DEEPEST PURPLE - THE VERY BEST OF DEEP PURPLE

Another failure to represent a definitive Deep Purple's retrospective. However, it's a better representation of the Mark II and Mark III career by offering 12 songs on one disc (over 60 minutes on vinyl?! Yikes!) The casual fan will be surprised by their usual hits on this album (Smoke On The Water, Highway Star, Strange Kind Of Woman, Woman From Tokyo, and Black Night) but the album cuts are just incredible. Cuts like Fireball, Child In Time, Demon's Eye, Speed King, and Space Truckin also appear. Mark III of the band gets its credit as well with their biggest hits Burn and Stormbringer. But, wait a minute, no Mark I tunes :( The sound reproduced on both vinyl and CD is also very poor. It probably was all put through a limiter, making the instuments totally out of balance. Guess by 1980, people totally forgot what DP meant to the fans. My advice, scratch buying this compilation and buy the album reissues. Wasn't worth it for me.

I remember listening this compilation as a teenager at one guy's home where me and my pals used to hang around. I recall this gave me a very limited view to the band, as it has only their basic, most accessible hard rock songs in it. At least "Child in Time" made a good impression to me, so I checked out their records from the library and found their Simper era material, which wasn't represented on this compilation at all. Surely this is from the deepest of depths.

Deep Purple made lots of compilation. I think in fact it's the fourth one, after Deep Purple Mark I & II (double vinyl), 24 caracts Purple and Deep Purple A's & B'sides.

It's always difficult to make a compilation to satisfy everybody, but here you have one of the best-done one. Good choice of the songs, a whole hour of music even on vinyl, the compilation covers the best periode of Deep Purple, and you have 12 songs to have an idea of what they were.

Note that only Speed King was shorten for the occasion, even if other songs were shorten on single.

At last, you have only studio versions. Some will find it good, others not.

Five stars because here is really the best of Deep Purple in studio at its summit, five stars because it's one of the best compilation ever released. This should be their only one, otherwise all others sould be compilations of other moments...

this disc, can show us how the great band of Hard and Metal Rock, Deep Purple, get a very particular sound that make us think, when we hear the disc, who they really were. neverthless, deep purple, cannot shows in the disc the other great time when Evans and Simper where in the band with the other guys. of course the disc is the season of Gillan (first) and Coverdale. the disc only contents the main songs of the 70's albums, like Somke on the Water or Black Night, and we can apreciate the best years of the band; i mean, the essential music of Deep Purple. my point is that Deep Purple didn't represent the prog music (as the prog music per se), but this is a disc of the greatest tracks of the best years of the band.

The compilation from my childhood, and my first touch with DEEP PURPLE. I got an impression this compilations was present in every home collection in former Yugoslavia, regardless of listeners taste for music. However, even if it deserves a special place in my heart I'll try to judge it fair.

First of all, you will notice something unusual about this LP after a few listenings: the length. That's right, this vinyl plays for 65 minutes! Like a double album! I think I never experienced a record with similar length, before or after. All I know I was annoyed because I was unable to tape it on a 60 min cassette. What a disappointment for a kid that just started to develop musically.

So what are these 60 and more minutes offering to a listener?

Twelve DEEP PURPLE tracks that vary in quality. Here are ubiquitous "Smoke On The Water" and "Child In Time", "Speed King" (without frenetic intro!) and "Black Night"; "Strange Kind Of Woman" and "Woman From Tokyo". I grouped these tracks in pairs because they often come together on compilations and live shows. Nice inclusion are "Highway Star", "Burn", "Stormbringer" and "Fireball". The only track I can't digest is "Demon's Eye" - I don't have a clue why this weak, dull, uninspired song is included here.

Anyway, as a compilation, it deserves three stars - it's not the best presentation of band's work but it isn't so terrible neither - and from the progressive point of view, that will be one star less. There is not a one song from the first DEEP PURPLE period! Having said that, this is not much more than a collectors item.

Burning up the charts

"Deepest Purple" is a fine introduction to the music of the legendary Deep Purple. While the tracks pretty much pick themselves, when complied in this format they represent a thoroughly enjoyable, and surprisingly accurate high level summary of the bands work.

The period covered by this early compilation from 1980 (one of the first on CD) dates from "Deep Purple in Rock" in 1970 to "Stormbringer" in 1974. The earliest albums are rightly ignored, since it was with the "In rock" album that Deep Purple discovered their true identity. During this brief period though, Gillan and Glover left the band, thankfully temporarily, to be replaced by Coverdale and Hughes. Thus we find the sublime "Burn" and the decent title track from "Stormbringer" included.

The two non-album singles "Black Night" (which set the band on their way in terms of significant chart success) and "Strange kind of woman" are here of course. Both are heavy pieces of driving rock, the latter having its unique and inspired soft guitar section.

