Rating: 
Summary: STEVE MORSE HAS LOUSY VIBRATO
Review: It is blasphemy! Steve Morse butchers the songs with his funky off pitch string bending. He has the most horrible vibrato. If no one else notices it they need their ears checked. Steve Morse is left handed but plays righty which is the problem with his vibrato that cannot be ignored. Yngwie Malmsteen would be better fitting in Deep Purple but he is too into himself and his controlling other players to have joined this legendary band.
Rating: 
Summary: Deep Purple 30 yrs later !
Review: Nice DVD...starts out mellow, with guest vocalists and the orchestra with Jon Lord in charge. Concerto for Group and Orchestra kicks in, and is great. Differences in the '69 version for sure (which is worth buying, also). The group rocks out more..all original members except Blackmore replaced by Steve Morse who can handle the guitar duties great. would have been a great concert to have been at--they did it all.
Rating:
Summary: Not the old Deep Purple that I expected.
Review: Sorry, I am a fan of the original Deep Purple from the days of Ritchie Blackmore and "Made in Tokyo" live album, or Machine Head style of playing... if this is your expectations, this video of a more recent incarnation of Deep Purple will let you down. They are not the same group as the early 1970's Deep Purple. I am not a hard core Deep Purple fanatic that will blindly like and worship anything labled "Deep Purple". I want and prefer the original bands material. So this DVD was a let down to me. It may not be for you.
Rating: 
Summary: A little slow to start, but great once it gets going
Review: This DVD is from a 1999 performance by Deep Purple, along with various guests, including the London Symphony Orchestra. They probably should have called it "Deep Purple And Friends", for reasons that will soon become obvious. The show gets off to a slow start, with two ballads featuring Purple keyboardist Jon Lord on grand piano and the orchestra. The first, Pictured Within, has a singer named Miller Anderson on vocals. The second song, Wait Awhile, features Sam Brown, a female vocalist who has recorded several solo albums, and has also toured with Pink Floyd as a backup singer. Neither of these songs is very good, and are the primary reason why I'm not giving this release a five star review. After the dull opening, Lord and orchestra are joined by most of his Deep Purple bandmates, bassist Roger Glover, drummer Ian Paice, and guitarist Steve Morse, along with Ronnie James Dio. With this configuration (plus a few backup singers and violinist Graham Preskett) the group performs two Glover penned songs, Sitting In A Dream and Love Is All. These songs are drawn from Butterfly Ball And The Grasshopper's Feast, a conceptual work that Glover released in the mid 70's. It's interesting that the band would choose to spotlight such obscure songs, but I think in the end, these two songs are played rather well. Following this, Dio and Morse both leave the stage, and the remaining three members of Purple and Preskett, plus the infamous Kick Horns (who ruined many a classic song when they toured with The Who in 89) tear into the classic Purple instrumental Wring That Neck. I suppose if this was someone else paying tribute to Purple, I'd regard this as a great arrangement, but I was expecting to hear Steve Morse play on this track. Like I said, it's a good arrangement, and I suppose the band gets points for trying something different. After this, show the REALLY picks up steam, as they present Lord's Concerto For Group And Orchestra, a piece that Purple originally recorded in 69, and which hadn't played much since then, until circumstances brought upon the inspiration to resurrect the piece 3 decades later. So, what does the Concerto sound like? Well, it sounds like exactly what I had imagined it to be, ie a mix of an orchestra playing classical sounding music with the classic Purple sound. Some of the orchestral interludes seem to go on a bit, but I think in general, it's very successful in mixing classical and hard rock music. There's a couple bits during the second movement, where Ian Gillan sings, but it's mostly an instrumental piece. After the Concerto, the band performs a handful of 90's era songs, before ending the set with Pictures Of Home. The encore is, of course, Smoke On The Water, performed with the full cast of musicians, along with members of The Steve Morse Band and a second guitarist who isn't really identified (he's not mentioned on the back cover, though presumably his name is amongst those listed under the word "Guests" in the closing credits). Dio and Gillan trade off on vocals, and suprisingly, the orchestra, Kick Horns and even the back up singers (I HATE back up singers, what does a rock group like Deep Purple need back up singers for?) sound great. To those who demur at the idea of Deep Purple without Ritchie Blackmore, I might point out Steve Morse is a genius. He's had a long career playing with The Dregs during the 70's as well as The Steve Mores Band and Kansas during the 80's. He twice got so sick of the business of the music industry that he quit and took a normal job, but found the pull of playing music too strong to stay away from his first love. He does a perfect job at filling Blackmore's shoes. As I said before, the only reason I'm giving this DVD a four star review instead of five is because of the two boring Jon Lord songs that open the disc. I think it would have been better if they had started out with a few Purple songs, then the Concerto, then more Purple material to wrap up with. Maybe they could have stuck the songs the songs featuring Miller Anderson (WHO IS Miller Anderson, anyway?!), Sam Brown and Ronnie James Dio in the middle someplace, but I think it was a bad idea to start with them. Anyway, I think this is a nice release, and once they get into the actual portion of the show that features Deep Purple, it's fantastic.
