Deep Purples “California Jam” appearance, filmed on April 06, 1974 has been available on DVD since 2005. ear music now offers a new cut of the video as 2016 DVD and Blu-ray release.

While the DVD, issued in a standard DVD case, features the new version and a digitized Super 8 crew recording, the Blu-ray also offers the original video edit as bonus and is published in a nice Digipak. Prior to editing, the material had been processed to improve its quality which results in a brighter and sharper image compared to the unprocessed original cut.

Sadly, Stephan Liehr (who did the additional editing) did not only choose different and maybe better angles for some scenes, but played around with side-by-side pictures and faded overlays. Especially during sequences like Ritchie Blackmore’s guitar solo in “Mistreated”, where the front camera has been faded over the back camera the whole time, the new edit is just annoying and less enjoyable than the original cut which changes the camera from time to time.

As the audio and video quality didn’t improve drastically and the new edit doesn’t add more than some playing around with video editing software, there’s no need to buy the DVD or Blu-ray if you already own “California Jam” on DVD.

Back in 1969, the lineup of Deep Purple had seen a drastic change: Jon Lord, Ritchie Blackmore and Ian Paice split up with singer Rod Evans and bass player Nick Simper and hired the former Episode Six musicians Ian Gillan and Roger Glover to complete the lineup.

One of the first shows to feature the new lineup was the live performance of Jon Lord’s “Concerto For Group and Orchestra”, an ambitious work to unite the different worlds of a rock band and a full orchestra which lay the foundation for Jon Lords career as composer / writer and solo artist. About a year later, the follow-up of the “Concerto” faced the light of day during a live performance at the Royal Festival Hall, again featuring his Deep Purple bandmates and conductor Malcolm Arnold.

Contrary to the “Concerto”, which took more than 40 years to be recorded in a studio, Jon Lord went to the studio in 1971 to record “Gemini Suite” as a studio project. At that time, the rock career of Deep Purple was in full flight and Ian Gillan and Ritchie Blackmore showed no interest in participating in the recording and were replaced by guitar player Albert Lee , multi talented Tony Ashton and singer Yvonne Elliman.

While the “Concerto” had its focus on band and orchestra as a whole, “Gemini Suite” did focus on the different instruments, dedicating a track to guitar, piano, drums, vocals bass guitar and organ respectively.

The first CD release was a straight release in 1987 on Line Records in Germany being the only official (and now long deleted) version until the remastered release on Purple Records more than 20 years later. The 2016 release is not based on any of those previous versions and features new artwork and a new remaster by Rob Cass, based on the original stereo mixes of the album.

Not owning the 2008 remaster, a comparison with the 1987 release shows quite some improvement in sound quality with more details being audible than on the original CD release. Luckily, the remaster doesn’t follow the popular trend of brick-walling every track and preserves the dynamics and overall feel of the original recording. The booklet gives no explaination why the original artwork has been dropped and was replaced by completely new design, but the new foreword by Roger Glover adds some enjoyable pages to the booklet.

Only thing to criticize is the record company did not use a proper Digipak for the release and decided to go with some LP-like fold-out papersleeve instead, resulting in your CD getting the first fingerprints and scratches before even being played.

Ever since Ritchie Blackmore speculated about doing a couple of Rainbow shows in 2016, hopes and expectations have lead to very emotional disucssions between fans. To the disappointment of those hoping for one of the former lineups to reunite for the gig, Blackmore didn’t go the easy way and - as often - assembled a new team of musicians to accompany him on this adventure.

The band finally announced consisted of current Blackmore’s Night drummer David Keith, former Blackmore’s Night bass player Bob Nouveau, Blackmore’s Night contributor Jens Johansson and LORDS OF BLACK singer Ronnie Romero, which lead to even more discussions between fans and even former Rainbow members with Joe Lynn Turner claiming the planned lineup will be “a Ritchie Blackmore band, but certainly not Rainbow” overlooking the fact that RAINBOW has always been what Ritchie Blackmore wanted it to be.

Three shows took place, two open air shows in Germany at Loreley and Bietigheim while the third show was staged at the Genting Arena in Birmingham, UK. While the two German shows were recorded on audio and video for a later (November 18, 2016) release, the UK show wasn’t recorded, which is unfortunate as it did not only feature the most consistent band performance of all three evenings but also was the only show featuring “Soldier Of Fortune” and “Burn”.

Sadly, the CD booklet doesn’t explain which song has been taken from from Loreley and which song has been taken from Bietigheim which is odd as the second CD contains some bonus tracks from the “alternative night” (which one?) and introductions like “You wanna sing with me, Loreley?” are still included.

Despite all the discussions about the musicians on stage, the setlist had been the major point of criticism, including way too many DEEP PURPLE songs while leaving out a bunch of Rainbow classics. I won’t repeat details about the performance which have been already covered in my review of the Loreley show, but one of the major surprises on the CD is Jens Johansson which - now being clearly audible - does a far better job than my memories of the show suggested. For a current release, the CD offers an enjoyable sound with clear dynamics and a well-balanced mix between each instrument.

Is “Memories in Rock - Live In Germany” an album worth buying? That’s a question hard to answer. It’s a good live album, but for a band as Rainbow, good just isn’t good enough. There are more impressive live versions of almost every song out there which leaves the group of potential buyers to completists, people being curious how Rainbow sound in 2016 and those who attended at one of the shows now being offered a perfect souvenir.

