Deep Purple: Perfect Strangers Live

It's safe to say that most hard rock bands from the last three decades would cite Deep Purple as one of their major influences. Along with Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath, Deep Purple defined the emerging genre of heavy metal in the early ‘70s. This live concert filmed at Melbourne, Australia, during 1984 was part of a self-proclaimed reunion tour to promote the album Perfect Strangers, a release that ended an eight-year hiatus for the band, who appear here in their seminal lineup with vocalist Ian Gillan, guitarist Ritchie Blackmore, drummer Ian Paice, bassist Roger Glover, and Jon Lord on keyboards. Along with the title track and other numbers from the then-new album—including “Knocking at Your Back Door”—the 14-song set features many early favorites, such as “Space Truckin',” “Strange Kind of Woman,” “Highway Star” and an extended sing-along encore of their signature anthem “Smoke on the Water.” While the ‘80s-era video quality is characteristically substandard, the audio—with DTS 5.1, Dolby Digital 5.1 and stereo options—is efficiently mastered, making the wailing, pounding, and crunching sound of this proto heavy metal band loud and clear. Extras include a behind-the-scenes tour featurette. A strong optional purchase. (T. Fry)