Can we have everything louder than everything else?

Deep Purple - Made in Japan - 1972

As I mentioned a couple of days ago, for me live albums are really hit or miss, and they're miss most of the time. When they don't have poor sound, they sound too artificial, or fail to capture what it really must have been like to be there.
Well, none of the above apply to this album.
This is one of the classic albums in the history of live music, and well deservedly so. Recorded over 3 days, it manages to capture the band at their absolute peak, both musically and, I think, in the way they interacted with each other. This seems to be a band that not only knew what they were doing musically, but were getting along great and having a lot of fun. Well, maybe they were not having fun, since history has it that they were already having problems, but sure as hell it sounds as though they were having fun and, ultimately, that's what counts.
Musically, they're simply astonishing. Deep Purple have always been known for improvising a lot on stage and pretty much never playing the same song in the same way, but what we have here is just insane. Live albums can be fun, but they're also usually highly imperfect: you can't really expect musicians to perform live with the same prowess as they can in studio, where they have the luxury of multiple takes. Especially when the band in question is characterised by a high level of musicianship. This album is the exact opposite, and they all manage to excel more than in studio. Blackmore's solos, especially in "Child in Time" and "Smoke on the Water" are just out of this world and far superior than in the original versions. Blackmore's brilliancy is constantly rivalled by Jon Lord, and we only benefit from this rivalry, as the keyboards sound also more amazing than in studio. Glover and Paice are just about perfect, and while I'm not a bit fan of drum solos, the one in "The Mule" is amazing, and throughout the album the rhythm section of the band keeps this roller coaster ride going.
Gillan is just scary here. There's no words to describe him. I've always felt that vocals are a really hard to tame instrument, and what he pulls off here is hard to explain.
If someone who never listened to Deep Purple (an alien, for sure) asked me for a recommendation, I think I would point them in the direction of this album. And that's the highest praise I can possibly give a live album.

• This is the first "real" live album I wrote about. There was the live side in Pink Floyd's Ummagumma, and that horrible think King Crimson released, but this one is the first proper live album. It makes me happy it's such a good one.
• The title from this post comes from the opening of "The Mule". They were having some issues with the monitors, apparently, and Blackmore asked "Can I have everything louder than everything else", and Gillan came up with that version of the question. Brilliant.
• The album closes with a 20 minute version of "Space Truckin'", and while it's one of my least favourite DP songs, the version here is a tour-de-force, probably not something you would listen to every day (or maybe yes), but it's amazing how they manage to keep what's basically a long jam, so damn entertaining.
• Talking about scary Gillan: "Strange Kind of Woman" features a duel between him and Blackmore. It's one of those things you have to listen to in order to believe it, and after hearing it you probably still won't believe it. Apart from that duel, the song showcases all 5 members perfectly. Enjoy. 

Just let me eat my burrito

The Doors - Full Circle - 1972

I pretty much said all I had to say about The Doors minus Morrison when I wrote about their previous release, Other Voices, and I don't really think they ever had a chance. 

This album feels much worse than the previous one. There are a couple of good songs here and there, with "Verdilac" probably being the best, and one that would have benefitted from Morrison's more intense delivery, as opposed to Manzarek's always blander one. 

But, overall, this is a fairly poor album, even if we forget that this used to be The Doors. 

• I know I could have picked a better song to put here, but since they decided, for whatever reason, that this would be their first single from the album, here it goes. It gets a bit better after 1.30 minutes or so, but I can't get past the silliness of that first minute. FWIW, the lyrics say "No me moleste, mosquito", which means "Don't bother me, mosquito". Whatever.