Deep Purple 1968-1976

When I was much younger, my sister Sharon's friends introduced me to music from the 60s and 70s. One such band were Deep Purple. I was so young, that my discovery of the band was BEFORE they reformed in 1984. And when they did? Well, they didn't sound quite "the same". The band seemed to have gone a bit "pop" which might well have suited other bands, but not (in my view) Purple. Of course, my opinion on the current version of the band might well change, but for now, I remain convinced that the records they made up until their original split in 1976 are far superior to what followed. Furthermore, there are quite a few compilations and box sets which concentrate purely on the 1968-1976 period, so as yet another Singles Collection prepares to hit the shops, here's a guide as to how and what to collect from the "first" phase of Deep Purple.

Mark 1

Deep Purple, believe it or not, started as a sort of manufactured band. They had been put together by a management team and christened "Roundabout" - the original aim was that the lineup would rotate regularly. The reason for this was that the five members had all been in bands before, or had been session musicians, and that they would just be replaced by other session musicians. However, this simply didn't happen, and by 1968, the band became "Deep Purple". The original line up consisted of Rod Evans (vocals), Nick Simper (bass), Ritchie Blackmore (guitar), Jon Lord (organ) and Ian Paice (drums), and their debut LP "Shades Of Deep Purple" was issued before the end of the year. The band seemed heavily reliant on cover versions, reputedly due to their session-musician background, and indeed, their debut single "Hush" was a Joe South cover. A second LP, "The Book Of Taliesyn" was issued in the states at the tail end of 68, but it's release in the UK was put back until the summer of 69.

However, Blackmore, Paice and Lord were concerned at the direction the band was going. The three of them wanted to go in a "heavier" direction, and were not convinced that Evans and Simper were suitable enough for such a style of music. With commitments already lined up until July 1969, the three decided to hold a "secret" recording session with two possible replacements. Ian Gillan and Roger Glover were in a band called Episode Six, but were invited to record a song called "Hallelujah" with the trio, unbeknown to Evans or Simper. Gillan, it was felt, would almost certainly join as the band's new singer, but Glover was officially in the studio as a "session musician only".

No sooner had "Taliesyn" hit UK shelves, than Evans and Simper heard of the planned line up change. Neither were too happy with the situation, but both agreed to part company with the rest of the band when the current string of dates were complete. To make matters more baffling, a third LP, "Deep Purple", had already been recorded by the Mark 1 lineup, but by the time it was released in the UK, the Mark 1 lineup was no more! The final Mark 1 show was in Cardiff on July 4th 1969, and Mark 2 debuted at the Speakeasy in London only six days later. "Hallelujah" was issued as a stand alone single, but with a Mark 1 recorded B-side, "April (Part 1)" - this was basically the instrumental first four minutes of a track from the 3rd LP, so at least the casual observer would be unaware who was actually on the recording (unless you could tell the difference between Simper or Glover's bass style!)

All three of the Mark 1 albums were reissued in 2000 with extra tracks - for some strange reason, the reissues saw the original picture covers altered and replaced with a period photograph of the band, with the album cover printed as a small inset at the bottom-middle part of the cover. The back of the booklet did, however, feature the original cover in full - but this still seemed like a strange design. There are two box sets in existence which feature all three LPs in a single box - a long deleted one with the original CD pressings (with no bonus tracks but with the original picture covers) and another one with all of the 2000 reissues. A compilation CD, "The Early Years" also exists, which is notable for featuring several otherwise unavailable mixes of songs from this era.

SELECTED MARK 1 DISCOGRAPHY

Shades Of Deep Purple (Parlophone PCS 7055, 1968, LP)
The Book Of Taliesyn (Harvest SHVL 751, 1968, LP)
Deep Purple (Harvest SHVL 759, 1969, LP)
Shades Of Deep Purple/The Book Of Taliesyn/Deep Purple (EMI 528 3442, 2000, 3 x CD box set, each CD housed in individual case with "new" picture sleeves and extra tracks)
The Early Years (EMI 5966112, 2004)

Mark 2

The Mark 2 lineup had a slightly inauspicious start - compared to what followed in the 70s. After "Hallelujah" failed to make waves in the charts, one of the band's first big gigs was the much maligned "Concerto For Group And Orchestra" performance at the Royal Albert Hall in September 1969. One of Lord's ambitions to merge Rock and Classical music, it would have featured the Mark 1 line up, had things not happened the way they did. By now, Gillan and Glover were both part of the line up - and given that the Mark 2 lineup had not yet released an album together, they were asked to sign copies of the "Deep Purple" LP at the show to give away as prizes - all five members, including Gillan and Glover, were asked, despite the latter pair not even being part of that record! The "Concerto" saw the band play with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra - the Orchestra played a short set, then Purple alone (with two of the three numbers played originating from the Mark 1 days), then the Concerto itself by both band and orchestra. Often overlooked is the fact that the band (and the orchestra) returned to play an encore, an excerpt of the final part of the Concerto.

