Deep Purple - The Platinum Collection


Year of Release: 2005
Label: EMI Records
Catalog Number: 7243 873577 2 3
Format: CD
Total Time: 00:00:00

By now literally hundreds of Deep Purple compilation albums and greatest hits packages have been creeping out of the woodworks. I honestly don't have a clue for which kind of fan this new triple CD set has been compiled. By now every well respected Purple fan must have a zillion versions of "Smoke On The Water," "Black Night" and "Child In Time," so unless other versions appear here why bother? If you aim at the occasional buyer who has nothing from Purple in his/her collection yet, but wants to add at least one slice of Purple magic to their CD-rack then surely there are plenty of single discs to choose from. Issuing a 3CD set mainly is not for the occasional buyer but more for the avid fan. Sadly for EMI's marketing strategy these fans already have all of the included material on offer here. To be honest with you the tiny letters on the back of the booklet make my eyes water as the print is so small. Maybe in that miniature text lies the key to my questions. Maybe this set does include some brand new stuff after all? If this is correct then surely it must be the live versions of both "Perfect Strangers" and "Ted The Mechanic," which were recorded live in Paris in 1996.

If this set is aimed at the rock lover who wants to add a decent portion of Purple material to his/her collection, then why have they replaced "Highway Star," "When A Blind Man Cries" and "Space Truckin'" (which is way too short) with their 1997 remix versions? We all know how the legendary originals sound, meaning that no remix should have been made in the first place. Both "Black Night" and "Burn" come as a single edit with "Lazy," "Never Before" and "Mistreated" showing up as live renditions. Looking closer at the entire set, it looks like disc one contains more of a psychedelic feel with Paice's drum sound sounding like he's hitting a selection of tins and cookie jars. On disc two, the sound of Blackmore's guitar sound is more prominent with Ian's drum sound sounding much better, delivering the kind of hard rock music we grew up with in the seventies. Disc three contains material pulled from various line-up changes including the arrival of Coverdale and Hughes, the short stint with Tommy Bolin and the latest incarnation with Steve Morse. The booklet contains a very well written essay by Hugh Gilmour, although personally I would have liked to see a detailed description telling me from which original album the 41 tracks have been taken. Compiling a greatest hits package by any band that's been around for well over thirty years surely is not an easy thing to do. Selecting material by the likes of Deep Purple for a single disc is next to impossible. The idea of a 3CD package, which retails for little less than a single disc, appeals to me and hopefully will find its way to new fans around the globe who will be so impressed after hearing the variety on offer here that they'll delve into the band's rich history searching for the actual albums. It's in that respect that I find it a great loss not to have the info behind each track on which original album it was to be found in the first place.


Tracklisting:
CD One: Hush / Mandrake Root / Hey Joe / Kentucky Woman / Wring That Neck / Shield / Bird Has Flown / Emmaretta / Hallelujah / Black Night (single version) / Speed King / Flight Of The Rat / Child In Time

CD Two: Fireball / Strange Kind Of Woman / Demon's Eye / No One Came (1996 remix) / Highway Star (1997 remix) / Smoke On The Water / When A Blind Man Cries (1997 remix) / Space Truckin' (1997 remix) / Lazy (live) / Never Before (live) / Woman From Tokyo / Smooth Dancer / Mary Long / Burn (single edit)

CD Three: Might Just Take Your Life / Coronarias Redig / Stormbringer / Hold On / Soldier Of Fortune / Mistreated (live) / You Keep On Moving / Love Child / Drifter / Perfect Strangers (live) / Ted The Mechanic (live) / Any Fule Kno That / Bludsucker / Sun Goes Down

Musicians:
Ritchie Blackmore, Jon Lord, Ian Gillan, Ian Paice and other members past and present

