Purple Rain

The best of Deep Purple is very, very good!

If you thought enough about the band to make you cart body and sole to the concert down south, you’ve simply got to get yourself this album. A collection of nineteen singles you’ve heard before, opening with their incredibly orgasmic "Hush", the first couple of numbers salute the hippie style that was theirs in the days they coded the colour! Featuring the UK singles from ’68 to ’75, the album takes you chronologically through their halcyon days, when their music evolved into the distinct sound that is totally "Deep".

This album contains nineteen of their best tracks, some creamier than others - "One More Rainy Day", "Strange Kind Of Woman", and the live version of "Black Night". And where would this be if it didn’t have "Kentucky Woman", "Fireball" and "You Keep On Moving". A booklet with the lyrics gives you the grammar that, for two decades now, has had metal and rock fans across the globe see a whole lot of Purple.

This article was first published on20 May 2002.