24 CARAT PURPLE

Not the best compilation of Deep Purple's career, but suffice to introduce the casual fan to their music. 8 perfect examples of what their sound represented. Opening with the classic rocker, Woman From Tokyo, we see how they maintained their commercial audience with rockin chords and a dreamy bridge solo reminiscent of Styx's Come Sail Away. However, not a very good prog-rocker. Fireball goes right into DP's heavier side of hard rock with Jon's cosmos of keyboard solos, as Strange Kind of Woman delves into the live genre with an incredible guitar and vocal interplay. Next appears Never Before (according to the vinyl, it sounds like a single edit): a funky, weird number that really should've been better off the album and switched with probably Space Truckin (why did they omit that?!). On to a live rendition of their first hit single in the Mark II era, Black Night, from the gigs in Japan in 1972 (classic DP) with a heavier beat than the original with Jon's drilling organ chords and Ritchie's crazy guitar whirls. Then, there's Speed King (don't know whether it's one of the three versions: the US edit w/o woffle and organ interlude, the edit on the 1980 compilation, or the entire uncut version). Wacky and headbanging music to listen to with Ian's trademark ear-splitting screams. Smoke On The Water, their only #1 hit, gets its credit due here, sparing us the boring studio version and replacing it with their slightly better live version on Made In Japan. Finally, topping it all off with Child In Time (not the original, but the live one also on MIJ), giving a rousing finale to a very generous intro (CD's almost 55 minutes in total) to Deep Purple.