Deep Purple Singles

The Deep Purple Singles A’s & B’s is a compilation album of singles released by the British hard rock band Deep Purple. It was released on vinyl in October 1978. An updated version of the album was issued on CD in 1993 and contains the complete collection of Deep Purple’s UK singles, recorded and released from 1968 to 1976 by the Mk I, II, III and IV line-ups of Deep Purple.

Deep Purple were bombastic as hell, but as a template for the next wave of hard rock bands, the group did a pretty good job of showing how it’s done, picking just the right song to cover and also writing one or two rock classics like “Smoke on the Water” to give it all credence. This two-disc set collects all the band’s singles and EPs released between 1968 and 1980, and while it thins out considerably toward the end of that run, the quality here is revealing – this band clearly bridges the British Invasion era with the harder-edged commercial rock era that came later.

There has been no shortage of Deep Purple compilations over the years, but unlike some of the British hard rock legends' contemporaries (Sabbath, Zeppelin, etc.), they've managed a fairly consistent stream of output since their 1968 debut. Rhino's A Fire in the Sky, a 40-track career retrospective that includes at least one song from every studio album through 2013's Now What?!, is easily the most comprehensive anthology that the band has released to date – a more manageable, largely singles-oriented 20-track version is also available, as is a triple-vinyl edition. Despite cycling through too many lineup iterations to mention, the band has consistently adhered to the heavy blues-rock foundation that made career highlights like "Hush," "Smoke on the Water," "Highway Star," and "Woman from Tokyo" so essential.

The Deep Purple Singles A's & B's is a compilation album of singles released by the British hard rock band Deep Purple. It was released on vinyl in October 1978. An updated version of the album was issued on CD in 1993 and contains the complete collection of Deep Purple's UK singles, recorded and released from 1968 to 1976 by the Mks I, II, III and IV line-ups of Deep Purple…

This generous package from EMI is one of the better Deep Purple compilations. Singles A's & B's focuses on the group's original period of recording (1968-1976) and dutifully collects all the single-oriented highlights from this era, including such hard-rocking classics as "Smoke on the Water," "Black Night," and "Hush." It also includes a number of non-album sides that make the package worthwhile for anyone seriously interested in the group…

This release provides a unique overview of Deep Purple's development, from little known material to the truly legendary Smoke On The Water, which is added as a bonus to original Singles album for the very first time, along with the blazing Space Truckin'.

Deep Purple have never quite been placed in the revered 1960s canon that includes the Who, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, or any of the other British rock bands who continue to reunite in various configurations to tour and even periodically release new albums, but given that the group has always been a riveting and brilliant live act, part prog, part heavy metal, part funky R&B, and imminently theatrical, that second-tier designation seems like both an oversight and a shame. Returning with this set, the band's first since 2005's Rapture of the Deep, and featuring a near-classic lineup of vocalist Ian Gillan, guitarist Steve Morse, bassist Roger Glover, drummer Ian Paice, and keyboardist Don Airey (Jon Lord, whose distorted organ parts were so much a part of the classic Deep Purple sound, left the band in 2002 and died in 2012 of pancreatic cancer), one can only marvel at how timeless it sounds, as if it were actually recorded in the early '70s and not tracked a little more than a decade into the 21st century…

There has been no shortage of Deep Purple compilations over the years, but unlike some of the British hard rock legends' contemporaries (Sabbath, Zeppelin, etc.), they've managed a fairly consistent stream of output since their 1968 debut. Rhino's A Fire in the Sky, a 40-track career retrospective that includes at least one song from every studio album through 2013's Now What?!, is easily the most comprehensive anthology that the band has released to date – a more manageable, largely singles-oriented 20-track version is also available, as is a triple-vinyl edition. Despite cycling through too many lineup iterations to mention, the band has consistently adhered to the heavy blues-rock foundation that made career highlights like "Hush," "Smoke on the Water," "Highway Star," and "Woman from Tokyo" so essential.

Total Abandon: Australia '99 is a double live album and DVD by British hard rock band Deep Purple, recorded at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia on 20 April 1999. Initially the album was available only in Australia (from Sept 1999). From 12 October 1999 it was made available as a mail order merchandise in Europe and later was also sold in music stores…