“Smoke on the Water” is just the beginning, mun… Welcome to the full throttle, Hammond-shredding, Ritchie-smashing, Gillan-screaming journey through the entire Deep Purple discography. Strap in. This is gonna be a wild ride through over 50 years of rock history.
🔥 1. Machine Head (1972)
💿 The ultimate Purple record. Period.
Highlights: “Smoke on the Water,” “Highway Star,” “Lazy”
🎤 Why it rules: Every riff’s a monster, every solo’s nuclear. This album is the reason you’re holding a guitar wrong in front of your mirror right now.
🏆 Rock ‘n’ roll royalty, proper job.
🔮 2. In Rock (1970)
💿 The birth of heavy metal as we know it.
Highlights: “Child in Time,” “Speed King,” “Into the Fire”
⚡ What’s occurring: Gillan’s screams. Blackmore’s riffs. Lord’s organ. This album invented the hard rock arms race.
🤘 Tidy stuff.
🏰 3. Perfect Strangers (1984)
💿 The reunion that actually slapped.
Highlights: “Perfect Strangers,” “Knocking at Your Back Door,” “Nobody’s Home”
📣 Comeback of the decade. Moody, majestic, and riff-packed.
🧙♂️ A late-career gem with loads of wizard energy.
🌊 4. Burn (1974)
💿 Coverdale and Hughes crash the party – and bring groove.
Highlights: “Burn,” “Mistreated,” “Sail Away”
🔥 Sexy, bluesy, funky – and still heavy as hell.
🎤 Coverdale’s swagger + Blackmore’s fire = lush.
🕰️ 5. Fireball (1971)
💿 Weird, wild, underrated brilliance.
Highlights: “Fireball,” “No No No,” “The Mule”
🔮 Quirky and experimental but still rocks your nan off the sofa.
🛸 It’s the sci-fi Deep Purple album you didn’t know you needed.
🛠️ 6. Deep Purple (1969)
💿 Mk I bows out with a baroque bang.
Highlights: “April,” “Bird Has Flown,” “Why Didn’t Rosemary?”
🎻 A bit proggy, a bit hippie, but packed with ideas and ambition.
🎼 Lord’s classical touches steal the show.
⚔️ 7. Stormbringer (1974)
💿 More funk, more soul, but still packs a punch.
Highlights: “Stormbringer,” “Soldier of Fortune,” “Holy Man”
🕺 It’s the ’70s – you’re wearing flares and shaking hips to Purple.
🌩️ Divisive but mighty fun.
🧙♀️ 8. The House of Blue Light (1987)
💿 Eighties sheen meets classic chops.
Highlights: “Bad Attitude,” “The Unwritten Law,” “Call of the Wild”
💻 Slick production, synths creeping in, but still has bite.
🪩 A strange beast, but not without charm.
🎭 9. Who Do We Think We Are (1973)
💿 Band falling apart – but still dishing out gems.
Highlights: “Woman from Tokyo,” “Rat Bat Blue”
💥 Tension in the air. Magic in the riffs.
😤 The sound of a great band mid-divorce.
🧠 10. Purpendicular (1996)
💿 Morse code unlocked.
Highlights: “Sometimes I Feel Like Screaming,” “Ted the Mechanic”
🎸 Steve Morse joins, and suddenly the band is having fun again.
🌈 A creative rebirth – weird title, great album.
🥀 11. Abandon (1998)
💿 Get it? A-Ban(d)-On? Never mind.
Highlights: “Any Fule Kno That,” “Almost Human”
🎤 Raw, heavier, and dark – like a stormy pub gig in Aberdare.
🌑 Underrated and angry.
⌛ 12. Now What?! (2013)
💿 Surprisingly lush late-career prog rock vibes.
Highlights: “Vincent Price,” “Uncommon Man”
🧪 A mature, moody, and elegant LP.
🔮 They aged like fine Welsh whisky.
🕯️ 13. Infinite (2017)
💿 Dad rock? Maybe. But your dad’s cooler than you.
Highlights: “Time for Bedlam,” “All I Got Is You”
🚀 Leans modern, leans safe – but they still sound like Purple.
📈 Solid, not spectacular.
🔁 14. Rapture of the Deep (2005)
💿 A bit murky, a bit proggy, a bit meh.
