Deep Purple Rises Over Japan

...but DAMN, Deep Purple sounds tired here. Clearly the band had come to the end of its tether. To this day the late Tommy Bolin is still being raked over the coals for replacing Ritchie Blackmore, and he does play a few (probably heroin-related) bum notes in this film, but he's not the only one. In fact, Glenn Hughes deserves most of the credit for making the band sound so ragged; his bass lines are indifferent and his shrieking vocals are downright terrible (he was capable of much better than this). "Rises Over Japan" was originally filmed for television, so it's short--just five songs. 'Smoke on the Water' is a little weak, but passable ("Frank ZAPPER and the Mothers," David Coverdale bellows in the first verse!). The faintly eerie 'You Keep on Moving' is probably the best number, and it's followed up by an okay rendition of the majestic 'Burn'. 'Love Child' features a great, sleazy cock-rock riff and a nice keyboard solo from Jon Lord, but the song wears out its welcome before it ends. The Mk. IV lineup of Purple concludes with a lackluster 'Highway Star', which leaves the viewer with no doubt as to why this version of the band is not remembered very fondly. Lord covers admirably for funky axeman Bolin on the classical runs of 'Burn' and 'Highway Star' (which Bolin could have played correctly, I'm sure, but Blackmore/Lord-style classicism just wasn't his bag), but even the veteran keyboardist sounds more or less uninspired. The only member who plays with any real conviction here is drummer Ian Paice. Bottom line: interesting if you're a hardcore Purple fan. Everyone else, avoid.

I think the performance is quite weak. Coverdale's vocals are false, Hughes tries to sing very high, but he destroys every DP classic. Highway star by Cov & Hughes is something terrible. When i first heard it, I nearly began to cry. How can someone destroy such a fantastic song??? Smoke on The Water is awful, too. Burn is quite good, but the studio version is MUCH better. Hughes totaly destroys this song, especially in the middle part: "You know we had no time, we couldn't even try.....", where he tries (again) to sing very high. It hurts my ears!!! Bolin's guitar is SUPERB. He's the one, who saves this crappy record. And what about Lord and Paice? They are great too....