Artist: Deep Purple | Album: Scandinavian Nights (Live In Stockholm 1970) | Released: 1988, 2011 | Label: Victor, Japan | Catalog #: VICP-75025/6 | Genre: Hard Rock | Country: UK

Credits
Bass - Roger Glover
Drums - Ian Paice
Guitar - Ritchie Blackmore
Liner Notes - 酒井康*, Simon Robinson (2)
Organ - Jon Lord
Vocals - Ian Gillan

This early live set by Purple Mark II, complete on two discs, was recorded in Stockholm, Sweden in 1970, and it showcases the band at its most extended. The jams on "Wring That Neck" and "Mandrake Root" clock in at around half an hour apiece. An instrumental version of the Rolling Stones' "Paint It Black" leads into the requisite drum solo, and also included is the longest-ever recording of "Child in Time." Some of this (especially "Mandrake Root") can be trying to the patience of someone who wasn't there. But this was the era when hundreds of bands were stretching out every night, and Purple, with the skills and imaginations of Jon Lord and Ritchie Blackmore to call on, did it better than many, at its climaxes reaching a fiery intensity matched by few others.