Artist: Deep Purple
Album: Perfect Strangers Live
Label: Eagle Vision
Genre: Classic Rock

This DVD contains video originally filmed in 1984 in Melbourne, Australia during Deep Purple’s world tour called the “Perfect Strangers Tour.” This tour was to promote their new album, also called “Perfect Strangers.” For the first time since 1973, Ritchie Blackmore, Ian Gillan, Roger Glover, Jon Lord and Ian Paice were together again, the classic “Machine Head” lineup.

There is a recent interview with Glover in the liner notes, where it is revealed that Deep Purple had to re-listen to their classic albums and re-learn the older songs. There is also bonus footage that contains press coverage from their world-wide tour.

They played with a no frills stage, with just their equipment setup. A few times the video seems to show motion trails, which is common in older recordings, but overall it’s very good audio and video quality.

The band came out and cranked out the classic “Highway Star” and went into the newer songs highlighted by “Perfect Strangers” and “Knocking On Your Back Door.” They closed out the concert set with a string of classics like “Space Truckin,’” “Black Night,” “Speed King” and “Smoke On The Water.”

On many occasions, they would start a song and go into an extended jam session and finish up the last part of the song.

Blackmore was a master on guitar, blazing on the solos. Lord had many chances to shine, especially during the improvised organ segments. The rhythm section of Paice and Glover were still in their mid-70s form. And you could tell Gillan sang with passion and had a great vocal range, the classic screaming was very satisfying.

This was not a greatest hits tour; it was a tour to promote their new album. They played a large amount of new songs and played some of their classics. It would have been a little bit better if they played more classics like “Woman From Toyko.”

This is the only concert film that exists from that era of Deep Purple. This DVD is a must have for all Deep Purple and rock fans.

TRACK LISTING
1) Highway Star
2) Nobody’s Home
3) Strange Kind Of Woman
4) A Gypsy’s Kiss
5) Perfect Strangers*
6) Under The Gun
7) Knocking At Your Back Door
8) Lazy (inc Ian Paice Drum Solo)
9) Child In Time**
10) Difficult To Cure
11) Jon Lord Keyboard Solo
12) Space Truckin’ (in Ritchie Blackmore Guitar Solo)
13) Black Night***
14) Speed King
15) Smoke On The Water
*Start of Side B of LP format
** Start of Side C of LP format and Start of Disc2 on CD format
***Start of Side D of LP format