release date: Jul. 1968
format: cd (2011 remaster)
[album rate: 3 / 5] [3,18]
producer: Derek Lawrence
label: Victor Entertainment, Japan - nationality: England, UK
Track highlights: 1. "And the Address" - 2. "Hush" (5 / 5) - 8. "Hey Joe" (4 / 5)
Studio debut album by Deep Purple released on Tetragrammaton Records in the US released Sep. 1968 on Parlophone Records in the UK. The band consists of Rod Evans on lead vocals, Ritchie Blackmore on guitar, Jon Lord on organ, and backing vocals, Nick Simper on bass and backing vocals, and with Ian Paice on drums.
The track "Hey Joe" is an early 1960s song written by Billy Roberts, which already had been covered by several artists. Jimi Hendrix probably made the best known version, which appears on his debut album from 1966, and that's the version that Deep Purple basically covers in their own version. The music on this is somewhat unique. The style is psychedelic rock and hard rock, and the inspiration is clearly Jimi Hendrix. Having said that, the band succeeds in altering that American blues rock based sound into a more hard rock universe with both room for Hammond organ and electric guitars. Another inspiration source is most likely Jefferson Airplane. Some praise the album as a huge source of inspiration but it really is a big pot of styles put together. The stand-out track here is "Hush", and also that is a cover written by Joe South for Billy Joe Royal, although, you should add that Deep Purple's version is a heavily altered version [here's the original]. The first two tracks and the last one are all strongly influenced by The Jimi Hendrix Experience, whereas track #3 "One More Rainy Day" mostly just sounds like Neil Diamond, Scott Walker, and The Kinks with its bold baroque pop style; track #4 "Prelude: Happiness" is an experimental progressive rock fusion track; track #5 "Mandrake Root" starts out as The Doors blues rock but ends more as experimental psychedelic piece, and track #6 "Help!" is a Lennon / McCartney cover that only adds a bit of psychedelia to the the classic song; track #7 "Love Help Me" is more of The Who meets The Kinks meets Rolling Stones, thus making the album a bit of a melting pot of styles and influences.
I don't find the whole album that original, although, it has its moments, and especially with the highlighted tracks.
