"Deep Purple: The Friends And Relatives Album" - a review by Andreas Thul

From the pressinfo: "Deep Purple, one of the greatest acts in rock history just clebrated their 30th anniversary. So it's exactly the right time to release an album packed with titles of the numerous band members of Deep Purple, their solo projects and other spinoff bands.

This album features classics of Deep Purple, Rainbow, David Coverdale, E.L.F., Glen Hughes, Tommy Bolin, Gillan and others.

There's still an active fanclub and this remarkable double-CD is a must for these loyal fans."

Sometimes I sit and wonder
Sometimes I just sit
I hope you all know
What you're doing
Anyway
Who needs this thing?

Well, I think the pressinfo isn't that wrong... This album is for sure not for the typical "have heard some Purple tunes and want to have them on CD"-listener.

But is it for "these loyal fans" of the "still active fanclub"? The song selection and combination isn't that uninteresting, as it offers a view into the deepest corners of things Purple. But exactly when I hear things I might be not too familiar with, I want to read some information about the songs I'm listening to, about their story and about the people involved. And at this point this album offers nothing.
The two-page booklet just shows the names of the bands, the songtitles, the writing credits and the copyright information - that's all. Not even the names of the albums the songs are taken from...

Too bad "Deep Purple: The Friends And Relatives Album" was released in January - otherwise it would have been a perfect example for a "Cashing In On Christmas"-try...

Andreas Thul