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Shades of excellence...
Shades Of Deep Purple (1968.) Deep Purple's first album.
In 1968, a then little-known British rock band known as Deep Purple released its debut album, appropriately entitled Shades Of Deep Purple. This was released a few years before Ian Gillan and Roger Glover joined the band, and gave them their popular "classic hard rock/metal" sound. This and the two follow-up albums feature original vocalist Rod Evans, and more of a straight-up psychedelic rock sound than what you're probably used to hearing from the band. Either way, read on for my review of Shades Of Deep Purple.
The album kicks off with And The Address, an interesting little instrumental session. In this session, drums and the organ are the main instruments. Surprisingly, this works well. A good openng track. Hush was Deep Purple's first big hit (and only major hit NOT to feature Ian Gillan singing) was this, a cover of a Joe South song. Evans' vocals are top notch here, and the rest of the band plays well too. This song deserves all the credit it gets. One More Rainy Day is a bit more on the slow and melodic side than the last two tracks were. The vocals and the organ usage here are very nice. Prelude: Happiness I'm So Glad kicks off with an extended instrumental session in which the organ is the main instrument (similar to the album's opening track), and then it becomes a psychedelic rocker. Overall, a good track. Mandrake Root, a blues-based hard rocker. is the closest thing on the album to the metal sound that would make Deep Purple popular in the early seventies. ANOTHER excellent track, and a highly underrated one. Help is a cover of the Beatles song. However, Deep Purple slows things WAY down, and makes the song considerably more gloomy than the Fab Four's original (I feel Deep Purple's sound suits the depressing lyrics a little better, actually.) Once again, the organ is the main instrument. Love Help Me is my favorite track on the album. It's very interesting, because the sound is something like "Iron Butterfly meets Green Day". It's an interesting track that must be heard to be appreciated. Hey Joe is a cover of the classic blues tune popularized by Jimi Hendrix. However, Deep Purple has added an extended instrumental opening sequence, in which, you guessed it, the organ is the main instrument. Surprisingly, the main portion of the song isn't too far off from the original.
The new reissue of the album features five rare bonus tracks. Shadows, an album outtake, is the first one. This song never made it onto the final version of the album. Why that is I will never know, because this song is GREAT! The chorus here is priceless. Don't skip this one just because it's an outtake, or you'll regret it! The instrumental version of Love Help Me is exactly what it says it is. The alternate take of Help is, once again, a track that is exactly what it says it is. It's a less polished version of the "normal" version of the track, with some slightly different vocal delivery. There are two main differences between the BBC Top Gear version of Hey Joe and its studio counterpart. One, it lacks the extended instrumental opener. Two, the vocal delivery is a little slower. Not as good as the studio one, but still a nice bonus track. Hush is a great song, and this United States television performance is a good performance, BUT THE SOUND QUALITY HERE IS GODAWFUL! Couldn't they have found a live version of the song with better sound quality? These bonus tracks, though not exactly masterpieces, are a nice bonus.
Overall, Shades Of Deep Purple is an excellent debut album, and is strongly recommended to all fans of the band. In my opinion, it's the best album of the Rod Evans period. Take my advice though - DO NOT GET ANY VERSION OF DEEP PURPLE'S FIRST THREE ALBUMS, UNLESS THEY ARE THE REISSUES! The original versions don't have the bonus tracks, and the sound quality is just terrible. These ones will say "The Original Deep Purple Collection" at the top center of the packaging. To put it simply, if you're a fan of Deep Purple or classic rock in general, this album is highly recommended - just make sure you buy THIS version!
Submitted by Der Kommissar (Las Vegas, NV)
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Purples pre-emptive package.
Early Deep Purple albums lack the screamy vocal brilliance of Ian Gillan or the the sultry sexual charm of David Coverdale and for these reasons the early LP's are often overlooked (and unreviewed!)
So to re-dress the balance, "Shades of Deep Purple" is a good album that is well worth listening to. Original vocalist Rod Evans and bass-man Nick Simper were never going to set the world on fire, however the band produced a solid bluesy LP that featured a fine cover version of "Hey Joe" and an equally excellent re-working of the classic tune "Hush", nearly 30 years before Britpop boys Kula Shaka took the song up the UK top 20!
Don't compare it to later DP efforts!
Submitted by a reviewer (Somewhere in England.)
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Remembering why
I first heard this when it first came out and presented us that played music a whole new out look on playing music. Hush is a great song to show the posibilities of this band.
Submitted by PRSNEEKS (Versailles, ky.) 
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Uhh...This was NOT their 1st album!
LLOYD FROM TEXAS IS WRONG, THIS WAS DP'S 3rd ALBUM AND THE NAME OF THE SONG IS "LALENA" NOT LEILANI!! BUT AT LEAST HE GOT THE NAME OF ARTIST (HIERONYMUS) BOSCH CORRECT!
Submitted by Wayne (Honolulu, HI)
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A Great Beginning!!
Sure it's not Ian Gillan but this is a fine debut by a band still undecided on what direction to take. Some of the first cd releases of this were from bad vinyl masters (complete with pops!), this reissue sounds amazing for an album done so long ago in such a short amount of time. The musicianship, as always with Purple, is amazing. The bonus tracks are also a rare treat as very few non lp tracks have come out from this period. This as well as the 2nd & 3rd albums are a must for any rock fan.
Submitted by a reviewer (Fresno, CA, USA)
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