855. Deep Purple / Locked in a Paper Cage [Bootleg]. 1987. 5/5

Way back in 1988, while wandering through record stores in the local area, I was perusing the massed basket of cheap cassettes at the front of one of these stores, and came across the live Deep Purple album Nobody's Perfect which had been recorded on The House of Blue Light tour the previous year. Brilliant! I didn't often buy cassettes, but I hadn't seen this anywhere on vinyl so I bought it. And it was brilliant, covering lots of great stuff from that album and Perfect Strangers that I hadn't heard live, as well as all the greats from the past.

After thousands of revolutions this copy died as all cassettes were wont to do, and I went searching for the album on CD. Unfortunately, the only version available at that time was one that had several songs removed in order to fit it on the one CD. While I still bought it, I had been disappointed and unfulfilled every time I listened to it, mourning the editing and lost tracks. Thankfully, in the early 00's, I came across this bootleg album. In all respects this is NOT a bootleg album. It is just a restoration of the original recordings as I remembered them, as well as adding other songs that were not a part of that original cassette I had bought, adding further great songs from that reformation era of the Mark II line up. So, in essence, it was an even better discovery than that original one back in the day!
Recorded live at Irvine Meadows in California on May 23, 1987, this album showcases everything that is great about Deep Purple in their live environment. You get the banter between songs between Ian Gillan and the audience, and Ian Gillan and his bandmates. You have Ritchie Blackmore play-acting throughout, throwing in his own flicks and flails whenever he feels in the mood. You have the places where he is allowed to express himself away from the basis of the song. You have Jon Lord doing a similar thing during his solo break. You have a great variety of songs from the two albums of the new era of Deep Purple, which all sound brilliant here. Songs such as "Perfect Strangers", "Nobody's Home", "Under the Gun" and "Knocking At Your Back Door" from the Perfect Strangers album are marvellous, and the selection from the touring album The House of Blue Light are just as terrific, with great versions of "The Unwritten Law", "Dead or Alive", "Hard Lovin' Woman" and "Bad Attitude". These are all mixed in with the living legends such as "Highway Star", "Strange Kind of Woman", "Child in Time", "Lazy", "Black Night", "Woman From Tokyo" and "Smoke on the Water". There's also the bonus that came on the original Nobody's Perfect album of the re-recorded version of "Hush" with Gillan on vocals, which I have always loved since its release.

As groundbreaking and timeless as Made in Japan is as a live album, I love this album just as much. It covers an era that is somewhat forgotten and bypassed in regards to Deep Purple. It was the reformation, and the band is on fire during this performance, covering both the first half and the second half of the great Mark II era. This records a significant moment in the history of the band. It was for all intents and purposes the end of this era, despite one final fling with The Battle Rages On... after Joe Lynn Turner's cameo for Slaves and Masters, and it is great to have this as a keepsake and memento of the greatness of this line up.

Rating:  Are you dead... or alive...  5/5