The Concerto consisted of three movements - each about 15-20 minutes in length. The Concerto was to be the first LP release by the Mark 2 lineup, something which several band members were concerned about, as they were worried they would be pigeon-holed as a "semi orchestral rockband" (and quite rightly - early gigs after the Concerto show saw promoters hurredly trying to locate orchestras for the band to play with, and there was a story about another promoter asking the band if the local brass band would be sufficient instead...).

When it came to releasing the LP, there was a slight problem. The 2nd movement was simply too long to put at the end of side 1, or at the start of side 2. The solution was simply to edit the 2nd movement - the first half appeared on side 1, fading about midway through, and the second half appeared on side 2, fading in at roughly the same spot. In the 1980s, a documentary shown on TV in 1970 was issued on VHS, which featured the Concerto in full without the fades - but it seems part of the master tape was missing, which means that even though the 2nd movement appears in one chunk, a small section has been cut from the middle section. Subsequent VHS and DVD reissues in the 1990s and 2000s have failed to solve this problem. Even on CD, the 2nd movement has still never been released in full, despite the two "halves" being spliced together to form one song. The most recent CD pressing includes not only the Concerto, but the opening sets and the encore. Despite some of the reservations about "going classical", the band would peform another Rock Vs Classical piece in 1970, "The Gemini Suite".

It was in 1970, however, that the Mark 2 lineup really got going. Their first studio LP, "In Rock" (so titled to prove how "heavy" they were) was an incendiary listen, especially when compared to the intricacies of the Concerto, and was the first of a series of annual studio albums that would be released until 1973 - these releases were "Fireball" in 1971, "Machine Head" in 1972 and "Who Do We Think We Are" in 1973. All four albums have been given expanded reissues, with a series of period rarities including non-album singles and specially commissioned remixes taking the running time on each to CD-length. "Machine Head", considered by many to be the band's finest hour, was expanded across 2 CDs - the first CD features remixes of the whole album and the period B-side "When A Blind Man Cries", many of which have extended openings or endings (as opposed to a 'fade-out'). The second CD features the original LP, the original mix of "Blind Man" and a pair of Quadrophonic Mixes, from a Quadrophonic pressing of the LP which appeared alongside the original release in 1972. Two other Quad mixes from the LP, "Smoke On The Water" and "Never Before" were released on the 2002 box set "Listen Learn Read On", but I am not sure if the three remaining "Machine Head" Quad mixes are any different to the standard LP. If they are, they can only be gotten hold of by getting the original Quad Mix pressing.

The reissues of "Fireball" and "Machine Head" came in slip cases, which featured a completely different photo on the front. Some early pressings of "Machine Head" came in another outer slipcase in a unique sleeve. Inside, the original album cover of both LPs was shown as the front cover of the CD inlay booklet, although on "Fireball", the band's name is absent. Given that "Who Do We..." is considered the black sheep of the Mark 2 period, it's reissue comes in a standard CD jewel case, with the same cover as the original 1973 LP, whilst "In Rock" has re-prints of the band's signatures super-imposed on the jewel case - if you are lucky, you might be able to track down a 2-CD box set which has both the "In Rock" and "Who Do We..." reissues with their extra tracks inside a nifty slipcase.

By 1973, history was repeating itself. Gillan decided to leave, but had to see out outstanding live commitments - he took to making barbed comments aimed at the band (mainly Blackmore) on stage, which went over the heads of the audience (his looming departure had not been made public). At least one song on "Who Do We Think We Are" was a direct lyrical attack on Blackmore. Once the album had been released, Gillan left the band - and in a rather strange set of circumstances, Glover was asked to leave as well, although Blackmore apologised to him at the time for this maneouvure.

NOTABLE MARK 2 DISCOGRAPHY

Concerto For Group & Orchestra (1969, Harvest SHVL 767, LP. Various VHS and DVDs exist featuring the Concerto "in full", although these releases only include footage of the three "Movements".)
Concerto For Group & Orchestra (2002 reissue, EMI 07243 541006 2, 2 x CD, entire show in remixed form)
In Rock (1970, Harvest SHVL 777, LP)
Fireball (1971, Harvest SHVL 793, LP)
Fireball (1971, Warner Brothers BS 2564, US LP with "Strange Kind Of Woman" replacing "Demon's Eye")
Fireball (1996 reissue, EMI CD DEEPP1, CD in slipcase with extra tracks, based around UK LP tracklisting)
Machine Head (1972, Purple Records TPSA 7504, LP)
Machine Head (1972, Purple Records Q4TPSA 7504, Quadrophonic Mix, LP)
Machine Head (1997 reissue, EMI CD DEEPP3, 2 x CD in slipcase with extra tracks including part of the Quad mix LP)
Who Do We Think We Are/In Rock (2004 box set, EMI EBX11, 2 x CD, includes expanded editions of "Who Do We Think We Are" and "In Rock", both with extra tracks, the latter in "autographed" casing)

