Search - Deep Purple :: 3 for 1 Box Set

Where it all began...

Erick Bertin | Santo Domingo, Heredia Costa Rica | 02/07/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The year: 1968. The country: England. The Band: Deep Purple. The musicians: Ritchie Blackmore on guitar, Jon Lord on Keyboards (Hammond B3, to be precise), Ian Paice on drums, Nick Simper on bass and Rod Evans on vocals. Nick and Rod who? You might ask. For casual rock fans, these names mean little to nothing, probably little more than a footnote on the archives of RN'R. But for true DP diehards and rock scholars, those names are essential to understand the original equation that brought Deep Purple to life. Indeed, without Evans and Simper, no Mk I, no Mk II (and therefore no In Rock, no Fireball, no Machine Head, etc...well, you get the idea...), Mk III, Mk IV...simply put, no Deep Purple (saga). These 5 men came together thanks to the vision and efforts of businessman and manager Tony Edwards, who was originally working to form a band around drummer Chris Curtis (hence their original name, Roundabout). Why do I bring this up? Who cares about business history when reviewing a CD? Well understanding is everything, and in this case, understanding the context in which the band was formed and in which it worked will shed additional light over their early musical output: basically the band came together as a business venture first, musical project second. They already had a tour of Scandinavia booked before recording a single piece of music. They already had an American record deal without ever stepping into a recording studio as a band. With that in mind, the band had to come up with a set list for the tour and songs for a record in no time. And come up with songs they did: they worked out some fascinating arrangements of some cover tunes, added a few originals and off they went.



Shades of Deep Purple (***1/2), their first record, became an instant hit in America thanks to the success of first single "Hush" (a cover of a Joe South tune). The record also featured new takes on classics such as "Hey Joe" (made very famous at the time by a certain Jimmy Hendrix), "Help" (The Beatles, receiving high praise from McCartney himself), and "I'm so glad" (also covered by Cream). On the original material front, Shades starts off with the powerful instrumental (how bold is that??? How many bands start their debut album with an instrumental?) "And the address", which can sound a little awkward for newcomers, but is a great track nevertheless; next is the slightly psychedelic "One more rainy day", the potent (and mostly instrumental) "Mandrake root" which would occasionally pop up in the band's set list well into the 70's, and the fast and rollicking "Love help me". Overall: it's pretty darn good, especially for a first album written, arranged and recorded in a matter of days, but the truth is that I prefer Cream's version of "I'm so glad" and, while I'm not a Beatles fan, I prefer the original "Help". This is by far the poppiest, more radio friendly of the 3 albums.



Conceived in equally frantic circumstances, The Book of Taliesyn (****) nevertheless showed an incredible evolution. Indeed, wanting to capitalize the success of the first album released in the U.S in July '68, their label asked for a NEW album to promote for their tour in...October!!! So once more, the band was shoved into the studio and asked to deliver. Without the luxury of time, the band followed the same format of their first record: covers of Neil Diamond's "Kentucky Woman" (their second hit, not a smash, but a hit nevertheless), the Beatles "We can work it out" and Ike and Tina's "River Deep, Mountain High"; original rockers such as "Listen, Learn Read on", "Wring that neck" (another instrumental), and much more ambitious numbers (featuring string arrangements, among other novelties) "The Shield" and "Anthem". These songs, along with the more sophisticated arrangements of the covers, started to suggest a very personal and very new direction. Their identity wasn't quite defined yet, but they were on to something big. And it is a lot of fun to picture guitarist Ritchie Blackmore playing some of these softer songs with such restraint, coming from the man that would eventually grace us with hard rocking masterpieces such as "Burn", "Highway Star", "Kill the King" and so many others. This record is the one that shows the band's early progressive leanings the clearest.



Deep Purple (*****), the third album from this inaugural lineup, is without a doubt the strongest of the trilogy of albums from Mk I. Unfortunately, it is also the last: recorded in early 1969 but released after the reshuffle that saw Simper and Evans be replaced by Roger Glover and Ian Gillan respectively, this record very much went virtually unnoticed, both in England/Europe (where the band had so far failed to gain a truly strong following) and America, where its distribution was greatly compromised with the demise of their American record label, Tetragrammatron.



This remastered edition allows us to confirm the fact that the band was now closer than ever before to gaining a true identity of its own: the record was filled with original material and only one cover (of Donovan's "Lalena"...mesmerizing), and it showed a confidence and a power that wasn't quite there with the previous albums: indeed, opener "Chasing Shadows" is a powerful number where the drums and bass really steal the spotlight; "Blind" is a slower number with an amazing work courtesy of Jon Lord; "The Painter" is a truly great number, with Ritchie really pulling all the stops with his playing; "Why didn't Rosemary" forecasts some of the music the band would do on later records; "Bird has flown" is a number where the band shines as a whole, and epic "April" is a true crown jewel, symphonic and intricate, schizophrenic and captivating all at the same time. And Rod Evans gives probably his best performances ever. And the record also showcases, for the first time, the dueling organ/guitar breaks that became a Purple trademark. This is the most hard rocking album of the set.



All in all, this set is truly awesome: it has been painstakingly remastered for the clearest, loudest sound, and it is a true joy to listen to. There is a lot to like here, and the remastering alone is well worth the price of the set. But as if that wasn't enough, all the CD's have additional songs: BBC sessions, TV appearances, B-sides, and outtakes that make the package even more attractive and that are worth paying for (some of my favorites are "Emmaretta", "Hey Bop-A-Rebop", and "Shadows", "It's all Over", etc).



Sure, these are not the records that turned the band into the rock institution that it eventually became, but rather the stepping stones for that. This set IS NOT for the casual fan, though. And it would be cheaper to get the single disks (released stateside by Spitfire Records) than this package. If you enjoyed "Hush" and "Kentucky Woman", I'd recommend you to get "The Early Years", which is a remastered, single disc "best of" of sorts of this early period of the band, and then dig into this. You can't go wrong with any of these CD's and you're guaranteed to find a lot to like in here. I know I did, and this from a guy who originally didn't even like "Hush"...

"

Early Purple underrated...and what a bargain!!!

music lover | New York, NY, USA | 02/14/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"What a bargain, for the price of one cd, you'll get Deep Purple's first three albums which all sound great and have a cool booklet included to top it off. You'll get the summer of '68 top 30 debut "Shades Of Deep Purple", the late 68's "Book Of Taliesyn" and '69's "Deep Purple". This is the original version of the band with organist Jon Lord, guitarist Ritchie Blackmore, drummer Ian Paice, singer Rod Evans and bassist Nic Simper. Highly underrated version of this legendary band."

This is essential early DEEP PURPLE!

Micaloneus | the Cosmos | 10/24/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Prior to Deep Purple recruiting vocalist, Ian Gillan and bassist, Roger Glover, the band recorded these first three albums in 1968 and early 1969. This lineup of the band is more of a hard rock version of the Moody Blues. It's truly an embarrassment that these three albums are unacknowledged, because they're really impressive and really quite good, almost as strong as the "classic" lineup's material. In fact, some fans consider these albums the high water mark of the DP legacy. This box set featuring all three of the Evans/Simper-era albums at a steal of a price.



These are the MASTERED versions of the albums, the reason I say it that way is, I don't believe these were ever "mastered" in the first place. I've heard these albums on CD back in the late eighties and nineties and they sounded like semi-scratchy records. But, with these discs you get crisp and clear sound from the original two inch master tapes, with bonus tracks on each CD! These include outtakes, live recordings and BBC material. No fan of Deep Purple should be without these trinkets. Quite a steal!"