Deep Purple - Shades of Deep Purple/The Book Of Taliesyn/Deep Purple (Eagle Records)

Prior to "Smoke On The Water," Highway Star", "Child In Time," and "Burn," Deep Purple was slightly a different breed of animal. The first three albums show the band with already established sound, but still in search of identity. The core of the band: Blackmore, Lord, and Paice are already here. Joined by singer Rod Evans, and bassist Nick Simper. The first incarnation of Deep Purple made three very colorful records, and set solid foundations of what was to come later.

"Shades of Deep Purple" electrifies with its ambitious freshness. The band specializes in the delivery, as many of the tracks are covers, so well arranged they often surpass the originals. The album is very dominated by Jon Lord's keyboards. Blackmore is still a little buried at this point, but certainly visible enough to make a very good impression. The album produced a huge hit, "Hush," which opened many doors to this young group. And "Mandrake Root" proved to be a concert favorite years after this version of the band stopped operating.

"The Book of Taliesyn" still depends strongly on covers, but polishes the band's delivery even more. Deep Purple is slowly emerging as impressive songwriters here as well. Tracks like "Hard Road," or "Wring That Neck" show clear ability to create. Deep Purple is taking small baby steps, but as the time showed well timed steps.

"Deep Purple" the self titled third album is also the last for this incarnation of the band. It's a record filled with progressive elements, yet driven by confusion. It's more than evident the band is trying to move forward with the times, yet it is still stuck with somewhat of a 60's charisma. There are absolute moments of beauty such as "Lalena," or the very dark "April." "Deep Purple" is Evan's and Simper's swan song. Both players were replaced by Ian Gillan and Roger Glover, and the rest of course is history.

Each album is remastered, and filled with bonus tracks, mostly taken from BBC sessions, and studio outtakes. Also, each record is accompanied by very informative liner notes. The notes are very detailed and aimed at a Deep Purple fanatic, but even a casual fan can appreciate a nice lecture while listening to the music. This version of Deep Purple always maintained a very healthy cult following, it's great to see these albums back in print.

Mark Kadzielawa