Customer Reviews

King Biscuit Flower Hour Presents in Concert

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This cd is a similar album like "On the wings of russian foxbat live in california 1976".
This one is a US American released, and the booklet was written by Bruce pilatto and another one is a British european repackage pressing, the booklet was written by Simon Robinson (DPAS)

if you already have bought another one, please keep away from this one! the cd's have the same song and set! featuring Tommy Bolin on guitar.

this album is the same album as On the wings of Russian foxbat 1976,..if you already owned another one,..please keep away from this one,..the same concert and the same songs... On the wings of russian Foxbat is European released cd 1995 In concert is US and canadian released cd 1995 cheers

Crank up the volume, break out the platform shoes, and put on a black t-shirt reading either "The Ultimate" or "Wild West Clothing Company" for this fabulous 2-CD set recorded early in 1976 on Deep Purple Mark IV's tour of America! It just rips Last Concert In Japan to shreds. After a rough start in the East, the Bolin/Coverdale/Hughes/Lord/Paice lineup hit the States in early 1976 and played some decent shows; the Purple magic was back even if Blackmore was gone. Sadly, when the hit the UK in March, the problems began again and then it was all over...but on February 27, 1976 it was time for DP to rock the mutha------' house! CD 1: 1. Burn--everyone in the band is clearly glad to be off the bus tonight. Bolin's rhythm work is turned up in the mix, far different from the Japan album. His solo exhibits his fusion-y side. Coverdale and Hughes sound just okay here. 2. Lady Luck--a song about a lady who sells herself for money (own up, gentlemen, we love 'em, intones Coverdale). Very tight and punchy, great slide guitar solo. Oww! 3. Gettin' Tighter--here Glenn Hughes comes to fore in a version much longer than the album. Hughes and Bolin do some great guitar-and-bass duelling which gets funky at times, before they launch into that "You got to dance, to the rock-n-roll" riff/jam which we'll soon get to here in abundance on the June 1975 California rehearsals CDs. Perhaps funk was not what DP was about, but here it's just too fun to criticize. 4. Love Child-here Bolin gets to interact with Lord in a slower funk groove. Much better than the LCIJ version. 5. Smoke on the Water--not the highlight of the album, but a decent rocker nonetheless. Towards the end Coverdale improvises on Bad Company's Wild Fire Woman (I start to shiver an' shake, I just can't wait), and then everything quiets down so Glenn can sing an ear-piercing version of Georgia On My Mind (take that, Michael Bolton!) Again, not very Purple-like, this gospel ballad, but oh well... 6. Lazy/The Grind--perhaps Lord's solo which begins it is overly long, but he gets to do some neat sci-fi effects I've never really heard on any other '70s Purple live set. Then the rest of the band comes in, and Coverdale and Hughes trade the vocals off quickly, leading up to one of Paice's best drum solos (although I haven't mentioned little Ian til now, rest assured he plays as good if not better on this whole album than anywhere else). When the band comes in, they do some of Tommy's solo tune Homeward Strut (NOT The Grind, as the notes claim). It sounds pretty cool, especially since Lord gets to jam on it. CD 2: 1. This Time Around--I don't like it as much as the album version, but the soloing at the end is pretty intense. 2. Tommy Bolin guitar solo--Here Tommy gets to stomp on his echoplex and do a little delay/overdub work to the delight (or is it chagrin?) of the audience. The audience seems to be heckling him a bit. By the way, does anyone else here think some of his licks here sound kind of like Ace Frehley's? 3. Stormbringer--the most powerful version ever. YES, even better than live versions with Blackmore. Everyone is just slamming into this one. Then comes a breakdown where Coverdale starts improvising to the tune of Sly's "Thank You For Lettin' Me Be Mice Elf Agin." When the power chords come back in, it's as doomy as anything by Sabbath or Pantera, and Coverdale's final scream towards the end rivals the one he does in Whitesnake's "Still of the Night." 4. Highway Star/Not Fade Away--decent version, similar to the one on LCIJ. Bonus Tracks (recorded at a different show on the same tour): 1. I'm Going Down--Coverdale and Hughes display some rather racy language from here on out, so send the kids to bed. This version is just okay, not quite as good as the one on the Final Mk. III Concerts. 2. Highway Star--see above. 3. Smoke On The Water--not as good as the version on disc one, but still better than LCIJ. 4. Georgia On My Mind--Glenn once again tries to shatter glass with his Stevie Wonder meets Rob Halford vocal tones. Whew...what a live disc. Yes, Mk. IV could play some great shows when they laid off the sex and drugs and concentrated on rock and roll!

For fans of Tommy Bolin in Deep Purple this release comes as a godsend. For fans of the the Blackmore Deep Purple this release comes as a chance to hear the man fill in what was claimed to be unfillable shoes. This concert isn't the band at it's finest nor was it going to win over hard-core Blackmore fans who saw the show. This concert is however showing Tommy Bolin in top-notch form and his playing is steller throughout the entire show. He plays the older Purple songs with the same charisma as the newer material off "Come Taste the Band",the album the band was touring behind. For the rest of the band Jon Lord and Ian Paice never let you down as they are the two mainstays in this rock n' roll machine. Glenn Hughes voice hits notes into the atmoshere and at sometimes it's almost annoying. Finally, frontman David Coverdale sounds tired and going up agains't Hughes doesn't make him sound like he's the lead vocalist anyway. But don't be discouraged by this, the band present themselves in rare jazz-funk-fusion form due in large part with the addition of Tommy Bolin. A rare opportunity to hear since no other incarnations of this band ever pulled this off. Highlights include Gettin' Tighter in all of it's jam packed funk glory. Tommy and Glenn are inseperable throughout this track, Glenn singing his heart out and Tommy playing his heart out. Smoke on the Water, just hearing someone other than Blackmore will give you shivers. Other highlights include the opener Burn, Lady Luck, Strombringer, and Highway Star. All-in-all a terrific show. The band is laid back and Tommy Bolin shines all over. A must own for Tommy Bolin fans, and other Purple finds will find out that Tommy was the man who could do the impossible...replace Mr. Blackmore.

