DEEP PURPLE : COPENHAGEN 1972

 

Disc One (78:17)

  1. Highway Star
  2. Strange Kind Of Woman
  3. Child In Time
  4. The Mule
  5. Lazy
  6. Space Truckin'

Disc Two (45:24)

  1. Fireball
  2. Lucille
  3. Black Night
    Bonus Tracks :
  4. Strange Kind Of Woman
  5. Smoke On The Water
  6. Space Truckin'
  7. 1971 Australian Interview

Label : Ear Music

Venue : K.B. Hallen, Copenhagen, Denmark

Recording Date : March 1, 1972

Release Date : 2014

Review (MikelaDano) : How many live albums are there from the Machine Head tour in ’72? I lost count, and I don’t really care. I’ll buy ’em all! Copenhagen 1972 represents Purple at their best, in their prime, playing their best songs. The difference is (there always is a difference) is that this is a particularly pummelling Purple potluck. As awesome as they were in ’72, it’s rare to hear them play as ferociously as you will here! This set was previously released by Sonic Zoom as Live in Denmark ’72 in 2002, but technology is constantly improving and it has been given a subtle sonic upgrade. With restored master tapes, the 2013 release is the definitive one, not to mention it has four bonus tracks over the previous Live in Denmark ’72. These Sonic Zoom discs seem to be re-released periodically, but these versions from the Deep Purple (Overseas) Live Series are in all cases the ones to own. “We got the telly here tonight, so we got to be good.” That explains how this show was recorded so well. The clown prince Ian Gillan is a dry unorthodox frontman when it comes to banter, and that’s why we love him so. “Highway Star” herein is one of the best versions of the song you will ever find. The non-album single “Strange Kind of Woman” follows, extended with Blackmore and Gillan’s interplay. Behind them, a constant presence, is the growl of Jon Lord’s Hammond. What a beast! Lord always tended to improvise on his intro to “Child In Time”, lending it different flavours every time it was played. The Copenhagen ’72 version has its own personality. There is a delightful quieter middle section where Jon gets to have some jazzy fun. Drummer Ian Paice gets his moment on “The Mule”, one of Purple’s most progressive rock moments from 1971’s Fireball. Paice, being outstanding through the whole concert, dominates this one into submission. It is remarkable how well recorded these drums are. Glover’s bass too, which has a shining spot in the mix. “Lazy” smokes just as hot, but it is “Space Truckin'” that has the honour of being stretched out for over 20 minutes. With the many live versions of “Space Truckin'” out there, I wonder how many sheer hours of this song that I own? This one is unique in its own right. The show continues on CD 2, with “a little bit of fun” called “Fireball”. With an extended intro I haven’t heard anywhere else before, this version of “Fireball” kills it. It’s immediately followed by “Lucille” which was a periodic Deep Purple encore back then. Simply incendiary, over the top, and blazing fast. The last song of the show is the old single “Black Night”: that’s right, no “Smoke on the Water”! I guess they just didn’t play it that night. Machine Head wouldn’t be out for another three weeks. CD 2 has four bonus tracks on top of this. The aforementioned “Smoke” along with more versions of “Strange Kind of Woman” and “Space Truckin'” are included, from New York in ’73. This version of “Strange Kind of Woman” is unusually funky; more like the Deep Purple Mk III that would emerge in 1974. “Smoke” is still fresh, but “Space Truckin'” surprises by being only half the length of the version on CD 1. It’s interesting to hear how the songs evolve from year to year. The final bonus track is a brief 1971 interview done in Australia. There is not much here; it’s just an add-on. It’s fun to hear them talking about the forthcoming new album, Machine Head.

Review (The Highway Star) : “Copenhagen 1972” is the second release of the earMUSIC “The official Deep Purple (overseas) live series”. While “Paris 1975” features Deep Purple MKIII in their final days, “Copenhangen 1972” captures the legendard Deep Purple MKII at the peak of their career. Same as the Paris show, Copenhangen isn’t a new release. The recording is basically the soundtrack to the “Live in Concert 1972/73” video (better known as “Scandinavian Nights (Live in Denmark 1972)” in Europe) and reintroduces three MKII bonus tracks of the video which were left out on the Sonic Zoom CD release. In addition to these tracks (recorded on May 29, 1973 in New York at Hofstra University, Hempstead, Long Island) a track called “1971 Australian Interview” has been included as additional bonus. The main show, recorded at the KB Hallen in Copenhagen, Denmark dates to March 01, 1972 and shows Deep Purple right before the release of the “Machine Head” studio album, Ian Gillan introducing the opening number “Highway Star” as “What we got is a new song. It’s one of the next album we got coming up. …”. While a couple of Machine Head songs made the first of their now everlasting appearances, the show also included a rare live version of “Fireball” which had been replaced in the setlist by “Smoke On The Water” about a week later. Originally recorded as a TV feature, the recording – although remastered – still shows some weaknesses soundwise, especially when compared to more prominent recordings like “Made In Japan”: during the first tracks, guitar and organ are low in the mix while while drums and vocals dominate the scene, but this gets better during the following numbers. Contrary to the sound the band performance shows no compromises. The bonus tracks, sound better than the Copenhagen show but sadly offer just a small part of Deep Purple 1973. The interview is ok for a one time listen, offering standard topics like the audiences being “really fantastic”. The discs are packaged into a slim digipak with one disc sitting right above the other which means disc juggling and some unavoidable scratches are going to happen every now and then.