Deep Purple – Mark I & II [2LP 1973]

Tracks

Mark I

Side One

1. Hush (Joe South) [4.22] from Shades Of Deep Purple (1968)
2. Mandrake Root (Blackmore, Evans, Lord) [6.03] from Shades Of Deep Purple (1968)
3. Why Didn’t Rosemary? (Blackmore, Evans, Paice, Simper, Lord) [4.56] from Deep Purple (1969)
4. Hey Joe (Billy Roberts, arranged by Deep Purple) [7.21] from Shades Of Deep Purple (1968)

Side Two

1. Wring That Neck (Blackmore, Lord, Simper, Paice) [5.09] instrumental; from The Book Of Taliesyn (1968 [US], 1969 [UK])
2. Emmaretta (Blackmore, Lord, Evans) [2.58] Single 1969
3. Help (Lennon, McCartney) [5.54] from Shades Of Deep Purple (1968)
4. Chasing Shadows (Lord, Paice) [5.31] from Deep Purple (1969)

Mark II

Side Three

1. Black Night (Blackmore, Gillan, Glover, Lord, Paice) [3.24] Single 1970, recorded during In Rock sessions
2. Speed King (Blackmore, Gillan, Glover, Lord, Paice) [5.49] from In Rock (1970)
3. Strange Kind Of Woman (Blackmore, Gillan, Glover, Lord, Paice) [4.00] Single 1971 and track on US and Japanese releases of Fireball (1971), replacing Demon’s Eye
4. Into The Fire (Blackmore, Gillan, Glover, Lord, Paice) [3.29] from In Rock (1970)
5. When A Blind Man Cries (Blackmore, Gillan, Glover, Lord, Paice) [3.29] b-side of Never Before single in 1972, recorded during the Machine Head sessions

Side Four

1. Smoke On The Water (Blackmore, Gillan, Glover, Lord, Paice) [5.37] from Machine Head (1972)
2. Woman From Tokyo (Blackmore, Gillan, Glover, Lord, Paice) [2.44] Single 1973. Actually the full-length (5.47) album track from Who Do We Think We Are (1973). See comments below
3. Highway Star (Blackmore, Gillan, Glover, Lord, Paice) [6.46] Live version from Made In Japan (1972). Originally from Machine Head (1972)

Release information

2LP: 1973, Purple Records (South Africa), TPSPJ (​W) 5000 (Distributed by EMI Brigadiers)

See Discogs for releases around the world.

Musicians

Mark	Dates	Vocals	Keyboards	Guitars	Bass	Drums
Mark I	March 1968 to June 1969	Rod Evans	Jon Lord	Ritchie Blackmore	Nicky Simper	Ian Paice
Mark II	June 1969 to June 1973	Ian Gillan	Jon Lord	Ritchie Blackmore	Roger Glover	Ian Paice

Comments

This compilation album, a collection of single and album tracks from the Mark I and Mark II back-catalogue, was released in late 1973 in South Africa on the Purple Records label.

It was also released in a few other countries around the same time. I don’t believe it was ever officially released on CD. In the early 2000s I made a CD-R of this album and using the single edit of “Woman From Tokyo” it fitted perfectly on a single CD.

This was the first album release in the world of “When A Blind Man Cries” (the b-side of the “Never Before” single in 1972) which was a very popular track in South Africa in the ’70s and even received radio play. I first saw this album in 1974 and eventually bought it in 1978. This was the album that introduced me to the early days of Deep Purple. When I moved away from vinyl to CD I foolishly accepted money to part with this album, however nobody wanted my South African pressing of Last Concert In Japan!

The “Mark I & II” album had a gatefold sleeve with all the album covers on the inside showing the source of each track. This alpha key system (similar to Jethro Tull’s M.U. – The Best Of Jethro Tull album) became my standard reference method.

Not all countries had the same inner gatefold. See Discogs for more information.

“Woman From Tokyo” was listed as only being 2.44 long (the single edit), but the full-length album version (5.47) was actually featured on my LP.

In February 2002 I bought it again, thanks to Mabu Vinyl in Cape Town. And I didn’t even have a turntable anymore!

More information on Wikipedia and Discogs.

Artwork