Customer Reviews

Very Best of Deep Purple

5 star:		(39)
4 star:		(17)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Deep Purple is the heavy metal equivalent of Yes. Both bands sprung up in the late 1960's, flirted for awhile with the idea of combining classical music with rock, had a relatively brief early 1970s heydays in which they recorded their best albums, had some latter success upon reuniting in the mid-1980s, and have since faded into a long and uninspired twilight that has added little to their legacies. Like Yes, most of Deep Purple's best music resides on a handful of albums ("Machine Head," "Made in Japan," "Perfect Strangers") and any anthology album simply sweeps the other bits and pieces together into one package.

As single disc anthologies go, "The Very Best of Deep Purple," is as tightly packed as it could be (just a tad over 75 minutes of music). And while you can always quibble about track selection around the margains on a disc lke this (I'd have chosen the title track of the band's 1984 comeback album "Perfect Strangers," for example) all of the band's best known tunes are here, including "Smoke on the Water," "Space Truckin'," "Hush," "Woman from Tokyo," "Knocking at Your Back Door." It's also no accident that about 12 of the 15 tunes included were recorded by Purple's "classic" lineup with BOTH vocalist Ian Gillan and guitarist Ritchie Blackmore. Without either one or both of them, the Purples are little better than just another arena rock band. The CD booklet contains lengthy liner notes and photographs from various periods in the band's history.

Overall, a decent single disc anthology album that will be of most interest to the casual fan.

Deep Purple The Very Best Of Deep Purple (Warner Archives/Rhino)

The Very Best Of Deep Purple (Warner Archives/Rhino) collects 15 of Purples' hardest hitting tunes from the various incarnations of the band from the very first LP Shades Of Deep Purple in 1968 to Perfect Strangers in 1984. These songs are culled from the huge Purple box set Shades 1968-1998 (Warner Archives/Rhino) and all are digitally remastered and are FIREBALLS! All songs are the original long album versions except "Kentucky Woman" that is the single version & "Speed King" which is the U.S. Deep Purple In Rock album version and is a shorter version than the release on the U.K. album. All the hits are here "Smoke On The Water," "Hush," "Woman From Tokyo" & "Demon's Eye" to name a few. The booklet has some nice pictures, U.S. album discography and song by song info by 2 DP archivists. Play this LOUD & BURN! A+.

Well, yes and no! There're a couple of things that you should know about this release: first, the liner notes claim that this is the first collection of the CD era, which is not entirely true, since the previous "Deepest Purple" compilation was already available (However, the remastering is most welcome!). And that's probably my only complaint (I would actually rate this item with 4 and a half stars, but since the format won't allow me to do that...) about this compilation: it offers very little additional material, only 3 songs that were not included in "Deepest...".

Its title notwithstanding, this CD is a "greatest hits" compilation and not (necessarily) "The Very best", but semantics aside, there are a couple of exceptions of songs that were not issued as singles (Space Trucking and Child in Time, for instance...). I originally didn't care much for the covers of "Kentucky Woman" and "Hush", but I understood their inclusion here since those were the first hits the band scored with in the U.S (the territory this CD is meant for). But the tunes eventually grew on me, leading me to get their first 3 records.

It's a shame that no additional material from the band's second coming in the 80's could be included though, but that is simply a record company issue: the latter part of Purple's catalog was released with a different record label. In the end, this is a great compilation, and if you want to have a taste of some of Purple's best material, this is a good place to start. However, if you, like me, were looking for a more comprehensive package, including music from all the lineups (including the criminally underrated Mk IV, completely ignored here...), you might be a bit disappointed...You can always get the boxset "Shades", but... that's a different tale... But casual fans looking for nothing but the hits rejoice: here they are!!! And for roughly 8 bucks, you can't really ask for more...

This is the best Deep Purple compilation on one disc that you can find out there although a properly remastered version of "Deepest Purple: The Best of Deep Purple" would give this a good run for the money. The sound has been very well remastered and the track selection is truly representative of their life's work from "Hush" to "Knocking...Door". If you want a sampling of Deep Purple without getting all the albums, this is it. Although if you decide you like what you hear and want to explore even more, then go get remastered versions of "Machine Head" and "In Rock". If you are also an aspiring rock guitarist these two are essential listening as well as this one. Highly recommended.

Overall, I think that this CD is better than Deepest Purple and When We Rock, We Rock and When We Roll, We Roll but this greatest hits compilation isn't quite perfect but I'm going to review it song by song.

Hush: Deep Purple's first hit released in the summer of '68 hitting the Top 5 on the American Billboard charts but this song isn't one of my favorites, it's a good psychedelic song but it isn't a great Deep Purple song. 4/5

Kentucky Woman: Despite the fact that this is only the single version but I think that this is a great song to listen to and it's one of the few remakes that I actually like better, that's something that I don't say too often, sadly for vocalist Rod Evans he left within a year later after recording this song. 5/5

Black Night: I don't know which album this song was off of but it's a really cool song, wish that it can be a little longer but this is the song that we get to hear Ian Gillan sing and hear Roger Glover play. 5/5

Speed King: Ian Gillan can really sing on this song and it rocks! 5/5

Child in Time: This is a good song and it's hard to believe that it's over 10 minutes long although it doesn't seem like it, believe it or not, they actually used the opening riffs from It's a Beautiful Day's Bombay Calling. 5/5

Strange Kind of Woman: I love this song and it's probably my favorite Deep Purple song from the pre-Machine Head albums, good catchy chorus. 5/5

Fireball: Great organ riffs by keyboardist Jon Lord, this song reminds me of the washing machine! 5/5

Demon's Eye: Although this song has a great chorus but this song isn't one of my all time favorites, it's still good. 4/5

