DEEP PURPLE : RITCHIE'S BLUES

1. Kneel and pray
2. child in time
3. mandrake root
4. wring that neck
5. richie's blues
6. paint it black

Label : Living Legend

Time : 54:49

Venue : Paradiso, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Date : August 24, 1969

Quality : Soundboard recording (A-)

Review (Teemu Saukkonen) : This is the earliest surviving Mark II live recording available, and of very good sound, too. Only problem is that Ritchie's guitar is missing during the first half of the first track, probably due to sound problems. Kneel And Pray is an early version of Speed King with different lyrics. Ritchie Blackmore (guitar), Ian Gillan (vocals), Jon Lord (keyboards), Roger Glover (bass), Ian Paice (drums).

Review (The highwaystar.com) : Considered to be the best sounding Paradiso boot, this is considered to be one of the essential Deep Purple boots, as it's the earliest known MKII performance in existence. Ritchie's Blues is infinitely better than Crash Landing. It's a superb look at early MKII, and surprisingly clear considering the age of the recording. Mandrake Root is cut shortly into Lord's solo and fades out, but other than that it's a fantastic show. Kneel And Pray shows the band had a fairly clear vision of what they wanted Speed King to sound like from the beginning. A little fine tuning on the lyrics and a tightening of the arrangement and a year later it appeared on In Rock in all it's manic glory. It's kind of odd hearing the band play a blistering set and not hear any audience response though. Gillan makes reference to the nice smell coming from the audience, so apparently the crowd was pleasantly sedated.