Deep Purple - The Complete Albums 1970-1976 [2013, 10CD, Rhino 8122796348] Re-up

×

Deep Purple - The Complete Albums 1970-1976 [2013, 10CD, Rhino 8122796348] Re-up

Close

The set kicks off with the 1969 live album Concerto For Group and Orchestra and also includes In Rock (1970), Fireball (1971), Machine Head (1972), Made In Japan (1972), Who Do We Think We Are (1973), Burn (1974), Stormbringer (1974), Come Taste The Band (1975) and Made In Europe (1976).

×

Deep Purple - The Complete Albums 1970-1976 [2013, 10CD, Rhino 8122796348] Re-up

Close

This Deep Purple 1969 live album Concerto for Group and Orchestra, which finds Purple's Mk II lineup (Jon Lord, Ritchie Blackmore, Ian Gillan, Roger Glover, and Ian Paice) performing at London's Royal Albert Hall with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Malcolm Arnold. The music has been newly mixed in both stereo and surround versions, and several parts of the show that were missing from the original release are now included (however, a three-minute drum solo has been inexplicably edited out of "Third Movement").

by by Christian Genzel, AMG

×

Deep Purple - The Complete Albums 1970-1976 [2013, 10CD, Rhino 8122796348] Re-up

Close

After satisfying all of their classical music kinks with keyboard player Jon Lord's overblown Concerto for Group and Orchestra, Deep Purple's soon to be classic Mark II version made its proper debut and established the sonic blueprint that would immortalize this lineup of the band on 1970's awesome In Rock. The cacophony of sound (spearheaded by Ritchie Blackmore's blistering guitar solo) introducing opener "Speed King" made it immediately obvious that the band was no longer fooling around, but the slightly less intense "Bloodsucker" did afford stunned listeners a chance to catch their breaths before the band launched into the album's epic, ten-minute tour de force, "Child in Time." In what still stands as arguably his single greatest performance, singer Ian Gillan led his bandmates on a series of hypnotizing crescendos, from the song's gentle beginning through to its ear-shattering climax and then back again for an even more intense encore that brought the original vinyl album's seismic first side to a close. Side two opened with the searing power chords of "Flight of the Rat" – another example of the band's new take-no-prisoners hard rock stance, though at nearly eight minutes, it too found room for some extended soloing from Blackmore and Lord. Next, "Into the Fire" and "Living Wreck" proved more concise but equally appealing, and though closer "Hard Lovin' Man" finally saw the new-look Deep Purple waffling on a bit too long before descending into feedback, the die was cast for one of heavy metal's defining albums.

by Eduardo Rivadavia, AMG

×

Deep Purple - The Complete Albums 1970-1976 [2013, 10CD, Rhino 8122796348] Re-up

Close

One of Deep Purple's four indispensable albums (the others being In Rock, Machine Head, and Burn), 1971's Fireball saw the band broadening out from the no-holds-barred hard rock direction of the previous year's cacophonous In Rock. Metal machine noises introduced the sizzling title track – an unusually compact but explosively tight group effort on which Jon Lord's organ truly shined. The somewhat tiring repetitions of "No No No" actually threatened to drop the ball next, but the fantastic single "Strange Kind of Woman" nimbly caught and set it rolling again, just in time for the innuendo-encrusted hilarity of "Anyone's Daughter," featuring one of singer Ian Gillan's first (and still best) humorous storylines to go with one of guitarist Ritchie Blackmore's most uncharacteristic, bluesiest performances ever. "The Mule" opened the vinyl album's second side with what is perhaps Purple's finest instrumental, and on the hyper-extended "Fools," the bandmembers proved they could flirt with progressive rock without plunging off its cliff (although the song could probably have done without its drawn-out middle section). And closing the album was the exceptional "No One Came," where intertwining instrumental lines locked together beautifully, Gillan wove another entertaining yarn that was part autobiography and part Monty Python, and the often underrated skills of drummer Ian Paice helped the song sound so unreservedly fresh and intuitive that one could almost be convinced the band had winged it on the spot. Sure, the following year's Machine Head would provide Deep Purple with their commercial peak, but on Fireball, the formidable quintet was already firing on all cylinders.

