Best Deep Purple Lineup

Here's a reference for clarity of which lineup is which

So a while ago on TMS they did a throwdown regarding the best DP lineup. David Coverdale was the guest. It seemed Mk III won not only the throwdown among the hosts/guests, but also with the cheering crowd, if memory serves me right. Now, I love Burn. It's one of my all-time favorite LP's of the 70's. But over Mark II? I'm wanting to see if others feel the same way or if they were just buttering up Coverdale (if I'm not mistaken Hughes was there as well as guest musician). I honestly can't in my mind justify any song on Burn being better than Black Knight, Speed King, Child in Time, Maybe I'm a Leo, Highway Star, Demon's Eye, etc. So obviously I'm voting for Mk II.

Burn is my favorite DP song ever, I freaking love that song! But overall, nope Mk II hands down.

Mark II followed closely by Mark VII (Morse, Lord) and Mark VIII (Morse, Airey).

Mark II but a wide margin, I loved all versions of Deep Purple but Mark II is still the best

Mark II, easily. Love the mark III stuff, as well.

MK II then III, IV, VII, VIII, V

MK II is way above any other version.

It has to be Gillan and Blackmore

While I will always love the Blackmore era stuff I've been a BIG fan of the Steve Morse lineup since Purpendicular came out almost 20 years ago. I saw Mark VIII on the Bananas tour and they were fantastic.

People that ignore their recent material because Blackmore hasn't been involved for over 20 years have missed out on some really great music and probably the tightest live band they've ever been.

I am still working on getting all the material from DP but so far i like the recent stuff and the Burn era.

Love Burn, amazing stuff but II is their best era.

S.D. wrote:

While I will always love the Blackmore era stuff I've been a BIG fan of the Steve Morse lineup since Purpendicular came out almost 20 years ago.  I saw Mark VIII on the Bananas tour and they were fantastic.  

People that ignore their recent material because Blackmore hasn't been involved for over 20 years have missed out on some really great music and probably the tightest live band they've ever been.  

I used to have "bananas." It was a really solid record.

MetallicSeminarian wrote:

I used to have "bananas." It was a really solid record.

Overall it is the weakest album they've done since 1995 but it still has some really good songs on it.

II! Gillan rules.

Too bad the Tommy, Glen and David line up never got the chance to gel

Mark II. Not even close.

Of course I would be willing to bet the number of people that actually own more DP than Machine Head (or a Greatest Hits collection) are very few on this board. So I'm not the least bit surprised that Mark II gets all the votes.

S.D. wrote:

Of course I would be willing to bet the number of people that actually own more DP than Machine Head (or a Greatest Hits collection) are very few on this board.  So I'm not the least bit surprised that Mark II gets all the votes.  

I own:

Fireball
Machine Head
Burn
Stormbringer
Perfect Strangers
The house of blue light

I used to own (before I moved)

In rock
Made in Japan
Salves and masters
The battle rages on
Bananas
A couple of hits collections



Easily an all-time favorite band for me.

S.D. wrote:

Of course I would be willing to bet the number of people that actually own more DP than Machine Head (or a Greatest Hits collection) are very few on this board.  So I'm not the least bit surprised that Mark II gets all the votes.  

Shades of
Deep Purple
Best of
Fireball
Machine Head
Burn
When We Rock, We Rock and When We Roll, We Roll
Deepest Purple
Perfect Strangers
House of Blue Light

I've also heard songs from the Joe Lynn Turner and current line-ups, though not enough to really judge them yet.

S.D. wrote:

While I will always love the Blackmore era stuff I've been a BIG fan of the Steve Morse lineup since Purpendicular came out almost 20 years ago.  I saw Mark VIII on the Bananas tour and they were fantastic.  

People that ignore their recent material because Blackmore hasn't been involved for over 20 years have missed out on some really great music and probably the tightest live band they've ever been.  

This is absolutely true. I just recently got into post-Mk III material and it blew me away; of course I remember hearing the band with Morse for the first time and thought he was the perfect replacement.

Right now I own everything up through Mk III. Looking forward to investing in Now What soon.

I didn't even know there was doubt about which lineup was best.

Temple of Blood wrote:

I didn't even know there was doubt about which lineup was best.  

That's the interesting thing here; in the ep of That Metal Show I was referencing you'd think Mk III were the quintessential lineup of all-time. They were so homogeneously exponential in their praise for Burn, audience included, that I felt like I was in an alternate universe. From what I can deduce, they were truly buttering up Coverdale and Hughes, just completely kissing ass. So I didn't know there was a doubt either.

Of course, those throwdowns were pretty stupid to begin with on the show. Queen vs Queensryche? C'mon.

I think Steve is a perfect fit for Deep Purple. Don is also a great fit, but I find that I miss Jon more than I thought I would. Almost every album from Deep Purple is different and that includes MK II all the way to present. Even the reunion MK II has a different vibe and rightly so, considering the decade or so many of them were off doing their own thing. That is the one thing I really like about Deep Purple, they don't have any pt. 1 and pt. 2 albums. Every one is it's own thing, which some like and some don't. The MK II years were pure magic, yet every album since has been good if not equally cool in its own way.

MKII - no second thoughts.

Temple of Blood wrote:

I didn't even know there was doubt about which lineup was best.  

 

The one who created Perfect Strangers