Deep Purple Album: “Live in Stuttgart 1993”

The 16th of October 1993 will go down in Deep Purple history as the "classic" lineups last great live recording, or "offical" great recording. It's all there, the tension, the magical performance, the great sound quality and a fired up crowd that's simply amazing. Guitarist Ritchie Blackmore seems to be in good spirits and lifts the rest of the band (Jon Lord, Roger Glover and Ian Paice) to magical heights. As for Ian Gillan, his voice was clearly beaten up from a hard tour, but he doesn't hurt the performance in any way. This special live recording from Stuttgart, Germany is worth the price, and gets a big 5 stars. If you're a DP fan you must hear this magical night in Germany.

DEEP PURPLE:

Ritchie Blackmore - Guitar

Ian Gillan - Vocal

Roger Glover - Bass

Jon Lord - Keyboards

Ian Paice - Drums

Long live Deep Purple!

I kept reading this review by this guy Michael L Wicks who said: "Im not even a Blackmore fan" and he indictes there's some great Ritchie on this cd. I found that interesting. Usually Blackmore fans cannot be objective, so I really noticed that comment. I'm thinking: "Do I buy another live Purple disc after 30 plus years of spending $ on them????" I like Steve Morse and he's a great player but he just doesnt have the dark- edge or that unpredictable nature that Ritchie brings. There's something a bit "safe" about Purple with Morse these days and it's a little boring to me. I figure I'd give this disc a shot. Now I am a guy who considers himself a Blackmore expert, a Purple historian, and quite able to make valued judgments on this bands output since the late 60's to present. I headphoned the entire first disc. Well, WOW..I am just really impressed with this disc. Firstly the sound quality is stunning. It has a fullness and magic not that unlike the way "Made in Japan" was. Im not comparing them musically because they cannot be compared. (I love "Made in Japan") So sound-wise it's awesome. whoever mixed it did a great job. Performance-wise this disc blows away "Hell or High Water", "Nobodys Perfect", Knebworth" etc...etc.. This is an AWESOME disc folks!!BUY IT!!!! There are some great unexpected moments on here and the band just cooks. Check out that instrumental version of "The Mule"..so different than the original. The solo on "ANYA" by Ritchie is great! Gillan does one of the best versions of "Knocking at your backdoor" I've heard from him. This disc was originally part of a box set that aslo contained that show that is on the DVD "Hell or High Water". The band tried to pull this set not too long ago but it's now out in a couple forms. This STUTTGART show is the one to get! (NO NEED FOR THE BOX AS THE OTHER NIGHT WAS TERRIBLE)

If you want a killer show with the band in high gear WITH Ritchie...this is the one. It is the best live performance with Blackmore of the post 84 era. Get it before it dissappears! This is no bootleg but it also has a "minimalist" packaging-style and I sense it will vanish quickly. ******>>>>>>>> Another interesting fact is that the band wanted this pulled from the market, yet this show is the one they gave Joe Satriani in order to learn the set when Blackmore left! Obviously they considered it a good performance. Why would they give him a bad performance? Man, what a great release...every now and them I am surprised by a disc and this is one.

I was really inspired by the reviews of this CD to have a listen for myself. I have listened to this CD over and over since it arrived. I was a big Purple fan years ago and didn't know that the Mark II line-up had toured in 1993 and was not expecting it to be this good due to the usual band friction, etc.

To me this disk truly is a showcase for Ritchie Blackmore's virtuoso guitar playing. The entire band sounds great and you can tell how tight they were on this night with the trading of riffs between Blackmore and Jon Lord (keyboardist extraordinaire) on many numbers, but Blackmore just shreds.

The biggest surprise was the riffs of "Burn" (a post-Gillan song) mixed into the extended jamming on "Speed King". Just awesome.

My biggest disappointment was that Ian Gillan didn't know the correct words to two other surprises on this disk ("Paint It Black" and "Hush"). It's not enough to subtract a star, but it would have been perfect if they were sung correctly.

I highly recommend this CD to any Deep Purple fan. It's too bad that Blackmore is such a moody guy, because the Mark II line-up was incredible.