The Open Mouth:

A Bi-Weekly Crash

of All Forms of Music Video

This week:  Deep Purple: Live At California Jam (1974)

ILV's exclusive column from Blake Carlisle of End of An Ear Records,

Austin's main source for eccentric, ecstatic, experimental & reckless outsider music & video.

California Jam was a giant rock festival held at the Ontario Motor Speedway in Ontario, California in 1974.There were anywhere from 200,000 to 300,000 people in attendance, and it was filmed and televised by ABC. The line-up was a mixture of stuff that was big in the charts around that time. There were eight acts in total featuring - Rare Earth, Earth , Wind & Fire, Eagles, Seals & Crofts, Black Oak Arkansas, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, and Emerson, Lake & Palmer.
    There’s bootleg versions of the entire ABC-TV special “California Jam” (as well as part 2 from 1978) available online. However, the only officially released version so far has been this Deep Purple DVD. It’s their entire set from the festival and features the great MK IV version of the band. They were touring behind the “Burn” LP when this was shot and were in fine form. David Coverdale on vocals is great, and Glen Hughes (formerly of Trapeze) on bass and vocals is even better. Apparently, Ritchie Blackmore got really pissed about ELP getting to headline the festival, and by the end of Purple’s set, it shows. A couple of guitars get abused and thrown really hard at the audience. Right around the same time, an overloaded pyrotechnic device shoots out way too much flame from behind the amps and almost catches him on fire. The story goes that the band had to be airlifted out of the festival by helicopter immediately after their performance to avoid arrest by Fire Marshals.
    It’s interesting to witness the band in this stage of their existence. You would think it was going well for these guys, but only one year and one album later Ritchie Blackmore left to form Rainbow with Ronnie James Dio and was replaced by Tommy Bolin. Deep Purple broke up one year after that. This DVD captures them in their impressive middle-late period in all it’s dysfunctional glory.