First of all thanks to Rhino for the packaging of this set. Plastic CD cases with the hinges for double triple sets are complete garbage and sometimes break upon opening. This is nicely done, it's a mini record cover that's a double foldout since it's a triple cd with liner notes. Well done. As far as the music goes this works well as a career spanning retrospective. Since it is career spanning it also means that some great music gets left off in place of lesser material from certain era's. This set also makes one thing very clear, Ian Gillan is the essential element of the real Deep Purple sound. Not that some of the Coverdale cuts aren't great, Mistreated, Stormbringer, Burn and others are fantastic, but it almost sounds like another band, and in this case it kinda sounds like the band Free, mainly because Coverdale sounds a lot like Paul Rodgers. Morse can replace Blackmoore and Airey can replace Lord and they still sound like DP, but this isn't the case when Gillan is not singing. This is not so much criticism as it is an observation, since i think the non-Gillan tracks are worth having for sure. Even the early pre-Gillan stuff is interesting to have. Ian Gillan is simply one of Rocks great singers and you just don't replace him that easily. He is also a fine lyricist with a good sense of humor and you generally get the sense that he is having a really good time. I don't want it to seem like i'm neglecting the greatness of Ritchie Blackmoore Jon Lord Roger Glover and Ian Paice because DP is definitely a band in the truest sense of the word, but Gillan is THE voice of Depp Purple. This retrospective goes from last to first so that CD 1 opens with newer material from the excellent "Now What" album. Toward the end of the first disc we get some weaker material "Call of the Wild" that seems designed for MTV videos. And here, even with Gillan singing DP at times does not sound like DP. in one track almost sounding like Huey Lewis and the News (Yikes!)Even so, all of this material is at least interesting as it shows the career arc of Deep Purple. Side 2 is excellent, starting off with several Coverdale sung tracks and DP sounding more like a straight up English blues band. But when Rat Bat Blue comes on and Gillan is again singing, the real DP sound is on display. All in All this is a fantastic collection and leaves no doubt that DP is one of the greatest bands ever. I recommend this very highly