SANTA BARBARA MACHINE HEAD - Porcupine Juice, Albert, Rubber Monkey. BOZ - I Shall Be Released, Down In The Flood. BLACKMORE'S ORCHESTRA - Getaway,
Little Brown Jug. ANAN - Medina, Standing Still. THE MAZE - Cateri Cateri, Easy Street. EPISODE SIX - Have You Ever Been There, Love Hate Revenge, I Am A Cloud, I Am The Boss. SUNDRAGON - I Want To Be A Rock 'n Roll Star, Peacock Dress, Five White Horses, Love Minus Zero. THE GOVERNMENT - Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is, The Letter, Bang Bang, It's All Over Now.

A unique 23 track collection devoted to the work of the various members of Deep Purple before they joined the band. There has long been interest in this area of their careers. Many of these tracks are now impossibly expensive to buy on vinyl. A few have been issued on disparate CD compilations but this is the first time anyone has attempted to try and bring together this early material. The label has unearthed a number of really rare tracks, which even hard core collectors were previously unaware of. Numerous tracks are also on CD for the first time, including collectable singles, and there are even some previously unissued tracks.

The tracks - dating between 1965 and 1970 - feature pre-Purple appearences by Ritchie Blackmore: his ultra rare 1965 solo single, both 'a' & 'b' sides; Ian Gillan & Roger Glover: four rare studio and live performances from their time in Episode Six, none of which have appeared on CD before; Jon Lord with Santa Barbara Machine Head: three great instrumentals from Jon's shortlived 1967 group, featuring Ron Wood on guitar and Twink on drums; Ian Paice & Rod Evans with The Maze: their last single, both 'a' and 'b' sides before they joined Deep Purple; David Coverdale with The Government: four previously unreleased demos, his only known pre-Deep Purple recordings. There are also a number of Derek Lawrence produced sessions in which Deep Purple mk1 acted as a backing band for artists such as Boz (who later turned up in King Crimson and Bad Company), Sundragon and Anan. The CD booklet carries extensive notes about the history of the records and the artists.

See rare photos of Coverdale with The Government at www.deep-purple.net

Pre-Purple People can be ordered from the dpas online store.

pre-purple cd review   

purple records catalogue