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"30 : very best of" - a review by Nigel Young

EMI mark the band's 30th anniversary by giving us "30 : very best of" probably the 60th Deep Purple collection (but that's another story) to hit the shelves, but the first to attempt to tackle the entire period - although with some noteable exceptions!

The 18-track selection (listed seperately elsewhere on the website) includes: One track from "Shades",
three tracks taken from the "In Rock" era,
three tracks taken from the "Fireball" period,
four tracks from the "Machine Head" sessions,
one each from "WDWTWA", "Burn", "Stormbringer" and "Come Taste",
one from "Perfect Strangers" and
one each from "Purpendicular" and "Abandon".

Absentees from the band's sixteen studio albums (though "Abandon" is mentioned in the sleeve notes as being the seventeenth studio album) include "Taliesyn", "Deep Purple", "Blue Light", "Slaves And Masters" and "The Battle Rages On".

Clearly the selection is biased towards the band's EMI albums, with only Polydor's "Perfect Strangers" and BMG's "Purpendicular" being the exceptions.

There's also a lot of single versions and edits - "Child In Time" clocking in at around four minutes - clearly to get as many tracks on as possible.

The biography runs to seven pages in the CD booklet, fifteen pages in the 2CD booklet. Interestingly, there are no photographs of the band whatsoever, thus avoiding any confusion as to what or who the 'product' "Deep Purple" should be associated with other than the songs themselves.

For the 2CD version we get a further 10 tracks with a heavy emphasis on the band's first year together including:
Another five from the mark one line-up,
another two from the mark two line-up,
another one from mark three and
two more post-reunion cuts, including one from "Slaves And Masters".

For this edition some of the tracks are included in a different format than the ones on the shorter collection and the "Machine Head" tracks are presented in a different running order.

No doubt, everyone will have their own favourites omitted - where's "Flight Of The Rat" and "No One Came"?

As such, this is EMI's update on their earlier and most successful "Deepest Purple" compilation, with all of the cuts on that record (except for "Space Truckin'") also included on this, though not necessarily in the same versions.

For those that need to know, catalogue numbers are as follows: 2LP - 7243 496807 1 5
CD - 7243 496807 2 2
Tape - 7243 496807 4 6
2CD - 7243 496808 2 1

Whilst the front cover of the CD and tape say "deep purple 30:very best of", the LP gains "LIMITED EDITION" and the 2CD version "2CD SPECIAL COLLECTORS EDITION".

With chart placings already in the UK, its release has been justified. Whether or not this collection will have the longevity of earlier compilations, time will tell.

Nigel Young