Highlights: “Rapture of the Deep,” “Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye”
🧞♂️ Feels like filler between brighter eras.
📻 Not bad, just not banging.
💀 15. Bananas (2003)
💿 What is this title, lads?
Highlights: “House of Pain,” “Silver Tongue”
🍌 Bold title, middling music.
🥴 You’ll forget it exists until someone brings it up in a pub quiz.
🫣 16. Slaves and Masters (1990)
💿 The one with the Rainbow guy – and not the good Rainbow.
Highlights: “King of Dreams,” “Love Conquers All”
🎤 Joe Lynn Turner tries his best, but it’s more AOR than Purple.
🙃 Feels like Deep Purple cosplaying as Bon Jovi.
🎹 17. Shades of Deep Purple (1968)
💿 Mk I’s debut – and it shows.
Highlights: “Hush,” “Mandrake Root”
🍼 Still finding their feet. “Hush” slaps, the rest is dated.
📻 Late ’60s radio rock with a future legend hidden inside.
🎨 18. The Book of Taliesyn (1968)
💿 Cover art: cool. Music: patchy.
Highlights: “Anthem,” “Kentucky Woman”
📚 Mostly covers and filler – not the mystical prog masterwork the title suggests.
😶 You won’t go back to it much, butt.
🛌 19. Turning to Crime (2021)
💿 A covers album no one asked for.
Highlights: “7 and 7 Is,” “Rockin’ Pneumonia and the Boogie Woogie Flu”
🕵️♂️ It’s fun… but we were waiting for the next real Deep Purple album.
🥸 Feels like a retirement hobby project.
👶 20. Deep Purple (Mk I) (Self-Titled, 1969 US-only version)
💿 Essentially a patchwork of the first two albums
Highlights: “Emmaretta,” “Lalena”
📼 Only hardcore collectors need apply.
🧹 More compilation than coherent album.
🧾 Final Thoughts
Deep Purple have reinvented themselves more times than most bands even get to release a second album. From psychedelic origins to proto-metal legends to aging rock gods still giving it some, they’ve done it all – and usually in a haze of Hammond organ smoke.
🎤 Some albums make you want to start a band.
💿 Some make you want to start a fire.
🙈 And some… make you want to start skipping tracks.
Which one’s your favourite, butt? Got beef with the rankings? Tell us on socials @theriffreportuk – or just scream “CHIIIIILD IN TIIIIIME!” at the nearest mountain and see who echoes back. 🏔️
Diolch for coming along for the ride. 🎸🔥
Michael is the founder, editor, and chief riff wrangler behind The Riff Report, an independent Welsh rock and metal publication built by fans, for fans. With a lifelong passion for loud guitars, unforgettable live shows, and the incredible community that surrounds rock and metal, he created The Riff Report to celebrate everything that makes the scene special—from legendary headline acts and grassroots venues to rising bands that deserve to be heard.
A familiar face at festivals across the UK, Michael spends much of the year covering events including Download Festival, Bloodstock Open Air, Steelhouse Festival, Firevolt, Plumpton Revival, and many more. Whether he’s battling the Welsh weather on a mountainside, surviving a weekend in a muddy campsite, or squeezed against the front barrier with thousands of fellow fans, he’s always searching for the next great story to share.
As editor of The Riff Report, Michael writes festival guides, breaking news, album reviews, gig reviews, interviews, opinion pieces, nostalgia features, and behind-the-scenes stories from across the rock and metal world. His writing combines honest opinions, humour, and a genuine love for live music, bringing readers closer to the bands, festivals, venues, and people that keep the scene alive.
Michael is particularly passionate about supporting independent artists, local venues, charities, and the wider UK rock and metal community. He believes every band deserves a chance to be discovered and every festival has a story worth telling. Through The Riff Report, he aims to shine a spotlight on both the biggest names in rock and the future stars waiting to break through.
When he’s not writing or interviewing artists, you’ll probably find him exploring festival campsites, photographing live shows, chatting with fellow fans over a pint, or planning the next road trip in search of more riffs, bigger crowds, and unforgettable moments.
Above all, Michael believes rock and metal are about more than music—they’re about community, friendship, and creating memories that last a lifetime. That’s exactly what The Riff Report exists to celebrate.
Proudly Welsh. Proudly Loud. Always chasing the next great riff. 🤘
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