Deep Purple/UK 1972

Speaking of the second DEEP PURPLE’s live shows, first of all, it’s the improvisation and interplay that comes from the members’ high performance ability, but there are songs like “Wring That Neck” and “Mandrake Root” that are nearly 25 minutes long. The live performances that followed from 1970 to 1971 had spectacular interplay, but they were a little difficult for beginners to listen to right away. On the other hand, the live shows in early 1972, when songs from “MACHINE HEAD” such as “Highway Star” and “Space Truckin'” were often featured, had a balance of solid band play and songs of sufficient length. This is an appropriate live performance that is perfect for beginners to enjoy. This work “ELECTRIC GHOST” is a work that I would like to recommend to many fans, both in terms of the splendor of the live performance and the variety of songs performed. During the 1972 European tour that took place just before the release of “MACHINE HEAD”, three performances were held in the UK in the latter half of February, and the second performance was held on February 20th at Wolverhampton’s Civic Hall. “The sound source that recorded the performance was once released under the title “WALVERHAMPTON 2.20.72,” and it is a well-known live performance among enthusiasts as a standard of the same period. This work “ELECTRIC GHOST” is a take of the same type as the audience recording that has existed in the past, but it is 1 hour and 32 minutes with higher freshness and normal pitch than the master that is clearly higher than the material distributed among traders. (You can understand the difference between the masters in that the muddiness of the sound is not too noticeable). The sound, which was reproduced with better visibility and symmetry than was adequate at the time, the presence of a live tape, and stable recording, was outstanding in terms of both listenability and ease of listening, and the decision was made to record it for an audience around the same time. As a one-of-a-kind piece, the listener will be able to enjoy a fulfilling PURPLE live performance. The band does a sound check and tunes for about a minute after the recording starts, but even as Roger and John begin to play and the beginning of “Highway Star” begins, Pace continues to tune without hesitation. Richie, who continues to do so, suddenly listens to him. The guitar pattern in this song is a little different from the album version, and the melodious solo is a must-listen. The second half of the song, which involves a barrage of arming, is also worth listening to. However, Richie on this day seemed to be in a bit of a bad mood (perhaps due to the condition of the equipment), and even in the following “Strange Kind Of Woman”, he continues tuning again despite Gillan calling the song title. However, the solo performance is excellent here as well, and you can listen to plenty of it, including the call and response with Guillain (Guillan’s scream at the 9 minute mark is also amazing). “Child In Time”, which has a vivid keyboard tone at the beginning, is a long play of 17 minutes, and you can fully enjoy the solo and interplay of Richie and John. In particular, Ritchie’s aggressive play with sharp edges in the second half is nothing short of exquisite, and his slow-paced play will leave you overwhelmed no matter how many times you listen to it. Following “Mule”, which began to feature a drum solo around this time, the new songs “Lazy” and “Space Truckin’” explode as live highlights at this point. It seems that the direction of the live arrangement itself has been completed in both cases, but compared to the later performances in Japan, I get the impression that the level of sophistication is still high. However, the originality unique to the early version gives it a fresh feel, and Richie’s melodic improvisational solo on “Lazy” is especially worth listening to. Even in the 17-minute “Space Truckin’”, there are plenty of free-form parts for both Richie and John, allowing us to enjoy another peak of the matured second period PURPLE. Richie’s solo using volume playing is also packaged with a good sound in this work, greatly enlivening the best listening point of this work. The encore of this day was “Fireball”, which was not played at the performance in Japan in August, and the familiar “Lucille” (this “Fireball”, like the official video of “MACHINE HEAD LIVE 1972”, was played before the performance. It seems that there was a change in the drum set.) The fast-paced “Fireball” and “Lucille”, which also features John’s light electric piano solo, are both wonderful performances and bring the live performance to a close with lots of fun. Among the live performances in the first half of 1972, the live performance in which the band was in good condition and had an excellent groove is comparable to the official live performance “MACHINE HEAD LIVE 1972” of the same period. It is a great pleasure to be left with a high quality audience source like this recording. Live at Civic Hall, Wolverhampton, UK 20th February 1972 TRULY AMAZING SOUND Disc 1 1. Highway Star 2. Strange Kind Of Woman 3. Child In Time 4. Mule/Drum Solo Disc 2 1. Lazy 2. Space Truckin’ 3. Fireball 4. Lucille Ian Gillan – Vocal Ritchie Blackmore – Guitar Roger Glover – Bass Jon Lord – Keyboards Ian Paice – Drums