This live recording, made in 1975, comes from
Ritchie Blackmore's last three concerts with the band before leaving to form
Rainbow. It features
Deep Purple Mark III, with
David Coverdale on vocals and
Glenn Hughes on bass and vocals.
Coverdale is a convincing hard rock singer, though he lacks the winning quirkiness of
Ian Gillan, while
Hughes is a busier and more up-front player than
Roger Glover. While "Burn" and "Mistreated" are worthy successors to previous
Deep Purple tunes, the remaining material is weaker, and overall, this stuff is definitely a couple of notches below the glory days of
Made in Japan. But
Blackmore, for his swan song, still manages to inject a good deal of excitement, and his invention and fire raise the proceedings up somewhat. ~ Stephen Raiteri