutto il mondo (Blackmore alla chitarra, Lord alle tastiere, Paice alla batteria, Glover al basso e Gillan alla voce). Praticamente dopo Made in Japan quella versione della band si sciolse per riformarsi una prima volta nel 1984 per l'ottimo album Perfect Strangers. A distanza di quasi trent'anni i Deep Purple pubblicano un doppio dal vivo registrato durante il tour successivo a quell'album. Sarà per l'affetto che abbiamo per la versione II del gruppo sarà per l'amore che nutriamo per alcuni pezzi classici della band porpora ma questo doppio sembra essere il miglior disco dal vivo tra i tanti pubblicati dopo Made in Japan. Non si vorrebbe sembrare blasfemi ma questo Perfect Strangers live è molto vicino al capolavoro registrato in Giappone. Anzi... La prima parte del concerto, che si apre con l'inarrivabile Highway Star, comprende i brani migliori di Perfect Strangers (Nobody's Home, A Gypsy's Kiss, Perfect Strangers, Under The Gun e Knocking At Your Backdoor), la seconda è una bella cavalcata tra i grandi classici della band, da Child In Time a Space Truckin', da Black Night a Speed King. Non mancano Strange Kind Of Woman e Lazy. Compare il 'pallino' di Blackmore ovvero Difficult To Cure che poi passerà ai Rainbow. Il tutto suonato con mostruosa professionalità. Bellissimi gli assoli alle tastiere sparsi qua e là. Il concerto si chiude con la celeberrima Smoke On The Water, potentissima e trascinante come non mai. Nel 1984 i pezzi dei Deep Purple erano già dei classici mondiali e qui si sente; il pubblico è coinvolto e partecipa. L'atmosfera del concerto è molto presente. Ah, dimenticavo: in un cofanetto a tre scomparti oltre ai due dischi audio c'è il dvd video del concerto! Appassionati dei Purple e appassionati del buon rock non possono non avere questo doppio dal vivo!

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