Shades of Deep Purple

by

Deep Purple

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This is a great recording, and only now beginning to be recognised as an 'almost' classic of the late 60's.

Let's face it, this is pretty heavy for '68 and its success in the U.S at the time bears this out. UK audiences wer'nt really ready for it. Richie obviously sees the way ahead in terms of the Hendrix style of guitar (remember Hendrix only came to the fore 18 months previous) and even for that alone it helped spearhead the idea of rock and progressive music.

The difficulty mark 1 Purple has always had is that so often their work has been reviewed by die hard heavy rockers that got into them thru that channel. I ask you to listen to it without genre limitations and what you'll find is a great piece of British late 60's art rock, that nods to the greats of the time, has great all round musicianship, and you still have to admire it's grooviness 30 plus years on.

The remastering is also of fantastic quality, while the mini booklet gives a great insight into the early exploits of the band.

Picture the scene, summer of 68, kaftans, beads the lot. And here we have the first sample of Deep Purple music. Like most bands, the sound they started with was nothing like what they became. This was the band that did "Smoke On The Water" remember. Well if you are looking for hard rock, don't look here. Keyboard driven sub rock pop is a better description. Mind you, it turned out to be influential, copying Vanilla Fudge in such a way that Vanilla Fudge copied to sound for themselves. Confused? So were Purple, as this album lanched them around the world with the exception of the UK, as it contained their first hit single "Hush" (almost identical to the Kula Shaker version 25 years later). The music is experimental in places, with only "Mandrake Root" giving any sort of hint what would come 2 years later with "in Rock", but a very listenable piece of recording.