Deep Purple - History, Hits & Highlights '68 - '76 (DVD)
Eagle Rock Entertainment
Classic Hard Rock
Disc 1: 23 songs (187'00) Disc 2: 11 songs (100'00)
Release year: 2009
Deep Purple, Eagle Rock Entertainment
Reviewed by Marty
This new 2 DVD package entitled History, Hits & Highlights '68 - '76 offers up some rare gems from the past and includes early incarnations of Deep Purple from the original MKI line-up of Ian Paice Nick Simper, Rod Evans, Jon Lord and Ritchie Blackmore through to the mid 70's MKIV line-up that included David Coverdale, Glenn Hughes, Jon Lord, Ian Paice and guitarist Tommy Bolin.

Beginning with a brief historical synopsis of the band, clips of TV show appearances as well as other concert highlights accompany the story line. The "Hits" section has some very rare live TV appearances of the MK1 line-up that includes versions of Hush, Wring That Neck and a cover of The Beatles Help. The classic MKII line-up of Ian Gillan, Roger Glover, Jon Lord, Ian Paice and Ritchie Blackmore is very well represented here with concert clips from early 1971 including a killer live for television version of Child In Time with a large portion of the audience looking very stunned at what they're witnessing. Other classics like Speed King, Black Night, Strange Kind Of Woman, Fireball, Demon's Eye, Fireball, Smoke On The Water and Highway Star are all here as well. On the second disc, back to back versions of the instrumental Wring That Neck with both the MKI and MKII versions of the band squaring off against each other, it's amazing to see how much stronger and tighter the band had become with the addition of Ian Gillan and especially Roger Glover who replaced the departing Rod Evans and Nick Simper respectively. Other clips featuring the classic MKII Machine Head era of the band include a killer version of Mandrake Root, a promo video for Black Night and a couple of studio rehearsals for the Fireball track No, No, No. The MKIII version with David Coverdale and Glenn Hughes offers up 2 different versions of Burn as well as Mistreated (from the 1974 California Jam concert) and Space Truckin. The latter MKIV version is rather lightly represented here with only the tracks Love Child and You Keep On Moving. I love the album they did with Tommy Bolin entitled Come Taste The Band but Tommy Bolin's live performances for the most part were horrific and an embarrassment to the Deep Purple legacy. One of the more "unique" clips is from Playboy TV back in the late 60's with a very youthful looking Hugh Heffner introducing Deep Purple who then perform live for television from the Playboy Mansion.

Lots of interviews with band members, managers, stage crew etc. provides insight as to what it was like during the heydays of the early 70's when this band was one of the top concert draws in the world. This whole package is a great historical trip back in time and celebrates the legacy of one of the best hard rock bands that ever existed.

Killing Songs :
Wring That Neck (MKII version), Child In Time, Demon's Eye, No,No,No, Burn and Mistreated
Marty quoted no quote
Other albums by Deep Purple that we have reviewed:
Deep Purple - Whoosh! reviewed by Goat and quoted 85 / 100
Deep Purple - Who Do We Think We Are reviewed by Thomas and quoted 81 / 100
Deep Purple - Fireball reviewed by Thomas and quoted CLASSIC
Deep Purple - Deep Purple in Rock reviewed by Thomas and quoted CLASSIC
Deep Purple - Around The World Live (DVD Box Set) reviewed by Marty and quoted no quote
To see all 11 reviews click here
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