These two DVD's should be an essential part of any Deep Purple fans' video library. Containing live footage and music video's from the Perfect Strangers reunion all the way through the Abandon album and tour, there's plenty here for the Purple aficionado to sink their teeth into, and you get some damn classic performances to boot!
The first volume covers mainly the 1980's, when the band got back together after a lengthy hiatus, with the classic Mach II line-up of Ritchie Blackmore, Jon Lord, Ian Pace, Roger Glover, and Ian Gillan. The bland video's to "Perfect Strangers", "Knockin' At Your Back Door", and "Bad Attitude" are included, but the real treat are the live versions of "Black Night", "Hush" and "Space Truckin' ", played with lots of fire and emotion. One thing you can tell from the footage from 1985 & 1987 is that the tension that broke this line-up apart in the early 70's between Ian Gillan and Ritchie Blackmore seemed to already be back. The rest of the band seemed to be enjoying each other's company on stage, but Ian and Ritchie rarely look at each other or interact, and seem to want to stay as far away from each other as possible. Two videos from the short-lived Joe Lynn Turner era (after Gillan left for the second time), "King of Dreams" and "Love Conquers All" are thrown in as well, and while the album Slaves and Masters was fine for what it was (a decent Rainbow album perhaps) these two songs seem out of place here, but certainly belong as this is a retrospective look at Purple from the 80's to the present. The last four tunes on the DVD are from 1995 & 1996, with Steve Morse now in the guitar seat replacing Blackmore. Morse's fiery licks are all over "Woman From Tokyo" and "Speed King", while the breathtaking song from Perpendicular is performed, "Sometimes I Feel Like Screaming", complete with Steve's melodic guitar passages. The band seems remewed having Morse in the fold, and all the members seem to be having a great time on stage.
Volume 2 continues with the current line-up, with footage from Brazil, Australia, and the US. Watching the band perform signature tunes not heard in years like "Fireball", Bloodsucker", "No One Came", and "Fools" is reason for getting this DVD alone. Morse and Lord seem to really be enjoying playing together, and the band sounds much tighter than they did with Blackmore in the 80's. Even Gillan's voice sounds better than he has in years. Newer tunes like "Ted the Mechanic" and "69" rock hard, with Morse's heavy rhythm guitar and lightning leads spearheading the attack alongside Lord's chunky Hammond (check out his rotating Leslie cabinet looming behind him!) A rousing rendition of "Hush" from Australia is also included, complete with 3 gorgeous female back-up singers and a few horn players.
Now if only they can come up with a 3rd DVD in this series covering the late 60's & 70's stuff, the collection would be complete. Highly enjoyable and highly recommended-get these if you can find them!
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