Made In Japan

Despite the critical acclaim heaped on some of those albums, there was a feeling that none really captured the full power of Purple, the power that was really only evident on stage. In 1972, the band flew to Japan for a series of shows, and it was decided that a live album would be compiled from the performances. Two shows in Osaka on August 15th/16th were taped, as was the following nights show in Tokyo. The band, at the time, were performing a typical 7-song set (with a 2-song encore) and the double LP would feature the best performances of the standard 7-song set. The majority of the record was taken from the 2nd Osaka show - the band claimed that the first show was affected by jetlag, the third sounded bad on playback because of poor acoustics in the venue. It was issued in the UK after "Machine Head", but was held back in the US until after "Who Do We Think We Are", and as a result, became Gillan & Glover's swansong Stateside. Some, if not all, North American pressings on Vinyl featured sides 1 and 4 on the first slab of vinyl, and sides 2 and 3 on the second - the standard in the UK of course being sides 1 and 2 together, then sides 3 and 4. Was this a mispressing? Or is this what all record companies did in the US and Canada at the time?

In 1993, to celebrate the 21st anniversary of the LP, a triple CD box set titled "Live In Japan" was issued. Each disc was, more or less, devoted to each of the three shows from which the original album had been created. In order to try and include a couple of encores (and ensure each disc had a slightly altered tracklisting), the versions of "Smoke On The Water" and "The Mule" that had appeared on "Made In Japan" were omitted, allowing for extra space on discs 1 and 3 respectively. The five remaining "Made In Japan" recordings appeared on the box set, albeit in remixed form. The encores included were both taken from the 1st Osaka show, with "Black Night" appearing on Disc 1, and "Speed King" appearing on Disc 3. It is worth noting that a live version of "Black Night" from Tokyo had already been released (in edited form) as the B-side of "Woman From Tokyo" in 1973 (except in the UK, where the single was cancelled). This meant that, of the six tracks played during the encores across the three nights, half were now officially available in one form or another.

In 1998, to tie in with the 25th anniversary of the US release of "Made In Japan", the original 7-track record was reissued. The original gold coloured sleeve was now black, and the CD pressings of the record featured a second CD - an EP of the encores. The band had three songs they chose from when returning for the encore, and a live version of each was included. The aforementioned "Black Night" was included, in unedited form, whilst also included from the Tokyo show was a performance of "Speed King". The third track was a cover of Little Richard's "Lucille", performed at the 2nd Osaka show. Despite never recording a studio version of this song, this was not the first time this track had been released by the band, as the 1980 LP "In Concert" was where it made it's debut (more of that later). And as for the sixth encore? Well, the live version of "Black Night" from the 2nd Osaka show finally surfaced in 2002 on the "Listen Learn Read On" box set.

"MADE IN JAPAN" DISCOGRAPHY

Made In Japan (Purple Records TPSP 351, 2 x LP, 1972)
Live In Japan (Warner Brothers P 5066/7, Japanese Only 2 x LP, cover similar to 1993 CD release, 1972)
Live In Japan (EMI 827 7262, 3 x CD, 1993)
Made In Japan (EMI 857 8642, 2 x CD, in black bordered p/s with 3 extra tracks, 1998)

Mark 3

In the second half of 1973, Gillan & Glover were replaced by David Coverdale (at the time, claimed to be an unknown singer, but later revealed to have recorded material in the early 70s) and Glenn Hughes. The first fruits of this lineup were revealed in 1974 with the release of the album "Burn", regarded by most fans to be a real return to form. The band set off on tour, with set lists being notable by their general absence of Mark 2 era material (and no Mark 1 stuff), with only the likes of "Smoke On The Water" and "Space Truckin'" surviving for intial shows - although later shows saw the likes of "Highway Star" returning to the fold.

For the first time since 1968, Purple managed to release a second studio album within a year by releasing "Stormbringer" in 1974. However, the writing was already on the wall, as Blackmore was not happy about the new "funk" direction the band was taking, and even showed signs of his unhappiness whilst in the studio. After a show in Australia early in 1975, he disappeared, and only returned to the group on the eve of another tour. The remaining members, convinced that Blackmore would walk at the end of the tour, decided to record several shows during the final week of concerts in Europe in April, assuming that once Blackmore left, the band would collapse, and material from the shows would be used for a posthumous live album. As expected, Blackmore left after the final show in Paris, but the band did not grind to a halt - instead, the remaining foursome decided to recruit a new guitarist, and the Mark 4 line up was born. The posthumous live album, as expected, was put on hold.

Both Mark 3 studio albums have been reissued in recent years - "Burn" was expanded to CD length in 2004, although the choice of bonus tracks was poor (simply remixes of already available songs recorded at the sessions, including a remix of a b-side from the period, "Coronarias Redig"), and even the new slipcase picture sleeve looked a bit "shoddy". "Stormbringer", for all it's poor reputation (with Blackmore anyway), was a bit more impressive - reissued on it's 35th anniversary in 2009, there were some more remixes at the end of the first CD, but it also included a DVD with a Quadrophonic mix of the LP on as well - the Quad mix having been issued at the same time as the Stereo version in 1974. Some of these mixes were included on the "Listen Learn Read On" box set, but at least one Quad mix not included on the box was deemed to be signifciantly different to the stereo mix, so the decision to issue the Quad mix in full was most appreciated. The slipcase more or less featured the original album cover, but with the front and back covers "merged" to create a single image. The CD inlay featured the original LP cover, complete with band logo and album title, but there were typographical differences between the original LP and the 35th anniversary CD as far as the printing of the album title on the front was concerned. It's also worth noting that in some countries, when it was issued in 1974, "Stormbringer" was released instead as "Soldier Of Fortune" due to 'censorship issues'.

