For most people, it seems that the Deep Purple Mark II line-up (Gillan, Glover) was their peak. For me though, although they always had some fantastic songs there were too many poor songs on the Mark II albums. 'In Rock' and 'Machine Head' are regarded as classics but I felt that 'Fireball' was stronger throughout. And I preferred David Coverdale's voice to Ian Gillan's. The 'Burn' album had some great songs (particularly 'Mistreated' and the title track) but more importantly it had no real fillers. So it should be possible to find a really good live album for this line-up. I don't think that 'California Jamming' fills that niche, despite the gig taking place during the 'Burn' tour cycle. The album only covers 7 songs: Burn, Might Just Take Your Life, (the 2003 edition apparently also has 'Lay Down, Stay Down', which is not on this release) Mistreated, Smoke On The Water, You Fool No One, The Mule, Space Trucking. But it still weighs in at over 73 minutes. Most of the new album is performed, with only a few earlier songs. So why don't I feel that this is a great album. Well, although Glenn Hughes' singing had not yet reached the extremes of soul singing that marred the 1976 tour recordings ('Georgia', anyone?), it is still harsh and jarring compared with the studio versions. And would you really want to hear 25 minutes of 'Space Trucking' instead of 'Black Night' or 'Strange Kind of Woman'? I know I wouldn't! To be fair there are little snippets of other songs hidden in the extended songs but still... If you really hanker for the days of Purple at their prime, you might be interested in this. But for me, this just gives the feeling that they were overly self-indulgent - at odds with their studio work - and makes me glad that I never saw them in the 70s. I've bought the album and I'm not getting rid of it - for now. I can't see that it will get played that often, though!Read full review
Great recording of a famous Purple performance at Cal Jam 74, a must for a Purple collection 👍🎶
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
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