"Let that man out immediately" cries Gillan in response to something I can't quite make out from elsewhere on the stage as the band slow things down for Child In Time, again sound fresh, crisp and assured. As the song has been played and played over the years, some of the dynamics and atmosphere on display here have sadly been lost in favour of a more obvious suckerpunch, but back in `69 Gillan could still scream and the dynamics were controlled rather than overwhelmingly elevated by the use of overloaded guitars and sheer brute force volume. Here we have what could be considered definitive Deep Purple, displaying on the one hand a measured calm and confidence towards their music and then that "teetering on the precipice" sensation as they pound away at the middle section of the song, crackling with energy until the familiar run of triplets heralds the abrupt termination and return to near-silence, Jon continuing almost as if in a world of his own for a few bars after everyone else has stopped, before switching gear down to begin the final section of the song.
Paint It Black starts off with some gusto, I don't know why, but the sound of this recording lends itself much more to allowing the ear to concentrate on each of the instruments in turn. The brief nod in the direction of the Stones original melody is quickly blown away as Paicey bashes the skins for nigh-on eight minutes before reprising the riff, Jon carrying the tune while Ritchie abuses the trem with little or no regard for it's well-being.
Closing out the main body of the set is the second lengthy (mainly!) instrumental Mandrake Root, again similar in feel to many of the known bootlegs from the `69/'70 period. Once established, the song changed little until it metamorphosed into the instrumental sections of Space Truckin in 1972 but here, again, there's a freshness to the bobbling bass and drum work, with parts of Jon's keyboard work nodding a hint of The Mule and Grabsplatter... or is it just my imagination. This one just keeps going and going, freeform work held up on an at times imponderably thin and subtle layer of rhythm work, Ritchie idly picking away in the background while Jon doodles away with seemingly no desire to stop before taking the volume (but not energy) level down a few bars, everyone winding off the volume to take the song into a more deliberated direction, before pumping up the volume to allow for Mr B. to take centre stage for some further trem abuse. His use of eastern sounding (as in Egypt, not Cromer) scales takes things up a further notch. I know the triplet I'm expecting here, but Ritchie teases and teases, returning time and time again to inflict the sort of abuse on his poor guitar that leaves my ears not able to believe the noises generated from the groaning Marshalls without the guitar having been broken into a thousand pieces. Eventually he relents and Jon takes over briefly, presumably the guitar having been kicked about around the floor and now requiring to be returned around it's owner's neck for the final few seconds of the song and then that's it, "thank you very much and good night", all over bar the obligatory curtain call.
But what's this, it says Kentucky Woman is the encore. Nah?? Bloody hell, it really IS Kentucky Woman! Close to the original album version, the vocals here are particularly overloaded, and instrumentally Jon is all over his keyboard as everyone else pounds away relentlessly. Ritchie's solo is an especially fine example of guitar strangulation, not quite the bizarrely off-kilter affair of the studio take, but sticking to the spirit. Jon's keyboard solo has, I'm quite sure, been used by him to introduce Lazy on their more recent tours, where it comes from I cannot claim to know, but the musical familiarity doesn't last long as his hands slide ever onward up the keys to give the familiar swell before we're back into the final verse and chorus. Fun, interesting and historically important, the first (and probably last) known take of this song featuring Roger and Ian G.
I know that I welcome every Sonic Zoom release with more superlatives and unconditional acceptance, but this one is new to all of us. There's no full set from this era already available, and the inclusion of this elsewhere unavailable mk2 encore merely makes this an essential set. No excuses!
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Hush - Deep Purpleby WalterMig090jfk1,561,711 views
Thank You for posting , i'm qite glad to be the first to comment this video, IAN GILLAN and DP are a source of pride for England
kilbanov 3 years ago 8
Thanks for posting.
rsensorat3 2 years ago 4