Back in 2013 Deep Purple finally and I mean finally released a live document from their 1984 Perfect Strangers Tour! Perfect Stranger’s the studio album is one of my all time favs! There is not a dud track on that studio album as the Purple Boys set aside their differences and smashed out a classic that still resonates today with many!
Perfect Strangers Live Tracklist:
01. Highway Star
02. Nobody’s Home
03. Strange Kind Of Woman
04. A Gypsy’s Kiss
05. Perfect Strangers
06. Under The Gun
07. Knocking At Your Back Door
08. Lazy (including Ian Paice drum solo)
09. Child In Time
10. Difficult To Cure
11. Jon Lord Keyboard Solo
12. Space Truckin’ (with Ritchie Blackmore guitar solo)
13. Black Night
14. Speed King
15. Smoke On The Water
How’s that for a set list?
I will say that the first 7 tracks are awesome as there’s a mix of old Purple and a great mix from Perfect Strangers (studio album). Considering it was the start of the tour (in Australia) the song’s come across real good and better yet when there are glitches like singer Ian Gillian sounding a little hoarse at times not doing his patented wails. That’s alright as it’s 100% Live!
Ritchie Blackmore is a man possessed on this album. He has to be the King of Live Improvisation as his end of the song soloing is off the rails especially on tracks like Gypsy’s Kiss and Under The Gun. Blackmore lifts off here Folk’s! Speaking of which Gypsy’s Kiss I posted a clip of and Just watch at the end….He’s on a whole other planet! Ritchie man ..hahaha….whoever was his Guitar Tech back than should write a book about the Man In Black!
Course with Purple you get the expected solos. Drummer Ian Paice. Keyboardist Jon Lord(RIP) and of course Ritchie all get there moments in the spotlight. Bassist Roger Glover during the songs keeps it all together with his straight ahead bass lines.
Purple take a stab at Ritchie’s old band Rainbow’s tune Difficult To Cure which I guess Ritchie probably demanded as Purple could have easily done any song in the catalogue but I guess what Ritchie wanted Ritchie got in keeping a happy ship for at least a few years anyways!
This another Warts N All Live Album….what you hear is what you get!
Great Buy!
deKe's Vinyl Reviews & More... 
Great release. Only listened to it once though… but watched the DVD a few times.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Totally ruff around the edges this one….but so cool! Interesting they would film at the start of the tour ..still though it’s awesome!
LikeLiked by 1 person
They probably wanted to film it early on while they were still all friends haha
LikeLiked by 2 people
Fairly new to Deep Purple, but I get this joke! Yas!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Also, there was the Knebworth ‘Absence of Pink’ live album from this tour too! If it’s still in print it’s worth getting Deke.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Actually I got a copy on cd that a friend gave me! That too is a good one but I found the sound was a little off at times being a Boot of course. Still though it held me over to this one…..
Must add that this is my Fav period of DP so you”ll be able to sleep better tonight knowing that Scott! Haha
LikeLiked by 1 person
I will thanks haha! Knebworth is more boot-y but I like the atmosphere of it.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I was chatting with a colleague about Gord Sinclair recently – those bassists really are the glue, integral in keeping the whole operation together, like you said Deke with Roger Glover here.
And I love watching hockey players when they’re described as a ‘man possessed’ – so I’d be keen to see Blackmore’s performance here.
Warts & All live albums are my favourite kind Deke!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Watch the video Geoff…Blackmore is in the Zone….well some kind of Zone!
Its true about Bassists being the glue esp a guy like Sinclair during Downies rant on Killer Whale Tank. Sinclair/Baker/Langlois/Fay jus clock it up and play it so cool while Gord goes of the rails…
Great call!
LikeLiked by 1 person
That Blackmore can play, huh?
LikeLiked by 2 people
Oh yeah can he ever….Just love his Loose Cannon style Mentality of Riffing. I’m sure each show was different as Him and Lord just take it o another level…
LikeLiked by 1 person
Not as good as me. Pfft.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Thanks so much for sharing!
LikeLike
Holy crap, I NEED THIS. Like, yesterday. YESSSSSSS!!!
LikeLike
Hey Deke! Yeah I wondered about Difficult to Cure myself. I don’t know if I’ve ever heard why they played it. Sure it makes sense for Blackmore to have a big showcase jam tune…I don’t know why they chose that. I can’t remember if Gillan said anything about it in his book. I know that the band were on all time good relations during Perfect Strangers so I’m guessing that the band didn’t mind that much. Just a guess on my part!
Of course later that all went to crap!
LikeLike
Yeah man it went to crap real quick…..
LikeLike