![[hand]](/hs-pics/portraits/hands/gillan5.jpg)
![[face]](/hs-pics/portraits/faces/paice2.jpg)
Thunder in their brains
Here’s the original Deep Purple improvisation vehicle Mandrake Root, performed on November 14, 1970 for French TV show Chorus, and now all cleaned up and upscaled to HD by the latest wonders of technology undistinguishable from magic:
Thanks to steve4422 for reminding us.
Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing
The lads are definitely on something here. I have never ever witnessed so much hyperactivity from them before. Glover is going off big time. Gillan is off his face and even Ritchie looks a tad out there. Have to laugh at Jon Lord getting that chick to hold a note down on the keys for him. Keith Emerson used to use a knife to do that. Ha ha ha. that was worth it just for that moment, thanks for posting. Gillan’s vocal is woeful and I have always loathed how he overdid the screaming on that song. That is what youthful exuberance and certain substances can do at times and it was 1970 after all. Cheers.
March 23rd, 2025 at 05:21Deep Purple in rock ……infinite !!!
March 23rd, 2025 at 09:51I absolutely love this . It just blows my mind !
March 23rd, 2025 at 13:09Every version of Mandrake Root and Space Truckin ‘ I have is different, that’s what I mean about true improvisation and to me , what was the essence of the band and the performances that really made them legends ( not like today , when every solo is exactly the same night after night …might as well put robots out there ! )
I just wish we had more of these videos to marvel at …there are a few but, they’re all so heavily edited and incomplete.
They just kick as here!!! love it!!!!
March 23rd, 2025 at 13:44Well…..there you go. I enjoy all the incarnations of Purple and all though I don’t disagree with the previously posted critique it lessens it not at all. The energy and intensity are fantastic! Even more so as they seem to be having a lot of fun, not taking any of it too seriously evidenced by the audience member assisting on the organ and the smiling throughout the song. An avid fan since 1972 this is what it’s all about for me. Thank you for posting! ☮️🫨☯️
March 23rd, 2025 at 15:02I saw it just yesterday!
Lord and Paice’s performance was incredible, as was the wild wall of sound that Purple were able to develop on Mandrake root.
Blackmore and Lord were truly two monsters, unrivalled in technique and personality, in that unrepeatable golden age that was the early 70s.
March 23rd, 2025 at 16:38“Doing Their Thing (Live at Granada TV in Manchester in July 1970 Deep Purple had an exciting performance but 4 months later on French TV in Paris they were even better..is there any more footage from French TV besides these two gems? (Mandrake Root-‘Wring That Neck’)
March 23rd, 2025 at 18:36This completely blew me away. They were on fire to say the least. I hope the whole concert gets this treatment and then put on Bluray or DVD.
March 23rd, 2025 at 20:22Ivica
I suppose you have seen this ?
https://youtu.be/3c1v7WhKJoA?si=xRFpI4H5wPAPQ_8p
It’s the only other one I can think of …but so heavily edited ! Why oh why didn’t have decent management like Zeppelin had ? Then we would have so much more of this stuff
March 23rd, 2025 at 20:29@8 This and Wring That Neck is indeed “the whole concert”, it was not a proper gig but a TV show appearance with invited guests. Very nice to watch in this quality, I distinctly remember watching it on grainy VHS tape traded and copied among fans in the 80’s.
March 23rd, 2025 at 20:36@9 – thanks for that clip, a good one in it’s bits and pieces and one I have never noticed before. Ian Paice kicking the shit out of his drums at the end, appalling behaviour and they should have brought in a new drummer there and then. It seems that Jon Lord was the only gentleman in that band. From getting that lady to play the keyboards at that other gig to being the only member still onstage in this performance who hasn’t trashed his equipment. It is a wonder he didn’t have a cup of tea sitting on top of his Hammond. All good fun. I know what you mean regarding Purple’s management. Compared to Peter Grant, yes indeed. Although Grant was an ex wrestler and a larger than life individual, so he had no problems asserting his authority. I can just imagine Gillan and Blackmore being told off by Grant. They would be sitting there as quiet as a mouse and then behind the scenes saying ‘we have to get rid of this manager, who does he think he is’. Cheers.
March 23rd, 2025 at 22:37Mandrake Root as a composition does nothing for me, but the performance is spirited. It encapsulates what some people – not me! – hated about DP: endless soloing. 🤣 Or as various girlfriends of mine would observe over the decades: “Nur Gedudel!”
Wimmin …
March 24th, 2025 at 06:04That Stratocaster sounded so much better than his cherry ES-335.
Also: “We were never a drug band.” Sure. Pills aren’t drugs. 😂
Man, the French haven’t had this much fun on a virtual battlefield since out little weekend trip around the Maginot Line 1940! 🤣
March 24th, 2025 at 07:52@9 Steve
March 24th, 2025 at 10:42I know…an incredible performance band in London South Bank Queen Elizabeth Hall 1970 years . Mandrake Root in the studio the production on first album is raw..but this one in concert with new singer Ian Gillan (Oh my God ! he sang 1970 … Child In Time, Speed King, Gethsemane (i only want to say),+ hit single Black Night and Strange Kind Of Woman , what a vocal entrance into the music world !!!!!. Mandrake Root in concert an incredible mix, experimenting.. Hendrix (Foxey Lady), classics, jazz and psychedelic influences , later I found out the guitar riff was borrowed from -Bill Parkinson
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=syM7ogDgiwU.
