Really amazing sounds from Japanese drummer Takeo Moriyama – a record that's sometimes spiritual and organic, sometimes very unusually put-together – and which makes as much use of inventive percussion as it does the leaders drums! The group's got this very cool twin-sax approach – both tenor and soprano, each played by Toshihiko Inoue and Shuichi Enomoto – alternating between the instruments, and creating these textures that are sometimes sharp-edged, but always very striking – especially when the album's percussion from Yoji Sadanari really takes off! The whole thing almost feels a bit out of time, especially for its early 80s recording date – almost like one of those unusual Japanese spiritual sessions from a decade before, which also might not be what you're expecting from the 80s cover image too.
In 1974, Deep Purple were proving detractors wrong who figured that the exit of both singer Ian Gillan and bassist Roger Glover a year earlier would lead the group into an artistic tailspin. But as it turned out, newcomers David Coverdale and Glenn Hughes were worthy replacements, who contributed significantly to two more Purple classics in a single-year span, Burn and Stormbringer. And the "new look Purple" was certainly capable of delivering the goods during their live performances that year, as evidenced by the 2011 archival release, Live in London 1974. Expectedly, the track listing is comprised of then-new tunes (a red hot, set-opening reading of Burn's title track, as well as "Might Just Take Your Life," etc.), plus classics ("Smoke on the Water," "Space Truckin'," etc.).