MARK 3 RELEASES & REISSUES 1973-1976

Burn (1974, Purple Records TPS 3505, LP)
Burn (2004 reissue, EMI 7243 473 5922, CD)
Stormbringer (1974, Purple Records TPS 3508, LP)
Stormbringer (1974, Quad mix, Warner Brothers PR4 2832-LP, US LP)
Stormbringer (2009 reissue, EMI TPSX 3508, CD + DVD)
Made In Europe (1976, Purple Records TPSA 7517, LP issued after band split)

Mark 4

Despite claims that Blackmore was "irreplaceable", he was duly replaced with an american guitarist called Tommy Bolin. The new line up took the funk element of "Stormbringer" onwards - indeed, a lengthy jam session recorded soon after the line up was formed was later deemed to be good enough to be released as an album in it's own right called "Days May Come & Days May Go".

The first album "proper" by the Mark 4 line up was 1975's "Come Taste The Band" - again, regarded by many fans as a high point of the band's career. However, live shows which followed veered from genius to chaotic - Bolin was revealed to have a drug problem and Hughes started to fall out with the rest of the band. The band's days were numbered.

Barely a year after Blackmore had walked out, than Coverdale decided he had had enough. After a show in Liverpool in March 76, he announced to Paice and Lord that he wanted to quit. However, they too had noticed the problems within the band and announced that they also wanted to call it a day. Ever the democracy, with three fifths of the band wanting to leave, that signalled the end of Deep Purple. The posthumous live album surfaced later the same year ("Made In Europe") although it might have seemed strange that the break up of the Mark 4 lineup was marked with a Mark 3 live album! A Japanese only Mark 4 live album, "Last Concert In Japan" was issued in 1977, and Purple was over. It was now time for an almost endless supply of reissues and "new" releases...

MARK 4 DISCOGRAPHY

Days May Come And Days May Go (recorded 1975, but not issued until 2000, Purple Records PUR 303, CD)
Come Taste The Band (1975, Purple Records TPSA 7515, LP [an expanded edition is due on CD in 2010])
Last Concert In Japan (1977, featuring gig from 1975, Warner Brothers P 6515W, Japanese Only LP)

The Compilations

Although they found themselves doing 30+ minute versions of songs on stage that only lasted for four minutes on record, Deep Purple did release a fair number of 45s in their career. A series of compilation albums have been issued that do a fair job of cobbling together the stray A sides and B sides that were issued between 1968 and 1976. Some of the albums are of more interest than others, and the pick of the bunch are listed here. Later on in this article, we shall look at the actual singles the band released, both before 1976 and after. For now, let's look at the more fascinating "Best Of's" the band have issued since the 70s.

One of the band's most famous comps was 1975's "24 Carat Purple". On the face of it, it looked like it provided a home to a pair of stand-alone 45s the band released in 1970 and 1971 ("Black Night" and "Strange Kind Of Woman") but this was not the case - "Strange Kind Of Woman" was lifted from "Made In Japan", and the version of "Black Night" was the live version recorded in Tokyo for the "Woman From Tokyo" single. Potentially more interesting was the "Mark I & II" set issued a year or so before - a double LP with the first disc featuring Mark 1 songs, and the second featuring Mark 2, this included the studio versions of "Strange Kind Of Woman" and "Black Night", and also housed the non-album Mark 1 45 "Emmaretta", and the 1972 b-side, "When A Blind Man Cries". A photo of the "suggestive" front cover is seen below.

In 1977, Purple released the rarities album "Powerhouse". Consisting of (at the time) over 30 minutes worth of unreleased material, it was a worthy addition to the Purple catalogue, and although all of this material has subsequently been re-released, some of it has been remixed when reissued, so the completists would be advised to track this record down. It was bookended by a pair of studio outtakes, "Painted Horse" and "Cry Free", and included the entire pre-Concerto mini-set from the 1969 Albert Hall show. The sixth track was, once more, the "Live In Tokyo" version of "Black Night" - at one point, it seemed to be easier to get this live version than the original single mix! It's worth noting that "Powerhouse" is not really the only "rarities" LP the band have released - in Japan, a pair of albums surfaced under the "New Live And Rare" banner, one of which was also issued in the UK. The first Japanese one tended to include material available on other releases/reissues, but the second seems to include some otherwise unavailable versions and/or mixes. This edition was issued as "New Live And Rare" in the UK by Sonic Boom (catalogue number PUR 209) in 2004.

