1210. Deep Purple / Shades of Deep Purple. 1968. 3.5/5

The formation of one of the most iconic, revered and influential bands of all time began as most bands do – with fellow musicians conversing and deciding to form a group of like-minded people who are looking to make music on a similar path. It was 1967 when they were first pulled together, and the whole story of how many people were involved in the swapping between groups is, once again, a story that would defy the parameters of what I am trying to do within this podcast. Actually, it might make a nice offshoot of episodes somewhere down the track. For today though, we can concentrate on the fact that eventually the five main players of the earliest incarnation of Deep Purple initially came about through the earlier band called Roundabout, a project that had the drummer from The Searchers, Chris Curtis, recruiting his then-flatmate Jon Lord, a classically-trained Hammond Organ player, and a maverick guitar player based in Hamburg by the name of Ritchie Blackmore, who was eventually encouraged to return to England and join the band. Curtis then tired of the project, and he moved on, leaving Lord and Blackmore to continue on. Lord brought in his friend Nick Simper as bass guitarist. Several people were considered for auditions to become lead singer of the band, including Ian Gillan who declined the offer, and Rod Stewart, who was not considered up to standard. Eventually Rod Evans from the band The Maze was hired for the role, and re then brought his drummer, 19 year old Ian Paice along, to audition for the already filled drummer’s spot. Following his audition though, Paice took on the role, and the first line up of Deep Purple was completed.
Having recorded a demo and done a short promotional tour, the band returned to London to record their first album. As with all new bands, the money available for studio time was scarce, and most of the tracks were recorded live in one or two takes. In all, the album was finished in three days, and then released upon the world to be judged.

It should not be a surprise that this album’s music mirrors’ that of the time it was written and recorded, especially in the UK. It has been acknowledged that at the time this album was recorded, none of the band’s members were accomplished or experienced song writers, and there is certainly a mix of styles in the songs that appear here. Jon Lord was really the only member who had experience in music composition, and so it is he who dominates especially with the arranging of the songs. This is certainly true of the cover songs that appear on this album, of which there are many. This was a common thing of the time when it came to recording albums, and especially in the case of a new band, where the time to write new material was almost non-existent. “Shades of Deep Purple” has no fewer than four of the nine songs as cover songs, most of which are stretched out from the originals allowing some musical extensions with guitar and organ o not only make them an original addition but to lengthen the album.
The cover version of the Joe South penned song “Hush”, which was recorded the previous year by Billy Joe Royal, is a treat, and is far superior than the original. It performed very well in the US on the album’s release, and allowed the album to perform better in the US than it did in their native UK. The version here of Skip James’ “I’m So Glad”, that is prefaced with the band’s composition “Prelude: Happiness”, is also terrific. On the second side of the album, the band does a slower, drawn out version of the Beatles’ “Help”, which I’m afraid is a pale comparison to the original, while the closing song “Hey Joe”, which has been covered a hundred times over the last 60 years, was Blackmore’s effort to emulate the Jimi Hendrix version that had come out prior to this. It also pushes different styles within the song, with Spanish influences coming in as well as the more laid back hard rock flowing through his guitar solo through the middle of the track.
As for the originals on this album, they all showcase great parts of this Mark I version of the band, and prove that for the time they had to put this together, they had done an amazing job. The opening track is an instrumental, “And the Address”, which is a terrific way to start the album, and it acts as a great precursor to “Hush” which follows it. “One More Rainy Day” is a less frantic song written by Lord and Evans where the organ dominates. “Mandrake Root” touches on the kind of guitar-based tracks that Blackmore was pushing towards, and this is even more noticeable on “Love Help Me” where his guitar is front and centre and pushing the speed of the song along harder than the songs where Lord is dictating the arrangement. All in all, despite the different influences that were brought into the music from all five members, they have all combined here better than anyone would have imagined given all of their backgrounds, and the time they had to actually put this all together.

As you will have already heard often through this podcast when it comes to me going back to review albums by Deep Purple, I didn’t come into the band itself until the mid-1980’s as I grew up through high school, and found my way gradually into the hard rock and heavy metal scene that existed at that time. Like most people I then followed the Mark II line up and their album releases, before eventually discovering the eras of the band both before and after that period. And when I first went back to discover the first three albums, and in particular this album, it was an initial shock. As it should have been, because the style of music here on “Shades of Deep Purple” is very much of that era of music in the UK. The Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Herman’s Hermits… there is a lot of similarities here to that style. So I know that initially I was resistant to it, and refocused on those wonderful heavy albums of the early 1970’s which I loved.
Eventually though, there came a time when I had a second foray into these albums, knowing that I needed to understand these early albums and to better appreciate them. And over time I did. To the point now that I love this album and everything on it. Having had it going for the past month has been terrific, especially coming home from work in the arvo, and putting on my vinyl copy of the album and hearing it the way it needs to be, on the turntable with the crackling and the occasional skip.
Some of these songs are still fantastic. I love the opening instrumental “And the Address”, it’s a great opening to the album. I enjoy “Happiness”, the moodiness of “Mandrake Root”, the Blackmore-defined “Love Help Me”, and even the platitudes of “Hey Joe”. It is interesting that even though it was Jon Lord’s vision that basically drove these early albums, it is still the playoff between Lord’s organ and Blackmore’s guitar that is the starring feature of the band.
It is interesting that this album did better business in the US than it did in the UK. The band made no secret of their admiration of the band Vanilla Fudge and were often compared to them, which actually worked in their favour in the US but against them in the UK. And probably no more so than with one of my favourite all time Deep Purple songs.