“Mandrake Root”..Great stuff.
Blackmore, the ole pilgrim-hatted magpie! 🤣
March 24th, 2025 at 15:26Ivica
March 24th, 2025 at 15:41What a great comment! I had never thought of all those songs coming out so early …when you think of it , Blackmore and lord must have told him to let loose and scream like that …cus, he was never like that in Episode 6 …
Apparently Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice heard his performance on Child in Time …and that was it ..Jesus called !
They do seem to go into a lot of Hendrix jams in those early shows ..and other dittys…it was so exciting!
I’m pretty sure that Queen Elizabeth Hall was where the fan club had its convention in 1999 at the same time as the concerto reprise …Gillan actually came down to meet the fans and said something about the band was yet to do it’s ” Sergeant Pepper ” ….I was actually there but I had gone for a Chinese….and missed him ! Lol
@16 The 1999 convention was actually at the Imperial College, London.
March 24th, 2025 at 22:02Stathis
March 24th, 2025 at 22:17Don’t say you were there too !!?
I thought it was there …its quite near the QE2 place though , isn’t it ?
Did you see Gillan?
@ 6.12 Jon Lord doing his best in attempting to electrocute himself, or is he looking for that bottle of Cognac? These old live performances are a classic as the audience are literally on the stage with the musicians. My how things have changed from no (hardly) any security at all it seems to, well it isn’t worth mentioning these days is it. Everyone was so stoned back then no one probably knew any different. “What was that all about? Don’t know, but it was great”. Cheers.
March 25th, 2025 at 00:53Finally a complete MK II video performance of Mandrake Root… It’s like Christmas came early for me this year. 😄
March 25th, 2025 at 06:02@18 Yes, I was, the Imperial College is sort of close to the Albert Hall, and indeed I saw Ian Gillan, a very enjoyable afternoon it was, too. 🙂
March 25th, 2025 at 10:58Stathis …I can’t believe that …thats incredible !
I remember it being around the corner from the Albert Hall and I was actually talking to Simon and Anne Robinson ( from Darker then Blue ) …lovely people !
At the time , the Internet was very much in it’s infancy and they were loading up pictures of the Saturday night gig ( this was the Sunday Gig that I went to ) …and we all thought how wonderful this new Internet thing was !
For some stupid reason, I went for a Chinese down Knightsbridge …and when I got back …Gillan had been and gone ! ( I did meet him a few years later though )
Great gig wasn’t it ? With dear old Ronnie there too ..
Ps
March 25th, 2025 at 15:03I’m pretty sure Dave Gilmour and Paul Weller were watching it too
@22 Steve, I didn’t see David Gilmour, but Paul Weller was indeed there, and so was George Harrison, on the first night, the Saturday.
March 26th, 2025 at 16:32What an amazing couple of nights, truly unforgettable.
(BTW, Ann’s surname isn’t Robinson 😉
Hi Stathis
March 26th, 2025 at 20:09Oops, I didn’t realise that Simon and Anne weren’t a couple ( it was 26 years ago !) Actually, I’ve been asked to grant permission for some pictures to go up on here ( which of course I have ) …and there was the little booth with the computer in that they were showing us the pictures of Saturdays gig ( actually, you might even be in the picture …I’m not completely sure how this site works…I just know I email Nick with any info ! Nice chap he is too ! )
I was sooo lucky to get tickets for that because it was before the days of the Internet and the only way I found out about it was when Gillan and Jon Lord went on the Friday rock show with Tommy Vance to promote it ….I rang the RAH the next day and they had some tickets returned from members…who weren’t Purple fans ….and so off I went !
I didn’t know George Harrison was there too ! Oh My Sweet lord!
I found the interview on you tube the other day …I’ll link it up here …now, I’m going to look at my book of the gigs and get the DVD out tonight ….memories! Thanks Stathis…you’re a good chap
This was how I found out about it
March 26th, 2025 at 20:15https://youtu.be/ZBy6O4VCoBQ?si=oJzOsuRc-uWY6l9r
When I listened to my vinyl of LIVE IN CONCERT, assembling the 2 BBC broadcasts way back around 1980 I was immediately blown away by this song.
I was 15 , started my journey in 1977 and 5 years seemed a lifetime, so when the reunion in 84 happened it felt like I had waited for it all my life.
In 1980 I was well on my way but not connected with all the right sources, it might ve been OVER THE RAINBOW EN ZO , aka the Rainbow Fanclan that showed me the way , dont remember.
I thought htf have they waited 10 bloody years to release these gems.
Ow dear, and I hadnt see any video as well.
Maybe the Rainbow 1977 Rockpalast on vhs.
Deep Purple s CHILD IN TIME in those years were chosen number 1 for years in a row for the yearly list top 100 songs of all times.
Even then on tv it was cut short or boycotted.
So thats how I started to lay the foundation of becoming broke in later years, I bought a magazine just for a stampsize pic of the pic included…..
March 27th, 2025 at 19:39