Reviewed! Deep Purple with Orchestra – Live at Montreux 2011

Deep Purple

Deep Purple with Orchestra – Live at Montreux 2011 (CD & DVD)

Eagle

Take Deep Purple in all of their splendid rock glory, add in one 38-piece orchestra, and you have the crux of Deep Purple with Orchestra - Live at Montreux 2011, though the new recording isn’t anything new on either front. The band has in fact performed a number of Montreux festivals during their day, even recording a few, and the band has performed in front on an orchestra as well (DP played a series of shows in the 1960’s with a symphony and in 1999 they played a series of shows at Royal Albert Hall). Still, on Deep Purple with Orchestra - Live at Montreux 2011 the band employed the help of the Neue Philharmonie from Frankfurt.

Leaning mostly on material from the early end of their catalog with early Deep Purple timeless favorites like “Hush,” “Smoke on the Water,” and “Perfect Strangers,” Deep Purple with Orchestra - Live at Montreux 2011 delivers time and time again, even though not every facet of the bands game in top notch here. Right out of the gates with the classic “Highway Star,” it’s clear that time has taken its toll on the vocal chords of frontman Ian Gillian as he struggles to hit the high notes, though he picks up the pace throughout the night a bit. The addition of the symphonic element helps Gillian’s cause, but it also consumes him at times as he gets lost in the shuffle, which can be both a good thing and a bad thing. And speaking of the symphonic element to Deep Purple with Orchestra - Live at Montreux 2011, Frankfurt’s Neue Philharmonie do a quality job adding another layer of sound to the bands classic material, most notably on songs like “Black Night,” “Woman From Tokyo,” and “Knocking On Your Back Door.”

Deep Purple with Orchestra - Live at Montreux 2011 is for fans and well-wishers alike, and it is honestly worth your while to get both the CD and the DVD, because it’s a night to behold for Deep Purple fans to be sure. Though there isn’t much bonus material to speak of outside of some interviews with the band, but it’s a sight to see the band performing with such a massive orchestra backing them.    

Grade: B

Listen to: “Woman From Tokyo”