Deep Purple along with Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin are credited with being granddaddies of heavy metal. Deep Purple unlike Zep and Sab didnot come fully developed in their sound, and their early albums bare little resemblence to the albums that made such a huge impact in the early 1970's.

Thoses of you who are unfamiliar with Deep Purple or only know them for a handful of songs I hope this inspires you too look deeper into their discography and find out for yourself why they were/are such an important band. Let's start with their debut released in 1968, with a line up of Ritchie Blackmore (guitars), Jon Lord (organ/keyboards), Ian Paice (on drums) Rod Evans (vocals) and Nick Semper (on Bass). At this point in time the band is led by Jon Lord not Ritchie Blackmore and it is lot more keyboard heavy than their later day releases. Also due to Rod Evans vocal approach which is more Tom Jones than Ian Gillan.

They managed to snag a hit single doing a Joe South cover of 'Hush' and also they do a slow almost bluesy cover of the beatles 'help' which is very cool. 'And the Address' and 'Mandrake Root' shows hints of a sound they would explorer further in the future. Not a perfect album and would not recommend if one is newbie to Deep Purple. Interesting debut and definite timecaspule of this period than a real presentation of what Deep Purple are capable of or what they would become.

Great Album!

Have it on vinyl and havn't listened to it in years.

I believe Hush was the first Deep Purple song I ever heard, it was on some collection album from the 70's that my Mother had. Anyway, a pretty killer album, though I haven't owned a copy for years.

This was an interesting lineup who I don't think fully realized their sound until the third album...by which time they were about to disintegrate. They were a more experimental group during this period, especially in concert where they were playing extended jams. They were still trying a bunch of new things in this era, discovering their strengths. It might not be the classic "Purple" sound we're used to, but it's good stuff regardless.

I don't own this one. Never even heard it, I guess. But I do have Mandrake Root on a compilation disc and it's quite interesting. Everyone knows Hush of course.

Heard this and have to say, doesn't do much for me. A couple songs were ok but the keyboard heavy sound kept me from embracing it. Might be interesting now to see what i'd think as my tastes have broadened out.

I only have Machine Head and In Rock, call me when we get to those.

Shades is a bit of an odd album, they were still working through their experimental stages then, so you get alot of different hints of styles on the album as well as a sampling of what they would later become in songs like Mandrake Root. And of course, the classic early hit single of Hush and very interesting but still good cover of Help. Not their best album, but still pretty good for that they were doing at the time.

I haven't had any luck locating a decent used copy of this album. The search goes on.

I cant really comment until we get to "In Rock". I just couldnt ever get into the 60's Deep Purple. IMO they didnt really have a direction until '70.

I remember finding an old 45 of "Hush" in my dad's record collection. Probably have it around somewhere. The only other memory I have of that song is that my mom, who is one of the least rocking people I know, knows the song very well. Which makes me think her & pop used to play that 45 back in the day and do things that I don't want to know about.

That's about it for me. I'll check back in when y'all get to Machine Head. Laterz.

Especially Fireball.

On to the next Deep Purple CD also released in 1968, titled 'The Book Of Taliesyn'. This album follows very closely the formula of their debut. Retaining the psychedlic/prog rock of 'Shades' with a slight harder edge. Again not a bad album but it is a band in search of identity. Cover tunes are again included The Beatles 'Work it Out' "River Deep Mountain High' both of which IMo donot work, and one that does, Neil Diamond's 'Kentucky Woman" which actually became their second hit single.

The instrumental 'Wring that Neck' shows Ritchie Blackmore starting to assert his influence over the band, and "The Anthem" another song that hints at things to come with the next line up of Deep Purple. Rod Evans has usually been singled out as the weak link to these early albums, which is really unfair, true he is no Ian Gillan, but he was a vocalist with his own style. Again a good album but only recommended for Deep Purple hardcore fan not a casual or newbie.

I am only one who owns 'The Book of Taliesyn' CD?

I only know "Wring That Neck" from a compilation disc.

I own "Book of Taliesyn", but to be honest, I don't listen to much pre-Gillan Purple. It's certainly not bad, but I much prefer the heavier stuff they started doing with In Rock and Machine Head.

I've always been under the impression that Taliesyn was quickly rushed out to capitalize on the success of Hush. That idea is backed up by the over-abundance of cover songs and also the rather unfocused and meandering nature of some of the original tunes. Easily the weakest of the first 3 Deep Purple albums, the band would start to really gel on the next release.

Wring That Neck and Shield are my personal favorite tracks. The Anthem's orchestral section hints at the direction they would continue on the next record. Overall though, the band was still very much in "Moody Blues worship" mode (Listen, Learn, Read On sounds like a low rent Moody's track). An album for completists only.

It's funny to me they covered a Neil Diamond song. They do a great job on it though but other then that and Shield there's not much on here I want to listen to.

That's a cool cover.

On the next album, 1969's self titled 'Deep Purple' and the last to feature the so called Mark I line up, when shortly after this album was completed both vocalist Rod Evans and bassist Nick Semper where shown the door.

This album is a huge improvement over the first two releases. As detuned stated the bands fixation with the Moody Blues continues with this release. The main difference is that all the songs are original compositions, with the exception of 'Lalena' which is a cover of a Donovan tune. This line up is still being very much led by Jon Lord, as evident in the 12 minute epic 'April' which at times broaders on classical music. On this release the band are finally geling as a unit and are beginning to establish their own sound and identity. IMO a very good album and worth a listen. Not great songs but good songs and sets the stage for the next and most important chapter in their career and in to the history of heavy metal.

Got nothing to say about this album or the last one, but man, they are some cool, groove-a-licious covers. On a giant LP-scale, I could see how you'd spend count-less hours staring into them, looking for hidden messages. You just don't get that in a cd cover these days.

Another album I need to hunt down. So many albums, so little money.

I found that album on sale at the grocery store last year, although the cool Hieronymous Bosch art was shrunken down. Oh well. It's a good, solid album that I keep meaning to listen to more often.