The band's signature track "Child in time" is included unedited, the running time of 10 minutes representing a bold initiative for a rock band in 1970, and indicating Deep Purple's prog relationship.

The underrated "Fireball" album contributes the title track plus the futuristic (for 1971) sounding "Demons eye", while "Machine Head's" three anthems are all present, including everybody's favourite guitar riff on "Smoke on the water". "Woman from Tokyo" offers a generous representation for the disappointing "Who do we think we are" album, but the song itself is worthy of a place in a Best of Deep Purple selection.

It is interesting reading the sleeve notes to learn that all the albums from which the track are taken reached the top 10 of the album charts, three achieving number one. What a contrast with the way such well composed and performed music is derided now In favour of manufactured bands and soloists of dubious talent.

An excellent compilation.

In these Purpleless times, any reason to cash in was good, I suppose. A new generation of youngsters was there and didn't know the Deep. So, let's release a compilation! I guess this was the marketing strategy. And it was extremely successful : this one will reach Nr 1 (yes : number one) in the UK charts ! In the midst of the electro-pop and AOR/FM era it is not a bad score, is it ?

In terms of compilation, it is the second one of the genre for Purple (I do not consider "Powerhouse" as a compilation), which is not too much (to be honest, one has to know that in those prehistoric times, compilations were not as famous as now).

So, the first one was "24 Carat Purple" in 1975 (reaching the fourteenth spot in the UK). If you except "Never Before" each single track of it is represented again in "The Deepest Purple" ! This is actually a recompilation of a compilation : adding "Woman From Tokyo", "Burn" and "Stormbringer" to the original one.

The concept is the following : you get both of their UK hit-singles (Mark II) : "Black Night" (Nr. 2) and "Strange Kind Of Woman" (Nr. 8), you take the opener of each album from "In Rock" till "Stormbringer" and you add two Purple anthems : "Child In Time" & "Smoke On the water". If you don't know what to do next, just throw in two average tracks at random : "Space Truckin" and "Demon's Eye". There you go ! You get your Nr. 1 hit compilation ! They are very clever, aren't they ?

This strategy has been extended to the very limit during the last twelve years (I guess only Yes did it so "well", altough ELO is also "great" in this excercise).

The track list is fabulous (except two as mentioned). I rated "24 Carat" with four stars. So, this one is musically also worth the same rating (but instead of fooling no one, they damn fool the fans).

From 1975 to 1984, Deep Purple released absolutely no studio material, therefore it was necessary to bring in money in the way of "Greatest Hits" packages and live albums. "Deepest Purple" was just that, more greatest hits packages. Every single song on here appears on the "The Very Best Of..." collection released in 2000. The only difference between the two packages is that this version was released 15 years earlier, making it a tad more primitive. A great track-list, obviously, as it uses hits from the "classic" line-up, but it lacks stable sound quality. "The Very Best Of..." has excellent sound quality, and it got three stars from me, so I can only give this compilation two stars because the tracks are the same but "Deepest Purple" has very inconsistent sound.

This probably was the essential collection of DP Mark II containing their most popular songs back in 1980. Almost a CD-length of this album was a perfect introduction to DP fans, especially adolescents. However, exactly because of density of music, LP vinyl (at least, Yugoslavian pressing) suffered from very bad sound and shallow audio spectrum.

As for the selection of tracks, it fails to represent Mark I period and the last one with Bolin, so it focuses mainly on the heavy metal period with Gillan. Since the missed two periods contain some serious prog-related contributions, "Deepest Purple" is hardly interesting collection out of the scope of classic hard rock/metal or of the dedicated fans. More comprehensive and better remastered collections would appear later on...

When you think about it, what is really the point of making a Deep Purple greatest hits? It certainly can't be to persuade people unfamiliar with their music to listen to them, because they could simply turn on any classic rock station and hear Smoke on the Water. And it certainly isn't to unearth deep, rare tracks, because this compilation is full of all their biggest radio hits. And it definitely isn't to give new insight or interesting background information, as the booklet contains little more than the track list and legal information. This collection is simply superfluous, and is strictly for completionists.

My first touch with Deep Purple and hard rock, which my father considered heavy metal (he still does, to this day). A 'best-of' comprised of DP's greatest hits of all time. No matter what anyone says, I still consider this collection (with Iron Maiden) crucial to my future musical (metal) direction. There was something in their music that dragged to me to the heavier sound. Ritchie Blackmore's hard riffage, Ian Paice's precise drumming, a touch of atmosphere with Jon Lord's organ? Or Gillan's remarkable high vocals, Glover's thumping bass? Could be anything, could be everything. I know I was completely amazed by the sound at the time. Now, after hours and hours of music, I still consider Deep Purple seminal in their style.

