PURPLE
RECORDS

Independent label: Purple Records was formed by Alan Bates and Deep Purple managers Tony Colletta and John Edwards in early 1971.  At first it seems to have operated as a production company, a couple of its records (by Buddy Bohn and Curtiss Maldoon) appearing on the Regal Zonophone label in August of that year.  The Purple label as such made its singles debut a few months later, in November.  It was handled by Capitol worldwide, and thus its products were manufactured and distributed by EMI in Britain.  Initially Purple boasted a varied roster of artists, but latterly it served mainly as a vehicle for Deep Purple's own records and for records that the members of the band produced.  The discography shows that not all its singles were in the Rock vein: for example 'Who Is The Doctor' by Jon Pertwee was a 'novelty' song built upon the 'Doctor Who' theme, and The Reflections' 'Moon Power' was Reggae-flavoured Pop.  Despite that, the company seems to have felt that it had an image problem: In 1975  that the company launched a new label, Oyster Records, in an effort to rid itself of its 'Heavy Metal' reputation.  Purple scored four times in the Singles Chart, all with records by Deep Purple themselves, and to all intents and purposes seems to have expired in or around 1979.  It did however make a brief comeback in 2012, for three more Deep Purple singles.  The label design remained basically unchanged throughout, the only alterations involving the perimeter text.  A reference to 'The Gramophone Co.' at 10 o'clock was changed to refer to 'EMI Records' in January 1975; a similar change had taken place on most of the EMI group labels, generally in or around the autumn of 1973 - perhaps Purple were using up old stock.  For some reason the perimeter text can be found inverted on a couple of singles, PUR-134 and 135. Distributed By EMI Records. Thanks to Robert Lyons For The Info.

      

71	Bullet	Hobo	PURPLE	PUR	101
72	Deep Purple	Never Before / When A Blind Man Cries	PURPLE	PUR	102
72	Hard Stuff	Jay Time	PURPLE	PUR	103
72	Silverhead	Ace Supreme	PURPLE	PUR	104
72	Rupert Hine	Hamburgers	PURPLE	PUR	105
72	Curtiss Maldoon	One Way Ticket	PURPLE	PUR	106
72	The Bumbles	Beep Beep	PURPLE	PUR	107
72	Ashton - Lord	Surrender Me	PURPLE	PUR	108
72	Tony Ashton	Celebration	PURPLE	PUR	109
72	Silverhead	Rolling With My Baby	PURPLE	PUR	110
72	Jon Pertwee	Who Is The Doctor	PURPLE	PUR	111
73	Deep Purple	Woman From Tokyo / Black Night (Live Version)	PURPLE	PUR	112
73	Tucky Buzzard	Gold Medallions	PURPLE	PUR	113
73	Yvonne Elliman	I Can't Explain	PURPLE	PUR	114
73	Carol Hunter	Look Out Cleveland	PURPLE	PUR	115
73	Hard Stuff	Inside your life	PURPLE	PUR	116
74	Deep Purple	Might Just Take Your Life	PURPLE	PUR	117
74	ELF	L.A. 59	PURPLE	PUR	118
74	Gnasher	Medina Road	PURPLE	PUR	119
74	Marlon	Let's Go To The Disco	PURPLE	PUR	120
74	Tony Ashton And Jon Lord	We're Gonna Make It	PURPLE	PUR	121
74	The Count	Gazaroody	PURPLE	PUR	122
74	Michael Des Barres	Leon	PURPLE	PUR	123
74	Reflections	Love And Affection	PURPLE	PUR	124
74	Roger Glover And Guests	Love Is All	PURPLE	PUR	125
75	Brutus	Payroll	PURPLE	PUR	126
75	Reflections	Moon Power	PURPLE	PUR	127
75	Roger Glover and Guests, John Lawton, Ronnie James Dio	Little Chalk Blue	PURPLE	PUR	128
75	Deep Purple	You Keep On Moving / Dealer	PURPLE	PUR	129
75	Deep Purple	You Keep On Moving / Love Child	PURPLE	PUR	130
76	Jon Lord	Bourée	PURPLE	PUR	131
77	Deep Purple	Smoke On The Water / Woman From Tokyo / Child In Time	PURPLE	PUR	132
77	David Coverdale	Hole In The Sky	PURPLE	PUR	133
77	Tucky Buzzard	Gold Medallions	PURPLE	PUR	134
77	Deep Purple	New Live & Rare (EP)	PURPLE	PUR	135
78	David Coverdale	Breakdown	PURPLE	PUR	136
78	Deep Purple	New Live & Rare Vol 2 (EP)	PURPLE	PUR	137
2012	Deep Purple	Smoke On The Water - 40th Anniversary Record	PURPLE	PURRSD	138
2012	Deep Purple	Encore: Lucille	PURPLE	PUR	139