My opinion of this band has changed several times since their era of greatness, they were my first really "favorite" band when "Machine Head" came out (I was 10).....sometimes lumped in a category with Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin, but they always seemed a bit more mainstream, a bit too poppy, and then, "Smoke on the Water" good lord, likely on nearly EVERYONE'S list of songs they can liv without ever hearing again.....they went through lineup changes at a blurring rate, and evidently tredge on even today in some form or another (REALLY some stuff I never need to hear, there, as well).....So I was kind of down on them for a while, they were very popular in my Junior High School (even then mainstream popularity was a red-flag of sorts for moi). So after a while I kind of shelved their albums for a while.....but, ya know, in retrospect, they WERE pretty damn good for a while there, they were frequently bootlegged and their live shows sounded like the could go "on" a bit too much (similar to Zeppelin in that regard), but really that was the order of the day.
OK, so the first effort, "Shades of Deep Purple" featured a lineup of vocalist Rod Evans, guitarist Ritchie Blackmore, keyboard whiz Jon Lord, bassist Nick Simper, and drummer Ian Paice.....in my opinion, not really much of an album, kind of prog-ish and actually containing a version of that rarely covered obscure chestnut "Hey Joe" (also the Beatles "Help!", God), and contained a minor hit in "Hush"......album #2, "The Book of Taliesyn doesn't do much for me either, they did manage another minor hit with "Kentucky Woman"....same for the third disc "Deep Purple", keyboard dominated stuff that remindedone more of ELP than any of the heavy rock to come......all three of these albums are here if you are curious.
It's here where things get interesting, when they got the idea to heavy things up......Evans was replaced by Ian Gillan and Simper by Roger Glover, and THIS, to me is where their "golden era" begins.....Blackmore taking a stepped-up roll, the tension between his guitar work and Lord's organ mastery produced a unique new sound, and Gillan was a MUCH better fit as singer. The resulting album "In Rock" is my favorite, a great hard rock album with stuff like "Speed King", "Child In Time", and the uner appreciated "Flight of the Rat".....this lineup also created the pretty good "Fireball" album with it's speedy title track. 
I played "Machine Head" so much in 1972-3 that it can still grate on me a bit......the less said about "Smoke on the Water" the better, but there really are some great tracks here, notably "Highway Star" and "Space Truckin"....the live "Made in Japan" also came out that same year, with a never-ending version of "Space Truckin'" and of course the obligatory "some stupid with a flare gun" anthem, it's weird, back in those days we used to think these type of live albums were really cool, MAN they can be numbing to sit through, what with the drum solos and all.......
One more good studio album "Who Do We Think We Are" with the great "Rat Bat Blue" and "Woman from Tokyo" was released in 1973 (MAN bands cranked out the albums in those days) before Gillan and Glover left the band, and I pretty much did as well, I think I might have a copy of "Burn" (1974) here but from what I recall it's pretty bad.Anyway, I actually had forgotten that the classic Blackmore/Lord/Paice/Gillan/Glover lineup actually reunited in 1984, never heard a note they played honestly......I wonder about them though, if they continued with the classic sound of "In Rock" or "Machine Head" (which would most likely have sounded stale as hell in 1984), or whether they incorporated any more modern elements into their stuff in an effort to reclaim a "hippness" factor which rarely works. For me, Deep Purple in 1984, HAD TO BE a "done deal"......maybe I'm wrong but like I said until I looked I forgot they ever DID the reunion thing at all.
