Deep Purple – Live & Blue

LIVE & BLUE: DEEP PURPLE [South Africa 1996] Re-imagined and Expanded

A re-imagined and expanded mix of a live compilation CD released in South Africa-only in 1996.

Track List

1. Speed King (live in Stockholm 1970)
2. Child In Time (live in Stockholm 1970)
3. Paint It Black (live in Stockholm 1970)
4. Black Night (live in Stockholm 1970)
5. Strange Kind Of Woman (live in Long Beach, California 1971)
6. Burn (live in Graz 1975)
7. Stormbringer (live in Graz 1975)
8. The Gypsy (live in Paris 1975)
9. Mistreated (live in Paris 1975) including Rock Me Baby
10. Smoke On The Water (live in Long Beach, California 1976) including Georgia On My Mind
11. Going Down (live in Springfield, Massachusetts 1976)
12. Highway Star (live in Long Beach, California 1976) including Not Fade Away
13. When A Blind Man Cries (live in Japan 1993)

Original CD

This CD was released in 1996 in South Africa by PT (Phase Two) Music with catalogue number RTFCD 100.

The first set of timings is taken from the inside of the CD cover, while the second is clocked by my CD player (note some of the big differences).

1. Black Night [6.54 / 7.16] from Scandinavian Nights recorded live in Stockholm 12 November 1970
2. Speed King [10.20 / 10.31] from Scandinavian Nights recorded live in Stockholm 12 November 1970
3. Smoke On The Water [9.20 / 8.36] from On the Wings of a Russian Foxbat recorded live in California 27 February 1976
4. Highway Star [8.18 / 7.05] from On the Wings of a Russian Foxbat recorded live in California 27 February 1976.
   Listed as Goin’ Down / Highway Star on cover, but does not actually include Goin’ Down. It does however include a snippet from Buddy Holly’s Not Fade Away.
5. Burn [7.23/ 6.28] from Mk III – The Final Concerts recorded live in Graz 4 April 1975
6. Mistreated [13.00 / 11.29] from Mk III – The Final Concerts recorded live in Paris 7 April 1975.
   Includes a snippet from B.B. King’s Rock Me Baby
7. Child In Time [17.25 / 17.34] from Scandinavian Nights recorded live in Stockholm 12 November 1970
8. When A Blind Man Cries [3.33 / 3.30] from b-side of Never Before single 1972
   According to the sleeve, this is a studio recording from Stockholm 1970 featuring David Coverdale & Glenn Hughes!!! Which is completely wrong. It’s the ordinary studio version recorded during the Machine Head sessions and featuring the Mark II band. First album release was on the Mark I & II compilation.

Sleeve Notes:

During their thirty year history, DP have seen many personnel changes, but over the years each line up has added their own classic albums and live performances to the DP legend. This CD captures Mark 2 in Stockholm, Mark 3 in Europe and Mark 4 in California. The latter performance was long regarded as ‘The Holy Grail’ to DP collectors as it was the only great performance captured on tape with Tommy Bolin in the guitarist’s chair. As a bonus, the rare studio track ‘When a Blind man cries’ has been added to this CD capturing Purple at their most blue.

Deep Purple – Live And Blue

Review:

I wrote a review for this CD which appeared on the Deep Purple Digest Mailing List on 10th September 1998.

Deep Purple – Live And Blue (Out Of The Mists Of Time)

A review by Brian Currin, September 1998

This CD is a compilation of live tracks (and one studio release) released in 1996 in South Africa only. There are a number of mistakes in track timings, cover art and general info, but don’t let this distract you from a great listening experience. This CD is compiled from 3 Connoisseur Collection live CDs, plus the studio outtake (and b-side) “When A Blind Man Cries”.

All the live tracks are taken from:

• Scandinavian Nights (recorded in 1970),
• Mk 3: The Final Concerts (recorded in 1975) and
• Live In California (1976, also known as On The Wings Of A Russian Foxbat)

According to the album cover, Glenn Hughes and Tommy Bolin are both left-handed guitarists (wait till Jimi hears about this!). This is the same photo as on Foxbat, just reversed and with a different logo style. The title on the cover is Live And Blue, but on the spine it says Out Of The Mists Of Time (and on the actual disc the title is The Deep Purple Connection!).

OK, let’s talk about the music which is why I wrote this review in the first place and why I listen to this CD so often. I bought this CD after already having all the other albums mentioned above, but I really liked the idea of a live compilation.

The CD opens with Black Night, which was the encore from Stockholm on the 12th of November 1970. A wonderful version especially considering this song wasn’t even a year old at the time. Great guitar/vocal interplay near the end.

This is followed by Speed King from the same show. This track “speeds” along and includes Ian Gillan telling us what a speed king is. (Someone who can sing at 100 miles an hour!)

Next up is Smoke On The Water from the Long Beach Arena, 27th February 1976. Whose says Tommy can’t play SOTW? (not me, anymore!). A superb version until Glenn Hughes starts his warbling, barely-recognisable version of Georgia On My Mind. Why did he bother?

Highway Star is the encore from the Long Beach show. A thundering track that includes a snippet from Buddy Holly’s Not Fade Away. Listed on CD cover as Goin’ Down/Highway Star, but Goin’ Down has gone!

Burn, the fast-paced show-opener from Graz in Austria on the 4th April 1975 with an excellent organ solo from Jon Lord.

The last Deep Purple performance with Ritchie until 1984 included this majestic version of Mistreated from Paris on the 7th April 1975. This powerful blues song still gives me cold shivers when I hear it and you would never guess that this was Ritchie’s last show. The snippet from BB King’s Rock Me Baby is handled well by David Coverdale.

Last live track is a long (17 minute) version of Child In Time from Stockholm in 1970. Meanders in places, but overall a great version.

The last track on the CD is the Machine Head outtake When A Blind Man Cries, originally only available as a b-side in 1972. In South Africa, however, this track became a big radio hit and was (and still is) extremely popular, hence it’s inclusion here, I guess. South African DP fans were thrilled that this track was included on their 1995 Masters Of Rock tour (A double bill with Uriah Heep). This song was also played “unplugged” in the studios of South Africa radio station 5FM by The Deep Purple Trio (Jon, Steve and Roger) as part of the same tour.

Well, there you have it, a great collection of live tracks and one of my favourite DP compilation albums.

Sometimes I program my CD player in this order for a better flow:

• Speed King
• Child In Time
• Burn
• Mistreated
• Smoke On The Water
• Highway Star
• Black Night
• When A Blind Man Cries (or leave off, since it isn’t a live track)

My overall rating is a very big 9 (including any live version of ‘Strange Kind Of Woman’ would have got it a 10!)

More…

Please also see my review of the 4CD Box Set Deep Purple On The Road.