by Eduardo Rivadavia, AMG

×

Deep Purple - The Complete Albums 1970-1976 [2013, 10CD, Rhino 8122796348] Re-up

Close

Led Zeppelin's fourth album, Black Sabbath's Paranoid, and Deep Purple's Machine Head have stood the test of time as the Holy Trinity of English hard rock and heavy metal, serving as the fundamental blueprints followed by virtually every heavy rock & roll band since the early '70s. And, though it is probably the least celebrated of the three, Machine Head contains the "mother of all guitar riffs" – and one of the first learned by every beginning guitarist – in "Smoke on the Water." Inspired by real-life events in Montreux, Switzerland, where Deep Purple were recording the album when the Montreux Casino was burned to the ground during a Frank Zappa concert, neither the song, nor its timeless riff, should need any further description. However, Machine Head was anything but a one-trick pony, introducing the bona fide classic opener "Highway Star," which epitomized all of Deep Purple's intensity and versatility while featuring perhaps the greatest soloing duel ever between guitarist Ritchie Blackmore and organist Jon Lord. Also in top form was singer Ian Gillan, who crooned and exploded with amazing power and range throughout to establish himself once and for all as one of the finest voices of his generation, bar none. Yes, the plodding shuffle of "Maybe I'm a Leo" shows some signs of age, but punchy singles "Pictures of Home" and "Never Before" remain as vital as ever, displaying Purple at their melodic best. And finally, the spectacular "Space Truckin'" drove Machine Head home with yet another tremendous Blackmore riff, providing a fitting conclusion to one of the essential hard rock albums of all time.

by Eduardo Rivadavia, AMG

×

Deep Purple - The Complete Albums 1970-1976 [2013, 10CD, Rhino 8122796348] Re-up

Close

Recorded over three nights in August 1972, Deep Purple's Made in Japan was the record that brought the band to headliner status in the U.S. and elsewhere, and it remains a landmark in the history of heavy metal music. Since reorganizing with singer Ian Gillan and bassist Roger Glover in 1969, Deep Purple had recorded three important albums – Deep Purple in Rock, Fireball, and Machine Head – and used the material to build a fierce live show. Made in Japan, its selections drawn from those albums, documented that show, in which songs were drawn out to ten and even nearly 20 minutes with no less intensity, as guitarist Ritchie Blackmore and organist Jon Lord soloed extensively and Gillan sang in a screech that became the envy of all metal bands to follow. The signature song, of course, was "Smoke on the Water," with its memorable riff, which went on to become an American hit single. But those extended workouts, particularly the moody "Child in Time," with Gillan's haunting falsetto wail and Blackmore's amazingly fast playing, and "Space Truckin'," with Lord's organ effects, maintained the onslaught, making this a definitive treatment of the band's catalog and its most impressive album. By stretching out and going to extremes, Deep Purple pushed its music into the kind of deliberate excess that made heavy metal what it became, and their audience recognized the breakthrough, propelling the original double LP into the U.S. Top Ten and sales over a million copies.

by William Ruhlmann, AMG

×

Deep Purple - The Complete Albums 1970-1976 [2013, 10CD, Rhino 8122796348] Re-up

Close

Deep Purple had kicked off the '70s with a new lineup and a string of brilliant albums that quickly established them (along with fellow British giants Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath) as a major force in the popularization of hard rock and heavy metal. All the while, their reputation as one of the decade's fiercest live units complemented this body of work and earned them almost instant legendary status. But with 1973's disappointing Who Do We Think We Are – the fourth and final studio outing by the original run of Purple's classic Mark II lineup – all the fire and inspiration that had made the previous year's Machine Head their greatest triumph mysteriously vanished from sight. Vastly inferior to all three of its famous predecessors, the album revealed an exhausted band clearly splintering at the seams. Except for opener "Woman From Tokyo," which hinted at glories past with its signature Ritchie Blackmore riff, the album's remaining cuts are wildly inconsistent and find the band simply going through the motions. In fact, many of these don't so much resemble songs as loose jam sessions quickly thrown together in the studio with varying degrees of enthusiasm. "Mary Long" and "Super Trouper" are prime examples, featuring generic solos from Blackmore and organist Jon Lord, and uncharacteristically inane lyrics from soon-to-be former singer Ian Gillan. With its start-stop rhythm and Gillan's fine scat singing, the energetic "Rat Bat Blue" is a memorable exception to the rule, but the yawn-inducing blues of "Place in the Line" and the gospel mediocrity of "Our Lady" bring the album to a close with a whimper rather than a shout.