Bunch of live albums here, yes, sometimes they can be rough but they also their moments, there are probably too many of them here given their similarity, but there ya go. There here if ya want em. Also, I opted not to use my vinyl rips of the originals, but instead downloaded the "Anniversary Editions" of most of these from the Bay since they all have bonus tracks and stuff, seemed like the better option to me.....let me know if you prefer one of them with that well-worn vinyl sound and I'll put it up as well!SHADES OF DEEP PURPLE-01 And the Address/02 Hush/03 One More Rainy Day/04 Prelude: Happiness/I'm So Glad/05 Mandrake Root/06 Help!/07 Love Help Me/08 Hey Joe/09 Shadows (Abum Outtake)/10 Love Help Me (Instrumental Version)/11 Help! (Alternate Take)/12 Hey Joe (BBC Session)/13 Hush (Live US TV)
THE BOOK OF TALIESYN-01 Listen Learn Read On/02 Wring That Neck/03 Kentucky Woman/04 (a) Exposition (b) We Can Work It Out/05 Shield/06 Anthem/07 River Deep Mountain High/08 Oh No No No (Studio Outtake/09 It's All Over (BBC Session)/10 Hey Bop a Re Bop (BBC Session)/11 Wring That Neck (BBC Session)/12 Playground (Remixed Instrumental Outtake)DEEP PURPLE-01 Chasing Shadows/02 Blind/03 Lalena/04 Fault Line/05 The Painter/06 Why Didn't Rosemary/07 Bird Has Flown/08 April/09 The Bird Has Flown (Alternate A Side Version/10 Emeretta (Studio B Side)/11 Emeretta (BBC Session)/12 Lalena (BBC Session)/13 The Painter (BBC Session)
IN ROCK-01 Speed King/02 Bloodsucker/03 Child In Time/04 Flight of the Rat/05 Into the Fire/06 Livin Wreck/07 Hard Loving Man/08 Black Night (Single Version)/09 Studio Chat/10 Speed King (Piano Version/11 Studio Chat/12 Cry Free (Roger Glover Remix)/13 Studio Chat/14 Jam Stew (Unreleased Instro)/15 Studio Chat/16 Flight of the Rat (Roger Glover Remix)/17 Studio Chat/18 Speed King (Roger Glover Remix)19 Studio Chat/20 Black Night (Unedited Roger Glover Remix)
FIREBALL-01 Fireball/02 No No No/03 Demon's Eye/04 Anyone's Daughter/05 The Mule/06 Fools/07 No One Came/08 Strange Kind of Woman (A Side Remix)/09 I'm Alone (B Side)/10 Freedom (Album Outtake)/11 Slow Train (Album Outtake)/12 Demon's Eye (1996 Remix)/13 The Noise Abatement Society Tapes/14 Fireball (Take 1 Instrumental)/15 Backwards Piano/16 No One Came (1996 Remix)MACHINE HEAD-01 Highway Star/02 Maybe I'm a Leo/03 Pictures of Home/04 Never Before/05 Smoke on the Water/06 Lazy/07 Space Truckin'/08 When a Blind Man Cries (B Side)/09 Maybe I'm a Leo (Quadrophonic Remix)/10 Lazy (Quadrophonic Remix)
WHO DO WE THINK WE ARE-01 Woman From Tokyo/02 Mary Long/03 Super Trouper/04 Smooth Dancer/05 Rat Bat Blue/06 Place In Line/07 Our Lady/08 Woman From Tokyo (1999 Remix)/09 Woman From Tokyo (Alternate Bridge)/10 Painted Horse (Studio Outtake)/11 Our Lady (1999 Remix)/12 Rat Bat Blue (Writing Session)/13 Rat Bat Blue (1999 Remix)/14 First Day Jam (Instrumental)1972 LIVE DENMARK DISC 1-01 Highway Star/02 Strange Kind of Woman/03Child In Time/04 The Mule
1972 LIVE DENMARK DISC 2-01 Lazy/02 Space Truckin'/03 Fireball/04 Lucille/05 Black Night
1972 LIVE JAPAN DISC 1-01 Highway Star/02 Child In Time/03 The Mule/04 Strange Kind of Woman/05 Lazy/06 Space Truckin'/07 Black Night
1972 LIVE JAPAN DISC 2-01 Highway Star/02 Smoke on the Water/03 Child In Time/04 The Mule/05 Strange Kind of Woman/06 Lazy/07 Space Truckin'1972 LIVE JAPAN DISC 3-01 Highway Star/02 Smoke on the Water/03 Child In Time/04 Strange Kind of Woman/05 Lazy/06 Space Truckin/07 Speed King
1970 LIVE AACHEN-01 Wring That Neck/02 Black Night/03 Paint It Black/04 Mandrake Root
1970 LIVE STOCKHOLM DISC 1-Intro/02 Speed King.03 Into the Fire/04 Child In Time/05 Wring That Neck
1970 LIVE STOCKHOLM DISC 2-Paint It Black/02 Mandrake Root/03 Black Night
1968 LIVE INGLEWOOD-01 Hush/02 Mandrake Root03 Kentucky Woman/04 Help Norah/05 Wring That Neck/06 River Deep Mountain High/07 Hey Joe
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