Deepest Purple: The Very Best of Deep Purple

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
In the '70s, Deep Purple carved their niche in hard rock royalty with a heavy guitar-driven sound. The monstrous riff that opened "Smoke on the Water" became the first thing many aspiring guitarists learned to play. Songs like "Woman from Tokyo" and "Highway Star" epitomized the screaming rock vocalist of the '70s, and many of Deep Purple's finest tracks were graced by Ian Gillan's voice (who also lent his wail to the Jesus Christ Superstar album.) David Coverdale, who later sang in Whitesnake, also provided front man duties for a while. Both "Space Truckin'" and "Highway Star" were party favorites, the latter's breakneck speed and ripping guitar leads making it a testosterone-charged force to be reckoned with. In addition to its classic appeal, "Deepest Purple" is a veritable shrine to the guitar work of Ritchie Blackmore. --Steve Gdula

Tracks:

Black Night
Speed King
Fireball
Strange Kind Of Woman
Child In Time
Woman From Tokyo
Highway Star
Space Truckin'
Burn
Stormbringer
Demon's Eye
Smoke On The Water

Amazon.com

In the '70s, Deep Purple carved their niche in hard rock royalty with a heavy guitar-driven sound. The monstrous riff that opened "Smoke on the Water" became the first thing many aspiring guitarists learned to play. Songs like "Woman from Tokyo" and "Highway Star" epitomized the screaming rock vocalist of the '70s, and many of Deep Purple's finest tracks were graced by Ian Gillan's voice (who also lent his wail to the Jesus Christ Superstar album.) David Coverdale, who later sang in Whitesnake, also provided front man duties for a while. Both "Space Truckin'" and "Highway Star" were party favorites, the latter's breakneck speed and ripping guitar leads making it a testosterone-charged force to be reckoned with. In addition to its classic appeal, "Deepest Purple" is a veritable shrine to the guitar work of Ritchie Blackmore. --Steve Gdula

Customer Reviews:

Great songs poor remaster.......2007-02-17

I remember being given this by my bro on vinyl many years ago. Its what made me a rabid Purple fan. FInally grabbed this on CD....though old memories came flooding back, the music is sadly dulled by the poor production.

In desperate need of a remaster.......2006-12-07

If you don't know the story of Deep Purple, I'll make it short and just say they are one of the greatest and possibly THE most influential metal band of all time. Now, on to this actual disc, out of the hundreds of CDs I own, this has by far the WORST sound quality of any of them. The music sounds so washed out. It's completely unacceptable. Do not purchase this.

Great Tunes, crappy Production!!.......2006-10-03

If you're looking for some old school Purple, this cd is a great teaser. The song selection is excellent for what it is. Yes it's missing some gems, insert Lazy, Never Before, etc, etc here and there and you've got a perfect greatest hits package. However let's face it, all hits packages miss something, so what you going do?

The only really downfall with this cd is the production. This puppy needs to be re-mastered something fierce. Right now it just sounds really cardboardy if that makes sense and that takes away from the overall enjoyment of this decent hits package.

I'd recommend it if you only want old school Purple and that's about it. Their are better sounding Deep Purple hits cd's out there so check them out first before you buy this one.

My score is 4.5 outta 5 for song selection and 2.5 for production!

Like I said, the tunes rock, by the sound is pretty ugly!

DEEPEST PURPLE - The Title Says It All.......2004-04-12

After Deep Purple disbanded in 1976, Warner Brothers issued the first compilation of their music, WHEN WE ROCK, WE ROCK AND WHEN WE ROLL, WE ROLL. A rather brief and far from complete overview of the Deep Purple oeuvre (at only 8 tracks covering 44 minutes in length), it was nevertheless welcome for all of their fans who were heartbroken over the band's slow disintegration, and missed their good ol' hard-rocking classics. Although incomplete, the record managed to span nearly their entire recording career up to that point, from 1968 to 1974. Ranging from their Mark I lineup classics "Hush" and "Kentucky Woman" (plus the powerful and rousing instrumental "Hard Road") through the standards of their most popular Mark II lineup "Space Truckin'," "Highway Star," "Smoke On The Water" and "Woman From Tokyo" to the one representative from the Mark III lineup "Burn," WHEN WE ROCK helped satisfy fans' thirst for Deep Purple---at least for the time being.

