Search - Deep Purple: History, Hits & Highlights '68-'76 on DVD

Essential Collection

Metaljim | Kansas USA | 03/16/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This should be the definitive Deep Purple video collection. Here's the tracklist:

Disc 1

Help (5:21 - Danish TV)
Hush (3:30 - Playboy After Dark)
Wring That Neck (3:20 - Canadian TV)
Hallelujah (3:42 - Beat Club)
Mandrake Root (12:08 - Southbank)
Speed King (4:13 - WDR Vicky Leandros)
Black Night (3:10 - Top Of The Pops)
Child In Time (9:36 - Doing Their Thing)
Lazy (11:06 - Copenhagen 1972)
Strange Kind Of Woman (3:55 - Top Of The Pops
Fireball writing session (silent) (3:58 - ABC TV Australia)
Fireball (3:26 - Disco ZDF)
Demon's Eye (10:09 - RBB Germany)
No No No (7:15 - Beat Club)
Into The Fire (3:57 - RBB Germany)
Never Before (3:29 - promo)
Highway Star (6:04 - Beat Club)
Smoke On The Water (4:47 - Hofstra)
Burn (6:35 - London 74 / Polytechnic Project)
Mistreated (10:24 - California Jam)
Love Child (4:20 - Tokyo 75)
You Keep On Moving (5:42 - Tokyo 75)


Disc 2

And The Address (2:55 - Playboy After Dark)
Wring That Neck (24:19 - Bilzen Jazz Festival 1969)
Wring That Neck (11:19 - Pop Deux' Paris 1970)
Mandrake Root (15:01 - Pop Deux' Paris 1970)
Black Night . (3:15 - Promo clip)
No No No (rehearsals) (15:00 - Beat Club)
Jt Nuit' French TV 1974 (3:08 - INA France)
Burn (6:35 - Leeds Polytechnic Project 1974)
Interview (Leeds Polytechnic Project 1974)
Space Truckin' (10:00 - Leeds Polytechnic Project 1974)
New Zealand TV Doc Nov 1975 (23:06 - New Zealand TV 1975)
Smoke On The Water (3:00 - New Zealand TV 1975)
Tony Edwards (DP manager) interview (2:11 - French TV 1976)

While some hardcore collectors will already own some of this, it's doubtful that even the most avid collector will already own all this stuff. This is the DVD collection that many of us have been waiting on for an eternity. Gathering everything out there would be an impossible task, but the folks behind this release have certainly done an admirable job in getting all that they're presenting here. If you're a Purple fan, this is the ESSENTIAL DVD release.

After viewing this several times, some minor issues have emerged. The track list is wrong for the Bilzen '69 clip. This 28+ minute clip is listed as Wring That Neck, but in fact is a compilation of Wring That Neck, the drum solo from Paint It Black and the closing section of Mandrake Root. A minor quibble, but they could have checked their facts a little closer. Other clips have been edited, at least from the ones I had on bootleg DVD and VHS tapes for years. Again, minor issues since the music seems to be intact for the most part. None of these should stop you from buying this however. Despite a couple of sequencing issues, this set provides an excellent overview of the band's musical development from 1968-1976."

Pretty good video anthology overall but lacking a bit

James Zinn | Kansas City, MO | 06/12/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Overall, a great introduction or video anthology of DP Mk1-Mk4 ending all too soon in 1976. It is like a good companion video disk of one of the boxed CD sets such as "Shades", or "Listen, Learn, Read On". Kudos for not repeating multiple performances of the obvious "hits" over and over.

I agree with another reviewer that they unnecessarily butchered the segments from the Mk1 performance in "Playboy After Dark" show of "Hush" and the instrumental. I already own the PAD set and thought it was cool enough but why edit it as they did here? They should have just included all of it in one contiguous segment. Ya wonder if Rod got kicked out of the band just for wearing those silly yellow pants, though.

The other Mk1 footage is a B&W lip synch of "Help" and a B&W low-fi/video studio run through of "Wring That Neck" which is an instrumental without Rod.

I found the Mk2 footage from disk 2 of "Wring That Neck" from the Bilzen Jazz Festival to be quite an interesting extended jam. Some may not appreciate this but anyone with a jazz or improvisational interest should like it. It was within the first few months of Mk2's existence.

Other highlights include the Mk2 footage of the Demon's Eye/No No No/Into The Fire/Never Before to be among the tightest video footage of live DP I've ever seen. Great non-hit performances showing with no surprise to DP fans, just how great a drummer Ian Paice is.

I don't get why the particular Mk2 performance of "Smoke On The Water" was the one they included on Disc 1. It starts out with Ritchie playing out of key, and then he looks bored and uninterested all the way through. Surely there was a better one in the vault.

Speaking of Ritchie, I noticed him smile at least 3 times during the whole disc set. Also, the interview with him in one of the documentary segments does shed some light about his personality and helps you cut him some slack, despite what we've all heard about him.

I admit, I'm not much of a fan of Mk3, so not much of my own personal interest in those performances.

