Customer Reviews

Deep Purple: Around the World Live

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On June 17th, Eagle Rock Entertainment and its Eagle Vision label will release the new Deep Purple 4-disc dvd set called Deep Purple: Around the World Live. I just received my copy and I have to say that it is a beautiful set. Aside from the 4 dvd's it includes a book written by Classic Rock Magazine's Joel McIver, which is chock full of great photographs, many of which have never been seen before.

The set itself is a lavish, great-looking hardcover affair with two discs in the front, two discs in the back, and the 32-page, specially commissioned book bound in the middle. Packed with rare and previously unseen material, this 57 song, nine hour collection represents the ultimate Deep Purple video release.

The first disc is the 1995 release, Bombay Calling, recorded in 1995 in Bombay, India. Featuring the then-new line up of Gillan, Glover, Morse, Lord, and Paice, the newly invigorated band goes through a blistering post-Blackmore TBRO setlist. Although Purpendicular had yet to be released, they throw in "The Purpendicular Waltz" as a treat and it is a delight to hear! Included as a bonus on this disc is an eight song concert recorded in Seoul, South Korea in 1995 that features a short best-of setlist that includes "Child in Time."

The second disc is Total Abandon, recorded in Australia in 1999. Aside from another insanely brilliant live performance, this disc also includes the documentary film "A Band Down Under," which was originally sold separately through the DPAS.

The third disc is quite a tasty treat indeed! This is Jon Lord's farewell show, recorded at the NEC in England in 2002. This wonderfully emotional and fierce performance includes both Don Airey and Jon Lord sharing keyboard duties, with Jon handling special passages on his own. It also features the return to the set of "Child in Time," which had been absent at that point for a number of years. A bonus feature on this disc is a 2002 interview with singer Ian Gillan and bassist Roger Glover. This disc alone is worth the price of admission!

The fourth disc in this set is a documentary about Deep Purple from its inception in 1968 till current day. To date, there has not been a thorough documentary of the band committed to film. This disc rights that grievous error. Full of insights, performance clips, and interviews with band members, this disc is sure to please fans!

With four full concerts and a film-length documentary, this lovely set deserves a spot on the video shelf of fans and newcomers alike!

Brent A. Soileau
Deep Purple Hub

Brent Soileau's review admirably covers the content, so I won't repeat it here.

The 4 DVDs focus 100% on the Steve Morse Deep Purple. The crown jewel of the collection, the one that I don't believe any serious Purple fan can do without, is DVD 3: "Live At The NEC UK 2002."

The concert was a "Farewell To Jon Lord." On one hand, he felt the time to leave was upon him. On the other, he approached the band regarding options and the option available to him was "leave."

According to the EXCELLENT 34-page full color book by Joel McIver bound into this collection, Lord became road-weary and felt that he was no longer giving his all to night after night after night of "Smoke On The Water" in one town after another. Deep Purple has always been a working band, with emphasis on "working," so Lord sent a letter to the band asking if there was any way that they could take a year off.

The reply: "That's not how we see it."

So, for the sake of his own ambitions, as well as physical and mental health, Jon Lord amicably left Deep Purple.

During the NEC performance, Don Airey performs a keyboard solo. Fade to black. The lights come up, there's Jon Lord playing the intro to "Perfect Strangers." As hesitant as I am to offer "worth the price of admission" testimonials, this is like the part in "This Is Spinal Tap" in which David St. Hubbins motions Nigel Tufnel onstage at the farewell performance and howls "NIGEL TUFNEL, LEAD GUITAR!"

Seriously. When the lights come up and you see Lord, you'll know your money was well spent.

A quick look at the 4 DVDS:

DVD 1 (India, Seoul 1995): Deep Purple were still rolling the dice at this point (moving forward with the assumption that Blackmore fans would accept Steve Morse). The performances are "good," but I would also label them as "tentative." The first performance I've seen on DVD, prior to this set, in which the Morse Purple SMOKES, is Live at Montreux, 1996. To call the 1995 pre-Purpendicular band "hot" might be overly generous. You'll see the promise, but the band is clearly keeping one eye on the set list and the other on the audience reaction.

DVD 2: "Total Abandon Australia 1999"...No worries, mate! Morse passed with flying colors. Four years after "Bombay Calling" and "Live At Seoul," Mose makes good on his response to the question "How do you feel about filling Ritchie Blackmore's shoes" ("When he left the band he took his shoes with him," as Morse is quoted on DVD 4).

"Total Abandon" has been available for a while now in other formats. It's "new" to people who don't purchase imports (or who aren't Rhapsody subscribers).

DVD 3: "Live At The NEC" (the Jon Lord Farewell Concert): You're just going to have to trust me on this one. It's five out of five stars, period. The contrast between new keyboardist Don Airey and Jon Lord is evident, but what you'll see is the pure spirit of professional musicians passing the torch.

Personally, I wish the band had given Lord what he wanted (one year off). But Don is a pro, with an impeccable pedigree, and he fits into the band on a personality level. So the Blackmore-Lord Purple is dead...long live Deep Purple.

By the way...as has been custom on the previous Morse DVDs, the band re-affirms its pleasure in the wake of Blackmore's departure. No way of knowing how bad the diva behavior was unless you were a band member, but the overall take is "bad." Really, really bad lack of "team spirit" on Ritchie's part.

DVD 4: Sorry, Brent...I expected more here. This was a prime opportunity to see and hear a bit of the Joe Satriani transitional D.P., and what we get is a couple of slo-mo seconds of Satch making a "guitar face" through a voice-over. This isn't the documentary I've been waiting for. Not bad, but certainly not definitive.

"Around the World Live" is a great DVD collection as other reviews have already written, but one thing that really surprised me, was how much better "Bombay Calling" looked. I could actually see what was going on!

