Live At Montreux 1996 [DVD] [2006]

Features live performances from Montreux in 1996 and 2000.

1996 list: Fireball, Ted The Mechanic, Pictures Of Home, Black Night, Cascades: I'm Not Your Lover Now, Woman From Tokyo, No One Came, When A Blind Man Cries, Hey Cisco, Speed King, Smoke On The Water.

2000 List: Sixty Nine, Perfect Strangers, When A Blind Man Cries, Lazy, Highway Star.

Sound and video qaulity is excellent and musical performances first class.

Only "special feature" is "The story of Smoke on the Water" which isn't really an extra, only a brief introduction to the song during the concert.

Lacks the extras and a whole single full length concert included in the "Perihelion" DVD but arguably looks and sounds better.

First the line-up for this (these) show(s) - more on that later: It comprised the Mark VII team of Jon Lord, Roger Glover, Ian Paice, Ian Gillan plus Steve Morse on lead guitar. Apart from Steve, this is the team that represents Mark II Deep Purple & arguably the period of their greatest creativity.

One also gets a sneaking suspicion when comparing this performance with say their Live in California 1974 DVD that they are enjoying it more - vide Jon Lord mouthing the notes that he is playing - that the team is more cohesive & that they are more self confident. The end result is a tighter more polished performance. An interesting aside is watching Ian Gillan stumbling over the words of Highway Star & the other band members giving him a quick sideways glance as he does so! I would have thought that after 35 years he would have known the words implicitly!

The first half of the DVD comprises their 1996 performance whereas the second half - well actually quarter - comprises their 2000 performance. For the additional tracks I am willing to forgive the 1996 in the title.

The mix of songs is mainly from their Mark II period, but does include later songs from the 1990's such as Ted the Mechanic, Cascades & Hey Cisco. If there is one regret, it is the lack of songs from the Mark III period when Dave Coverdale & Glen Hughes drove the band in a more bluesy direction. Will we ever again hear the likes of Mistreated, Burn, Stormbringer or the Soldier of Fortune ever again from Deep Purple? Morse does slip in a riff off Burn into one of the songs however!

Overall this is an excellent addition to the pantheon of Deep Purple releases & well worth buying with only one weak track - Sixty Nine.

For those whose prevailing dogma is that Deep Purple is not Deep Purple without Ritchie Blackmore, think again! Get over it. Steve Morse provides more than an adequate replacement. He has been doing a sterling job for many years now & by now has earned his right to be considered as part of Deep Purple! Without Ritchie's arrogance & self importance, he just quietly & efficiently gets the job done!

Live video DP performances are rare enough and quality ones even rarer. This offering being a fairly recent (in live rock recording terms) is of very high sound and picture quality. The DVD gives the main 1996 set and a few excerpts from the 2000 set. Together it is a decent enough song list, combining a few early DP classics with newer material. Altohether good value for the price.
The musicianship is very good but DP as a whole are looking their age and Ian Gillan in particular looks out of condition and uncomfortably sweaty throughout. I wouldn't say the voice is gone, but it is a shadow of the former days. Steve Morse gives a good band and virtuoso performance but like it or not he is no Richie Blackmore and although he does a sterling job it just doesn't move me like Richie used to.
I watched this just after a Wishbone Ash DVD and it just doesn't stand up in comparison. Its certainly good but not a play again and again DVD.