Shades of Deep Purple

very good

Great album with a lot of their lesser known songs on it. Definitely a gem for collectors.

Deep Purple's first three albums saw them in a different style than their classic early 70s albums where they helped forge the heavy metal sound. Their early sound (with a different singer and bassist) was more based on jamming out cover tunes with extended introductions and often borrowing themes from classical music. Original singer Rod Evans, though more of a crooner than a Gillan style screamer, was a great singer and could rock it out, original bassist Nicky Simper did some wild basslines. It has more of a 60s Beatles/Cream feel than the later works, but it's good stuff.This is probably the weakest of their early albums, but still has some good stuff. "Hush" is the classic here - it's a cover, but a good one. "One More Rainy Day" is a really nice pop song. "Mandrake Root" is a funky, Hendrixy thing - one of the few they still did in the Gillan days. There's a big, dramatic, classically tinged instrumental intro to the "Hey Joe" cover. Otherwise, I think the original songs and instrumetal interludes are a bit better on the following "Book of Taliesyn," and the self-titled third album is mostly original and I rate it up there with the classic Gillan albums.One thing about these early albums is that they have a muddy sound. I picked up this remaster when I saw it on sale, and it really doesn't sound much different. I've noticed this with other 60s remasters, so I assume it has something to do with the original recording and instrument sounds. There's only one real new song in the bonus tracks (the rather 60s pop "Shadows"), along with some alternate/live stuff. The cover is inset into a larger picture for the remaster, although you can flip it around for the full band picture (which was the British album cover), but there's no full-size US cover (the one with the multiple band pictures in different shades), which seems a shame. Also, this follows the recent annoying trend of having an essay in the booklet, but no lyrics. Yet again, a remaster that hardly seems "definitive". At least it's in a jewel case. If you don't have this, it's worth the $4, but not much point to it if you have it on CD already.

A must have🎸🎸

This is Deep Purple's first commercially released record. It didn't have the charting impact that their later records did but the single 'Hush', a cover of a Billy Joe Royal's tune of the same name, did have a big impact on the AM radio waves and on me sometime in 1968. I ran out and bought the 45 rpm single as soon as I could after hearing it. The rest of the cuts on this record reflect a more traditional, or rhythm and blues orientated rock and roll style, as opposed to the heavier, harder-edged music that Deep Purple created with albums like Machine Head, or Made In Japan. It's worth a listen and is part of British Invasion history.

DO NOT sleep on this classic album. Sure, there's no Ian Gillian and Roger Glover, and the hairstyles aren't that great, but the MUSIC kicks butt. IF you NEED the Hard Rock stylings of later Purple then this might miss the mark for you, but there's more to this album than just Hush if you're interested in Rock's early years.

Good sound. Reminded me why I bought the original LP. Bonus tracks are nice, but not essential. Still sounds like they're buried under a ton of reverb, but hey, that's the way it sounded back then too. I like the funky feel of "And the Address". And I was surprised at how much I enjoyed their version of the Beatles "Help." Blackmore's solo on that one is terrific: short, unruly, inspired and not what you'd expect. The quasi-classical intros to some of the songs are an acquired taste. At the time I thought they were cool to copy Rimsky-Korsakov, de Falla, etc. If you liked the original (like me) you'll still get a kick out of this. If this is your first time hearing it, it probably will sound hokey and dated.

As I browsed Amazon's collections of the purple music, I saw a couple of cover tunes and just had to hear the whole thing. The three-minute keyboard intro by Jon Lord would never be over before the preview. So I bought the disc.The disc is typical of any bands from that era. Rare Earth's cover of Elanor Rigby