Discography:
Shades Of Deep Purple (1968)
Book Of Taliesyn (1969)
Deep Purple (1969)
Concerto For Group And Orchestra With The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (live) (1969/2002)
Deep Purple In Rock (1970)
Fireball (1971)
Machine Head (1972)
Purple Passages (1972)
Made In Japan (live) (1972/1998/2001)
The Best Of Deep Purple (1972)
Who Do We Think We Are (1973/2000)
Burn (1974/2004)
Stormbringer (1974)
Come Taste The Band (1975)
24 Carat Purple (1970-1973) (1975)
Made In Europe (live) (1976)
Last Concert In Japan (1977)
Powerhouse (1978)
The Singles A's & B's (1978)
The Mark II Purple Singles (1979)
Deepest Purple (1980)
In Concert 1970 - 1972 (live) (1980)
Live On The BBC (1980/2004)
Deep Purple Live In London (live '74) (1982)
Perfect Strangers (1984)
The Anthology (1985)
The House Of Blue Light (1987)
The Best Of Deep Purple (1987)
Nobody's Perfect (live) (1988)
Scandinavian Nights (live) (1988)
Slaves And Masters (1990)
The Anthology (1991)
In The Absence Of Pink (Knebworth '85) (live) (1991)
Purple Rainbows (1991)
Knocking At Your Back Door (1992)
The Battle Rages On (1993)
Progression (1993)
The Deep Purple Family Album (1993)
Live In Japan (3cd) (1993)
Gemini Suite Live (1993)
Come Hell Or High Water (live) (1994)
King Biscuit Flower Hour Presents: Deep Purple In Concert (1995)
Child In Time (1995)
Purpendicular (1996)
California Jammin' (1996)
Live At The Olympia (1996)
The Final Concerts (1996)
Abandon (1998)
Total Abandon: Australia '99 (1999)
In Concert With The London Symphony Orchestra (2000)
Live At The Royal Albert Hall (2000)
This Time Around: Live In Tokyo '75 (2001)
New Live & Rare: The Bootleg Series 1984-2000 (2001)
In Concert: 1970-1972 (2001)
In Profile (2001)
Singles Box Set (2002)
20th Century Masters - The Millennium Edition (2002)
Listen Learn Read On (2002)
The Essential (2003)
Gold (2003)
California Jam 1974 (2003)
Bananas (2003)
The Best Of Deep Purple: Live In Europe (2003)
Space Vol 1 & 2 (2004)
Perks And Tit (2004)
The Platinum Collection (2005)
Who Do We Think We Are (24kt Gold reissue) (2005)
Rapture Of The Deep (2005)
Live In Europe 1993 (2006)
Live At Montreux (2006)
Phoenix Rising (2011)
BBC Sessions 1968-1970 (2011)
Live At Montreux 2011 (2011)
Paris 1975 (2012)
Copenhagen 1972 (2013)
Now What?! (2013)
Perfect Strangers Live (2013)
Stockholm 1970 (2014)
Graz 1975 (2014)
Long Beach 1971 (2015)
From The Setting Sun... (In Wacken) (2015)
...To The Rising Sun (In Tokyo) (2015)
Long Beach 1976 (2016)
Infinite (2017)
The Infinite Live Recordings (2017)

California Jam - Live In California 74 (VHS/DVD/BR) (1981/2005/2016)
Rises Over Japan/Phoenix Rising (VHS/DVD) (1985/2011)
The Video Singles (VHS?) (1987)
Scandinavian Nights - Live In Denmark 1972/Live In Concert 72/73 (VHS/DVD) (1988/2005)
Doing Their Thing - Masters From The Vaults (rec 1970) (VHS/DVD) (1990/2003)
Heavy Metal Pioneers (VHS?) (1991)
Come Hell Or High Water (VHS/DVD) (1994/2001)
Bombay Calling (VHS?) (1995)
Total Abandon: Live In Australia (DVD?) (1999)
Concerto For Group And Orchestra (rec 1969) (VHS/DVD) (1999/2003)
In Concert With The London Symphony Orchestra (DVD) (2000)
Classic Albums: Deep Purple - The Making Of Machine Head (DVD) (2001)
New Live & Rare: The Video Collection 1984-2000 (DVD) (2001)
Perihelion (DVD) (2002)
Live Encounters (DVD) (2004)
Live At Montreux 1995 (DVD) (2006)
They All Came Down To Montreux (DVD) (2007)
Around The World Live (DVD) (2008)
History, hits & highlights '68–'76 (DVD) (2009)
Live At Montreux 2011 (with Orchestra) (DVD) (2011)
Perfect Strangers Live (DVD) (2013)
Live In Verona (with Orchestra) (DVD) (2014)
Celebrating Jon Lord At The Royal Albert Hall (with Deep Purple, Bruce Dickinson, Glenn Hughes, Paul Weller, Rick Wakeman & Many Others) (DVD) (2014)
From The Setting Sun... (In Wacken) (DVD) (2015)
...To The Rising Sun (In Tokyo) (DVD) (2015)
Live at the NEC (DVD) (2016)
From Here To Infinite - The Movie (BR) (2017)

Genre: Rock

Origin UK

Added: April 19th 2005
Reviewer: John "Bobo" Bollenberg

Artist website: www.deeppurple.com
Hits: 2746
Language: english

  

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