Rating:
Summary: A little slow to start, but great once it gets going
Review: This DVD is from a 1999 performance by Deep Purple, along with various guests, including the London Symphony Orchestra. They probably should have called it "Deep Purple And Friends", for reasons that will soon become obvious. The show gets off to a slow start, with two ballads featuring Purple keyboardist Jon Lord on grand piano and the orchestra. The first, Pictured Within, has a singer named Miller Anderson on vocals. The second song, Wait Awhile, features Sam Brown, a female vocalist who has recorded several solo albums, and has also toured with Pink Floyd as a backup singer. Neither of these songs is very good, and are the primary reason why I'm not giving this release a five star review. After the dull opening, Lord and orchestra are joined by most of his Deep Purple bandmates, bassist Roger Glover, drummer Ian Paice, and guitarist Steve Morse, along with Ronnie James Dio. With this configuration (plus a few backup singers and violinist Graham Preskett) the group performs two Glover penned songs, Sitting In A Dream and Love Is All. These songs are drawn from Butterfly Ball And The Grasshopper's Feast, a conceptual work that Glover released in the mid 70's. It's interesting that the band would choose to spotlight such obscure songs, but I think in the end, these two songs are played rather well. Following this, Dio and Morse both leave the stage, and the remaining three members of Purple and Preskett, plus the infamous Kick Horns (who ruined many a classic song when they toured with The Who in 89) tear into the classic Purple instrumental Wring That Neck. I suppose if this was someone else paying tribute to Purple, I'd regard this as a great arrangement, but I was expecting to hear Steve Morse play on this track. Like I said, it's a good arrangement, and I suppose the band gets points for trying something different. After this, show the REALLY picks up steam, as they present Lord's Concerto For Group And Orchestra, a piece that Purple originally recorded in 69, and which hadn't played much since then, until circumstances brought upon the inspiration to resurrect the piece 3 decades later. So, what does the Concerto sound like? Well, it sounds like exactly what I had imagined it to be, ie a mix of an orchestra playing classical sounding music with the classic Purple sound. Some of the orchestral interludes seem to go on a bit, but I think in general, it's very successful in mixing classical and hard rock music. There's a couple bits during the second movement, where Ian Gillan sings, but it's mostly an instrumental piece. After the Concerto, the band performs a handful of 90's era songs, before ending the set with Pictures Of Home. The encore is, of course, Smoke On The Water, performed with the full cast of musicians, along with members of The Steve Morse Band and a second guitarist who isn't really identified (he's not mentioned on the back cover, though presumably his name is amongst those listed under the word "Guests" in the closing credits). Dio and Gillan trade off on vocals, and suprisingly, the orchestra, Kick Horns and even the back up singers (I HATE back up singers, what does a rock group like Deep Purple need back up singers for?) sound great. To those who demur at the idea of Deep Purple without Ritchie Blackmore, I might point out Steve Morse is a genius. He's had a long career playing with The Dregs during the 70's as well as The Steve Mores Band and Kansas during the 80's. He twice got so sick of the business of the music industry that he quit and took a normal job, but found the pull of playing music too strong to stay away from his first love. He does a perfect job at filling Blackmore's shoes. As I said before, the only reason I'm giving this DVD a four star review instead of five is because of the two boring Jon Lord songs that open the disc. I think it would have been better if they had started out with a few Purple songs, then the Concerto, then more Purple material to wrap up with. Maybe they could have stuck the songs the songs featuring Miller Anderson (WHO IS Miller Anderson, anyway?!), Sam Brown and Ronnie James Dio in the middle someplace, but I think it was a bad idea to start with them. Anyway, I think this is a nice release, and once they get into the actual portion of the show that features Deep Purple, it's fantastic.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent memento of a magical evening
Review: This DVD, filmed in September 1999, is an excellent buy for all Deep Purple fans. While not every single song they did at the shows is contained here (the CD has several extra tracks), it does contain the three most important: Movements I, II, and III of the classic Concerto for Group and Orchestra, first performed thirty years ago when Ritchie Blackmore was in the band. Here, Steve Morse does a wonderful job of replacing Blackmore, adding his own more modern style to the proceedings. Everyone plays quite well, and it's fun to see Ronnie James Dio and the other two guys from the Steve Morse band join in. It must be said, watching it makes me feel like I'm watching PBS, what with the orchestra and all. But even the most heavy of hard rock fans will realize that it is Deep Purple's night to shine.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting
Review: This is a single disc DVD, taken from two nights. The running time is two hours. There is also a double CD version of this show that contains 3 more tracks. Video and sound quality are excellent. There is an option for stereo or 5.1 sound. The only special feature is printed words (not even a video interview) from Jon Lord explaining how he wrote the concerto. The first songs of this show do not include any members of Deep Purple. It is the orchestra and guest vocalists doing some of the more recent Deep Purple songs. They are actually very interesting and sound better than the original studio versions. Members of Deep Purple slowly join in the act. Finally when Ian Paice comes for Wring That Neck, the group is complete. The version of Wring That Neck is excellent. It is done as a quasi-blue grass number, but supported by an orchestra. After Wring That Neck, the group goes into Concerto For Group and Orchestra. It is 55 minutes long. It is not much different than the original, except for some Steve Morse guitar solos. If you already have the original, this new version is not different enough to warrant buying this DVD. On the final four tracks, Deep Purple comes out front, with the orchestra now in the background. There are some very nice guitar solos from Morse. Most of this DVD consists of newer songs. Wring That Neck, Smoke on the Water, and Concerto are the only classic songs included. Deep Purple started out as a pioneering cross between a progressive/art rock band and a hard rock band. Jon Lord was the leader and led the band in more an art rock direction. After 3 albums, they kicked out the original singer and bass player and replaced them with Glover and Gillian. Lord has his final art rock production, Concerto for Group and Orchestra, released in 1970. It wasn't the first time a rock group was backed by an orchestra, but it was the first for a hard rock band. This album did not do well, and that was the last of Deep Purple's experiments. After that, Ritchie Blackmore became more of an influence and the group moved to harder rock sound. My favorite Deep Purple studio albums are the first three and In Rock, when they still had the progressive and innovative sound. But, they were their best live, on albums like Made in Japan and Live and Rare.
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