Deep Purple stand alongside Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath as part of the Holy Trinity of British hard rock. The list of the band's classic songs is legion, and the influence it's had on successive generations of musicians is both enduring and remarkable. Parlophone will celebrate Deep Purple's history with three definitive collections.
A Fire In The Sky is available as a single CD, three CD and 3 LP set from today. Each version includes a selection of songs chosen from the 19 studio albums that Deep Purple recorded between 1968 and 2013.
The single-disc version of A Fire In The Sky features 20 songs and focuses mainly on the band's singles. The heavy hitters are here of course - "Smoke On The Water" and "Highway Star" - but so are gems like "Perfect Strangers," the title track from the band's platinum-certified album from 1984, as well as "Hell To Pay," from 2013's Now What?!.
The three-disc version of A Fire In The Sky dives even deeper into Purple's past with 40 songs and includes at least one track from every studio album through Now What?!. It also provides the ultimate showcase for the group's various incarnations through the years. To date, more than a dozen musicians have appeared on a Deep Purple album.
Among the set's many highlights are: the title track from 2005's Rapture of the Deep; "King of Dreams" from 1990's Slaves and Masters; "Bad Attitude" from 1987's The House of Blue Light; "You Keep Me Moving" from 1975's Come Taste The Band; and "Hush" from the group's 1968 debut, Shades Of Deep Purple. This expanded version also features Kevin Shirley's 2010 remix of "Dealer," and the 2012 stereo mix for an early version of "The Bird Has Flown."
A Fire In The Sky will also be available as a three-LP set that includes 27 songs. Among the highlights are the single edit version of "Woman From Tokyo," the U.S. single edit for "Burn," and the radio edit of "Bad Attitude."
Earlier this year, Deep Purple released their 20th studio album Infinite and in 2016, past and present members of Purple (being Blackmore, Coverdale, Evans, Gillan, Glover, Hughes, Lord and Paice) were finally inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame. It was long-overdue recognition of all they’d achieved in a near half-century career. But in truth, this was merely affirmation for what millions already knew. Deep Purple have sold over 100 million records, were once acknowledged by the Guinness Book Of Records as the loudest band on the planet (for a show at the Rainbow in London during 1972).
