DEEP PURPLE - "IN CONCERTO WITH THE LONDON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA" (EAGLE RECORDS)
DEEP PURPLE - "IN CONCERTO WITH THE LONDON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA" (EAGLE RECORDS)
Metal (or rock) bands have been toying with classical music for a while. Especially last year there's been a bit of a climax in this particular crossover genre, with the release of Metallica's "S & M" double CD. A fine release, by the bye. A little while before that, Yngwie Malmsteen did his "Millennium Suite". Kansas did something. In the eighties Ritchie Blackmore experimented with a classical orchestra during a Rainbow Japanese live performance. I guess there are a lot of people around these days who think that, in fact, Metallica were the pioneers, Hetfield the god of Symphonic Metal. Wrong. "S & M" was a fine album, of course, but it sure as hell wasn't the first.
The first rock band to do anything with a symphony orchestra was, in fact, Deep Purple. They did it way back in 1969, the result of which can be found in sale bins all over the world, "Concerto for Group and Orchestra". The second band to do it was, once more, Deep Purple. This time it was called "Gemini Suite". This happened a year later and hasn't been released until a few years back (although a version with entirely different artists appeared somewhere in the seventies). And so it is most fitting for the band that started it all to rehash it with the benefits of today's technology. What sounded like a mediocre radio broadcast in 1969 can be made to sound like it's right in yer friggin' sitting room.
There was a problem, however: The score. Meaning to say, there wasn't any. It was irretrievably lost. In came a Dutch guy called Marco de Goeij who had on his hands too much free time and in his mind the talent to transcribe the music he heard on the original album and had seen on the original video. Praised be he! Give the man a cigar!
So, in September 1999, the original Deep Purple line-up (almost, that is, for Blackmore is still capably replaced by Steve Morse) can be found once more in the Royal Albert Hall, once more with the London Philharmonic, to re-perform the original Concerto. And to make it even more interesting, they have taken the opportunity to perform a few other rare tracks, such as "Pictured Within", "Wait a While" (both Jon Lord solo outings), "Sitting in a Dream" (Roger Glover solo thing), "Love is All" (with Ronnie James Dio on vocals, really cool!), "Via Miami", "That's Why God is Singing the Blues" (both Gillan solo things?) and "Take it Off the Top" (Steve Morse band, featuring Dave LaRue and Van Romaine of the Steve Morse band). That's most of what is on the first CD (did I mention yet that it is a double CD?). Except for "Love is All" it is largely pretty obscure (at least it was to me), well done, good vocals (Ronnie, of course, and also Miller Anderson and Sam Brown), but no true magic. Then follows "Wring that Neck", a really cool track done differently, with copper instruments instead of a guitar. "Pictures of Home" closes off the first disc - a beautiful version with added orchestration of course.
The second disc contains the re-done "Concerto". The first movement has nuts and balls and chunks and impressed me no end. Bits of Holst here and there, maybe, but very powerful and, um, I don't know, another word for 'powerful' to add momentum to this sentence... The second movement is a bit too laid-back to my taste. Basically, almost 20 minutes of music that is a bit too much like the stuff you hear when going up or down in tall buildings. The third movements has the vital ingredients again, sounding very well-produced, well played, and just basically, um, powerful. Well. This recording once more proves that Deep Purple were ahead of their time. Incidentally, Hammond roolz! The bits where Steve Morse lets rip are close approximations of what it would be like to have a sonic orgasm. Way, way excellent.
Last but not least, there are enriched versions of "Ted the Mechanic", "Watching the Sky", the beautiful "Sometimes I Feel Like Screaming" and the archetypal "Smoke on the Water" (with all guest musicians adding bits, quite nice). For those with a PC there's a 5+ minute video clip of "Smoke on the Water", too.
A pretty varied and therefore potentially difficult CD. I don't like all of it, but I like most of it. It's definitely very interesting. Two different ratings are in order...
If you're into Deep Purple: 
If Deep Purple never was your thing anyway: 
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RK
Written January 2000