Made in Japan

I received a Promo "Made in Japan" and here are some thoughts and facts:
The second cd contains:
-Black night. 06:17 Tokyo 17th August
-Speed king. 07:25 Tokyo 17th August
-Lucille. 08:03 Osaka 16th August
The encores : They played 'Black night' all three concerts. 'Black night' from august 15 is on CD 1 'Live in Japan' , from August 16 is ....nowhere... . from August 17 is on this new cd and on 'Powerhouse' and on the b-side of 'Woman from Tokyo'.
'Speed king' was done twice. During the first and the third show. 'Speed king' from August 15 is on cd 3 'Live in Japan. 'Speed king' from August 17 is on this new cd and this version alone is worth buying the cd , it's great. There's something happening in the audience during the song and Ian Gillan shouts : "Come on you mothers sit down let the people enjoy themselves" he keeps on shouting : Hey hey !" There are some noises and the audience cheers. Jon Lord and Ritchie Blackmore are terrific and Blackmore makes his guitar sound like a machine gun , like a power drill , like a collapsing wall , like....well anything but not like a guitar. Marvellous , fantastic. This is what Deep Purple is all about , it's so energetic.
The third encore 'Lucille' was played only once , in the second Osaka show on August 16 to be precise. It's not on the 'Live in Japan' 3 cd because , as Simon Robinson writes : "The band sound pretty knackered - stick with the version on 'In Concert' " , although that maybe true I think this version has it's moments. The band is taking some time before they actually start playing the song , it's not until 2:58 min/sec that Ritchie starts playing the riff. On 4:02 there's a strange sound , as if there was something wrong with the tape.
This second cd with the encore's is great although it's a pity the missing 'Black night' is not here.
'Made in Japan'can not be missed in the '25th Anniverasry' series , it's a milestone in Purple's history. Ofcourse we do have the "Live in Japan" 3 cd , but no 25th collection is complete without 'Made in Japan" ,the first cd offers nothing new , but the music is still great , the sound is fantastic , it's Deep Purple at it's best so ENJOY !

Hans van der Meiden
"Hard Road" Dutch Deep Purple fanzine
Branding 38
2201 WV - Noordwijk
The Netherlands