Last Concert in Japan? (Mini Lp Sleeve) [Original recording remastered, Import]

Some years ago I bought the LP "Last Concert In Japan", and was amazed at how bad it sounded. I couldn't believe that this was the Deep Purple I have "fallen in love with" (in the summer of '82).

Well, now they have finally released the whole show on double CD, and I have to say that I am very surprised. This is in fact, all in all, a great Purple concert. There are weaknesses here that you don't find in the MKII and MKIII line-ups, but you have to remember that this is "MKIV on drugs"... Deep Purple were always a drinking band, but with MKIV the drugs entered through Bolin and Hughes. Drugs always brings out weaknesses in a band, and Purple was no exception to the rule.

The best songs are the songs written by MKIV. During those numbers they really ROCKS, but the afore mentioned weaknesses comes through in the "older" MKII and MKIII numbers. It sounds like they didn't fit Tommy Bolins way of playing the guitar, and Glenns vocals are...errr...well, you have to buy the record.

I wonder where Purple would have gone if not for the drugs...??

All in all, it's worth buying, and if you are one of those who only have heard the awful LP-version- BUY IT!!!

Being one of the hugest concert acts of the 70s, Deep Purple had set a high standard for itself, which is why many DP live sets without the title "Made In Japan" often go unclaimed. But the rambunctious performance of "This Time Around" captures a blaze of musical and emotional fire, and also serves as a time capsule for this particular period of the band; Deep Purple had been put through a slow and agonizing series of line-up changes, when they hit the jackpot with their best line-up (the so-called MkII line-up); Ritchie Blackmore, Roger Glover, Ian Gillan, Jon Lord, and Ian Paice. But the ultimate cliche of rock and roll unravelled as both Gillan and Glover exited, followed soon by Blackmore (after he completed work on 1974's "Stormbringer"). In them, Deep Purple had lost a great frontman, bassist/arranger, and a guitar hero, respectively. Paice and Lord (both of whom have always been brilliant even on their own) kept the band together and recorded three respectable albums and keeping itself alive by connecting to audiences in lifehouses captured here on "This Time Around."
Fever-burning, blistering, trademark Purple attacks on many songs from their post-MkII's success era give them a whole new breath of life. Anyone who complains that the recordings on the 1974-75 albums lack spark should definitely hear "This Time Around"; it will give them a chance to hear those "need-improvement" versions brought back to life and beyond, such as 'Burn,' 'Stormbringer,' 'Drifter,' and 'You Keep On Moving.' And it's always nice to hear any live version of 'Smoke on the Water' and 'Highway Star,' while Deep Purple never forgets to boggle the musical senses with complex solo spotlights. It's hard to ignore the fact that these, some of Deep Purple's last concerts before splintering for nearly a decade, are marred by the personal state of the band; drugs and a heavy schedule took their toll, but not before DP had one last punch.

burn, lazy, this time around, stormbringer, highway star, smoke on the water are time less pieces! Tommy Bolin was on the legendary guitar's legacy.....Blackmore went away in 1975 but they could carry on without Blackmore!