Deep Purple (album)

The album cover depicts a black and white fragment of the famous triptych of Jerome Bosch, “ Garden of Earthly Delights ”, namely, that part of the triptych that represents hell. At first, the black-and-white version turned out due to a typographical error, but the band members decided not to change anything ^[4] . Some subsequent reprints of this album use a colored fragment of the same picture.

The album Tetragrammaton faced difficulties due to this cover: in the USA it was misunderstood as anti-religious, with immoral scenes, and therefore the record was rejected or poorly accepted by many music stores ^{[5] [6]}

On January 3, 1969, Deep Purple returned home from a concert tour in the United States based on material from the first two albums. Increasing popularity in the United States gradually reached the UK, making the group famous in their homeland ^{[7] [8]} .

The record label Tetragrammaton Records , with which Deep Purple made a contract, forced the band to record a new single, corresponding to the success of their previous hit “ Hush ”, and the band tried to satisfy this request while still in the USA, but without decent results ^{[9] [10]} . However, a few days after returning from the United States, on January 7, 1969, the song “Emmaretta” was recorded in the studio “De Lane Lea”, named after one friend of Evans ^[7] . This song was released as a single with the song “The Bird Has Flown” (in the American version of the single) and the instrumental song “Wring That Neck” from the previous album The Book of Taliesyn (in the British version) ^[7] .

After that, the group went on a UK concert tour, however, during February and March 1969, Deep Purple managed to find time to create new material (the recording took place in the same studio “De Lane Lea”, where Lawrence was a producer and Barry Ainsworth was a sound engineer ) The last part of the studio work was the orchestral part of the composition “April” performed by hired musicians, and at the end of March a new album (for which they did not come up with the original name) was ready. It consisted of eight compositions, seven of which were written by the band members themselves, and a cover version of the song “ Lalena ” by Scottish singer Donovan . Music critic Bruce Eder praised this treatment, noting, in particular, the organ parts of John Lord ^[11] .

At that time, the Tetragrammaton Records label was on the verge of bankruptcy, which explained some delay in the release of the album: June 21 in the USA ^[4] . The album came out in Deep Purple's homeland even later, in September, when the band had already recorded their first album as part of “Mark II” - Concerto for Group and Orchestra ^{[12] [13]} .

Deep Purple was initially very coolly criticized and became the least commercially successful of the three albums released by the band as part of “Mark I”. But in retrospect, he is considered one of the first successful experiments to merge classical and rock . Modern reviews are usually positive and note the variety of styles in the album and the boldness of the arrangements.

From a review by music critic Bruce Eder ^[2] :

For many years, Deep Purple was highly appreciated by fans of progressive rock , and for good reason ... The merger of two conflicting trends (for Lord - for classical and rock - fusion , for Blackmore - for increasing aggressiveness of guitar attacks) during studio sessions in early 1969 allowed Deep Purple create an album in which the strained straightforwardness of the early, rough heavy metal combined with sophisticated complexity, intelligence, and also virtuosity at both levels ... In “The Painter”, “Why Didn't Rosemary” and “Bird Has Flown” the group reaches a staggering balance between all of these elements. Evans' work (in the third of these things) is considered one of the fundamental vocal achievements in progressive rock. The three-part April suite, recorded with the orchestra, at least is not inferior to similar experiments by The Nice ( Five Bridges Suite ) ... The album gives the impression of a surprisingly integral piece of music. One of the most daring experiments in progressive rock, he perfectly highlighted a whole direction that the group could choose, but did not.

Side A

1. Chasing Shadows ( Lord / Pace ) - 5:34
2. Blind (Lord)
3. Lalena ( Donovan )
4. Fault Line (instrumental) (Lord / Blackmore / Simper / Pace)
5. “The Painter” (Blackmore / Lord / Evans / Simper / Pace)

side B

1. “Why Didn't Rosemary?” (Blackmore / Lord / Evans / Simper / Pace)
2. Bird Has Flown (Evans / Lord / Blackmore)
3. “April” (Blackmore / Lord)

2000 Reissue Bonus Tracks

1. “The Bird Has Flown” (alternative A-side version) (Lord / Evans / Blackmore)
2. Emmaretta (studio B-side) (Lord / Evans / Blackmore)
3. Emmaretta (BBC Top Gear Session 01/14/1969) (Lord / Evans / Blackmore)
4. " Lalena " (BBC radio session 06/24/1969) (Donovan)
5. "The Painter" (BBC radio session 06/24/1969) (Evans / Blackmore / Simper / Lord / Pace)

• Rod Evans - vocals
• Richie Blackmore - Guitars
• John Lord - Hammond organ , piano, harpsichord , backing vocals, string arrangements in April
• Nick Simper - bass, backing vocals
• Ian Pace - drums, percussion