Deep Purple - 'Kneel & Pray' Live In Montreux '69
The set starts with the extended swell of Hammer horror-esque Hammond, ebbing and flowing for nigh on 45 seconds until the familiar lurching intro of what we now know as Speed King kicks in...
Some of the lyrical structures are familiar, as is the music (the references to Miss Molly, Lucille etc are there) but there's no "chorus" as such lyrically, and the break after the chorus is much more deft, rolling away with none of the crashing power that later developed to carry the chorus into the following verses. Gillan screams through much of the second verse (no lyrics), then the middle section is upon us, "you've got to kneel down, turn around, tell me what you found" being a familiar strain to those owners of the Paradiso `69 boots floating around. (check www.purplemash.demon.co.uk for details of known vinyl and CD bootleg titles from the era) . Much of the construction is closer to the BBC studios version, still way off from the final brutal onslaught of the In Rock version but the ending is an exercise in controlled power; tight and to the point. Ian Gillan actually credits the track as Kneel And Pray after the embryonic song, still developing into the fully-fledged bruiser which the band are still kicking about thirty years after this was laid down onto copper oxide.
Tracklist:
Kneel And Pray
Wring That Neck
Hush
Child In Time
Paint It Black
Mandrake Root
Kentucky Woman
In terms of sound, I'm immediately thinking of "Space Vol1 & 2" (also available on Purple Records right now), or any of the Aachen `70 boot titles, with everything up there (but crisper and cleaner given the official nature of this recording) and an overloaded vocal which strains at the speakers in more intense moments. Instrumentally, though, there are no such issues.
Wring That Neck was, by this time a well established and lengthy staple of the Deep Purple set, never perfunctory but certainly way more polished than the opener. Blackmore and Lord (as ever in those days) spar for supremacy and in turn vying to outdo each other, flicking the switch between effortless jazz chords, particularly Ritchie's simple rhythmic work here, and then disappearing off with stratospheric roaring solos. You can only guess at the excitement at being witness first hand to this, the recording eerily laying bare the band without the intrusion of an audience to which those of us who explore the Purple legacy through the bootleg medium have come to become accustomed. At just under 6 minutes in the track, everybody backs off and Paicey's shuffle and Roger's throbbing basswork underpin some nice noodling from Ritchie before the accelerator (or should that be volume pedal?) is applied again, some truly electrifying guitar work building to one of the many crescendos of the song. My fingers hurt just imagining how this sort of stuff can be played by one set of hands alone.
Eventually though, Blackmore backs off and it's Jon's turn to work, unaccompanied on one of his classically inspired outings, darting metaphorically off all over the place while tying together the loose ends with various musical themes with the occasional assistance of Roger and little Ian, before the reigns are handed back to the man in black for his solo spot. It's reminiscent of his work for the band's pre Concerto set, which had taken place just a couple of weeks or so prior to this set. None of the nervous picking here though. Free of the pressures of TV cameras, Ritchie winds it up all the way before the band crash out in a frenetic, full-on finale to the track.
Next up, some light relief from the musical bombardment as the band launch into Hush, attacked with some more vigour than their attempt at the abovementioned Concerto. Jon and Ritchie again spar, as little Ian tackles a hypnotic drum backing to the instrumental section, drawn out and again featuring some excellent keyboard work which seems to go on and on, Ritchie's chopping guitar accompaniment again ranging from measured picking to almost hacking in intensity, as Jon's lengthy solo rises to it's intense peak before the song is closed out by the re-entry of Ian Gillan.
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Deep Purple Rules !
ritchierod 3 years ago 16
Speek King before it was Speed King! Very rare, very cool
57250tr 2 years ago 5