Deep Purple have just kicked off their latest tour in Las Vegas, co-headlining with Alice Cooper.  The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees and part of the “Holy Trinity of British Hard-Rock” (with Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath) are nearing their 50th anniversary and Rhino Records has announced a new anthology, available in several configurations to celebrate the band’s legacy.  A Fire in the Sky will be available in single and 3-CD editions on September 8, with a 3-LP edition following on November 8.

The band was formed in March of 1968 in Hertford, Hertfordshire in England.  As with many groups, there have been many iterations of the band with the various line-ups being commonly called Marks I-VIII.  The most commercially successful version, Mark II, existed between 1969-1973 and was made up of Ian Gillan (lead vocals, harmonica), Roger Glover (bass, backing vocals), Jon Lord (keyboards, backing vocals), Ritchie Blackmore (guitar) and Ian Paice (drums, percussion).  The quintet released four albums, with two going to the top of the UK charts: Fireball (1971) and Machine Head (1972).  The current line-up has been together since 2002, and includes Gillan, Glover and Paice with Steve Morse (guitar, backing vocals) and Don Airey (keyboards).  Overall, the band has released 20 studio albums since 1968, with the most recent coming out just last April: Infinite.

The Fire in the Sky project will encompass the band’s first 19 albums excluding their most recent.  The single disc version features 20 tracks, 11 of which are in single or other edits.  Among those are classics like “Smoke on the Water” and “Highway Star.”  Also included are edits of “Woman of Tokyo,” “Burn” and “Bad Attitude,” among others.

The 3-CD iteration includes 40 tracks and includes at least one song off of each of those first 19 albums up through 2013’s Now What?!.  The set will features the album versions of the songs as opposed to the content of the single disc edition.  Some alternate mixes are also included, like Kevin Shirley’s remix of “Dealer” from the 35th anniversary edition of Come Taste The Band released in 2010, and stereo mixes of “Emmaretta” and “The Bird Has Flown” as heard on Parlophone’s 2014 box set of the band’s Mk. 1 studio output.

The 3-LP version features yet another track list, which blends content from the two CDs.  It contains 27 tracks and features five of the single or radio edits from the 1 CD iteration and album tracks for the other songs.  All three compilations are arranged in reverse chronological order.  No information was given on remastering or packaging information.

Due to their popularity of the last four decades, Deep Purple has seen roughly 20 compilations released, all with varying sizes and track lists including the 4-CD box set Shades from 1998 and the 3-CD The Platinum Collection from 2005.  These new CDs and LPs do cover nearly the band’s entire history and will be the most up-to-date compilations available.  We’ve got the full track lists and pre-order links for each version below for you to review to see if these latest collections interest you!

Deep Purple, A Fire In The Sky (Rhino, 2017)

Standard edition: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada

1. Hell to Pay (Radio Edit) *
2. Rapture of the Deep
3. Sun Goes Down
4. Any Fule Kno That
5. Sometimes I Feel Like Screaming (Edit)
6. Bad Attitude (Radio Edit) *
7. Knocking At Your Back Door (Single Edit)
8. Perfect Strangers (Single Edit)
9. You Keep On Moving (Single Edit) *
10. Soldier of Fortune
11. Burn (U.S. Single Edit) *
12. Woman from Tokyo (Single Edit) *
13. Highway Star (U.S. Single Edit)
14. Smoke On The Water (U.S. Single Edit)
15. Fireball
16. Strange Kind of Woman
17. Child In Time (Part 1)
18. Speed King (U.S. Album Edit)
19. Black Night
20. Hush

Original version of Track 1 from Now What?! (earMUSIC (U.K.)/Eagle (U.S.), 2013)
Track 2 from Rapture of the Deep (Edel (U.K.)/Eagle (U.S.), 2005)
Track 3 from Bananas (EMI (U.K.)/Sanctuary (U.S.), 2003)
Track 4 from Abandon (EMI (U.K.)/CMC International (U.S.), 1998)
Track 5 from Purpendicular (RCA (U.K.)/CMC International (U.S.), 1996)
Original version of Track 6 from The House of Blue Light (Polydor (U.K.)/Mercury (U.S.), 1987)
Original versions of Tracks 7-8 from Perfect Strangers (Polydor (U.K.)/Mercury (U.S.), 1984)
Original version of Track 9 from Come Taste The Band (Purple (U.K.)/Warner Bros. Records (U.S.), 1975)
Track 10 from Stormbringer (Purple (U.K.)/Warner Bros. Records (U.S.), 1974)
Original version of Track 11 from Burn (Purple (U.K.)/Warner Bros. Records (U.S.), 1974)
Original version of Track 12 from Who Do We Think We Are (Purple (U.K.)/Warner Bros. Records (U.S.), 1973)
Original versions of Tracks 13-14 from Machine Head (Purple (U.K.)/Warner Bros. Records (U.S.), 1972)
Track 15 from Fireball (Harvest (U.K.)/Warner Bros. Records (U.S.), 1971)
Track 16 from Harvest (U.K.)/Warner Bros. Records (U.S.) single, 1971
Original versions of Tracks 17-18 from Deep Purple In Rock (Harvest (U.K.)/Warner Bros. Records (U.S.), 1970)
Track 19 from Harvest (U.K.)/Warner Bros. Records (U.S.) single, 1970
Track 20 from Shades of Deep Purple (Parlophone (U.K.)/Tetragrammaton (U.S.), 1968)

