Deep Purple "Anthem" - Why it has been buried and forgotten?

Hello Purple (and Rock) fans!

I've been listening a lot of Purple music prior the release of this double DVD
set:

http://www.stevehoffman.tv/forums/showthread.php?t=183685&highlight=deep+purple+history


and I'm wondering why "Anthem" has never made into well-known compilation (I can only think in "The Early Years" comp). No Singles A-Bs, no Listen Read On Boxset, no Anthology, no Best Ofs, etc. Moreover, It seems they didn't do a promo video, and I haven't even heard a live performance of the song.

It was a single (part 1 & 2) and at least in here it still gets great radioairplay rotation on the best radio stations.

Does anyone knows why?. All the Purple experts needed
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TdIMFyvL234

 

I would guess that it was not released as a single in the UK (or the US). The only info I could find is the following link which seems to indicate that the single was released in Italy only.

http://www.thehighwaystar.com/rosas/jouni/discos/discovin.html

 

First time I've heard about Anthem being a single...

I agree that it's a great song, one of my absolute favourites from MkI... I love it!

I don't imagine the band or management at that time putting the time/money/effort into making a promo video for an album track that wasn't a UK or US hit...

 

First, let me say that I really like this song, and always have, but let's face it, it's pretty much out of step with the balance of Purple's catalog. Comps that feature a cross-section of Purple always use Mk II as the benchmark, and "Anthem" is one song that has no parallel in MK II. Its style, especially Rod Evans' vocal, is very lush and florid and seems more suited to Tom Jones or even Jim Nabors than a hard rock band.

I'm not entirely surprised that they play this song on the radio in Chile, but in the U.S. it's a different story. I only once heard this song on the radio and it was on an independent station in Vermont in 1980.