The South African Deep Purple Fansite

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I’ve been a Deep Purple fan since the live version of “Smoke On The Water” blew my 14-year-old mind. That lightbulb moment kicked off a lifelong obsession, which I wrote about in my personal pilgrimage to Montreux.

Brian Currin

History | South African Releases | Imaginary Compilations | Playlists | Live Box Set | Contributions | Posts

History

Biography
The story of one of my all-time favourite bands that I wrote for the Images Of Rock website in 1999.

Musicians
A complete table of all the Mark versions of Deep Purple, originally compiled for The Highway Star website in 2004. Updated in February 2025 thanks to info from Wikipedia

Masters Of Rock Tour 1995
Concert dates, venues and set lists for Deep Purple’s first South African tour.

Masters Of Rock Tour 2010
A website for the South African tour with Uriah Heep and Wishbone Ash. My son, Michael, was the official photographer in Cape Town.

Japanese Tour 1972
Set lists for the shows that became the classic “Made In Japan” album.

The Complete BBC Sessions
BBC sessions information including dates, venues, tracks played and availability on CD.

Grabsplatter
All you ever needed to know (and more) about this obscure BBC session track.

South African Releases

Singles (Springbok Radio Chart Hits)

• Hush! [4:11] / One More Rainy Day [3:40] No. 14 in November 1968
• Black Night [3:51] / Speed King [5:31] No. 6 in November 1970
• Smoke On The Water (studio, edit) [3:48] / Smoke On The Water (live in Japan, edit) [4:34] No. 7 in November 1973, Discogs

Albums (selected)

Songs covered by South African artists

• Into The Fire (1970) – Suck
• Black Night (1970) – Omega Limited
• Black Night (1970) – session musicians on Springbok Hit Parade Bandcamp
• Smoke On The Water (1973) – session musicians on Springbok Hit Parade 13 YouTube | Bandcamp
• Smoke On The Water (1973) – session musicians on Springbok Hits Of The Week Vol. 13 YouTube – a cheesy cover version of the Deep Purple classic, with some very strange lyric changes… but I remember this version with great nostalgia.
• Black Night / Smoke On The Water (Medley) (1979) – Buffalo featuring Peter Vee
• Child In Time (2004) – 12th Avenue (featuring Mark Haze) Spotify
• Smoke On The Water (2011) – Universe Of Rock
• Smoke On The Water (2015) – session musicians on Springbok Goue Treffers 70’s, Vol. 5 YouTube | Spotify – sounds the same as the version on Springbok Hit Parade 13 from 1973.

Playlists

Recreated, re-imagined and expanded playlists on Spotify.

• Deepest Purple [LP 1980, CD 1990] expanded
• Live & Blue [CD 1996] expanded
• Live in London [LP 1982, 2CD 2007] recreated in correct sequence
• Machine Head [LP 1972] remixed and expanded
• Made in Europe [LP 1976] expanded
• Mark I & II (2LP 1973) expanded
• Mk III The Final Concerts [2CD 1996] recreated
• Powerhouse [LP 1977] expanded

Live Box Set

On The Road, a live 4CD box set was planned by The Deep Purple Appreciation Society for release in March 1999, but was unfortunately cancelled in January 1999. Eventually released in September 2001. I wrote a review for this box set in 2001.

Contributions

The Highway Star is the original Deep Purple website established in 1993 and I am very proud to say that I was able to contribute to this site during the early 2000s. I contributed to 4 sections:

• The alphabetical song list with lyrics links
• The Set Lists year-by-year page.
• The Chart Positions page
• Songs covered by Deep Purple

Posts