Deep Purple’s Greatest Part I

For a band that started of in the late sixties, Deep Purple was light years ahead of its time. Deep Purple would be the considered the definitive Hard Rock band, but the guys themselves achieved such a high level of diversity which enabled them to be justifiably be called a progressive rock band or a blues rock band or a classic rock band or a classic metal band and so on and so on. Part 1 of the list draws upon the foundation years of the band’s career.

(1) Mandrake Root

All the great artists of the era had that one song which truly became there own. Songs, which would provide the platform for the band to showcase their collective exuberance. With Hendrix there was ‘Voodoo Child’, for Led Zep there was ‘Dazed And Confused’. Similarly for Purple the song of choice was ‘Mandrake Root’. The band would most often than not, take the 6-minute track and turn it into a 20-minute jam track, which most definitely included an extended solo by Blackmore the wizard.

(2) Speed King

What made Deep Purple such a great band were their great improvisational skills, especially against a multi instrumental framework of music. ‘Speed King’ is probably the greatest example of the band’s skill mentioned above. The song packages in everything that was loveable about rock back in the day, screeching vocals, paired by a loud drum set and an even louder Stratocaster.

(3) Child In Time

What happens most often with bands in which the instruments are most prominent, the vocalist and the lyrical department get a backseat. ‘Child In Time’ was Ian Gillian’s finest hour, for he truly became the voice of Rock on this song and was able to maintain his own stand in-spite of other heavyweights present in the band.

(4) Fireball

One is more likely to fall for Purple’s longer tracks, with their extended leads than ‘Fireball’, which provides a great break away from the more conventional tracks. To quote a clichéd line, the song is short and sweet.

(5) Highway Star

‘Highway Star’ comprises one of the greatest guitar-keyboard duels ever recorded on a rock album. The song can safely be called one of the greatest rock songs of all time, directly having a great impact on bands of the future periods, which paid great emphasis to the speed of their music.

(6) Lazy

If one ever came across any joker who came to the conclusion that Ritchie Blackmore was an overrated guitarist, there is no need to panic. But, one has to overcome a little lethargy and play this track from Purples’s 1972 album Machine Head. That’s it, problem solved. Blackmore’s magic should take care of the rest.

(7) Smoke On The Water

The main riff on the song is the most instantly recognizable riff of all time across any genre of music. Playing the riff for the first time provides novice guitarists the world over, a sense of accomplishment seldom found elsewhere.

(8) Space Truckin

‘Space truckin’ saw the band maintain their level of tightness at extra terrestrial levels. Not for a moment does the band let the momentum of the song drop. Another one of Ian Gillian’s golden numbers to go along with the rest of the tracks from the legendary Machine head album.

(9) Black Night 

‘Black Night’ was released as a single back in 1970. This classic pushed the band from the underground to the top of the charts and the rock scene.