In 1978, Harvest issued the "Singles A's and B's" set, in what I can only describe as a striking cover (see above). A 12 track affair, it seemed on the face of it to be a slightly random selection of songs cutting off at 1971, but what it actually provided was the A-sides and B-sides of all of the band's singles issued before they started to release material through their own "Purple Records" label the following year. The only "missing" song was "Kentucky Woman" - it had been issued as the band's 2nd single, but was withdrawn from sale within a month to be replaced by "Emmaretta". "Emmaretta" used the same B-side ("Wring That Neck", from "The Book Of Taliesyn"), so rather than end up with a 13 track album, or include "Wring That Neck" twice, "Kentucky Woman" was simply left off. The LP provided a home for the stand alone Mark 2 debut "Hallelujah", and it's non album flip "April (Part1)", as well as the 'Piano Version' of "Speed King" (the B-side of "Black Night") and "I'm Alone" (the B-side of "Strange Kind Of Woman"). The set ended with both sides of the "Fireball" 7", but with the running order reversed, so "Fireball" closed the album. The other side of that single, "Demon's Eye", was of interest to US fans - in the states, the "Fireball" album included "Strange Kind Of Woman" instead to try and 'sell' the album, so this may have been the first chance some American fans would have had to own this track. Despite the fact that these songs have re-surfaced on subsequent "Hits" collections, this did not stop a reissue of the album on CD in Australia in 1990, with two extra songs - the 7" edit of "Smoke On The Water" (never released as a single in the UK, at least not until after the band had split) and "Space Truckin'" - issued as a single in a few overseas territories, but not necessarily in the form included on the CD (it's just the "Machine Head" album mix, but a live version seems to have been released as a 45 here and there after "Made In Japan" was released). The CD reissue was slightly retitled as "The Deep Purple Singles", whilst an "expanded" edition in 1993 was issued in the UK using the original album title - but in a new sleeve.

In 1979, a companion LP "The Mark 2 Purple Singles" was released. As with the "Singles" release, some copies were pressed on Purple Vinyl. This was another "rarities" set, divided into live and studio material. On side one, there were live versions of "Smoke" and "Child In Time" - originally included on "Made In Japan", these were edited versions that had been issued on a recent EP, the "Deep Purple Maxi Single". Sandwiched between them was, yet again, that "Live In Tokyo" version of "Black Night". On side two, both sides of the "Never Before" 7" were included (an edited version of the A-side, with it's accompanying B-side "When A Blind Man Cries"), along with the "never released in the UK" single edit of "Woman From Tokyo" and "Powerhouse" rarity "Painted Horse" (recently exhumed for the "New Live And Rare" EP).

In 1980, an attempt to release a defintive "Greatest Hits" package was launched with the issue of the Ian Paice compiled "Deepest Purple". Concerned only with Mark 2 & 3 material, it featured an instant rarity by including a shortened version of "Speed King", with Blackmore's explosive opening solo completely chopped off! This may have been due to space constraints with vinyl (a good 30 minutes worth of material appeared on each side), but subsequent CD pressings still include the "short" version.

In 1998, to celebrate their 30th anniversary, "30" was issued. It appeared on a variety of formats (again including purple vinyl) and the double-CD edition included some of the band's longer numbers. However, the single CD edition was far more interesting - as it included various radio edits, some of which had not been available in the UK before (such as "Burn"). There was also a heavily edited version of "Child In Time", which although listed as a "single mix", is not believed to have been issued as a single - certainly not in the UK. It may well be exclusive to this set. The single CD featured 18 tracks in total, 15 of which came from the 1968-1976 period.

There are also other comps of note - 1985's "Anthology" when originally issued featured previously unheard songs and mixes, but was withdrawn after complaints that it mean't hardcore fans had to buy a "Best Of" collection just to get the "new" songs. Then there is this years "Singles Collection" - effectively an update of all the above, across 2 CDs, covering the period up to 1976, with the inclusion of various songs that never surfaced on either side of a 45 in the UK (such as "Living Wreck" and "Help"), along with the un-remixed version of "Coronarias Redig" and the edited "Made In Europe" track "Mistreated", which surfaced on the "New Live & Rare Vol 2" EP in the seventies.