I had read that Purple with Tommy Bolin had some added dimensions like funk and R&B. Nothing against Blackmore, but this live CD was very refreshing for me - I normally tire of Purple after a while, but I listened to this one the whole way through the first time - and then listened to it again. It's a step forward in stylistic terms, and brings more to the table then sheer volume, but it's still Purple. Mark 2's accomplishments were legendary, but it's good that they tried something new even if it wasn't a commercial success.

I didn't give it 5 stars since the old songs were sung better by Ian Gillan - Coverdale is just as good a singer, but his style is a little different.

While not nearly as bad as "Last Concert in Japan," this album fails to, in my opinion, solidify Deep Purple's live reputation. This features the Mark IV lineup which lasted for one album and tour after Ritchie Blackmore's departure in 1975. The studio incarnation of this lineup is fabulous on Come Taste The Band, but the live version is a bit too undiscipled for my taste. Purple Veterans Jon Lord and Ian Paice sound excellent as always. The songs are solid, as well. With the classic Purple lineups, the jams always took you to the edge of chaos before bringing you back -- much like a musical thrill ride. This release takes you into chaos at points and leaves you there. Coverdale's vocals sound a bit off in places, Glenn Hughes does way too much caterwalling, and Tommy Bolin is not up to the form he displayed while with Zephyr and on the Billy Cobham album. The dictator, Blackmore, would have never stood for much of this. Despite its flaws, this album has bright points, including "Stormbringer" and "Getting Tighter." If you are a Mark IV fan, then this album provides a much better document of the live show than Last Concert in Japan and you should get it. Otherwise, stick with the other purple live LP's.

let's give credit to where it is deserved, ok?
enough of these childish bolin bashing.
tommy bolin is not ritchie blackmore, anymore than trevor rabin is steve howe. thus, to expect a lead guitarist of such individual calibre as bolin to simply imitate blackmore would both be an insult to tommy , and ritchie.
if you listen carefully to this album without expecting ritchie to come jumping off the stage with his gattling gun solo, you will find that there is a lot of tasty guitar from Mr. Bolin.
granted , the cat squeal of glenn hughes is a bit irritating, but he was trying to upstage david coverdale.
still, the band plays as a band. tight, with ian paice and jon lord at the helm, holding up the ship like 2 great captain driving this deep purple through one storm of a live gig.
drugs, booze or whatnot; those garbage that continuously suck
the talented life blood of these hard-working but unfortunately weak-willed artists;
and hopefully future artists will learn from this, never to mix junk with music. to sum it all, if you are still so pig-headed about sleeping with ritchie blackmore and his strat, then you are going to be hating this entirely different purple music with bolin. however, if you keep an open mind and judge an orange for an orange,(not an apple for an orange),then this is the juiciest orange you can get out of a bunch of purple people.
get it? 'nuff said.

the best performance ever made with Bolin on string guitar,...much better than Last concert in Japan 1975,...the short life of the band's career caused the DP fans all over the globe very sad,...especially In the USA,....the band became a big nostalgia, because the Mark IV disbanded in 1976,..it was DP tired hours...need I say more??

1975/76 wasn't Purple`s finest hour. A shame, that „Last Concert in Japan" was ever released (albeit only in Japan and the States). However, „In concert" (or „On the wings of a Russian Foxbat" at it is named in Europe) is a good chance to witness some brighter moments of the Mk 4 incarnation. On these good early 1976 recordings Blackmore replacement Tommy Bolin is for once in relatively good form and delivers some stunning guitar work at times (though his lenghty guitar solo on disc 2 is rather unnecessary). Sadly David Coverdale can't keep up with that: his voice is in very short supply. Glenn Hughes suffers from his cocaine addiction but together with Bolin makes it for a stupendous 13-minutes version of „Getting tighter". Drum fanatics will be exited by the frantic Ian Paice solo in „Lazy": Even rating „world class" seems to be an understatement. It certainly makes this one worth buying for these two facts alone but there are also solid versions of „Going Down" and „Stormbringer" as well as 4 selections from the often overlooked „Come taste the band" album (with a great Jon Lord solo in „Love Child") and one from Bolin's 1975 solo album „Teaser". So in many terms „In concert" is certainly a different Deep Purple live album. It's nothing for Made in Japan purists but for all the rest simply a must have.

The guys can play that's for sure and tho Tommy Bolin isn't Ritchie Blackmore he makes some nice contributions to this album. Ian Paice and Jon Lord do what they do very well. However the singing is atrocious and detracts from whatever interest the instrumentation might engender. Dave Coverdale is out of tune and straining exactly as many times as he is singing well. A 50% rating of "good" is not. But the worst is Glenn Hughes whose R&B cliches and screachingly high pitched vocals get on my last nerve. That pseudo funk/r&b direction Hughes favors did not work in my opinion for the band. For example Hughes for reasons known only to himself inserts a cover of Georgia in the middle of Smoke On The Water and then proceeds to oversing it as only he (and Michael Bolton) can. That alone my friends was enough of a WTF?!? moment for me to pitch this cd in the resell pile. What a tasteless bozo, no wonder Ritchie Blackmore left after the lackluster Stormbringer album.