Description
When Ian Gillan returned to Purple in the early 90s the band started to write and record the album The Battle Rages On. Neither did we know then that the title where very appropriate as there seems to have turmoils and battles within the band. This time it wasnt Gillan that left but Richie Blackmore and he was temporarily replaced by Joe Satriani. In 1994, Steve Morse took over the guitar slot (fresh from a stint in Kansas), and the revitalized group returned to the studio and started to work on their new album Purpendicular that would be released in 1996 and would be considered a success among the Purple faithful. However during the writing and recording the band did 2 shows in Florida on the 3rd and 4th of March of 1995. It wasnt part of a tour and they didnt have any album out and it also a fact that they didnt had that much of an American following at the time. But that didnt stop the band from doing these shows to warm up Steve Morse. Part of the reason was that the band had shows booked in South Korea, South Africa and India later in March and early April. This album features 10-tracks from the show at Sunrise Musical Theatre on the 4th of March. Its a good quality document of a very early Steve Morse show with Deep Purple. The set list is a mix between the one employed on the The Battle Rages On tour in 1993 and the ones that later appeared on the Purpendicular tour, the band even tries out three new tracks from the coming album, Soon Forgotten, The Perpendicular Waltz and Ted The Mechanic. The show is a fascinating insight into a band in a transition period. Steve is clearly still finding his way around the old Purple songs, and the set has a very interesting structure with The Battle Rages On early on in the set and the encores of both Highway Star, until now only ever a set opener, and Smoke On The Water. The real highlight here is the track Soon Forgotten. The song was only performed live during these two nights in Florida and at the first gig in South Korea. After just three dates the track was deleted from the set list and has never appeared live again after that date. This album also has another goodie up its sleeve; a fascinating 17-minute acoustic session from South African radio that the band recorded when they were on tour in South Africa in April that year. Only Steve Morse, Jon Lord and Roger Glover took part in this, Ian Paice being deemed too loud and Ian Gillan excusing himself with a frog in his throat. They went through interesting instrumental versions of Black Night, Child In Time, When A Blind Man Cries, Woman From Tokyo and a new song at the time titled The Highlander. This later evolved into The Aviator, but was a very interesting two-and-a-half minute workout in April 1995. A real gem of a session for Purple fans
Track list:
1. Fireball
2. Battle Rages On
3. Vavoom: Ted The Mechanic
4. Purpendicular Waltz
5. Perfect Strangers
6. Pictures Of Home
7. Anyone’s Daughter
8. Soon Forgotten
9. Highway Star
10. Smoke On The Water
11. Intro-instrumental South African radio session April 1995
12. Black Night-instrumental South African radio session April 1995
13. Child In Time-instrumental South African radio session April 1995
14. Intro-instrumental South African radio session April 1995
15. Highlander-instrumental South African radio session April 1995
16. Intro-instrumental South African radio session April 1995
17. When A Blindman Cries-instrumental South African radio session April 1995
18. Intro-instrumental South African radio session April 1995
19. Woman From Tokyo-instrumental South African radio session April 1995