Deep Purple: Shades of Deep Purple

Deep Purple: Shades of Deep Purple

1978


Tetragammatron Records  (Man, I hate typing out Tetragammatron...It always looks wrong to me and spell-check doesn't like it either, making me doubt myself, so I inevitably fall into this loop of checking and rechecking...)

Format I Own it on: Vinyl

Track Listing: 1. And the Address  2. Hush  3. One More Rainy Day  4. Prelude: Happiness / I'm So Glad   5. Mandrake Root  6. Help!  7. Love Help Me  8. Hey Joe    

To be totally honest with you, outside of the obligatory pre-adolescent love affair with "Machine Head," I've never totally fallen head-over-heels in love with Deep Purple...There's always a faint ridiculousness about them that keeps me at arm's distance from fully embracing them...I've never run out to buy a Deep Purple record...I usually just pull them out of the dollar bin here and there. so this won't be the comprehensive overview of the band that you might be hoping for (although, folks who read this blog probably know better than to hope for such a thing). Still, I've had a long-time fascination with the band...

I think the mystique comes down to three things...

 
1. Their incredibly deep discography...Sure everyone I knew back in the day owned copies of "Machine Head" or maybe "Perfect Strangers," but whenever you'd go through the cheap tapes at the Drug Store, you'd run across exotic titles like "Concerto for Group and Orchestra" or "The Book of Taliesyn"...How many releases did they have? How long had they been around? It was hard to tell back then, so delving into their back catalog was both exciting and intimidating ...

 2.  Their endless line-up changes...Oh yea, if you wanna sound legit, you've got to refer to the Deep Purple line-up changes as "Marks" or eve better "Mk's"....It was interesting to me that the band would completely change their entire line-up and sound every few albums...When you bought a Deep Purple tape from that cut-out cassette bin, what were you getting? Who knows?

 3. Their complete immersion in a sound that no longer exists...No matter what era a Deep Purple album is from, it's a deep reflection of that era...Their 60's albums are the 60's-iest albums out there...Their early 70's albums are the most meat-and-potatoes dinosaur rock you can buy....Their late 70's albums are quintessentially bland 70's cocaine rock,  and so forth...It also seems that no matter what, nobody seems to be able to put together a band or do a recording that sounds like Deep Purple...You just can't...The technology is all wrong, the tones are all wrong, you'll never get that organ sound...etc...If you're going for that whole early 70's rock vibe, Black Sabbath or Led Zeppelin seem to be much easier targets to hit, for some reason...

"Shades of Deep Purple" is their debut album, and different from the Deep Purple sound you're probably expecting (which I assume is the Ian Gillan-lead Mark II version)...I mean, it's still heavy rock, but there's a very strong psychedelic 60's jamming quality to it...Sort of like a mix of Vanilla Fudge, the Hollies and Cream, even if some of those band's don't necessarily fit together...Guitarist Ritchie Blackmore, organist Jon Lord and drummer Ian Paice are already in place, but the bassist and vocalist are different than the famous Mark II line-up...Singer Rod Evans is kind of dull, to be honest...He doesn't ruin anything, but he's just kind of there...During the instrumentals I hardly notice he's gone...

 The only time he ever really comes alive and sounds like he should be there is on their popular cover of "Hush"...

  You suddenly realize he should be in a much groovier, hip-shakin' band than Deep Purple...For example, think back on the song "Mandrake Root"...I honestly can never remember the lyrics or how the vocal melody goes...All I ever remember is the epic showdown between Ritchie's guitar and Jon's Hammond organ...

Speaking of Jon Lord, his organ-playing is the main draw for me...Holy shit, what an amazing sound! It's always that nice, warm, classic Hammond sound with the Leslie effect, but he distorts it like a guitar and it's just the best, juiciest sound I can think of...I want to sink my teeth into it, whenever I hear it...Yes, you read it right, I want to bite down on Jon Lord's juicy organ...Have I creeped you out yet?

You get the impression this album was a bit of a rush job...Like it was just their live set or something...A bunch of instrumental jamming, a ton of cover songs and a couple 60's pop originals ("One More Rainy Day" and "Love Help Me").  The covers are hit and miss for me...The aforementioned "Hush" is classic...I don't even know if I've ever even heard the original Joe South version...Their stamp on it is that indelible...I also like "I'm So Glad," which shows their indebtedness to Cream and rocks good enough...However, I can't stand their cover of "Help." Why is it sooooooo sloooooooooooooowwwwww? Time just stops for me on this one...I think they're shooting for the whole Vanilla Fudge slo-mo cover thing, but man...even Vanilla Fudge is more interesting than this...

Their cover of Hendrix's cover of "Hey Joe" is also pretty pointless...Their only contribution is a ridiculously bombastic bolero intro that sounds like a cross between a bullfight and a ballgame...

Then it goes into the song proper, and it sounds so much like the Hendrix cover that you almost can't believe it...Why even put yourself through that? At best you're saying, "Look, we're so good we can almost sound exactly like Hendrix, but don't get too excited...We would never be able to come up with his radical interpretation ourselves...." Yea, I think they hadn't fully stumbled upon their sound yet...I'll give them a break, it was their first record and I'm saying this album sounds like a weekend job...
I mostly just dig this album out when I feel like some heavy 60's rock but I'm burned out on all the classics...It's nothing great, but it's definitely good... Pretty much a perfect $2.99 record....If you're into that type of late 60's heavy jamming thing and haven't heard it, I'd say go for it...Just don't pay too much for it...

Here's "Mandrake Root" by Deep Purple...Enjoy...