Windows

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The least impressive of all Jon Lord's 1970s flirtations with the classic, Windows -- a collaboration with synth wizard Eberhard Schoener -- was recorded live at the Eurovision presentation of Prix Jeunesse on June 1, 1974, in Munich. Performed by both a seven-piece rock band and the orchestra of the Munich Chamber Opera Orchestra, Windows comprises just two piece. The title track, which was built around a Far Eastern renga (a form of chain poetry), is highlighted, for longtime Lord watcher, by the inclusion of large swathes of the vocal segment of his earlier Gemini Suite; and the somewhat presumptuously intended Continuo on B.A.C.H., "a realization" (say the liner notes) "of a well-known incomplete fugue by Bach." Whether Bach himself would have appreciated the end result i, of course, another matter entirely. While Continuo certainly has its moments of quite sublime beauty, one is never allowed to forget what one is listening to -- an orchestra battling it out with a rock band, and only occasionally giving ground. The inclusion of David Coverdale and Glenn Hughes in the band is particularly eyebrow-raising. Though more or less ideal for the last years of Deep Purple, neither musician was what one would call subtle, with Coverdale's histrionic bellowing, in particular, swiftly distracting from the moods that the music and the other musicians are so patently attempting to maintain. Indeed, of the photos from the concert that bedeck the album jacket, one speaks louder than many words could -- it depicts Coverdale in full vocal flight, while the horn player beside him raises his eye, apparently, heavenward. Overlook some of the rock band's excesse, however (including an utterly unnecessary jazz fusion passage during "Continuo"), and Windows does pack some breathtaking passage, both melody- and energy-wise. Like too many mid-'70s rock 'n' classical hybrid, however, it simply tries too hard to be special. The album was released on LP by Purple Records (distributed by EMI) in late 1974 and reissued on CD (at least in West Germany) in 1987 by Line Record. Track listing 1 Continuo on B.A.C.H. (Lord, Schoener) -- 16:25 2 Window (Lord, Schoener) -- 32:23 Subtitles: * 1st Movement - Renga (Lord, Schoener) -- 12:01 * 2nd Movement: Gemini (Lord) -- 7:41 * 3rd Movement: Alla Marcia Allegro (Lord, Schoener) -- 12:40 Credits Tony Ashton -- Keyboard, Vocals David Coverdale -- Vocals Ray Fenwick -- Guitar Glenn Hughes -- Ba, Vocals Jon Lord -- Keyboards Eberhard Schoener -- Keyboard, Conductor Pete York -- Drums The Munich Chamber Opera Orchestra (conducted by Schoener) .

via Last.fm

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