Mk III: The Final Concerts
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MK III: The Final Concerts is a live album released by Deep Purple, recorded during the band's 1975 European tour in support of Stormbringer. This double CD release is culled from the very last performances from Deep Purple MK III featuring Ritchie Blackmore before he left to lauch is new band Rainbow with singer Ronnie James Dio. The album features for the most part material from the last concert of the tour held at the Palais des Sports in Paris on April 7 1975, with a few tracks taken from two shows in Graz, Austria, April 3 and 4. It was released in 1996.
[edit] Track Listing
CD 1
- "Burn"
- "Stormbringer"
- "Gypsy"
- "Lady Double Dealer"
- "Mistreated"
- "Smoke on the Water"
- "You Fool No One"
CD 2
- "Space Trucking"
- "Going Down/Highway Star"
- "Mistreated"
- "You Fool No One"
+ Tracks from the Graz shows. All other are from the last show in Paris.
[edit] Personnel
- David Coverdale - Vocals
- Ritchie Blackmore - Guitars
- Glenn Hughes - Bass & Vocals
- Jon Lord - Keyboards
- Ian Paice - Drums
[edit] Trivia
- At the time of the taping of the shows, the rest of the band was unaware of Blackmore's decision to leave the band by tour's end. Managers decided to tape the last 4 shows (Paris, Graz and Saarbrucken) in order to have some product available for release in the event of the band splitting up.
- The Paris show (from which most of these songs were taken from) had been available for some time, albeit in different formats, before this release: some other names for that release include "La Derniere Sceance" and "Live in Paris '75".
- After the end of the tour, and facing the prospect of the end of the band, Jon Lord mentioned to the press the upcoming release of a double live set consisting of performances from the last European tour. However, as the band decided to carry on, the plans for the release were scrapped.
- In 1976, after the definitive breakup of the band, the single disc "Made in Europe" live album was released, using some of the material previously mentioned by Lord (from the Saarbrucken show), but apparently none of the material included on this release. "Made in Europe" was met with mixed reactions, as some argued that it failed to capture the energy that the band displayed live. Additionally, some resented what they felt was a healthy amount of studio editing.
- Blackmore's lack of enthusiasm, as well as band tension onstage, are fairly evident on some of the tracks: Blackmore unexpectedly looses his way on the intro for "Mistreated" and he seems totally surprised by Lord's solo on "Lady Double Dealer" (the studio version of this song lacks a keyboard solo).
- The alternate takes of "Mistreated" and "You Fool No One" on disc 2 are from the Graz show, and althought the liner notes mention "technical problems" on the Paris tapes as the justification for their inclusion, it is more likely that their inclusion has more to do with mistakes by the band.
- Strangely, the alternate take of "You Fool No One" lacks Ian Paice's trademark drum solo.
