Rhino Records first attracted notice for its ability to assemble good, well-thought-out, best-of and greatest-hits compilations of acts who had enjoyed a chart placement (or two) without ever getting a proper hits package from their own labels; a little later Rhino started their "Very Best Of" series, which managed to be medium-weight but pretty thorough overviews of a lot of major acts (especially in R&B) from the past that needed a fresh look. But in 2000, when they released The Very Best of Deep Purple -- a band that needed no helping hand in the exposure area -- in conjunction with Warner Archives, that was something new for the company. And damned if Deep Purple and their fans, casual or serious, didn't benefit stunningly from Rhino's usual excellence on this CD. For one thing -- and this is pretty amazing -- this disc, with nearly 80-minutes of music, was the most thorough and thoughtful overview of the band's work ever released in the United States; EMI may have come close in England with Singles A's & B's but the sound here is better, to put it mildly. It's not just that Bill Inglot's tape research and engineering are very good -- it's that the sound here is so rich and res…