I am a big Tommy Bolin fan, but there isn't much here to create sparks about his contributions to DP. The footage of the Japan performance is the same as the bootleg most DP fans already have of the Japan concerts, with him spinning around and not playing much or adding any value. What I did enjoy was the sparse interview footage of him to at least know what his normal speaking voice was like.

Overall, an enjoyable and expansive overview of the first decade of DP, but it would have been better to include some Mk2 reunion footage from the 1980s like "Back Door" or "Bad Attitude" but that's just my armchair opinion."

Almost perfect

Micro Ray Corp. | NY, USA | 06/05/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I just bought this and watched it 10 times and have found it being both an amazing set of rare tracks that makes this package one to buy BUT has some flaws that must be mentioned.
First Flaw which is a bad one - Disc 1 the song Hush. The beginning which Blackmore shows Hefner how to play guitar is cut out and actually begins when Hefner is almost finished talking to Jon Lord and then the song begins.
For some unknown reason- the Blackmore segment with Hefner appears on Disc 2 after the song And The Address, but get this- it's also edited.
It has Blackmore showing Hef how to play but when Jon Lord is talking to Hef about a house being haunted, it fades out and then Wring That Neck plays. Very bad decision on doing this.
Fault 2- Disc 1- Hush has roughly a 5 second fade out about 20 seconds into the song which is a mistake. There shouldn't be any fade outs.
Fault 3- in my opinion at the end of Disc2 - the interview with DP's manager should have been left off and something else put in its place.
There is much more rare footage out there that could have been put in. Besides these faults-overall this 2 disc set is worth buying.
The cleaned up Leeds Polytech section,the Mk1 videos Help and Wring That Neck,the New Zealand interview - a portion with Tommy Bolin is noteworthy."

A MUST FOR THE FANS, BUT SLOPPY PRODUCTION

T. Bien | Cabrieres D'Avignon, France | 07/19/2009

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Hi Hard Rock fan,

I shurly don't want to be too negative about this product but i have to explain why the H,H & H DVD is just rated 3 star for me.
There is plenty of remarkable good stuff such as:
Disc One:
The synchronised Made in Japan bit in the History part, The Help version of Mark I, The Fireball writing sessions, Demons Eye and Into the Fire Versions of The RBB-Berlin sessions! and Fireball from Ilja Richters DISCO and some interview bits, especially the Blackmore interview on Disc two is marvelous. The rest is already released on other DVD's such as Masters from the Vaults, Live in Concert 72/73, Machine Head and Live and Rare among others.
On Disc two:
Off course there are the wonderful first shots of Deep Purple Mark II in action at the Jazz Bilzen festival in Belgium! Although it's a compilation of 3 songs (W,T,N, Paint it Black and Mandrake root) and not just Wring that Neck as indicated, but still a Jewel.
The well synchronised Wring that Neck and Mandrake Root versions of Pop-Deux from 1970.
The "unphsycadelisized" version of No,No,No (as on disc one)complete from A to Z. The first Take is also worth having. Wonderful!!
And the Leeds Polytechnic Student Project is interesting, but it gives me the creeps looking at the immature behaviour of Glenn Hughes, but there it is.

Now the flaws:
As a hardcore Purple fan i wanted to have the Made in Japan immages which are recently found and partly included in the History bit, BUT WHAT DO WE GET??, indeed a never seen before shot of Deep Purple walking on stage on the first Gig in Osaka where Gillan says; "can we have a little more atmosphere on the lights please" as Highway Star kick's in. But there is a f...g voice over of an earlier Glover interview on Made in Japan and the worst of all the images are flicking from left to right in a kinda funny presentation...not funny at all!
Than there is finaly the version of Demons Eye, but they've found a version with a intermezzo bit of ignorant, nitwit german "fans" who don't like the Deep Purple thing at all and an overtiteling of producers, camaramen and so on. Horrible!!! On You-Tube you can find the full uncut version, so it is available out there and somebody didn't do his homework properly, what a shame.
How blunt can you be when you write on the cover that you have clips from NO,NO,NO from a ROCKPALAST rehearsal!!! Rockpalast didn't exist in the early 70's it just appeared in the early 80's! So don't be fooled, it is no footage of Deep Purple Mark II after the 1984 reunion, but it's the Beatclub Rehearsal Sessions recorded just before or after the RBB Berlin footage and the recording of the classic Machine Head Album. the producers must have been blind because the footage of No,no,no starts with a clipboard saying "BEATCLUB" Take 1/1....but OK. (Probably a selling trick)
Than there is the Burn cut on Disc one, which is exactly the same as the one on Disc two, they've better included the California Jam bit than having the poor sound quality version of the Leeds Polytechnical Student thing twice. And than finally track 13 on disc 2 should be a Smoke on the water version of Mark IV, probably the images are, but the sound is from one of the S.o.t.W. versions of the Made in Japan concerts......silly
The comments on the other reviews where helpful, and still i think it's a MUST HAVE, but they've could have done (much) better.
So: Geoff Barton would better have said; "Sit back, relax and enjoy the (bumpy) ride!!"

Theo Bien (France)"