By Vinnie Apicella

Now if I only knew about this at the time Ian Gillan and I spoke last month… well, there'd be about another 4 hours worth of spent tape! So what's new in the world of Deep Purple? For starters the latest in a lengthy and well produced series of Purple reissues, with the latest crashing to earth, here, "Fireball," their 1971 classic that filled out that triumphant trio of Purple records that effectively defined their sound and took them to grand new levels to become the highly regarded heavy rock pioneers they are today. Featuring the classic lineup of Gillan, Glover, Lord, Blackmore and Paice, this latest installment is a collector's dream! With a full sixteen tracks and a historically written booklet full with rare photos, colorful commentary and band member thoughts, one could conceivably take longer to thumb through the twenty-five or so pages before the music concludes! The original "Fireball" tracks appear first, including a stellar remix of "Strange Kind of Woman" that sounds as though they could be playing it live right in your living room… very expansive and vibrant! Something else to look out for amongst the original set, there's the very electric original B-side to the "Fireball" single and "Demon's Eye" that finds its way onto the mix here-an authentic cruncher that by all counts should've been on the original album replacing something like "Anyone's Daughter" and it's Zeppelin-like folk/boogie style. To see the early black and white images and studio shots from back in the day, not to compare them to the band now, but it's amazing as to just how long they've been at this and still no end in sight! Several studio outtakes and very rare footage engulfs the latter half of the disc, starting with the particularly groovy "I'm Alone" which ironically seemed to be pegged for a role reversal with "Anyone's Daughter," with the former fitting more into the scheme of what "Fireball" was to represent. "Freedom," the first among the studio outtake variety, as well possessed the strength for original album inclusion but was curiously left out… though they decided to shelve the song in favor of "Strange Kind of Woman" as the then new single-and it's pretty difficult to argue with their logic over that one. But another terrific aspect here is that songs like "Freedom" and the "Slow Train" pacing it in the distance, definitely not your average filler thrown into add density to fancy packaging, can now be heard and enjoyed. Finally, the complete set to what would turn out to be one of the central issues within the band's musical growth!

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