Deep Purple- Made in Japan

As I've mentioned in "In the Beginning" section, this is the album that introduced me to both Deep Purple and the world of live recordings. A pivotal recording that became one of the  benchmarks for  future live recording of rock music, it is a near perfect live album by Deep Purple. Simon Robinson has already told the story behind the three gigs  (Osaka and Tokyo, August 1972) that made the original record and many behind the scenes events so many times and in great detail. So, it would be best for prospective buyers to go and find Deep Purple-Live in Japan, a three disc special edition and read the booklet which is very informative and has all the information you'd possibly need:



This album has almost all the music played in those three nights but there are some missing tracks that turned up in a newly remastered version of the album as a bonus disc. Another thing to be considered before buying this version is that, due to space restrictions of maximum three cds and in order to include never before released performances, some of the material that readily available on the original album have been ommited.




One of the "missing" tracks has also surfaced in a massive 6 CD compilation box set called Listen, Learn, Read On... This also a very nice set that would give you a perfect opportunity to have almost everything you'd need to become acquinted with Deep Purple and its (book)let by Simon Robinson is also something to behold.


Another interesting aspect is that, since the album was originally intended only for the Japanese market, there was another 'original' version of the double album, titled Live in Japan, with a different sleeve and it came with some 35mm negative film cuts-which you could print your own copy of the image- that showed the group on stage at Budokan, Tokyo. The music and the song order on this album are identical to that on Made in Japan.


The music itself is a superb documentation of Deep Purple on their natural habitat that is on stage and also caught them at their musical peak. Three very talented soloists, Ritchie Blackmore, Jon Lord and Ian Paice, powered and supported by Roger Glover and Ian Gillan gave some memorable concerts on that tour and even Ian Paice once said that this is his favorite album in Purple catalogue and that all those songs on the album played to almost perfection.  Gillan was critical of his vocal performance but he has always been against live records, so it is understandable. Long guitar, organ and drum solos have been criticised to the death by the critics but let's not forget that that was the form during the seventies and, in my humble opinion, if you're good at something, and this is especially true for live music environment, why not show/give it to the (willing) masses? Stand out tracks for me is the opener Highway Star, Child in Time for its incredible guitar solo and Paice's inhuman drumming, Lazy for the tempo and opening section and Smoke on the Water for that intro. It would be also interesting to know that this version was the only one that Blackmore managed to play correctly during those three concerts and that was the only reason for its inclusion to the album.

Buy it or steal it. It is that essential. But until that  time please watch this only-for now-available and recently discovered footage of the original Made in Japan clip (in black & white) that was recorded by a member of the audience at Budokan, Tokyo. It starts around 1:20 mark right after Jon Lord's (R.I.P) interview.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=py_BfTJA2Iw

And for all things Deep Purple, please refer two these two magnificent web sites:

http://www.thehighwaystar.com/
and
http://www.deep-purple.net/


Till we meet again, stay Purple...

Led Zeppelin-The Song Remains the Same

In my younger days, this particular album-and its companion in concert video-was one of my favorites. The original vinyl, a double album with a gatefold cover and a booklet, was a feast for my eyes and ears.





But I should have known better. Years passed, the Internet came into existence and information became available for those who seek it. One of such web sites was The Garden Tapes, run by Eddie Edwards who is simply obsessed with details and facts of live recordings-official and unofficial (bootlegs to you and me) and obviously has a lot of time in his hands. After going through his analysis and findings, the world of "live Led Zeppelin" was never the same for me.

It is not that all official live Zeppelin records (others being BBC Sessions and How the West Was Won are mostly fake or crammed with overdubbing but there was enough mingling with these recordings by Jimmy Page that left a sour taste in my mouth since I have always preffered/searched for "raw"  and authentic material by the artists/groups which would give me an approximate record of that night(s) in which the recording in question took place. Alas, this was not the case with Led Zeppelin and The song Remains the Same. The music, with or without the information provided by Edwards is  still good and occasionally very good but the magic, the authenticity which I believed in for so long is not there anymore.

The track Moby Dick-a feracious drum solo by the late John Bonham-being the most intact (undoctored by Page) performance from those nights at the Madison Square Garden in New York City, it is nowadays difficult for me to relate this performance as a good live document of this super group.



Last year I bought the remastered version of this album (at the time it was the only one that Page left off from Zeppelin remaster series) in Milano, knowing that even this 'new' version is different than the original vinly version. So, why did I buy it? For two simple reasons: 1. it was in the discount section, the price was right and 2. I am (and have always been) a sucker for live recordings even when the circumstances around their creation is (highly) questionable.

One small note before I leave: the video recording of the concert and its accompaying soundtrack (again-sometimes radically different) is also dealt in Edward's site and worth reading.

So, for your further consideration, please refer to this link and draw your own conclusions:

http://www.thegardentapes.co.uk/

And, till next time,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FgHSk91RhL8

In the beginning...

This was the first ever live album/cover I've ever seen, at least this is my recollection after all those years. Back in the day, while I was living in Izmir, I saw this particular cover on display in a shop window in some back alley and the image simply burned into my consciousness and, to this very day, stayed there. It took me some time to reach and listen its sound (on vinyl only, it was way expensive for me to grab an original copy, there was no Internet and only available choice was some friend with a cassette player/recorder in reasonable quality and a copy of the record you want) and at the end I was mesmerized.

In time, I learned almost all the details about it-especially with all the information provided by Simon Robinson; check his incredible site on Deep Purple at http://www.deep-purple.net/, and with the addition of every little detail in time, it simply became my reference point, or a benchmark if you like, whenever I attempted to rate/evaluate other live rock recordings.

I wanted to create this blog simply because I wanted to share my opinion and enthusiasm on such material with other like-minded people who love music, especially live recordings. I firmly believe that this is what Internet is all about at its core: to share whatever you want to share with others and one's opinion is one of them. This is my two-cents and I'll try to keep on until something/someone stops me.

I'll come back to Made in Japan later but until we meet again:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KgZSnAkQc4c