Then, beginning in 1979, original lead singer Rod Evans did something really stupid. He took advantage of his past status, and the band's then-current dormancy, to make a quick buck by gathering up a group of session rock musicians and going out on tour as "Deep Purple"---even going so far as to perform some of the Mark II songs on stage as if they had performed them to begin with! For example, Rod would introduce "Smoke On The Water" as being from "our album" MACHINE HEAD. After several months of this nonsense, the legitimate members of Deep Purple caught wind of this and promptly sued. Finding in their favor, a judge ordered Evans and his gang to cease and desist, which they reluctantly did. Deep Purple then got Evans to permanently give up his rights to ever perform any of their songs again---including those on which he had originally sung. (If he hadn't agreed to this, it would have meant a lawsuit that would have ended up stripping him of all his dishonest, misbegotten earnings from the "fake DP tour," and which would have thereby left him in utter abject poverty.) While this may seem harsh to some of you readers, keep in mind that Rod Evans made his own bed, and now he had to lie in it---permanently. This is why he hasn't been heard from since.

As a result of Evans' actions, and the new attention given to Deep Purple as a result of the lawsuit and victory, in 1980 they compiled what was at the time the longest single album in the history of popular music: DEEPEST PURPLE. Spanning a full 12-song roster, including the 10-minute plus epic "Child In Time," DEEPEST PURPLE clocked in at a then-ungodly 63 minutes, giving their die-hard fans more bang for the buck than they had ever imagined. Noticeably, there was a complete absence of anything from the Rod Evans-led Mark I lineup. When Warner Brothers released DEEPEST PURPLE in late 1980, record stores found it virtually impossible to keep it on the shelves. It was a very difficult album to get for months as a result. Pleasantly surprised by their newfound popularity, the members of the famed Mark II era of Deep Purple (guitarist Ritchie Blackmore, bassist Roger Glover, vocalist Ian Gillan, keyboardist Jon Lord, and drummer Ian Paice) then began to hold reunion talks, which culminated in 1984 with the recording of PERFECT STRANGERS.

So there you have the context, and the associated drama, under which DEEPEST PURPLE was compiled and released. Arguably the greatest Heavy Metal compilation in history, it features what were truly the best and most influential songs from both the Mark II & Mark III lineups (the Mark III lineup consisting of all the above bandmembers except for Gillan & Glover, who had left at the end of 1973 and were replaced by vocalist David Coverdale and bassist/vocalist Glenn Hughes). Admittedly, this recording now sounds dated because of the relatively weak production values; still, you can't deny the presence of early-Heavy Metal scorchers such as "Speed King" from the DEEP PURPLE IN ROCK album (1970), which I believe is the earliest example of the subgenre known as Thrash Metal (although some would say that honor belongs to the 1974 Queen classic "Stone Cold Crazy"). There is also the almost-equally-scorching "Black Night" from the same album, "Fireball" from the 1971 album of the same name, the wonderously noisy epic "Child In Time" (also from IN ROCK), the most famous classics from MACHINE HEAD (1972): "Space Truckin'," "Highway Star" and "Smoke On The Water"), the lone popular classic from the 1973 album WHO DO WE THINK WE ARE?, "Woman From Tokyo," and both title-song representatives of the Mark III-era 1974 albums BURN and STORMBRINGER. Oh, and I almost forgot, there is the bluesy and almost funky "Demon's Eye" originally from FIREBALL.

