DEEP PURPLE KNEBWORTH 85

Deep Purple. One of the all time great, groundbreaking, leading rock bands of the 1970s who have inspired three decades of eager young musicians. The band responsible for such classic songs such as Child In Time, Highway Star and the rather overplayed Smoke on the Water...

Of the four line ups, it was the second, "Mark II" line-up which found their sound and made their mark with the album, "In Rock" and subsequently "Machine Head" and most popular of all the all-time great live album, "Made In Japan". Their other two albums did well but are not so well remembered. Then in 1973 vocalist Ian Gillan and bass player Roger Glover moved on to pastures new; the band continued with new members for a few more years, recording some great albums and some not so great, till they finally broke up in the late 1970s.

And that was it; every few years a record company would put out another "greatest hits" or "best of" album or even some previously unreleased live recordings. From time to time rumours circled that Deep Purple were getting back together again, but the rumours were always quashed.

I first became a Deep Purple fan in about 1979, ironically just a year or two after they finally split and they rapidly became my all time favourite band. In the early eighties I would spend many an hour sitting up late at night, headphones on, listening to the live album, "Made In Japan", imagining what it would have been like to have been there and knowing, sadly, that I would never see them play.

Until in 1984, suddenly, there it was in the press. Deep Purple to reform and, best of all, it was the mark II line up! It was true, it was confirmed, and they were working on a new album. Sure enough a few months later the album "Perfect Strangers" was released and they started on a world tour finishing on Saturday 22nd June at the outdoor Knebworth festival.

And I was there.

The show started at midday and featured an assortment of support bands throughout the afternoon, some better suited than others. Having started sunny, then the heavens opened and it poured with rain all afternoon. The 70,000 people there got soaked to the skin. Then, finally, as the light began to fade, suddenly without warning the sky cleared, the rain stopped and then there they were on stage!

And I was there.

The album, Deep Purple, Knebworth 85, is a recording of that memorable day. According to the sleeve notes, the show was recorded for broadcast on radio the following week. My guess is that this is that recording. It is clearly unedited, nothing re-recorded; what you hear on the CD is what you heard on the day, nothing changed, no mistakes recorded, this is the true to life, raw, Deep Purple at Knebworth.

And I Was There!

The CD starts, as did the concert (!) with a short classical passage by the unmistakable Jon Lord on keyboards, then the drums and guitar come in, and they launch headlong, just as they did in their heyday, into Highway Star, always one of my favourite Deep Purple songs. It brought the memories back, of a good friend of mine turning to me, with a look of awe, on his face, and saying, "It really is Deep Purple", to which all I could answer was, "Yeah....". It sounded so good; even Ritchie Blackmore fumbling his way clumsily through the first half of the masterpiece guitar solo didn’t matter, as he made up for it in the second half. The final notes ended and they went straight into a new song, Nobody’s Home from the reunion album, probably the weakest song of the evening but it sounded so good, it was Deep Purple, and I was there.

Strange Kind of Woman followed, complete with the signature Gillan-Blackmore vocal-guitar duet. Not as fluid as it was on Made in Japan, but good, complete with some unexpected jamming, "Jesus Christ Superstar", a pointed joke as Ian Gillan sang the part of Jesus in the original recording of the musical. The whole band joined in and they played a chorus, then came the classic Gillan scream. Much less clean and crisp than the 1972 version, perhaps a bit too much screaming, but oh, it sounded so good when I was there...

A couple of new songs, introduced by a short guitar-let instrumental, starting with a short piece well known to most Rainbow fans, then into the belter, "Gypsy’s Kiss" followed by the title track of the reunion album, "Perfect Strangers", introduced rather inanely as a song about a football team called "Perfect Street Rangers", one of Ian Gillan’s odd little jokes of the evening and one of the cleaner.

Then straight into the classic song, Lazy, introduced by Ritchie Blackmore with a great little guitar solo. It was certainly one of the faster versions they have done, but Ritchie played it fantastically and the following keyboard solo from Jon Lord was as good as any that he has ever done. A short drum solo by Ian Paice followed; in his prime he was doubtless one of the best rock drummers in the world. Twelve years on, yes he has slowed down, along with the others, but he is still brilliant and can out-drum many people half his age! He too injected some humour, dropping in the drum intro to the song You Fool No One from the "Burn" album.

Knocking At Your Back Door, the intro dark and sinister keyboards and guitar, in drops a pumping bass, then the drums, and suddenly into that beautiful riff. After such a stunning intro the verse sounded almost weak but they made up for it with the chorus, and the second verse (I’m sure those weren’t the original lyrics, Mr Gillan!). The song finished with an extended instrumental.

The second disk starts with an instrumental, in which Ritchie Blackmore drops in a short passage from an early album by Rainbow (the band he formed after leaving Deep Purple) then launches straight into the instrumental, Difficult To Cure, also from a Rainbow Album. A superb keyboard solo by Jon Lord takes over, with several recognisable snippets of other works, which then metamorphs into another classic song, Space Truckin’. Ian Gillan’s voice was beginning to wear at the point, but he gave it everything he had for the remainder of the concerts. Space Truckin’ extended into the standard long instrumental, with keyboard and guitar cadenzas, as they did in their earlier days, to the grand finale.

There were three encores on the night and on the CD, starting with Speed King, as raw and powerful as it ever was. The lead breaks in this were great, with a guitar-keyboard duet, Ritchie and Jon both playing fantastically. The next encore brought Black Night, which was done fairly straight, with a short keyboard solo, short guitar solo, and was all very straightforward through to the end when they suddenly switched to a short, completely different instrumental section. The final song of the night...well, what had been missing so far? Of course, Smoke on the Water. One of the most overplayed rock songs of all time, it is usually tedious to hear but - but not here, not o the CD, not on the night, because it was the first time these five had played it live on British soil for nigh on thirteen years. There is an extended sing-along, and Ian Gillan speaks to the crowd from the heart and sensibly for probably the first time of the evening. And at the end you can here fireworks which they managed to let off despite it having rained all day!

This was their first UK gig together for over a decade and it was clear that they were so much enjoying playing together again. Ian Gillan was joking throughout, substituting lyrics, my favourite being from Highway Star: "Nobody’s going to take my head, I’m going to nail it to my brain". Ritchie Blackmore, normally renown for his temper rather than his humour, played the whole show wearing wellington boots to mark the dreadful rain. A trademark of the band when playing live was the many instrumental passages and extended solos, and they are all here on the CD, full of snippets from works that the members had done in their solo days since 1973, as well as other recognisable songs (even "Teddy Bear’s Picnic"!)

This album is a 100% faithful recreation of the night. I can now sit back, late in the evening with headphones on and listen to Deep Purple play live and remembering, rather than imagining, what it was like.

This album will appeal to virtually any Deep Purple fan. If you were there, it is the ultimate souvenir of a fantastic gig. If you like old Deep Purple, you can hear them fresh with enthusiasm after the reunion. If you are a new fan, who likes what they do now, this is them not at their best, but second time around.



Recommended: Yes