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”
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