While almost all of the ancient content on this Beeb collection is available elsewhere (and you’ve probably got it already if you’re reading this), let’s be charitable and assume that you’ve lost your Deep Purple and Book Of Taliesyn reissues. In that case, you’d be advised to pick this up post-haste, as it contains pretty much everything that the Rod Evans-led Purple and the early (very early) Gillan-fronted line-up did for the Smashie & Niceys of the day between 1968 and ’70.
If audio quality isn’t a priority, you’ll enjoy the 10-track Top Gear session from June ’68, primarily because the bouffant Ritchie Blackmore sounded so advanced for the time, and because there’s an interesting interview with Evans. Of the Mark II material, keep an ear out for Ricochet – an early version of Speed King, no less – and 11 other songs from the now-deleted Listen Learn, Read On box set from 2002, which will cost you at least 50 quid online.
All this stuff is tailor-made for those who think that the later, mega-popular Purple line-ups – say from 1971 and beyond – were a bit too mainstream, though most fans won’t be too bothered either way. Still, completists take note.
