DEEP PURPLE   THE DEEP PURPLE SINGLES A's & B's
1978
01. Hush (4:25) (Joe South) (a-side, June '68)
02. One More Rainy Day (3:38) (Lord/Evans) (b-side of 'Hush')
03. Emmaretta (2:59) (Lord/Blackmore/Evans) (a-side, Feb '69)
04. Wring That Neck (5:12) (Lord/Blackmore/Simper/Paice) (b-side of 'Emmaretta')
05. Hallelujah (3:42) (Greenaway/Cook) (a-side, July '69)
06. April, Part 1 (3:57) (Blackmore/Lord) (b-side of 'Hallelujah')
07. Black Night (3:27) (Blackmore/Gillan/Glover/Lord/Paice) (a-side, May '70)
08. Speed King (4:25) (Blackmore/Gillan/Glover/Lord/Paice) (b-side of 'Black Night')
09. Strange Kind Of Woman (3:47) (Blackmore/Gillan/Glover/Lord/Paice)
      (a-side, Feb '71)
10. I'm Alone (3:05) (Blackmore/Gillan/Glover/Lord/Paice)
      (b-side of 'Strange Kind of Woman')
11. Demon's Eye (5:12) (Blackmore/Gillan/Glover/Lord/Paice) (b-side of 'Fireball')
12. Fireball (3:23) (Blackmore/Gillan/Glover/Lord/Paice) (a-side, Oct '71)

Produced by Deep Purple except tracks 1,2,4,6 produced by Derek Lawrence

Transfer engineer: Dave Pickett
Cutting engineer: Harry Moss
Photography: Pete Jackson
Art direction: Brian Palmer
A Colin Miles compilation

  Although it's true to say that DP, throughout their long & illustrious history, were primarily an album & live concert band, this here singles compilation is nonetheless successful in giving a decidedly different, rather unique slant to their career.
  Despite spanning a mere 3 years from July 1968 (with 'Hush'/'One More Rainy Day') to October 1971 (with 'Fireball'/'Demons Eye') the band's instrumental progression during the period sounds truly immense.
  'Hush', after all, is just a reworking - if an adventurous one - of a hit 45 of the day; while at the other end of the spectrum 'Fireball' presents Purps in full flight; in perhaps their hardest-hitting, heaviest & finest hour.
  It's interesting to note the diversity between the 2 sides of this album. The first, featuring the Mk. I Blackmore/Lord/Paice/Simper/Evans band line-up, is basic, formative & often lacks true direction; the second, however, is much more powerful & positive - due in no small measure to the departures of Simper & Evans & the subsequent arrivals of ex-Episode Six men, bass player Roger Glover & silver throated screaming vocalist Ian Gillan.
  But back to 'Hush'... DP's first single, a fast, frantic cover version of the Joe South hit & written not by South himself (as was credited on the early album sleeves) but by one Billy Joe Royal. Taken from the band's debut album 'Shades of DP', 'Hush' enjoyed considerable chart action in the States, selling 200,000 copies in a fortnight (a large amount in those days) & prompting music papers to run headlines such as 'Unknown British group takes US by storm.'
  Despite its popularity in America, 'Hush' largely failed to make much of an impression in Britain, a fate shared by subsequent non-album cut UK singles.
  'Emmaretta' (rumoured to be a tribute to a girl in the New York cast of 'Hair') & the little-known number 'Hallelujah'.
  The B-sides on offer, 'One More Rainy Day', 'Wring That Knack' & 'April, Part 1' are familiar LP tracks, the last being an edited version of the 'epic' number on the 3rd 'DP' album & providing a hint of what was next to come in the DP scheme of things, namely the ambitious album 'Concerto For Group & Orchestra'.
  Side 2 is where matters really take off, however. 'Black Night' soared up to as high as no. 2 in the British charts in a strange, well nigh inexplicable period in the autumn of 1970 when heavy rock briefly became hot commercial property (around the same time Black Sabbath's 'Paranoid' was also in the singles listings).
  The band were quick to capitalise on the success of 'Night', first with 'Strange Kind of Woman' which rose to no.8 in early '71 & then with 'Fireball' which made it to 15 in December '71.
  Meanwhile, of the 3 B-sides 'I'm Alone' is the only track not taken from an album, the others - 'Speed King' & 'Demons Eye' - being available, respectively, on the 'In Rock' & 'Fireball' LPs.
  None of the 45s, here present could really be termed conventional singles chart fodder- after all, this is hardly a traditional 'Greatest Hits' collection. But grouped together these tracks provide an intriguing insight into the musical development of early DP.
  And anyway, those original, age-old Harvest 7-inchers really were sounding rather the worse for wear...

Geoff Barton

Harvest Heritage
(P) 1978 HEC Enterprises Ltd.
© 1978 EMI Records Ltd.

Note: an augmented version of this LP was released in 1993 on CD as:
Compact Singles A's & B's

Harvest
Singles A's & B's

Lyrics