It has been quite a while since the last “Monsters of Rock” festivals and so the Rainbow rising again seems to be a perfect opportunity to bring the trademark back to life. Originally advertised as “Ritchie Blackmore´s Rainbow and Guests” the guests revealed shortly after were Thin Lizzy and Manfred Mann’s Earth Band.

According to German newspaper FAZ, about 15.000 fans attended at Loreley which brought the location to its limits: people had to wait for more than half an hour to get into the festival area while slipping on a muddy something that might have been a green field a few days ago and had to wait for ages until being able to leave the parking areas with their cars.

Thin Lizzy

As there’s no “real” Thin Lizzy these days, the band performing the songs consists of the two authentic members Scott Gorham on guitar and Darren Wharton on keyboards, accompanied for quite some years by Ricky Warwick on vocals and Damon Johnson handling the second guitar. While Aerosmith is on hold for quite some time, the band members seem to look for interesting side jobs and so the bass spot is taken by Tom Hamilton while the originally announced Mikkey Dee, currently helping out the Scorpions, is replaced by Judas Priest drummer Scott Travis.

Thin Lizzy concentrate on playing well know stuff including “Jailbreak”, “Dancing In The Moonlight”, “Bad Reputation”, “The Boys Are Back In Town” and “Whiskey In A Jar”, surpassing most visitors expectations and leaving quite an impression on the majority of the crowd.

Manfred Mann’s Earth Band

Second band of the evening is Manfred Mann’s Earth Band featuring the still “new guy” Robert Hart (although being in the band since 2011) on vocals and a drummer who doesn’t look like Jimmy Copley who’s still listed on the bands official site as being their drummer.

The Earth Band plays a solid set with no big surprises – neither in the songs they choose nor in the solo parts. Especially the first half of the set feels way to relaxed and laid back for being a “Monster of Rock” and so the vibes need until “Blinded By The Light” to catch most of the audience. This might also be caused by the lack of a real frontman. Robert Hart is a good singer and team player, but lacks some of the positive aspects of the lead singer’s disease which you need to enthuse such a large audience.

Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow

The announcement of “Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow will be performing the music of Rainbow and Deep Purple” should have already told people there will be some Deep Purple material in the setlist – however using “Highway Star” as first track following the classic Rainbow intro feels like an awkward choice. Singer Ronnie Romero does an OK job on the vocals, but his voice might not fit too well to the MKII vocal parts, a problem Joe Lynn Turner also experienced during the “Slaves and Masters” era. The instrumental section also scores nothing higher than an OK, with especially Jens Johannson staying behind expectations.

Things improve with “Spotlight Kid” as second track, a classic Rainbow tune and the vocals being a perfect match for Ronnie Romeros voice. Same goes for “Mistreated” and “Since You’ve Been Gone”, followed by “Man On The Silver Mountain”, a song which Ronnie Romero dedicates to the original man on the silver mountain – Ronnie Dio.

During the first chords of “Catch The Rainbow” it is already clear that one of the highlights is about to come and the performance offers nothing less than the highlight of the evening. “Difficult To Cure” opens the solo section which ends with “Perfect Strangers”, another Deep Purple tune showing the same weaknesses as “Highway Star” at the beginning of the set.

Next in line is “Child In Time”, a song not played for quite a while by Deep Purple, followed by “Long Live Rock’n’Roll”, a Rainbow tune including some heavy sing-along with the crowd. During an interview prior to the shows Ritchie Blackmore had already announced that the set would include “Stargazer” which follows as the second highlight of the show.

Sadly, when the majority of the audience still is close to heaven on top of the wizard’s tower, a crash landing starts with the final tracks, “Black Night” followed by “Smoke On The Water” – songs played way too often by Deep Purple themselves and any cover band on this planet.

This ends the evening with some mixed feelings.

The lineup consisting of Ritchie Blackmore on guitars, Ronnie Romero on vocals, Jens Johansson on keyboards, Bob Nouveau on bass and David Keith on drums created a memorable night seeing the Rainbow rising again. Besides some glitches and instrumental weaknesses (which are IMHO perfectly normal for a band that is standing together on the big stage for their first show) the time flew and the concert was quite enjoyable.

The setlist on the other hand was disappointing. Leaving out a couple of Rainbow must haves (“Temple Of The King”, “Street Of Dreams”, “Sixteenth Century Greensleeves”, “Kill the King”, “Stone Cold”, …) and playing stuff that Deep Purple still include in every single show feels like a waste of time.

However – being able to experience “Catch The Rainbow” and “Stargazer” live was alone worth the trip to Loreley.

Leider ist wohl nicht nur die “Live In Japan” betroffen - auch bei meiner Deep Purple “In Rock anniversary edition" sind inzwischen fast die gleichen Symptome festzustellen:

Von der Mitte ausgehend ist das Plastik mit Sprüngen und Kratzern durchbrochen während ein Großteil der Disc mit kleinen Punkten und einem ölig aussehenden Film überzogen ist.

Der Innenring der betroffenen CD hat die Prägung “EMI UDEN 8340192" und “4-1-2-NL” während eine CD mit der Prägung “EMI UDEN 8340192 @12" und “6-1-4-NL” keine der beschriebenen Symptome aufweist.

Zu dem Thema gibt es auch einen Beitrag auf “The Highway Star” mit größtenteils nicht sehr sachdienlichen Kommentaren.