by Eduardo Rivadavia, AMG

×

Deep Purple - The Complete Albums 1970-1976 [2013, 10CD, Rhino 8122796348] Re-up

Close

Although it shook the band's fan base to its core, the acrimonious departure of vocalist Ian Gillan and bassist Roger Glover served to rejuvenate Deep Purple in time for 1973's aptly named Burn album, which unquestionably showed huge improvement over their lackluster previous effort, Who Do We Think We Are. And in an interesting twist rarely attempted before or since, new recruits David Coverdale (vocals) and Glenn Hughes (bass and vocals, ex-Trapeze) traded lead singing duties on virtually every one of its songs – an enviable tag team, as both possessed exceptional pipes. The phenomenal title track started things off at full throttle, actually challenging the seminal "Highway Star" for the honor of best opener to any Deep Purple album, while showcasing the always impressive drumming of Ian Paice. Up next, the intro to the equally timeless "Might Just Take Your Life," however simple from a technical perspective, remains one of organist Jon Lord's signature moments; and the downright nasty "Lay Down, Stay Down" roared behind wildly careening starts and stops and a fantastic Ritchie Blackmore guitar solo which left no doubt as to who was the band's primal force, regardless of lineup. Moving right along, though it was rarely included in later-day greatest hits sets, "What's Going on Here" was about as good a single as Purple ever wrote; "You Fool No One" was compelling for its sheer intensity; and the funky "Sail Away" was a sign of the band's direction in years to come. Lastly, the fantastic slow-boiling blues of "Mistreated" closed the album proper (let's ignore the record's only throw-away track – boring final instrumental "A 200") with a command solo performance from Coverdale, as nuanced and sensitive as it was devastating. So impassioned was the singer's delivery, in fact, that the song would remain his personal, in-concert trademark with Whitesnake, long after his tenure with Deep Purple came to a close. Like the vast majority of Burn this song's greatness qualifies it for the highest echelons of hard rock achievement, and therefore ranks as an essential item in the discography of any self-respecting music fan.

by Eduardo Rivadavia, AMG

×

Deep Purple - The Complete Albums 1970-1976 [2013, 10CD, Rhino 8122796348] Re-up

Close

Stormbringer falls short of the excellence of Machine Head and Who Do We Think We Are, but nonetheless boasts some definite classics – including the fiery "Lady Double Dealer," the ominous title song (a goth metal treasure), the sweaty "High Ball Shooter," and the melancholy ballad "Soldier of Fortune." Most of the other songs on the decent, if uneven, Stormbringer (which Metal Blade reissued on CD in the early '90s) are not essential. Like Come Taste the Band, Stormbringer will be of interest to Deep Purple's more enthusiastic fans, rather than casual listeners who would be much better off starting out with either of the above-mentioned studio projects or the live Made in Japan.

by Alex Henderson, AMG

×

Deep Purple - The Complete Albums 1970-1976 [2013, 10CD, Rhino 8122796348] Re-up

Close

When Ritchie Blackmore departed Deep Purple in the mid-'70s and formed Rainbow (which featured Ronnie James Dio), his replacement was Tommy Bolin. To be sure, Blackmore was a darn tough act to follow, but Bolin proved himself to be a fine guitarist in his own right on Come Taste the Band, his first album with Deep Purple. But unfortunately, Bolin didn't have exceptional material to work with – decent and likable, but hardly exceptional. While sweaty yet melodic cuts like "Dealer," "Lady Luck," and "You Keep on Moving" are far from bad, nothing here is in a class with "Smoke on the Water" or "Highway Star." Deep Purple's more hardcore devotees will want this album, though it's far from the best representation of their '70s work.

by Alex Henderson, AMG

×

Deep Purple - The Complete Albums 1970-1976 [2013, 10CD, Rhino 8122796348] Re-up

Close

This live recording, made in 1975, comes from Ritchie Blackmore's last three concerts with the band before leaving to form Rainbow. It features Deep Purple Mark III, with David Coverdale on vocals and Glenn Hughes on bass and vocals. Coverdale is a convincing hard rock singer, though he lacks the winning quirkiness of Ian Gillan, while Hughes is a busier and more up-front player than Roger Glover. While "Burn" and "Mistreated" are worthy successors to previous Deep Purple tunes, the remaining material is weaker, and overall, this stuff is definitely a couple of notches below the glory days of Made in Japan. But Blackmore, for his swan song, still manages to inject a good deal of excitement, and his invention and fire raise the proceedings up somewhat.

by Stephen Raiteri, AMG

×

Deep Purple - The Complete Albums 1970-1976 [2013, 10CD, Rhino 8122796348] Re-up

Close