“Concerto for Group and Orchestra”(1969) by Deep Purple

I hate to disappoint, but I don’t have a whole lot to say about “Concerto for Group and Orchestra”.  It’s one of the oddest rock albums ever and I suppose one of the oddest classical pieces ever.  The reason I find it hard to give a full blown review of this is because I am hardly an expert or even a novice when it comes to classical music.  I enjoy it when I hear it and certainly love it on this record, but I don’t have any sense of whats good and bad with that kind of music(besides some of the greats).

A concerto is basically a three part composition as I understand it.  So, there are three parts to “Concerto for Group and Orchestra”.  They all have a distinctive flow.  Part one is essentially an all out battle between Deep Purple and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra(headed by Sir Malcolm Arnold).  A battle for control of the music.  It’s quite interesting to listen to.  Although the orchestra gets the most play time throughout the piece, when the Deep Purple come bursting in it creates a fantastic contrast and really makes you appreciate the music.  Part one has an epic solo by Blackmore.  Story goes that he was only suppose to play a quick one, maybe a minute, but he goes on for over six minutes.  Jon Lord(who composed the whole thing WOW!) said that he was happy Blackmore did it because he was “making a statement that this was as much about Group and Orchestra”. 

Part two is when a peace treaty sort of begins to form and the Deep Purple and orchestra begin to meld together.  This is also when we get to hear the new lead singer at the time of Deep Purple.  Yes, this was Ian Gillan’s first experience in Deep Purple(”Hey man, I thought this was a rock group!”).  He only gets about a minute in but it’s nice anyways.  Part three is full blown alliance between Group and Orchestra.  At times it’s hard to even tell who is playing.  It’s just a huge wall of music.  It’s fantastic!  Oh yeah, minus a boring drum solo by Ian Paice.  Come on people why does every hard rock group have to have a drum solo!  Boring.

That’s pretty much it.  I really like it.  Especially if you look at the whole thing as a storyline or battle between the Group and Orchestra.  The mood of the music really does tell a story.  Something that might be unique to classical music.  It was panned by critics when it was released and is still not held in high regard.  I don’t think many people even remember it or no it exists today.  I say get it if your a fan of music.  It is a very unique album and although it’s only failure is that it features two totally different styles of music, which makes it hard to assess from a critics point of view, who would have ever thought some rock organ player could successfully meld the two styles into one grand composition?  Jolly good stuff.

P.S.  The live version DVD at the Royal Albert Hall is probably the best way to experience this record.  It’s the same performance that’s on the record.

Best Song: It’s a Concerto?
Album Rating: 7/10