DEEP PURPLE — Shades Of Deep Purple (review)

DEEP PURPLE — Shades Of Deep Purple album cover

Album · 1968 · Proto-Metal

2/5 · 2015-11-04
martindavey87

Going into this album, anything I knew of Deep Purple's music was centered around all the hits they released during their MKII and MKIII eras. Meaning, of course, I knew 'Highway Star', 'Smoke on the Water', 'Burn', and all the other classics that are featured on countless compilations that all have the exact same tracklist. So I was intrigued to get started from the beginning. To head back to 1968 and check out the album that kicked off the career of one of rock music's most legendary bands.

"Meh".

Compared to the material the band would later release, this album is pretty boring, with no sense of identity. It just completely lacks that instantly recognizable Deep Purple vibe. It sounds like any generic rock album from the late 60's. It's not terrible. There's a few catchy hooks here-and-there, but the album as a whole just doesn't do anything for me. It's no wonder these songs are usually neglected from all the compilations. In fact, the only song that really even gets any recognition these days is their cover of Billy Joe Royal's 'Hush'. It says a lot about a bands material when the best song on the record is a cover.

So yeah, that's Deep Purple's debut. It was probably an incredible, ground-breaking game-changer in 1968. But this isn't 1968, and these songs have not aged well at all. I'll give it two stars because it's not awful, it's just not really very good, either.

more than 2 years ago
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LittleBig wrote:

more than 2 years ago

I disagree, this is an excellent album, Lord and Blackmore really shine on this album.
As for the covers, they are excellent, especially Help which sounds different from the original, and I mean it in apositive way - it's basically DP using some Beatles lyrics :)))
Weaker songs for me are One More Rainy day and Love Help me, not bad but not amazing either.
They did the covers Vanilla Fudge style, trying to distance as much from the original songs and it worked, for both bands.

Unitron wrote:

more than 2 years ago

I actually really like 'Hush' too, there's a reason it's the only one I remember from this one. :)

Vim Fuego wrote:

more than 2 years ago

Funny you guys dislike "Hush". It's the only song I recognise off this album, and I quite like it! Don't like the cover of it by Kula Shakur though.

siLLy puPPy wrote:

more than 2 years ago

Alll this is way before our time. Billy Joe Royal was a country / folk / pop singer in the mid 60s who had a bunch of top 40 hits. Fifty years later we only hear about the most popular artists but during any era there's a million acts that get lost in time. He's one of them. I have heard one of his songs called "Down In The Boondocks" on those 60s stations.

martindavey87 wrote:

more than 2 years ago

Yep. That's something I wish I'd made note of in my review, 'Hush' may be the most memorable track, but even that is still pretty "meh" as well. Had to Google it just to see who the original was by... I mean, who the hell is Billy Joe Royal?!

siLLy puPPy wrote:

more than 2 years ago

Yeah and 'Hush' is one of those songs i can't stand and should be buried in the archives!

Unitron wrote:

more than 2 years ago

I haven't heard this one in awhile, the only one I remember is 'Hush'. So with that said, it's certainly not as memorable as 'In Rock', 'Machine Head', or 'Perfect Strangers'.

siLLy puPPy wrote:

more than 2 years ago

Yeah, early Deep Purple is pretty boring. It's hard to believe they would later release all those classics after listening to this one :)

Kingcrimsonprog wrote:

more than 2 years ago

I know right?
I keep listening to this thinking that there's some secret greatness I'm missing out on or that I'm being stupid and missing what's so good about it, but I'm thinking, maybe its just meh.
Its not that we're being ignorant, maybe its just not great.