Deep Purple/France 1998

In 1998, DEEP PURPLE celebrated their 30th anniversary and showed off their spirit as a progressive unit. A masterpiece live album full of extremely rare songs is now available at such a time. What is recorded in this work is “Paris performance on July 9, 1998”. This is a vacuum-packed superb audience recording of one act of the “ABANDON Tour”. After reuniting, they have consistently released albums, but the period between “ABANDON (1998)” and “BANANAS (2003)” was the biggest blank. It was five years of just touring and live music. Among them, 1998, immediately after the release of the album, was an unexplored region with no official live works left. First, let’s imagine the position of the show in relation to the recent official works “TOTAL ABANDON: AUSTRALIA ’99” and “IN CONCERT WITH THE LONDON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA”. 1998・January 28th-February 8th: North America #1/Central America (8 performances) [“ABANDON” released on June 2nd]・June 1st-July 12th: Europe #1 (27 performances) )←★Coco★ ・August 4th – 30th: North America #2 (20 performances) ・September 15th – November 28th: ​​Europe #2 (39 performances) 1999 ・March 19th – April 4th Sunday: South America (12 performances) April 16th – May 1st: Australia/Malaysia (10 performances) ← *Official work June 4th – July 31st: Europe #3/Korea (31 performances) September 25th + 26th: London (2 performances) ← *Official work This is DEEP PURPLE from 1998/1999. Both of the official works mentioned above were set in 1999, but this work is in the early stages of 1998. This was the 25th concert of “Europe #1”, which was about a month after the release of “ABANDON”. Although the show took place 23 years ago, this work recorded at the scene is the best recording of a newly discovered excavation recently. Anyway, the extremely thick core approaches your ears without any sense of distance, and the glossy sound and delicate details are top-notch. Ian Paice’s detailed drumming is so three-dimensional that you can even see the structure of the kit, and even when Jon Lord’s dancing Hammond and Steve Morse’s virtuosity overlap, they don’t mix. And Ian Gillan’s singing voice. Once again, you can clearly enjoy not only each word of the lyrics, but also the nuance contained in each syllable. Although the lively applause and snare tone give it the feel of an audience, it is a so-called “soundboard” on the ground… no, it is a beautiful recording that I would like to say is “just like an official”. What is depicted with such a straight-forward sound is a delicious full show of extremely rare songs that cannot be heard anywhere else. As mentioned above, the representative work of this period is the official edition “TOTAL ABANDON”, so let’s check out the set while comparing it. Classics (10 songs) In Rock: Into The Fire (★) / Speed ​​King Machine Head: Pictures Of Home / Smoke On The Water / Lazy / Highway Star Purple Portrait: Woman From Tokyo Others: Hush ( ★)／Black Night／Strange Kind Of Woman After Reunion (9 songs)・Perfect Strangers・Purple Proof: Vavoom: Ted the Mechanic・Abundant: Bloodsucker／Fingers To The Bone (★)／Almost Human / Watching The Sky / Seventh Heaven (★) / Evil Louie (★) / Any Fule Kno That (★) *Note: Songs marked with a “★” cannot be heard on “TOTAL ABANDON: AUSTRALIA ’99”. …and it looks like this. “Hush” is extremely fresh as the opening, but what catches the ear even more is the large-scale performance of the “ABANDON” number. The only songs that were played even after Jon Lord left the band were “Almost Human” and the remake of “Bloodsucker,” and the rest of the repertoire was exclusive to this period. In particular, the two songs “Fingers To The Bone” and “Evil Louie” are extremely rare songs that were only played in 1998 at the beginning of the tour. Moreover, what is more striking than the rarity of each song is the balance. Speaking of shows after Moes joined, the majority were 70’s classics, with about 4-5 songs from the Moes era. On the other hand, this album includes 7 new songs (if you include Bloodsucker), and 8 songs including “Vavoom: Ted the Mechanic” from the previous album. It has been 27 years since Morse joined, but it is no exaggeration to say that this work is the show with the most active feeling. Not only are there tons of rare songs, but the balance and song order are unusually fresh. It is a masterpiece that allows you to fully experience the full show unique to 1998 with the highest quality of a sound board. I can’t believe they were putting on such a fresh show at a time when even enthusiasts tend to miss it. A new masterpiece that tells us the whole story. A superb audience recording of the “July 9, 1998 Paris performance” packed with extremely rare songs. Anyway, the extremely thick core approaches your ears without any sense of distance, and the glossy sound and delicate details are top-notch. It’s a so-called “soundboard” on the ground… no, it’s a beautiful recording that I want to say “as if it’s official”. “Hush” is extremely fresh as the opening, but after that, there are plenty of valuable repertoire that you can’t hear on “TOTAL ABANDON” such as “Fingers To The Bone”, “Seventh Heaven”, “Evil Louie”, “Any Fule Kno That”, etc. You can experience it. Live at Le Zenith, Paris, France 9th July 1998 TRULY PERFECT SOUND Disc 1 (74:19) 1. Intro 2. Hush 3. Bloodsucker 4. Strange Kind Of Woman 5. Vavoom: Ted the Mechanic 6. Pictures Of Home 7. Fingers To The Bone 8. Almost Human 9. Into The Fire 10. Woman From Tokyo 11. Watching The Sky 12. Seventh Heaven 13. Guitar Solo 14. Smoke On The Water Disc 2 (55:01) 1. Evil Louie 2. Keyboard Solo 3. Lazy 4. Perfect Strangers 5. Speed ​​King 6. Any Fule Kno That 7. Highway Star 8. Black Night Ian Gillan – vocals Steve Morse – guitar Jon Lord – keyboards Roger Glover – bass Ian Paice – drums