Published on Mar 4, 1999
To some people, Deep Purple was the epitomy of British hard rock
in the 1970s. To this day, many of their songs still get overplayed
on radio stations around America.
I think the first taste I got of Deep Purple that influenced me
was in 1984, when
Perfect Strangers came out. Soon after I got my license to
drive, I went to the used record store, traded in some Culture Club
albums, and walked out with a used copy of
Perfect Strangers. Thus, the love affair began.
About ten years ago, I picked up
Deepest Purple: The Very Best Of Deep Purple at what used to
be Sound Warehouse. A compilation covering the classic years of the
band, as well as the reign of two lead singers, this album is the
definite starting point for anyone who wants to get into Ritchie
Blackmore and company.
A word of warning, though: I don’t know if this was ever fixed
via remastering, but the sound quality of this album is not the
greatest. Then again, for recordings as early as 1972, it’s not bad
at all, and it doesn’t detract from the ultimate enjoyment of the
album, so why complain about it?
Deepest Purple is one of those albums I’d call the “ultimate
driving album”. Dusting this one off for the umpteenth time to
review here, I found myself tooling to work well over the speed
limit as Ian Gillan, Blackmore, Jon Lord, Roger Glover and Ian
Paice hammered out “Highway Star”. (To this day, the speedy guitar
lick near the end of the song mesmerizes me; I’ve seen Steve Morse
play it in concert, and I still can’t figure out how it’s done.)
The other overplayed classic from the
Machine Head era, “Smoke On The Water,” closes the
collection, and is still fun to listen to.
But what
Deepest Purple does is help to introduce other songs that
might not be as well-known to the casual fan. “Fireball” is a
showcase for Paice’s drumming (he, quite possibly, was one of the
earliest double-bass drummers), and is also a song that should be
getting more attention on the radio than it does. Likewise, “Black
Night” and “Demon’s Eye” are killer tracks that should inspire new
fans to rush out and pick up the older albums like
In Rock and
Who Do We Think We Are.
But Gillan is not the only vocal star on
Deepest Purple. Besides the “Mark II” version of the band,
the “Mark III” edition (featuring David Coverdale as lead throat)
gets its due time, with “Burn” and “Stormbringer” (from the albums
of the same name). While Coverdale does a good job filling the
shoes that some people didn’t think could be filled back in 1973,
Gillan still is the more natural voice to be fronting Deep
Purple.
Deepest Purple does the job that all good “greatest hits”
packages are supposed to do: they highlight the best work of a band
and make the listener want to hear more. For the better part of 63
minutes, Deep Purple continues to shine on this album, and is time
well worth spending… even if you already own every recording
they’ve put out.