THE PLATINUM COLLECTION

This collection includes at least one song from every Deep Purple studio album and includes all their hits like Smoke On The Water, Highway Star and Space Truckin'. Being a Deep Purple fan who only owned two previous Albums I was very impressed with the whole collection here. Every song is unique. Disc 1 has the songs from the early days. Mandrake Root and Child In Time certainly stand out for me. Black Night is also very good but is in its single edit. Not as many hard rock songs here but still an impressive CD. Disc 2 is much more like the Purple I like with songs like Burn, Highway Star and Space Truckin'. 3 songs here are in their '97 remix versions. Never Before and Lazy are Live versions. Another consistently good disc. The final disc brings us right up to date with a song off the last album called Sun Goes Down. The later songs are really heavy but are still enjoyable. Stormbringer is another of my favourites. No matter how many changes are made to the line up of Deep Purple they will always remain a superb rock group and this collection certainly proves that. Die hard fans may already own everything but for newer fans this is a must. Fantastic CD!!! If you like this then Made In Japan Live should be the next Purple CD you buy.

Excellent sellection of the best DP from 1968 until 1998. The Box (3 CDs) shows tracks of almost the entire discography of the band. All the classics are present. However, almost nothing is really new. If I could include some "forgotten" tracks, perhaps most "progressive" ones, these will: "April" (from 1969 Deep Purple); "The Mule" (from 1971 Fireball); "Pictures Of Home" (from 1972 Machine Head); "A 200" (from 1974 Burn); "This Time Around / Owed To 'G' " (from 1975 Come Taste The Band), "Knocking At Your Back Door" (live version). Then, I give 3 stars, considering some obvious fats: DP is NOT a prog rock band and never was, independent of what genre is in question, IMHO (I have some problems with prog-related classification criteria...); DP was an excellent hard rock band that was influenced by the progressive atmosphere of 70´s rock scene and produced some songs or moments that remember the typical progressive sonority or musical concepts introduced by its, without embracing the cause.

It is not indicated for DP fans, that would prefer the original albums, but highly recommended for prog heads that love the best existing hard rock too.

A very good collection indeed. Platinum Collection covers a wide range of Deep Purple but there probably isn't a completely satisfying compilation in the world. In my case, I was left missing such songs as "One Man's Meat" and the Tommy Bolin/Glenn Hughes classics "Dealer" & personal favorite "Gettin' Tighter". But you can't really complain. All the hits are here and even the earlier releases get a fair representation ('Shield', anyone?). It's amazing how good the band was (and to some extent, still is).

For any casual DP fan, this is an ideal choice. And if you've been living under a rock, it's also an excellent introduction.

[I do have one major complaint about the collection: the copy protection. Atleast my Platinum Edition is very picky about where I play it. But this might not be the case with everyone.]

200 wonderful minutes of Deep Purple, legends of proto metal and too good to be crammed onto just one CD. This collection is 3 CDs spanning the career of these giants of rock, and as such contains just about everything you could ever wish for as far as the greatest Deep Purple songs. Unedited and totally in tact one can sit back and immerse themselves into this incredible music with the likes of quintessential Hush, Black Night, Speed King, and Child In Time on CD1. This CD also features some classics from the vintage years such as the psychedelic era of the band with the likes of Mandrake Root, Hey Joe, and the cool rocker Wring That Neck. Shield, Bird Has Flown, Emmaretta and Hallelujah caps off the early years, that is a real insight into the roots of metal for those uninitiated.

CD 2 is where it all gets brilliant in the best era of the band as they belt out one classic after another, Fireball, Strange Kind Of Woman, and the riff blaster Smoke On The Water. There are some oddities on this that are given a new remix that may be a drawcard for the Purple fan who has everything, namely No One Came (1996 Remix), Highway Star (1997 Remix), When A Blind Man Cries (1997 Remix), and Space Truckin (1997 Remix). The live versions are a nice touch too with a 10:33 version of Lazy from "Made In Japan", and Never Before.

CD 3 is the more recent Purple, although not that recent these days and it is a decent collection of songs with highlights such as Might Just Take Your Life, a live Mistreated clocking 11:35, and live classic Perfect Strangers. I still miss Knocking at your Back Door that seems to go missing in action on many compilations though it is a treasure. The live Ted The Mechanic is a quirky addition and there are some weird choices with Bludsucker and Sun Goes Down. However it is great that the compilation features at least one song from all their studio albums that counted.

There are progressive tracks that could have been included such as April from "Deep Purple" (1969), The Mule from "Fireball" (1971), A 200 from "Burn" (1974) and This Time Around / Owed To 'G' from "Come Taste The Band" (1975). However the compilation fails to include these, as well as the absence of Knocking At Your Back Door, and this is unforgiveable for 3 CDs of Deep Purple. However with all the nitpicking in reality these albums are definitive purchases along with "Made in Japan" (1972) "In Rock" (1970) and "Machine Head" (1972). Grab all these albums mentioned and you really have the best of Deep Purple.

This is a great compilation though with 3 CDs of pure Deep Purple magic; it is perhaps as good as it gets outside of a box set or the actual studio albums. It comes at a cheap price too and is even included in the book club as one of the choices for an album which is where I spotted it. Worthwhile, but nothing replaces the studio albums.