THE COMPACT DISC ANTHOLOGY

"The Compact Disc Anthology" is a nice Deep Purple 2 CD set compilation, featuring most of the classics of this excellent band. The first 5 tracks are from the "Psychedelic Pop/Soft Rock" era, including songs like the cover "Hush", "Mandrake Root", and the instrumental "Wring that neck", with Nick Simper on bass and Rod Evans on vocals (the guitar doesn't stand out so much like on the upcoming albums). Some people say this is the most prog era of Deep Purple. Then go some classics of the classical formation of almost every album until Come Taste The Band, like "Black Night", "Child in time", "Fireball", a live version of "Strang Kind of Woman" with a lot of jamming (and Gillan's screams!!), obviously "Highway star" and a live (Made in Japan) version of "Smoke on the water". The following tracks are from the Coverdale/Hughes era, containing a really good extended version of "Burn", and three songs with Tommy Bolin on guitar like the well-known "You Keep On Moving".

One thing I don't like of this compilation is that does not resume all Deep Purple's career (and it's a CDs compilation) and there are some songs that shouldn't be there. I prefer the "30: Vary Best Of".

Overall, it's a good Boxset, if you don't want to get into DP, but, a I said before, YOU MUST HAVE "MACHINE HEAD" AND "IN ROCK" (If you don't have them yet...)

This is a very good compilation of the first Marks of the Purple (from I to IV).

What is missing ? Here and there a song or two from each album I suppose... I am missing some of their great cover songs from their debuts : "Hey Joe", "River Deep, Mountain High" to name a few. Their best Mark I song, April (the longest studio track of their whole catalogue) is missing, which is really a pity. It is Purple's most prog track ever released as well.

From Mark II ?

Some great forgotten songs as "The Flight Of The Rat", "Hard Loving Man", "Fools" and "Lazy". The albums "Stormbringer" and "Come Taste The Band" are really over represented. The selection of the songs is not always the best one for these. No "Comin' Home" nor "Lady Luck" from "Come" and no "Lady Double Dealer" from "Storbringer". Those songs were some of the best of these efforts.

Of course, there are none of the great Purple songs ignored here. Their best two ever (IMO) : "Child In Time" and "Highway Star" are here. The emblematic "Black Night" and "Smoke OnThe Water" as well of course. Since "Burn" & "Mistreated" are represented live, they could as well have chosen a live version for "Strange Kind Of Woman" which was a great moment of their concerts.

All in all, this compilation is very good, but since the CD format would have allowed about twenty minutes of additional music I will rate it four stars.