DEEPEST PURPLE is the perfect introduction to Deep Purple; for anyone who has heard some of their songs on classic rock radio and can't get enough of them, it simply can't be beat. For those who also love the Mark I classics "Hush" and "Kentucky Woman" (they are, after all, DP classics too, no matter what Rod Evans did afterwards), I recommend buying the earlier compilation in addition to this one. Deep Purple is one of the greatest rock bands of all time, and DEEPEST PURPLE is a great representation of their talents.

MOST RECOMMENDED

Get This And MACHINE HEAD First.......2003-09-22

DEEPEST PURPLE is a great overviw of Deep Purple's prime 1970-1974 period. It contains some European singles, as well as the obvious hits and important album tracks. If you're starting a Deep Purple collection, get this one and MACHINE HEAD first- preferably both at once.

Deepest Purple: The Very Best of Deep Purple

Average customer rating:

Finally! Deep Purple's Best Compilation Album Has Just Gotten Even Better!

Deepest Purple: The Very Best of Deep Purple
Deep Purple
Manufacturer: Wea Japan
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: B000E6G1IA
Release Date: 2006-04-03

Tracks:

Black Night
Speed King
Fireball
Strange Kind of Woman
Child in Time
Woman from Tokyo
Highway Star
Space Truckin'
Burn
Stormbringer
Demon's Eye
Smoke on the Water

Album Description

Limited edition Japanese issue of Deep Purple, which is a great overview of Deep Purple's prime 1970-1974 period. It contains some European singles, as well as the obvious hits and important album tracks. CD comes housed in a miniature LP sleeve. WP.

Album Details

Japanese Limited Edition Issue of the Album Classic in a Deluxe, Miniaturized LP Sleeve Replica of the Original Vinyl Album Artwork.

Customer Reviews:

Finally! Deep Purple's Best Compilation Album Has Just Gotten Even Better!.......2007-06-01

I remember all those years ago when as a teenager I wanted to find out more about this band Deep Purple that seemed to be all the rage with the older kids around me when I was growing up and so I decided to get a compilation album of the band. I got this very album on cassette and I remember listening to it over and over again for many months.

This album belongs to that rare breed of compilations that doesn't sound like a disjointed collection of songs but instead has a very cohesive-sounding flow to it and every track seemed destined to be in the order that it is in. Starting with the great opening track "Black Night" and ending with the anthemic "Smoke on the Water" with "Highway Star" (my favourite) right smack in the middle, every track in here is a classic rock standard. No weak tracks on this album and now we get the whole package in a well designed mini-lp replica sleeve which includes all the lyrics in English and Japanese too.

Although there isn't any mention of any remastering being done, our friends from Japan have done a reasonably good job of mastering this release so that the sound quality, although not as great as the Rhino Best of remastered release, is still pretty good sounding as well overall. While that Rhino release is more comprehensive in that it includes tracks from the Mach 1 and the later Machs lineups, "Deepest Purple" is still my favourite Deep Purple compilation overall as it contains what I and perhaps most fans would consider to be the band's best ever work i.e. the Mach 2 and 3 lineups.

What would have made this release even better and perhaps deserving of 5 stars would have been had all the tracks been given a good remastering job just like the Rhino release had. Still, as the sound quality doesn't suffer too much in this version, this album is still my favourite Purple compilation album and comes highly recommended.

Average customer rating:

Deepest Purple: The Very Best of Deep Purple
Deep Purple
Manufacturer: Deep Purple
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Rock | Styles | Music

British Metal | Hard Rock & Metal | Styles | Music

General | Hard Rock & Metal | Styles | Music

Hard Rock | Hard Rock & Metal | Styles | Music

Pop Rock | Pop | Styles | Music

Arena Rock | Classic Rock | Styles | Music
ASIN: B0000269E4
Release Date: 1980-01-01

Tracks:

Black Night
Speed King
Fireball
Strange Kind of Woman
Child in Time
Woman from Tokyo
Highway Star
Space Truckin'
Burn
Stormbringer
Demon's Eye
Smoke on the Water

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