Live: Deep Purple In Concert "Ian, Would You Like To Add To This Frenetic Tale of Pyromanicary?"

I have been a fan of Deep Purple since I was a kid.  My dad had an 8-track (yes I said 8-track) of Guitar Rock.  It might have been a K-Tel collection or some one else who put it out.  The song "Hush" was on it and I would play that song to death.  I would howl like the wolf at the beginning and then try to play air organ to the famous Jon Lord riff.  It is one of the most identifiable riffs in Rock and Roll.  For a long time I did not know it was a remake of a Joe South tune.  I just though Lord's organ playing was better then anything that came out of the 70's.  It was Lord, Rick Wakeman and Keith Emerson that defined the keyboard of that decade.  

It was around that time I borrowed a copy of my neighbors Machine Head album and gave it a good listen.  I was in love with Machine Head.  I have talked about how much I loved it in a pervious post too.  And as of this post Deep Purple is the only band who has three submissions.  They could do no wrong from 1970-72.  Each album around that time topped the pervious one.  It was short lived and by 1973 they were a run away car going down a steep hill who's parking break was not engaged.  It was Deep Purple at it's finest.  They could do no wrong.  

So in high school I would do my homework and listen to one of the local Rock stations.  It was a commercial station that played a ton of Classic Rock and once in a while they would play a few obscure songs here and there.  On Monday nights at 7:00 they would play a concert from their vaults.  It could be a live album that came out or something they themselves recorded for the station.  It was always something cool that they in vaults and I would tape them every Monday night.  I would do my best to edit out the commercials between songs.   

After taping the show I quickly put it in my pile of tapes to bring to school and listen between classes and in study hall. This did not go out with fanfare.  In the middle of recording the show I ran out of blank tapes.  I had to run to a friends house and borrow a cassette.  Thank god it was the last song of the set and the show.  I had eighty minutes of music from this awesome performance.  I thought had my first real bootleg not knowing that this was a album released in 1980. It was a double album set.  I'm still curious why this was not out sooner. I realized that Made In Japan was the iconic classic live album, but In Concert was the small stage version. 

The interesting story about In Concert and how it was that it was recorded.  It was recorded for a select audience for the BBC.  It was recorded a month before their iconic album Machine Head hit the stores. The unusualness about this performance two songs played were rarely played These songs include "Never Before" and "Maybe I'm A Leo." "Never Before" was not performed until 2004 when Deep Purple performed Machine Head in it's entirety and "Maybe I'm A Leo" was  never performed with this version of the band until 1996 shows with Steve Morse instead Richie Blackmore. I'm not sure why these songs were not part of the set lists, but the versions on here are pretty damn good.  

A song that was part of their set lists and surely identifies Deep Purple is "Space Truckin." On the album and on all the reissues and on majority of one side of a sixty minute cassette this was the song that I would crank every chance I got.  I only wish I played this on my radio show.  It was a tune that blew my mind in live performance.  This version is killer.  This version I think is better then Made In Japan version. Ian's voice is not worn from touring and the band is hitting on all cylinders.  The organ and guitar solos are breathtaking.  Even the rest of the band are keeping up with the high volume.  As the swirl of the song gets stronger and stronger it's Lord and Blackmore who send this into space (pun intended). Twenty-two minutes of beauty in every way.   

I can only imagine what the audience felt like after being there for that show.  If I ever meet someone who was, I have loads of questions for them.  One serious question, "How is your hearing after the show?" This show must have been the bee's knees.  Maybe this is the reason later in life Blackmore chose to record and perform music more acoustically.  Yea he founded Rainbow, but his roots are here in Deep Purple. They are firmly on the ground here.  

All in all if your looking for a live album that has less of a crowd fanfare then lets say Frampton Comes Alive or Kiss Alive then this is the album for you.  BBC is famous for really great intimate shows and this one is no exception.  I talked about one with Barclay James Harvest that is also pretty special.  So check out In Concert your live music in your collection will never sound anything better  then this.  Enjoy!!