Deep Purple are one of the greatest rock bands of all time having released such classics as ‘Black Night’, ‘Highway Star’, ‘Fireball’ and most famously, ‘Smoke on the Water’. However, most of the songs they are most famous for date from the period between 1970 and 1975. The classic era as it were, or the Mark II line up as it also known as. It is the Mark I line up that this post is concerned with. This line up included band stalwarts such as Ritchie Blackmore (guitar), Jon Lord (keyboards) and Ian Paice (drums). The other two members who made up this first line up were Nick Simper (bass) and Rod Evans (vocals).
The band was the brain child of ex-Searchers drummer, Chris Curtis. The idea was that there would be a core of musicians who would then be joined by other members when their particular skills were needed. The original band name was Roundabout to reflect this. Curtis was already a bit erratic and his lifestyle, fuelled by his use of LSD lead to him not sticking with the project for long. Members came and went before the Mark I was in place. All that was left was to pick a new name with Blackmore suggesting ‘Deep Purple’, which was his grandmothers favourite song.
After a period of rehearsals, the group recorded their debut album in May of 1968. ‘Shades of Deep Purple’ came out two months later with the lead single, ‘Hush’ becoming a massive hit in the USA and Canada. Neither single or album did very much in the UK and so the band focused their efforts in the USA, with a gig supporting Cream on their ‘Goodbye’ tour.
The band returned for another US tour, but this time as headliners. Their US record company, Tetragrammaton, felt that they needed more material and another album to promote. The resulting ‘The Book of Taliesyn’ was written in a rush because the band had been so busy, they had not had much time to work on new material. The sessions for the record started before their debut had even been released in their native UK.
You can tell that the band were lacking material. ‘The Book of Taliesyn’ contains only seven songs (even though one was split into the two in ‘Exposition’ and We Can Work It Out’). This also included a couple of instrumentals and three covers. The songs were longer with the cover of ‘River Deep, Mountain High’ breaking the ten minute barrier. The band were unable to take much of a break though because within four months, they were back in the studio recording what would be their third (and last) LP by the Mark I line up. Even though there was only one cover on this album, and one instrumental, the long song quota was met by the twelve minute song ‘April’.
Even though they had had some success, mostly in the USA, the core members of the band were looking to take the band in a harder rock direction. They felt that Rod Evans did not have the voice for the more aggressive material they were writing. Evans also seemed to be keen to move to the US permanently. The core members were also not happy with Simper’s bass playing, which they felt was rooted in the past. Manoeuvres were in place to recruit replacements with Ian Gillan (vocals) and Roger Glover (bass) becoming the new members. With this line up in place, the classic Mark II were ready to go.
However, what if the band had not been rushed into the studio in late 1968 and given time to develop more material. Well, this is the album that we could have had. What we have is a more concise record, rooted in psychedelic rock with prog rock flourishes. I also wanted to take out any covers and along with that, the longer songs, especially ‘April’ which takes up most of the side of an LP. Jon Lord and his classical influences should possibly have been kept for a solo project or two.
The band also released the stand along single, ‘Emmaretta’ in 1969. Said to have been inspired by Emmaretta Marks, a cast member in the musical ‘Hair’ whom lead singer Rod Evans was trying to seduce. The original UK B-Side was the instrumental ‘Wring That Neck’, but as this has been included on the LP, I put original album opener ‘Chasing Shadows’ there instead.
Side 1
- Shield – The Book of Taliesyn
- Listen, Lean, Read On – The Book of Taliesyn
- Wring That Neck – The Book of Taliesyn
- Anthem – The Book of Taliesyn
Side 2
- Why Did’t Rosemary? – Deep Purple
- The Painter – Deep Purple
- Fault Line – Deep Purple
- Bird Has Flown – Deep Purple
- Blind – The Book of Taliesyn
Single
- Emmaretta – Non Album Single
- Chasing Shadows – Deep Purple
Would this have meant that the Mark I lineup would have continued. I doubt it, but it is interesting to see what the band could have sounded like if they did not feel they had to come up with material on the hoof, and extend their cover versions to pad out the vinyl.
For the cover, I used the name and the art work that was used when the self titled third LP was released.