Shades of

Artist: Deep Purple
Label: Phantom Sound & Visi
Category: Music

Average customer rating:

Media: Audio CD
Number Of Discs: 1

UPC: 766483227623
EAN: 0766483227623
ASIN: B00000E2FA

Release Date: 1996-11-21

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Customer Reviews:

Shades of excellence.......2005-10-06

Shades Of Deep Purple (1968.) Deep Purple's first album.

INTRODUCTION:
In the seventies, they were hard rock gods. Right up until their disbanding in 1976, Deep Purple was one of the ultimate hard and heavy rock bands in the world. Their sheer musical brilliance and excellence was unrivaled. However, the group's origins and their sixties recordings are considerably less known than the material from their seventies heyday. So, just how is the band's material from the lesser-known Mark One band formation? Read on for my review of the band's very first full-length LP, Shades Of Deep Purple.

OVERVIEW:
Deep Purple released their debut album, Shades Of Deep Purple, in September of 1968.The Mark One incarnation of the band featured guitarist Ritchie Blackmore, vocalist Rod Evans, organist Jon Lord, drummer Ian Paice, and bassist Nick Simper. This record was engineered by Barry Ainsworth. Album tracklist consists of And The Address, Hush, One More Rainy Day Prelude/I'm So Glad, Mandrake Root, Help!, Love Help Me, and Hey Joe.

REVIEW:
There are a lot of mysteries in the world of classic rock. But one of the greatest mysteries of all would have to be why the Rod Evans era of Deep Purple is so underrated. In this early formative, the band used an organ-heavy, psychedelic sort of rock sound, heavily influenced by the American band Vanilla Fudge. Was this different from their more popular stuff with Ian Gillan? Yes. No denying, this was a different-sounding band. But theur music was still nothing short of excellent. With a mixture of unique compositions and cover tunes, the band's first record is, in my opinion, the best overall release of the three-album Mark One era. Let's take a look at the tracklist on this underrated gem.

-And The Address: The band starts off the album with this instrumental sequence. Normally I'm skeptical about when a band chooses to kick off an album with an instrumental, but this time around it was a good get. The sequences showcases the music-making abilities of all of the band members, and does a damn good job of it. This is a good "attention-getter" of a song, making it an ideal first track.

-Hush: This cover of a Joe South song became Deep Purple's first hit, and their biggest hit of the Rod Evans period. To put it simply, it's only appropriate that this song gained the lofty reputation it has. It's more than worthy of its spot in classic rock history.

-One More Rainy Day: A slower, more melodic tune with a pop-influenced sound. Surprisingly, this makes for some pretty good listening. Jon Lord's organ playing makes for nice backing instrumentation. A very underrated cut from the Mark One face of Deep Purple.

-Prelude/I'm So Glad: This is actually a medley of two pieces of music. The first of which is the instrumental sequence prelude, which like most things Deep Purple from this era, is very heavy on organ playing. It's a nice little instrumental sequence. Following it is a cover of the old Skip James blues tune, I'm So Glad, which was popularized in 1966 when Cream covered it. I've always enjoyed this song, but Deep Purple's version is by far the best version of it I have ever heard. It even blows Cream's version out of the water! To put it simply, every band member is in his prime on it. Enough said.

-Mandrake Root: This is Deep Purple Mark One doing what Deep Purple Mark One does best - organ-heavy psychedelic rock. And perhaps no track epitomizes that the way Mandrake Root does. Jon Lord is one of the most underrated organ players of all time. Just listen to this track's interlude about halfway through and you'll see why. Ian Paice really shines on the drums, too, particuarly in that same interlude. Underrated stuff here, but damn good.

-Help!: Deep Purple covers the Beatles classic. But they don't just do an inferior rehash of it. They slow the pace down considerably, making it into a gloomy and melodic tune, like only Deep Purple could do. I normally don't care much for Beatles covers because the bands that cover them usually fail terribly - and Deep Purple is NOT among the bands that fails at creating one.

-Love Help Me: This Ritchie Blackmore/Rod Evans-penned track is one of its most underrated and finest songs. The tune is short but sweet. Rod Evans absolutely shines on this track, like he does on no other. There is a lot of underrated but excellent stuff on this album, and this is one of the finest of the forgotten gems.

-Hey Joe: Here Deep Purple tries their hand at covering the blues standard popularized by Jimi Hendrix. Essentially, the band gives it the treatment they gave so many other songs - adding in lengthy psychedelic and organ heavy instrumental sequences not in the original song, and then giving the "normal" portions of the song a makeover, but staying true to the original all the while. What results is one of the finest versions of this old tune I have ever listened to. Give this version a chance - you'll be glad you did!

And that's Deep Purple's first album for you. Definitely a far cry from the band that became hard rock legends in the seventies, but still one hell of an awesome band. Sadly, this early formative would become one of the band's forgotten ages, with only a few tunes from it leaking through to the musical mainstream. Oh, well. It's not the popularity that counts, it's the music quality. And there is plenty of that to go around on this record. I highly recommend this to any classic rock fan! Don't make the all too common mistake of overlooking the band's early formative material!

EDITION NOTES:
Deep Purple's first three albums, the ones from the Mark One era, have all gotten remastered and reissued! On these reissues you get remastered sound quality, expanded liner notes, and even some rare bonus tracks! To put it simply, if you are going to buy these albums, make sure you're getting the remastered versions.

Music CD:

Music CD

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Music CD

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Two Family House ~ Original Score

Beatmania II Dx 10th Style O.S.T. ~ Original Game Soundtrack

Jim Croce - 50th Anniversary Collection ~ Jim Croce