Of course it's also worth getting this collection for the 2002 concert, but if you were disappointed in Bombay Calling like I was, you'll want this DVD set for the major upgrade in visual quality.

You get three full concerts, a good portion of a forth, and an excellent and touching documentary about Deep Purple from 1993 through 2005 in this 4 DVD set. It's housed in a sturdy book with an informative and attractive essay.And it's fairly cheap, as well. What's not to like!

Unfortunately for Deep Purple, the 90's started out rough, with Ian Gillian coming back into the band and Ritchie Blackmore becoming difficult as only he could, culminating in "Come Hell or High Water". Those who have had the misfortune of seeing that concert DVD will know that the band was barely to function and their guitar player was cruelly cheating any paying customers. As a result, Blackmore was sacked and a replacement was needed.

After an extended period with Joe Satriani (barely covered in any official DVD or CD), Steve Morse was chosen to replace the unreplacable. And it is hard to imagine anyone doing a better job. More importantly, you can see the joy in the rest of the band's face as they can get down to the business of being the hardest rocking group on the planet.

The first disc has one complete concert from Bombay and most of another from Seoul, both from 1995. The happiness in the band at having a great guitar player who is game to push them into new areas is obvious on everyone's faces. Both concerts are 4 x 3 and in stereo, as would be expected from that date. Watching Gillian literally jump for joy as Steve Morse expertly slots in and out of the notoriously tricky solos is something to behold, indeed.

The second disc covers the "Total Abandon" tour from 1999. This may have been the high point for the Morse / Lord line-up, as Australia was psyched to have the band visit, and they were psyched to play. You can check this out in the 25 minute documentary included. There was also new material to add to their concert, which had grown very stale under Blackmore. The video is a very fine 4 x 3 and the audio options include 5.1 surround.

The third disc, "Live at the NEC" has the best technical aspects, being both 16 x 9 and with 5.1 audio options. It also is the most emotional, since it was the 'official' departure of long-time keyboard maestro Jon Lord. Unlike Blackmore, he gets sent off in great style and with great dignity. There is also the unedited interviews with Gillian and Glover that are exited on the last disc.

Which brings me to the last disc, which features an 86 minute documentary about the band, post-Blackmore. Much of the focus is on Jon Lord and his classical pieces, which were re-visited by the band around the end of the century. His retirement and replacement by Don Airey is featured. It's hard not to get a little misty eyed, and all emotions are laid out in the open, something unthinkable during the Blackmore era. It caps the set off magnificently.

All in all, a great addition to the Deep Purple video library. My only complaint is that there is so much material packed into it, it take a lot to digest it all!

This is a very good collection, though some are already released, you can get this without getting the single disc DVD editions like I did.

Deep Purple - Bombay Calling
same as the original DVD but with fixed up sound and video quality. Also contains the South Korean footage from 1995.

Deep Purple - Total Abandon
Also the same as the original DVD, contains the full concert & "A Band Down Under"

Deep Purple - Live at the NEC 2002
This one is new, it's Jon Lord's Farewell Concert.
This is a great show it also features Don Airey when he was new on Keyboards. There's a funny moment which is my favorite in this concert when Ian sneaks up behind Jon during Smoke on The Water and Jon jumps back since he doesn't realize he's behind him. His expression is priceless.
This Disc contains bonus interviews with Roger Glover & Ian Gillan

Deep Purple - Access All Areas
This is disc 4 of the DVD that contains a documentary of footage from the band.
They talk about concertos, touring and other stuff.
This is great value for any Deep Purple fan!

Deep Purple's Around The World Live DVD is an absolutely brilliant set for any sort of Deep Purple fan who doesn't yet own the constituent parts that make up the set. Deep Purple are often more remembered for their 70s output and this set is a welcome release for shedding a little more light on the band's excellent and underrated 00s/90's era.

Around The World Live contains their Platinum Selling 1999 concert DVD Total Abandon Live In Australia, as well as 1995's Bombay Calling with around half of 1995's Live In Seoul as bonus tracks and finally Live At The NEC England from 2002, which was the legendary farewell show for original keyboard player Jon Lord.

In addition to three and a half concert films, the set features a feature length documentary called Access All Areas, which largely covers the Steve Morse era of the band, with some talk of the band's history, some comedy interviews with Australian fans and footage from around the world.

The documentary is interesting but flawed, it doesn't have a strong narrative and while there are interesting sections, it flows badly and is more of a disjointed collection of sections rather than a well made complete documentary. It is certainly worth a watch but perhaps not worth getting the whole set over if you already own the concerts separately.

The DVD is housed in a fancy thick book style box, with linear notes and photos on glossy pages stuck into the actual box.

The actual concerts are all great; with good sound and fairly competent camera work and editing, with enthusiastic crowds and great solos from most members, especially the superb Total Abandon which is held in very high regard by most Purple fans.

The track listings are all fairly similar; with a lot of the band's most famous 1970's MKII material, a lot of the band's newer Steve Morse era material and then `Hush,' `Anya,' and `Perfect Strangers,' being the only material from the rest of their long and varied career.

Overall, Around The World live is an excellent set containing a large amount of material from Deep Purple's modern era, it is definitely worth your time and money. This set would serve as an excellent introduction to the band and is an especially worth purchasing if you enjoy Purpendicular, Abandon or Bananas.

Steve is the most amazing player I have seen. The sound of the band is better now that when the were in the groove.
Watch Steve work the volumne knob as he plays. Truely amazing

LOVED THIS, Deep Purple listen to me, need Roger Glover and Steve Morse to sit down on stage and play one of Rogers song`s fron SNAPSHOT the most over looked album EVER!