Deep Purple – Deepest Purple: The Very Best of Deep Purple (1980)

In general, this system of mine where I post albums in alphabetical order, works fairly well, but sometimes when the band name appears in the album title, I end up posting about the same band's two albums in a row. It's a bit annoying since in this case for example, I've already written most of the things about Deep Purple already in the previous post, but anyway, let's focus on this album then. This is obviously a compilation album, which I must point out, Deep Purple has made loads of. In my opinion, this is the best compilation there is, at least from the ones I've seen. It covers just the right era of Deep Purple's career, the 70's. This was my first Deep Purple album on a CD and for a while it was just appropriate for my needs. Pretty much all of the songs on this album are really great songs and they don't even stylistically clash that much.



The album cover is quite tacky. There's a purple Stratocaster in the cover that seems to be on top of some lit fireworks. I don't know how well that describes the band. To me, Deep Purple has always been more about the rock organ than the guitar, even though, obviously I have to appreciate Richie Blackmore's excellent guitar-playing. It's just that John Lord's organ playing is something that's completely different from pretty much any other band on the planet.

The album starts with Black Night, a song that me an my friends used to play as teenagers quite often, because it was fairly easy to make sound great even though we weren't that good musicians. It's quite a classic rock song that resembles some of Zeppelin's songs quite a lot. Next up, is Speed King, which is on Deep Purple In Rock that I just wrote about. I really like the explosive energy of this song. Fireball is one of my absolute favourite songs by Deep Purple. It's very fast paced and it has some excellent solos. The drums are specifically gorgeous in this song. Strange Kind of Woman is a more straightforward rock song with excellent groove. The Hammond sounds sound amazing. Another song from Deep Purple in Rock, Child In Time has also made it on this compilation. I had never known it before, but apparently this song also makes it near to the top of the list in many 'Best rock songs of all times' listings. Woman from Tokyo has kinds of rock sounds that resemble those released in the end half of the 70's, but it already came out in 73. Maybe it's the use of organs that gives that impression. Highway Star is one of the greatest Deep Purple songs. The bass lines are incredible and I have to especially point out the amazing guitar-organ solo battle. Space Truckin' is probably the least interesting song on this compilation. It's not a bad song, it's just that the other songs are even way better. In comparison it sounds a bit boring. Burn has probably the best guitar solo in any Deep Purple song. I love how the organ sounds like Nintendo music at some point. Stormbringer is one of the latest songs on this album and you can hear it in the sounds. There are similarities to metal bands of the 80's, even though, this wasn't nearly there yet. Demon's Eye has a slower tempo than most songs on this album. The bluesy rock groove is quite amazing though. I didn't much care for this song when I was younger, but now I really like it. The album ends in one of the most iconic rock songs of all times, Smoke On the Water. It's so over-played that I don't even like it that much anymore.

There is even something of a music video for Highway Star. It's just a compilation of live performances on top of the album version. The colours in the background are quite something. I'm excited to post this song here, because it's probably the most energetic song by the band and shows all of the band members' talents really well.

I don't really listen to Deep Purple that much nowadays, but it was a big part of my teenage years. I have to appreciate the amazing talent the band had. It's difficult to find as good musicians anywhere nowadays. Maybe jazz. Anyway, Deep Purple is an important part of the pop music history. They're not just a heavy metal band. They're just an incredibly good rock band that draw influences from rock n' roll, blues and pop. All my appreciation goes out to them!

Listen to the album on Spotify.