AtomicCrimsonRush
This 1980 compilation was very popular in Australia, and I remember it virtually littering the album shelves back then with that iconic cover of a steaming axe, that has nothing to do with the band but looks nice. It has since become a cheapy CD but well worth the effort as it contains everything that makes deep Purple great as the archetypical hard rock legends that they are. It features the definitive songs that all Purple fans know back to front, 'Black Night', 'Speed King', 'Fireball', 'Strange Kind Of Woman', 'Child In Time', 'Highway Star' and 'Space Truckin''. There are some others that I had never been a huge fan of but of course it features quintessential killer riffer 'Smoke On The Water'.
I played this album on cassette so much I think I wore out the tape. I have since lost the cover and it now kicks around in a dusty box in the attic, discarded with all the other cassettes that are out of date and useless.
All of the songs are the originals and this makes a nice replacement for all the albums for those who only want to dip their toes in the Deep Purple water. This makes a nice Sunday afternoon treat if you want to hear the best Purple songs without changing dozens of CDs. It is really worthwhile though if you have no Deep Purple albums at all as it shows just how amazing this band is. A decent no frills compilation of the legends of proto metal.