SELECTED UK COMPILATION ALBUMS

Mark I & II (1973/4, Purple Records 5C 184 - 94865/6, 2 x LP, includes "Emmaretta" and other 'non album' Mark 2 singles. My copy is an import, UK version apparently exists with different catalogue number)
24 Carat Purple (1975, Purple Records TPSM 2002, LP, later re-released on CD, includes "Black Night (Live In Tokyo)")
Powerhouse (1977, Purple Records TPS 3510, LP)
Singles As & Bs (1978, Harvest Heritage SHSM 2026, LP, all A and B sides from 68-71)
The Mark 2 Purple Singles (1979, Purple Records TPS 3514, LP, includes "rarities" from 72 and 73)
Deepest Purple (1980, EMI EMTV 25, LP, includes exclusive "No Guitar Intro" version of "Speed King")
The Anthology (1985, EMI PUR 1, 2 x LP with several previously unheard tracks/mixes, subsequently reissued with such tracks removed, with these tracks re-surfacing on later reissues of Purple's original studio LPs)
The Deep Purple Singles (1990, but subsequently reissued, EMI 7243 82945123, CD, expanded edition of 1978 "Singles As & Bs" including edit of "Smoke On The Water")
Singles As & Bs (1993, expanded reissue of original 1978 LP in totally new sleeve, EMI 781 0092, CD)
30 (1998, EMI 496 8072, CD, includes edits of most of the band's 45s, including non-UK single "Burn", plus possibly unique "single mix" of "Child In Time". Purple Vinyl edition also available with same tracklisting.)
Singles Collection (2010, EMI 2 x CD, includes numerous rarities, such as "Coronarias Redig", live edits of "Smoke", "Child In Time" and "Mistreated", plus various other non-UK a-sides)

Live

Following on from the "Last Concert In Japan" release, there have been a seemingly endless stream of Live LPs - but not all is what it seems. With one or two minor exceptions, half of the Purple live catalogue are reissues of the other half. The situation is made more confusing by the fact that, since 1984, the uninitiated would not be entirely sure if a live album was from the original band or from after the 1984 reunion.

Apart from the aforementioned reissues of "Concerto" and "Made In Japan", the other live albums released (sort of) during the band's lifetime have also reappeared in expanded form. "Made In Europe" is the odd one out - the album has often been regarded as a poor example of Mark 3 Live, with the five tracks that were included all allegedly being edited, so when the concerts from which the LP was created were re-examined in order to release an expanded edition, different versions from different concerts were used instead - making "Made In Europe", strangely, an essential buy. The first "expanded" issue was "Mark 3 - The Final Concerts", whilst a later reissue, "Live In Paris 1975", featured all of Blackmore's final gig - the tracks that had been on "Made In Europe" were 'un-edited' on this release. As for "Last Concert In Japan", it was expanded and re-titled "This Time Around - Live In Tokyo" in 2000.

The first post-posthumous release was 1980's "In Concert" - a compilation of a pair of shows recorded at the BBC for their "In Concert" series in 1970 and 1972. A double vinyl affair, the first disc is devoted to the 1970 show and the second to the 72 set, although space constraints meant that two songs had to be left off - "Maybe I'm A Leo" and "Smoke On The Water". This version of "Smoke" was issued at the same time on the "New Live & Rare Vol 3" EP, whilst "Leo" did not get a release until the "In Concert" set was reissued on CD. The album is notable for featuring a rare live outing for "Never Before" (only played at the 72 show because it was the band's current single at the time) and was the first time "Lucille" had been issued officially in any form.

In 1982, Harvest followed up "In Concert" with "Live In London" - another BBC taping, but this time capturing the Mark 3 lineup onstage at Kilburn in 1974. All but one of the songs played that night were included on the LP ("Over 57 Minutes of Heavy Rockin' Music", the sleeve originally proclaimed!) and the missing song, "Space Truckin'" surfaced in 2002 on the "Listen Learn Read On" box set. "Live In London" has since been reissued in full - the CD pressing comes in a new sleeve, whilst the vinyl pressing features the same photo as the original, but with a series of typographical changes on the front cover.

The first live album after the 1984 reformation was 1988's "Scandinavian Nights" - from a 1970 show in Stockholm. It featured the whole of the show the band played on 12th November (including a cover of "Paint It Black") but in the wrong order. It was issued in the US as "Live And Rare" a few years after in a lairy psychedelic sleeve, and was finally issued with the correct running order on Purple Records in 2004 as "Live In Stockholm", with all of the songs also being remixed. Purple Records have been responsible for many of the other posthumous live releases, and all of the subsequent reissues, and the Deep Purple page on Wikipedia rather helpfully lists the live albums in the order they were recorded, rather than the order in which they were released. Where a show was being issued for the first time by Purple Records, it would usually be of a gig that had previously surfaced as a bootleg - using the original bootleg sleeve (see the "Perks And Tit" cover above). These shows were released as mail order only CDs in 2002/2003, and subsequent releases from a couple of years ago feature new covers, such as the one below - the reissue of "Perks And Tit", now known as "Live In San Diego".

A handful of these live CDs either share their name with (or are indeed also available on) a VHS or DVD release - the "California Jam" gig is available in full on DVD, but some earlier CD pressings ommited one of the songs. And the "Scandinavian Nights" VHS is from a 1972 show, and not the 1970 Stockholm one - and has since been issued as "Live In Denmark". I personally think that the archives are quite possibly exhausted, and as such, the list below could well be the definitive posthumous live discography. The list is in performance order, with any subsequent repressings listed immediately below. Where other reissues exist with either the same (or less) content, these are not listed. The "Concerto" and "Made In Japan"/"Live In Japan" sets are excluded to avoid repetition.

