At the rate Deep Purple is releasing live albums of late, they are quickly approaching Yes as far as glutting the market with various concert platters from throughout their history. This is the band's second Montreux release in less than a year, with the most recent being a show from their 1996 appearance. This one featues a set from the Montreux Jazz Festival's 40th Anniversary, in which Deep Purple headlined last year in 2006. Hot on the heels of their brand new release Rapture of the Deep, Purple sound pretty fired up here musically, and while singer Ian Gillan really nails it on some of the newer pieces like "Things I Never Said", "Wrong Man" and "Rapture of the Deep", he has a real hard time on some of the older classics, especially "Highway Star". Perhaps it was a bad night, but if this is any indication of how he sounds on this track on a nightly basis, the band might have to consider taking this song out of the set. Steve Morse, Don Airey, and the rest of the band plow through this legendary song with plenty of fire, but Gillan flat out can't sing any of the high notes or screeches-it's almost painful to listen to. He fares better on oldies like "Smoke on the Water", "Pictures of Home", and "When A Blind Man Cries", but when he's trying to hit the aggressive, high pitched screams, as on "Space Truckin' " as well, he appears to be really straining. That little criticism aside, this is overall a very strong set that is well balanced between oldies and new pieces. "Wrong Man" is especially heavy, with Morse's thick riffs and Airey's raging Hammond fueling the hard driving rhythms from Roger Glover and Ian Paice. "Lazy" is pretty tasty as well, with Airey really showing that he fits in like a glove (check out his brief "Mr. Crowley" snippet during his solo keyboard segment), and the whole band seems to be really locked in and groovin' to the hot new track "Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye".
Despite Gillan's limitations these days (let's face it, the guy is getting up there in age) on some of the older pieces, he does manage to sound very good on the newer material, and the band itself is red-hot throughout this set, making it a must have for Deep Purple fans.
Track Listing
1. Pictures Of Home
2. Things I Never Said
3. Strange Kind Of Woman
4. Rapture Of The Deep
5. Wrong Man
6. Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye
7. When A Blind Man Cries
8. Lazy
9. Keyboard Solo
10. Space Truckin'
11. Highway Star
12. Smoke On The Water
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