Sony BMG has withdrawn a Deep Purple album after complaints from lead singer Ian Gillan that it was released without his knowledge.

A spokesman for the label says the company had distributed about 2,000 copies of the recording of the British rock band's live concert in the English city of Birmingham in 1993 in a small scale re-release.

"We've withdrawn that album and tried to find out how a member of the band was not aware of its release," the spokesman said, adding that it was released about six weeks ago.

"We are taking it off our sales platforms and trying to get back what there is out there. The CD has been out before in 1993, when it was sanctioned by the band."

Gillan told the BBC yesterday that tensions within the band had led to the performance in Birmingham, which he described as "awful".

"It was one of the lowest points of my life - all of our lives, actually," he told BBC Radio 4's Today program.

Gillan said he and guitarist Ritchie Blackmore were barely on speaking terms at the time.

"In fact, it lasted five or six shows after that Birmingham show. Then Ritchie left the band. And we've had 13 years of stability ever since then," the BBC quoted him as saying.

Deep Purple were one of the leading heavy metal bands of the 1970s, perhaps best known for their hit Smoke on the Water.

- Reuters