Highway Star: When I first heard of this song on Dazed and Confused, I used to think that it was called Highway Storm, ain't that funny or what, this song is about fast cars. 5/5

Smoke on the Water: Despite how much airplay this song gets, this song has one of the best riffs in hard rock history, and this is also Deep Purple's most famous song. 5/5

Space Truckin': Another minor hit off of Machine Head but this song isn't one of my favorites. 4/5

Woman From Tokyo, Another one of the classic rock staples and this is a cool song, I like the fact that it goes in different directions, sadly vocalist Ian Gillan and Roger Glover would leave the band within a year or so later but this song is a classic. 5/5

Burn: Here we meet new vocalist David Coverdale (who would later go onto great success a decade later with Whitesnake) and new bassist Glenn Hughes, this is probably my favorite Purple song with David Coverdale on vocals. 5/5

Stormbringer: It is my understanding that guitarist Ritchie Blackmore was dissapointed by the album cause they didn't want to record a remake of a certain song that he liked and this song isn't nearly as good as Burn. 4/5

Knocking at Your Back Door: After almost a decade of Deep Purple breaking up, they got back together and recorded a strong Deep Purple album called Perfect Strangers. 5/5

If you're a casual Deep Purple fan you'll want this album and I wish that Deep Purple would make a double greatest hits album cause there are songs that I would want to hear on a compilation album like Mary Long, Mule, Mistreated, Sail Away, Gettin' Tighter, Perfect Strangers and Lazy, other Deep Purple albums that I would recommend is Machine Head.

This is not bad for a single disc collection of DP, but adding another 70+minute disc, would have been a better idea. There's alway's going to be people, who feel like there favorite song should have been included, and that might just solve the problem. Even so, this compilation has their highest charting hits, but I and many other fans, don't like the hits as much as their other fan favorites. I kind of wish that they could have left off "Smoke on the water", because it's overplayed way too much on the classic rock stations, and I've never really warmed up to "Space truckin'", even though it's from a great album MACHINE HEAD. It would have been great if they could have included "Pictures from home", from MACHINE HEAD, and "Mule" from FIREBALL, but if your just a hitman, like my friend Randy was, than this best of compilation might be right up your alley. Still, if you want a more comprehensive survey of this great band, then I would suggest getting their boxed set. I guess it may seem like I've been in a cave, but I didn't know till about 2 years ago, that Steve Morse has been their guitarist, since 1994. I'd really like to see him play their new and old stuff, I'm sure he can do it without much difficulty.

There will almost always be disagreements regarding track selection on Greatest Hits compilations. But come on Record Labels, obvious ommissions are totally unacceptable! Know the artist. Do your research. Check the Billborad charts (Hmmm, this is a Rock band, I guess it would make sense to check out Billboards "Rock Tracks" chart.). How can "Perfect Strangers" not be on this Deep Purple Greatest Hits disc. With ommisions like this, it makes you wonder if the compiler ever listened to the radio or has a clue about the band. The disc would rate 5 Stars with the inclusion of Perfect Stangers. But I have no resevations about downgrading the rank to 3 because of such an obvious oversight. I expect more from the record labels, and especially Rhino Records.

Without question the best single disc collection of Deep Purple's essential tracks. Wisely focusing on the famed Mark II line up (Blackmore/Lord/Paice/Gillan/Glover) this disc should be required listening for any of the 20-something set that thinks Korn and Limp Bizkit know how to rock. Energy, dynamics, musicianship, and killer riffs - it's all here. Proof that DP belong in the same league as 70's icons Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath. A Must-Have.

I'd say about this much. Sure. DEEP PURPLE ROCKS, but they can get on the nerves once you go beyond the surface. Ok, ok, all you hardcore PURPLE fans are probably already reaching for the not helpful button right now, well I'm not talking to you. I personally, like a fair amount of Deep Purple, however, to me they are nothing special. Just a good cut of ROCK to blast in the car once in a while. I have no need to delve, I don't care for the live stuff, and basically I just like the hits. SO here we are. This pack has them ALL!
HUSH, going back to the earliest "mach" of the band, this is a pretty rockin psychedelic sixties cut. You get the two powerhouse songs back to back, of course I mean HIGHWAY STAR and SMOKE ON THE WATER. You get a decent helping of DAVID COVERDALE era stuff... like BURN! You get the wierd seventies rocker MY WOMAN FROM TOKYO (This song has a special memory to me, which is why I like it.) You even get an offering from the 1984 outing KNOCKING AT YOUR BACK DOOR, which I have been known to leave on certain chicks voice mail around 4:30am. "It's not the KILL but the THRILL of the chase!"
Those are just the ones off the top of my head. No doubt this whole disc will rock. No live versions (good) and plenty of killer. No filler. You have my blessing on this one.

For anyone on a financial plan this CD of hard rock's best band is adequate. It consists of 15 songs from Deep Purple's various stages. Opening with 1968's Hush and ending up with 1984's Knockin' At Your Back Door. This disc will give you a good perspective on how this rock band changed throughout the years. The bulk of the CD comes from the famed MK II line up Blackmore, Lord, Paice, Gillan and Glover. A couple of the tracks (Kentucky Woman and Demon's Eye) might have been expendable when there were such key omissions as Perfect Strangers, Bad Attitude and Ted the Mechanic.
I think Warner Archives/Rhino should have made this a 2-CD collection for a much better representative of what immense music Deep Purple created. Warner Archives/Rhino awarded Black Sabbath with a 2-CD set and their material isn't nearly as varied or interesting. But they'll probably get around to it before we know it. Still, a great introductory disc to Deep Purple. Also pick up the classic Made In Japan. Then you'll have a good balance of studio and on stage magic.