Customer Reviews

Live at the California Jam

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

The infamous Deep Purple California Jam appearance in 1974 has
been sought after ever since it was recorded. In recent years,
three different sources of the concert audio have been released and this is the worst of the trio. It was recorded from the ABC-TV "In Concert" video, and sounds hollow and flat; as if it were copied with a Radio Shack tape recorder and a hand held plastic mike. I don't know what everyone else reviewing this miserable disc is thinking, but the only decent source for this show has been released as "Just Might Take Your Life ". It's the original 16 track remote truck recording, which has been well recorded and properly mixed, mastered. Yes, this is a damned fine performance..but ignore all the ignorant kudos here; it's the worst sound quality of three different releases. Get "JMTYL" !

I W~A~S T~H~E~R~E

Along with Rare Earth (great show), Earth,Wind and Fire, The Eagles (who use to be a great rock & roll band), Seal & Croft (who did get crowd going with some bluegrass type stuff), Black Oak Arkansas (Fantastic!!), Black Sabbath (In daylight? There went the Vampire's theory,lmao!!), Deep Purple, ELP.

Was a great day in Ontario History, being 16 at the time. Wishing Rod Serling would pop up and make this day last forever.

Almost 2 hours between Sabbath & Purple, the crowd was calm waiting for the sun to go down. (it was setting right behind the stage, so you couldn't see anything if you wanted to.)

At the moment the sun hit the horizon, BLAMO!!

(The New) Deep Purple came on with a power that everybody dreams of. When I first heard about the Video being available, I went hunting. Now that the CD is here, you have to get it, man!!

The sound is pretty good for a recording from "those days". And the picture (video) is fantastic. They left off LAY DOWN STAY DOWN, that they played that day.

As far as the Ritchie blowing up stuff goes? I was up front, saw the setting up for the KABLAMO-POW!! And the cabinet was empty of speaker's. So the cost wasn't that high,lol.

And as I heard later, the "camera guy" was the one raising hell about them going on stage earlyer. Rithie saw him and plaster'd the camera. I was about 20 feet from the action, so take it from me? There was a sheet metal cover over the lens, so the story's must be higher then the damage cost's. But when he put the headstock straight into the lens, WILD!!
But speaking for myself and the crowd. We were glad they waited, 'cause it was a hell of a show and a wonderful day. With the best talent of the day there. When ELP came on thay also gave a great show. So any rummer's about them being afraid to follow Deep Purple on is junk.

GET THIS, GET THIS, GET THIS, GET THIS NOW!!

the cd features twice guitar burning explosions what Ritchie Blackmore did on stage at the Ontario speedway 1974. DP was on the road with Black Sabbath, ELP, EAGLES at that time, and they headlined the show as the opener Heavy rocker.
a must for all DP fans like us. The video of this live album release is also available. do not miss the video...you can watch & hold your breath deeply, how powerful Deep purple was, and they are still until today!

Awesome show!

It's great watching (referring to video) Blackmore's tight reign on the band! He is definately in charge!

Three guitars is too much though. Watching him destroy three Stratocaster in a row - all I could think was - "No, please don't do it.... why?" Still I guess the crowd would have loved it.

Seems to be a big discrepancy between quoted audience attendance - is it 300000 or 600000??? I heard 300000.

Anyone know where to get the video? I have an old worn out copy and I want a DVD of the show if I can! Hopefully they'll release it!

The show itself is awesome and all of the songs are performed really well. Glenn Hughes was the man - makes you wonder why they even bothered with Coverdale who is constantly "outshined" by Hughes. Especially good is the slow blues solo by Blackmore during "you fool no one" and Hughes soulful singing during "mistreated"(?).

Get it, whatever format - Deep Purple Mk3 live at their best.

The audience of this DP Mark III show were almost 600.000 people in 1974. I have the video edition of this live cd..... the tracks like Burn, might just take your life, Mistreated and smoke on the water are immortal high class heavy rock songs. Ritchie Blackmore concentrated his anger to the ABC camera man, because he was to close to him,...and Blackmore's anger exploded the stratocaster amplifier and box, caused a huge flame on stage. I love Deep purple so much,...this cd is a must for all deep purple fans around the world.

deep purple MK III line up.
coverdale, blackmore, hughes, lord, paice at California ontario speedway 1974. the guitar burning explosion was a legend at the impromptu show at that time. the sound is good for live cd like this.
don't forget to buy the Video edition "california jamming 1974" after you have listened to the live cd. love & hughs yours deep purple dramatician & collector in wiesbaden

the strong talented singer David Coverdale and bassist Glenn Hughes who replaced Roger Glover and Ian Gillan back in 1973, are represented here in this cd. The final song "Space Trucking" features Ritchie Blackmore's anger to the ABC cameraman, who routinely followed him on stage at that time, soon later he explodes the guitar amps and brokes the neck of Fender stratocaster. Ritchie finally burned the giant speakers on stage and throwed away any broken things to the audience. The audience loved that act and enjoyed what Ricthie Blackmore did on stage at that time in 1974. The huge stage became a huge flame.......everywhere was on fire!

yes this terrific scene what I saw on the video "Deep purple Live at the california jam Ontario speed way 1974". It was the greatest Rock n roll show along with Woodstock festival I ever seen in my life. This cd is a soundtrack from the video. If you a big purple fan like me, you must love the whole set what Deep Purple ever done in 1974. BURRRRRNNNNNN WITH DEEP PURPLE !

I bought this disc out of curiousity and I wish now that I hadn't. This lineup has Coverdale and Hughes, and while Hughes is always cool(he could have easily done the lead vocals for the entire disc)Coverdale is way too raw for my ears. Either he was drunk/stoned/scared or he simply chose to sing that way. For me, the vocals ruin the disc despite the bands otherwise good but jam inspired performances. Sound quality won't win any prizes either. For the hard-core completist fan only.

Fortunately I just borrowed this from the library prior to buying it. Yuukk! As much as I like the band and the great performance, this has to be the worst recorded CD that I've ever played on my system. Someone at a record company was looking for some "money for old rope" with this one. Big dis-service to fine musicianship

yeah I know this cd soundtrack, and I also watched the video live of this one. The whole songs like Burn, might just take your life, Smoke on the water are timeless songs. The video version is still available, if you like Deep Purple. And I guess another DP fan from Konstanz Germany is right with his opinion. The things started into sour, as DP hit the stage. At the final song space trucking Ritchie Blackmore concentrated his anger at the end of the show to the ABC camera man, then he smashed his strat to the camera lens and burned the half stage and the amplifiers......the fire had almost blow him self on air! This cd is absolutely marvellous performance what Ritchie blackmore ever did in 1974. There were no bad songs in this album,....the Ian Gillan's replacement was at that time with David coverdale on voice. He had a capabillity and God knows how many good actions Deep Purple ever did that night. LONG LIVE DEEP PURPLE!