Ian Gillan

Contractual Obligation #2 Live In Warsaw

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Don’t be put off by the title.

Backed by the Don Airey Band, this two-CD album is released with Contractual Obligation #1 (a Bluray of the same set in Moscow) and #3 (a triple-vinyl recording made in St Petersburg). Ignore the singer’s tongue-in-cheek title, this is far from shabby and Gillan sings well.

In a full-on 19-track rock set, a local orchestra is heard mainly as a brass section, but adds strings to A Day Late ’N’ A Dollar Short – one of four Gillan solo tracks alongside Hang Me Out To Dry, No Lotion For That and Ain’t No More Cane On The Brazos – and a violinist duelling with the band’s superb guitarist Simon McBride on Lazy. The other 13 Deep Purple covers include the never-before-performed-live Razzle Dazzle from Bananas, along with Anya and Difficult To Cure, a Rainbow song last played by Purple 26 years ago. ■■■■■■■■■■