Rating: DVD
Label: Edel/Playground 2011
Review by Urban "Wally" Wallstrom
"When they were Gods" - Seriously, sneak a peak of the footage of "Phoenix Rising" and you'll quickly notice how God/Jesus-like the two front-figures of the band (David Coverdale and Glenn Hughes) appears on your screen. Hughes sporting a truly awful white trainer/Elvis Presley suit will obviously not add to his "God" agenda, but the voice, and the manic impression (all hail God-Glenn). The latter obviously down to his cocaine addiction at the time. Keeping in mind that he was sent home (by the band) eighty per cent into the recording of the album, "Come Taste The Band", due to a intoxicated meltdown in September, 1975.
Merely a couple of months after the "Hughes" accident, Deep Purple MKIV goes to Japan and the lost concert is finally avaliable on this essential DVD/CD release. For the first time on DVD, restored in HD, the 30 minute concert recorded live at The Budokan Hall on December 15, 1975. Coverdale huff and puff like a rabid wolf on stage and it's a shame we only get five (5) songs [Burn, Love Child, Smoke On The Water, You Keep On Moving, Highway Star]. The brand new 80 minute music documentary "Gettin Tighter" with interviews, live music and archive footage. Glenn Hughes and Jon Lord open the lid to all the problems that beset the band as they toured the world in late 75'/early 76'. Drugs and death being the main thing as crew members died and some of purple's entourage got arrested on suspicion of murder (Hughes was involved too according to some?). Extras are the electronic press kit from 'Come Taste The Band' and Jakarta, December 1975 interviews and lots of goodies.
The CD contains over 70 minutes of live "rarites" and never before released versions of the MKIV line-up. The following tracks are recorded at 'Longbeach': Burn, Lazy, Homeward Strut, and Stormbringer. From Japan: Gettin' Tighter, Love Child, Smoke on The Water/Georgia On My Mind, You Keep On Moving. This fine 'Deluxe Version' comes with a 36 page photo booklet with vintage articles (great stories from the 75/76 tour) and never before seen pictures. There's also a neat 26 page miniature reproduction of an original 1976 Deep Purple magazine. Very nice, very posh. You'll end up captured and amazed by the footage and stories (Hughes & Lord are quite the storytellers) and I can only imagine what it's like to have been a fan of the band in the seventies. Recommended!
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