POSTHUMOUS LIVE ALBUM DISCOGRAPHY

Live In California (2002, recorded 18.10.1968, Purple Records PUR 205, CD)
Live In Inglewood (2009, reissue, Purple Records PUR 255, CD)
Kneel & Pray (2003, recorded 4.10.1969, Purple Records PUR 207, CD)
Live In Montreux (2007, reissue, Purple Records PUR 257, CD)
In Concert (1992 reissue of 1980 2 x LP, two full concerts from 19.2.1970 and 6.3.1972, EMI CDEM 1434, 2 x CD)
Space Vol 1 & 2 (2001, recorded 10.7.1970, Purple Records PUR 202, CD)
Live In Aachen (2005, reissue, Purple Records PUR 252, CD)
Gemini Suite (1993, recorded 17.9.1970, RPM 114, CD)
Gemini Suite Live (1999, reissue, Purple Records PUR 304, CD)
Scandinavian Nights (1988, recorded 12.11.1970, Connoisseur Collection DPVSOPCD 125, 2 x CD)
Live In Stockholm (2004, reissue, Purple Records PUR 338D, 2 x CD)
K B Hallen (2002, recorded 1.3.1972, Purple Records PUR 203D, 2 x CD)
Live In Denmark (2007, reissue, Purple Records PUR 253D, 2 x CD)
California Jamming (1996, recorded 6.4.1974, EMI PRMUCD2, CD)
California Jam (2003, reissue, Purple Records PUR 208, CD)
Perks And Tit (2003, recorded 9.4.1974, Purple Records PUR 206, CD)
Live In San Diego (2007, reissue, Purple Records PUR 256, CD)
Live In London (1982, recorded 22.5.1974, Harvest SHSP 4124, LP)
Live In London (2007, reissue, with extra track, "Space Truckin'", and entire show remixed, EMI 5099950, 2 x CD)
Made In Europe (1976, recorded various shows in March & April 1975, Purple Records TPSA 7517, LP)
Mark 3 The Final Concerts (1996, reissue of "Made In Europe" but with all 5 tracks on this release from different shows, plus extra unreleased songs, Connoisseur DPVSOP CD230, 2 x CD)
Live In Paris (2004, recorded 7.4.1975, includes at least one song originally on "Made In Europe", but reputedly un-edited, complete set of Blackmore's last gig, Purple Records PUR 330D, 2 x CD)
Last Concert In Japan (1977, recorded 15.12.1975, Warner Brothers P 6515 W, Japanese Only LP)
This Time Around (2000, reissue, Purple Records PUR 321D, expanded edition, 2 x CD)
Live In California (1995, recorded January & February 1976, Connoisseur DPVSOP CD 217, 2 x CD)
On The Wings Of A Russian Foxbat (2009, reissue, Purple Records PUR 356, 2 x CD)

Singles and Box Sets

So, to clarify - the A and B sides of all of Purple's singles from the 60s and 70s are available, somewhere, on CD. But if you wanted to buy the original 7"s in their company bags (no Purple singles were issued commercially in the UK in picture sleeves), what is on each single, and where else can you get it? Well, this is a high speed UK only list:

• R5708 Hush/One More Rainy Day (both tracks from "Shades Of")
• R5745 Kentucky Woman/Wring That Neck (both tracks from "Taliesyn", a-side was edited in some countries, but not in the UK)
• R5763 Emmaretta/Wring That Neck (stand alone a-side, now available on expanded edition of "Shades Of")
• HAR 5006 Hallelujah/April Part 1 (at the time, exclusive to this single - both are on the Australian "Deep Purple Singles" CD)
• HAR 5020 Black Night/Speed King [Piano Version] (again, exclusive at the time, now both on the expanded "In Rock" CD)
• HAR 5033 Strange Kind Of Woman/I'm Alone (both included, in remixed form, on the "Fireball" expanded reissue, but original mixes again on the "Deep Purple Singles")
• HAR 5045 Fireball/Demon's Eye (both off the UK pressing of "Fireball")
• PUR 102 Never Before [Edit]/When A Blind Man Cries (a-side mix available on single CD edition of "30", b-side now on the expanded "Machine Head" reissue]
• PUR 112 Woman From Tokyo [Edit]/Black Night [Live In Tokyo] (cancelled release, a-side mix also appears on "30", b-side appears in full on reissue of "Made In Japan", this mix also on "24 Carat Purple")
• PUR 117 Might Just Take Your Life/Coronarias Redig (a-side from "Burn", b-side on "Listen Learn Read On")
• PUR 130 You Keep On Movin [Edit]/Love Child (a-side is on "30", b-side from "Come Taste The Band")

A few years ago, all of these singles were issued in an EMI box set "Singles Collection 68-76" (EMI 550 3892) - all of the singles came in picture sleeves that were used for these 45s outside the UK, although "Hallelujah" was housed in a promo only UK sleeve. Some of these sleeves are quite interesting, especially the one for "Black Night" from India - a Mark 1 photo for a Mark 2 single!

After the band had split, a series of EPs were issued that aimed to include rare material - although little of it was hugely rare. In fact, because some of the material had to be edited to squeeze onto a 7", it was these edits that were actually more collectible than the original mixes!