Deluxe Edition
3CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
3LP (* featured tracks): Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada

Disc 1

1. Hell to Pay
2. Vincent Price *
3. Wrong Man
4. Rapture of the Deep *
5. Sun Goes Down *
6. Any Fule Kno That *
7. Sometimes I Feel Like Screaming *
8. Vavoom: Ted the Mechanic
9. The Battle Rages On *
10. King of Dreams
11. Call of the Wild
12. Bad Attitude
13. Knocking At Your Back Door
14. Perfect Strangers *

Disc 2

1. You Keep On Moving
2. Dealer (2010 Kevin Shirley Remix)
3. Stormbringer *
4. Soldier of Fortune *
5. Mistreated
6. Might Just Take Your Life *
7. Burn
8. Rat Bat Blue
9. Woman from Tokyo
10. Space Truckin’
11. Smoke On The Water *
12. When a Blind Man Cries

Disc 3

1. Highway Star *
2. Demon’s Eye *
3. Fireball *
4. Strange Kind of Woman *
5. Child In Time *
6. Speed King (U.S. Album Edit) *
7. Black Night *
8. Hallelujah
9. Emmaretta (2012 Stereo Mix)
10. The Bird Has Flown (Early Version – 2012 Stereo Mix)
11. Wring That Neck (aka Hard Road) *
12. Kentucky Woman *
13. Mandrake Root *
14. Hush *

Disc 1, Tracks 1-2 from Now What?! (earMUSIC (U.K.)/Eagle (U.S.), 2013)
Disc 1, Tracks 3-4 from Rapture of the Deep (Edel (U.K.)/Eagle (U.S.), 2005)
Disc 1, Track 5 from Bananas (EMI (U.K.)/Sanctuary (U.S.), 2003)
Disc 1, Track 6 from Abandon (EMI (U.K.)/CMC International (U.S.), 1998)
Disc 1, Tracks 7-8 from Purpendicular (RCA (U.K.)/CMC International (U.S.), 1996)
Disc 1, Track 9 from The Battle Rages On… (RCA (U.K.)/Giant (U.S.), 1993)
Disc 1, Track 10 from Slaves and Masters (RCA, 1990)
Disc 1, Tracks 11-12 from The House of Blue Light (Polydor (U.K.)/Mercury (U.S.), 1987)
Disc 1, Tracks 13-14 from Perfect Strangers (Polydor (U.K.)/Mercury (U.S.), 1984)
Disc 2, Track 1 from Come Taste The Band (Purple (U.K.)/Warner Bros. Records (U.S.), 1975)
Disc 2, Track 2 from Come Taste The Band: 35th Anniversary Edition (Purple/EMI (U.K.), 2010)
Disc 2, Tracks 3-4 from Stormbringer (Purple (U.K.)/Warner Bros. Records (U.S.), 1974)
Disc 2, Tracks 5-7 from Burn (Purple (U.K.)/Warner Bros. Records (U.S.), 1974)
Disc 2, Tracks 8-9 from Who Do We Think We Are (Purple (U.K.)/Warner Bros. Records (U.S.), 1973)
Disc 2, Tracks 10-11 and Disc 3, Track 1 from Machine Head (Purple (U.K.)/Warner Bros. Records (U.S.), 1972)
Disc 2, Track 12 from “Never Before” single (Purple (U.K.)/Warner Bros. Records (U.S.), 1972)
Disc 3, Tracks 2-3 from Fireball (Harvest (U.K.)/Warner Bros. Records (U.S.), 1971)
Disc 3, Track 4 from Harvest (U.K.)/Warner Bros. Records (U.S.) single, 1971
Disc 3, Tracks 5-6 from Deep Purple In Rock (Harvest (U.K.)/Warner Bros. Records (U.S.), 1970)
Disc 3, Track 7 from Harvest (U.K.)/Warner Bros. Records (U.S.) single, 1970
Disc 3, Track 8 from Harvest (U.K.)/Warner Bros. Records (U.S.) single, 1969
Disc 3, Tracks 9-10 from Hard Road: The Mark 1 Studio Recordings 1968-69 (Parlophone, 2014)
Disc 3, Tracks 11-12 from The Book of Tallesyn (Harvest (U.K.)/Tetragrammaton (U.S.), 1968)
Disc 3, Tracks 13-14 from Shades of Deep Purple (Parlophone (U.K.)/Tetragrammaton (U.S.), 1968)