Deepest Purple is comprised of material from the 1970 - 1974 period. All 12 songs showcase their hard rock sound which they became known for. However, there's little to none of progressive here. The complexity of the first three albums is nowhere to be found - you get straight-forward R'n'R instead. There's Speed King, Black Night, Highway Star, Burn, the very title of Rock Riff Smoke on the Water, as well as the progressive improvisations of Child in Time. Apparently nothing to speak of these tracks that wasn't already spoken. The tracklist is overall great. Perhaps Into the Fire and When a Blind Man Cries are missing, but you can't make all the fans happy.

For starters, for completionists, for the fans in the middle of the two - this is a must-have.

This compilation is of course not for those who have loved the band from the beginning, this is best suited for newbie who want to learn about one of legendary bands in the history of rock and roll. Deep Purple was once considered as the loudest band in the world. Of course, it was before Metallica was born. For newbie, this is a very good introduction as most of the band's good tracks are compiled here. On thing that is probably missed is the ballad like Soldier of Fortune, When A Blind Man Cries. But it's okay as this compilation introduces the heavy / lous side of Deep Purple.

The newbie will enjoy the simple and groovy riffs of Smoke On The water or the wild yet melodic Space Trckin' that delivers energy through a great combination of percussion and guitar riffs. The combined soft and heavy style can be enjoyed through Child In Time. The newbie can also get the full stream of Deep Purple style and texture when Coverdale and Hughes joined the band since Burn. During Coverdale and Hughes era, the funky component started to exist and it can be observed through Stormbringer. The vocal quality of two different lead singers can also be identified in specific.

Overall, it's only recommended for newbie. It's anticipated that once they like this CD, they would start collecting all albums by Deep Purple. Keep on proggin' ..!

Peace on earth and mercy mild - GW (i-Rock! Music Community)

Oh my holy squirrel.... This one brings the childhood memories back. I was deeply fascinated by this cassette when it was released. But that was from afar. My mother put down a veto against me buying it. I spotted it here in ProgArchives again. My mother being 1000 km away, I took the chance and bought it on Ebay......... but don't tell my mother.

This compilation album contains some of the best Deep Purple did between 1970ish and 1975. It is one of the many greatest hits compilations issued to cash in on their name. I prefer the studio albums and in particular In Rock to compilation albums. You get both Ian Gillan and David Coverdale on this album. The inclusion of Fireball and Woman From Tokyo is dubious to say at least. Demon's Eye too is an album filler. But in short, this album is a waste of time and money. Get the good live albums instead if you want greatest hits by this band. Nuff said.

2 stars

Before I ever got an actual DP album, I had three different compilations. This one was the best of the three. Here you get a longer version of "Speed King" than the US version of In Rock. However, on 24 Carat Purple(yet another compilation I never had but heard), I swear that version is even longer than this one. Deepest Purple focuses on the band's 1970-74 output. There are no songs from Come Taste The Band, and only one song each from Who Do We..., Burn and Stormbringer.

Apart from the usual suspects you would hear on classic rock radio, "Child In Time" and "Demon's Eye" are here. Originally a double-album, it's too short. They should have included "Rat Bat Blue", "Sail Away", "Hold On" and maybe "You Keep On Moving". Nonetheless, it's an easy way to get "Smoke On The Water", "Black Night", "Woman From Tokyo" and "Burn" all on one album.

If you have all the 1970-74 albums, this is only of interest to those that have the US version of In Rock(for the longer "Speed King"). If you have no Purple but want to give these guys a try, this is a good introduction. It would be great if there was a compilation spanning the 1968-88 years, but I don't think one exists. A good intro to DP but that's about it. 2 stars.

This 1980 compilation was very popular in Australia, and I remember it virtually littering the album shelves back then with that iconic cover of a steaming axe, that has nothing to do with the band but looks nice. It has since become a cheapy CD but well worth the effort as it contains everything that makes deep Purple great as the archetypical hard rock legends that they are. It features the definitive songs that all Purple fans know back to front, 'Black Night', 'Speed King', 'Fireball', 'Strange Kind Of Woman', 'Child In Time', 'Highway Star' and 'Space Truckin''. There are some others that I had never been a huge fan of but of course it features quintessential killer riffer 'Smoke On The Water'.

I played this album on cassette so much I think I wore out the tape. I have since lost the cover and it now kicks around in a dusty box in the attic, discarded with all the other cassettes that are out of date and useless.

All of the songs are the originals and this makes a nice replacement for all the albums for those who only want to dip their toes in the Deep Purple water. This makes a nice Sunday afternoon treat if you want to hear the best Purple songs without changing dozens of CDs. It is really worthwhile though if you have no Deep Purple albums at all as it shows just how amazing this band is. A decent no frills compilation of the legends of proto metal.