The first release was the 1977 "Deep Purple Maxi Single", which had edited mixes of the "Made In Japan" versions of "Smoke" and "Child In Time", along with the edited mix of "Woman From Tokyo". All of these songs then appeared on the "Mark 2 Purple Singles". I have heard of there being two different edits of "Tokyo" - one only marginally shortening the original, the other lasting less than 3 minutes. As far as I am aware, the only edit that exists is the "3 minute" one - can anybody clarify?

The same year saw the first of the three "New Live And Rare" EPs , consisting of 'at the time' deleted material. The first EP saw the "Live In Tokyo" mix of "Black Night" coupled with the b-side "When A Blind Man Cries" and the "Powerhouse" rarity again, "Painted Horse". The second EP appeared in 1978, and was devoted to the Mark 3 lineup. The live version of "Burn" from "Made In Europe" appeared with "Coronarias Redig" and a live version of "Mistreated", also from "Europe" - however, it had to be edited to fit onto the EP, creating another "accidental" rarity! EP3, from 1980, was far more impressive - three tracks, all recorded by the BBC, were included, and none had been released before. The lead track was a version of "Smoke On The Water" recorded for the 1972 "In Concert" show (and now on the CD version of that LP), whilst the other two tracks were session recordings - "The Bird Has Flown" (Mark 2 doing a Mark 1 track), and "Grabsplatter", an instrumental jam that was unavailable in any form at the time. The band later reworked this track, with lyrics, into the b-side "I'm Alone". Both these tracks have since re-appeared on the "Listen Learn Read On" box set.

A variety of other singles were reissued in the intervening years, but with nothing of note - "Black Night" was issued as a double A-side with "Strange Kind Of Woman" in 1979 to plug the "Singles A's and B's" set (in the same sleeve as the LP), whilst the "Live In Tokyo" version of "Black Night" appeared as a 7" in 1980. Four Purple singles were reissued on 12" in 1985, keeping the same b-side but also adding a third "related" track and being housed in a full colour picture sleeve. The only real posthumous single of note was the 1995 reissue of "Black Night", which included remixes of "Black Night" and "Speed King" that were different to the remixes of these tracks that appeared on the 1995 "In Rock" reissue.

As regards box sets, there are several in existence. The "Listen Learn Read On" set is an essential purchase - although some of the material included has since re-surfaced on various reissues, there is still a lot of material on there that remains exclusive to the set. An earlier box set from 1998, "Shades", was notable for including a handful of previously unreleased tracks, whilst the 2001 set "On The Road" attempted to tell the history of Purple via the power of the live show. It's an unusual set in that it includes Mark 2 recordings from both their 70s period and from the 1980s re-incarnation, and it also includes some material that had only been issued on VIDEO (although all such material has now appeared on CDs such as "Live In Denmark" and "Listen Learn Read On").

POST 1976 SINGLES

Deep Purple Maxi Single EP: Smoke On The Water (Made In Japan - edit)/Child In Time (Made In Japan - edit)/Woman From Tokyo (7" Version) (PUR 132, 7", 1977)
New Live & Rare Vol 1 EP: Black Night (Live)/Painted Horse/When A Blind Man Cries (PUR 135, 7", 1977)
New Live & Rare Vol 2 EP: Burn (Live)/Coronarias Redig/Mistreated (Live - edit) (PUR 137, 7", 1978)
Black Night/Strange Kind Of Woman (HAR 5178, 7", 1979)
Black Night/Strange Kind Of Woman (12 HAR 5178, 12", 1979)
Black Night (Live)/Speed King (BBC "In Concert" Version) (HAR 5210, 7", 1980)
New Live & Rare Vol 3 EP: Smoke On The Water (BBC "In Concert" Version)/The Bird Has Flown (BBC Session Version)/Grabsplatter (SHEP 101, 7", 1980)
Black Night/Speed King (Piano Version)/Into The Fire (12 HAR 5233, 12", 1985)
Strange Kind Of Woman/I'm Alone/Highway Star (12 HAR 5234, 12", 1985)
Fireball/Demon's Eye/Anyones Daughter (12 HAR 5235, 12", 1985)
Smoke On The Water (Made In Japan - edit)/Child In Time (Made In Japan - edit)/Woman From Tokyo (7" Version) (12 HAR 5236, 12", 1985)
Black Night (Remix/Edit)/(Original 7" Mix)/Speed King (Remix/Edit) (CDEM 382, CD, 1995)

So, there you have it. How to collect everything by Deep Purple in about six easy stages. As I say, there is a new "singles" collection out which includes pretty much every offcut from the band's UK singles recorded (but not always released) between 68 and 76, and this is only an intro into exactly what else is in existence. Below there are further links to help you explore what to buy next once you've got that lot above...

Further reading:
Highway Star's Purple Discography: http://www.thehighwaystar.com/rosas/discog/
Darker Than Blue Purple Discography: http://www.deep-purple.net/discography/discography.htm
Deep Purple Net Box Set reviews: www.deep-purple.net/review-files/deep-purple-reviews2.htm