Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow "Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow" (1975)

Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow [debut]
release date: Aug. 5, 1975
format: vinyl / cd
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,36]
producer: Ritchie Blackmore, Martin Birch, Ronnie James Dio
label: Oyster / Polydor - nationality: England, UK

Track highlights: 1. "Man on the Silver Mountain" - 3. "Black Sheep of the Family" - 5. "Snake Charmer" - 7. "If You Don't Like Rock 'n' Roll" - 8. "Sixteenth Century Greensleeves"

Studio album debut by Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow - later shortened to Rainbow. Blackmore had only just left Deep Purple to record a single, "Black Sheep of the Family" (a cover of a Quatermass song) and "Sixteenth Century Greensleeves" with various musicians including Ronnie James Dio whom Blackmore had heard in the band Elf. The solo single then evolved to a project-band and this full-length album for which Blackmore and Dio composed seven tracks together.
Stylistically, it's hard rock and heavy metal based on blues rock and much in a combo of how Deep Purple sounded on In Rock from 1970 and primary styles of Elf, who had played a gentler kind of hard rock, boogie rock, and glam rock. On the album, Rainbow is credited in the following order: Ritchie Blackmore on guitar, Ronnie James Dio on lead vocals, Gary Driscoll on drums, Craig Gruber on bass and Micky Lee Soule on piano, mellotron, clavinet and organ.
It's nice and solid blues rock where the obvious strengths are Blackmore's skills as instrumentalist and Ronnie James Dio as vocalist.
I have always felt that the album lacked great songs; however, it's better than what Blackmore's former band, Deep Purple produced after his leave.
[ allmusic.com 2,5 / 5, SputnikMusic 5 / 5 stars ]

Deep Purple "24 Carat Purple" (1975)

24 Carat Purple (compilation)
release date: May 1975
format: vinyl
[album rate: 4 / 5]
producer: Deep Purple
label: EMI Electrola - nationality: England, UK

Track highlights: A) 1. "Woman From Tokyo" - 2. "Fireball" - 3. "Strange Kind of Woman" (live) - 5. "Black Night" (live) - - B) 2. "Smoke on the Water" (live) - 3. "Child in Time" (live)

Compilation album by Deep Purple originally released on Purple Records is the collection of some of the band's biggest hits.
It's hard to argue with the selection of songs here, but the inclusion of 4 live versions seem a bit odd and all of these are included on the Made in Japan live album, which makes it even stranger.
[ allmusic.com 4 / 5 stars ]

Deep Purple "Stormbringer" (1974)

Stormbringer
release date: Nov. 1974
format: vinyl (TPS 3508) / cd (2008 remaster)
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,32]
producer: Martin Birch and Deep Purple
label: Purple Records - nationality: England, UK

Track highlights: A) 1. "Stormbringer" - - B) 1. "Lady Double Dealer" (4 / 5) - 5. "Soldier of Fortune" (4 / 5)

9th studio album by Deep Purple released on Purple and produced by Martin Birch and Deep Purple. The album introduces new styles like funk, soul, and more polished pop / rock output than heard before from the band. It features a more subdued and / or marginalised Ritchie Blackmore, which gives more room for keyboards and new styles. It's the last studio album with Blackmore, who would continue a solo career with Rithie Blackmore's Rainbow - later just Rainbow - and released his first solo album in the spring of 1975.
Stormbringer is a bit of a strange album featuring various styles and genres, and it is hard to see an overall idea with the album. The album was commercial step down compared to Burn released 6 months earlier and critics were divided on the album. Needless say, the band members are extremely skilled musicians but the end result is somewhat blurred. The first track takes off like Burn with a strong blues rock and hard rock composition but is then followed by "Love Don't Mean a Thing" and "Holy Man", which are soul- and funk-based compositions far away from anything they'd done before. The first track on the B-side continues a tradition they have repeated several times by putting the perhaps strongest track of the album here, but then funk really takes over again. The album concludes with one of the band's most beloved tracks "Soldier of Fortune", which in some ways is close to Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven" classic.
It's what you want it to be. All sorts.
[ allmusic.com 2 / 5, Records Collector 4 / 5 stars ]

Deep Purple "Burn" (1974)

Burn
release date: Feb. 15, 1974
format: vinyl (TPS 3505) / cd (2008 remaster)
[album rate: 3 / 5] [3,18]
producer: Deep Purple
label: Purple Records - nationality: England, UK

Track highlights: A) 1. "Burn" - 3. "Lay Down, Stay Down" - 4. "Sail Away"

8th studio album by Deep Purple released on Purple and produced by the band is the first album after Ian Gillan and Roger Glover left the band, and the first to feature David Coverdale on vocals and Glenn Hughes on bass.
Burn is Deep Purple as most have come to associate the band name with: heavy rock based and heavy metal based on blues rock stemming from Hendrix. Although, the band is here in its third constitution they continue its style and also secure another sales hit despite not reaching number #1 in many countries, the album was a top-10 charting album in both the UK and the US and critics were rather positive.
The album is part of my childhood as this was one of 8 albums I received from my older brother who had all their albums. I knew them all, listened to them all, but I was never a big fan of theirs, although, the some of their albums are quite good. This one never was to my liking, and I'm really closer to handing it 2,5 instead of 3 despite some critics rate it very high. Allmusic.com hands it 4,5 however, Rolling Stone labels it 'unfavourable', which means 'not good'. I guess, both fans and critics were split when the band went on as two of its most prominent members had left. The style is blues rock and hard rock as people had come to know Deep Purple but I only find that it's a mediocre attempt to continue a formula without adding anything new. As this point, I think they are stuck and are only capable of reproducing a familiar sound build on their own classic material.
The title track is the strongest here, and it showcases Coverdale's abilities as a fairly strong blues rock singer.
[ allmusic.com 4,5 / 5, Rolling Stone: 'unfavorable' ]

Deep Purple "Mark I & II" (1973)

Mark I & II (compilation)
release date: Dec. 1973
format: vinyl 2 lp / digital
[album rate: 3,5 / 5]
producer: Derek Lawrence; Deep Purple
label: EMI Electrola - nationality: England, UK

1st compilation album by Deep Purple originally released on Purple Records. The original vinyl album is a double lp and the first record (side A and B) is titled 'Mark I', and it features tracks written in the early formation of the band known as Mark I, which had Rod Evans on lead vocals, Ritchie Blackmore on guitars, Jon Lord on keyboards, Nick Simper on bass, and Ian Paice playing drums and percussion. The second record (side C and D) is labelled 'Mark II', featuring tracks written with the most popular and critically acclaimed period of the band consisting of Ian Gillan on vocals, Ritchie Blackmore on guitars, Jon Lord on keyboards, Roger Glover on bass, and with Ian Paice playing drums and percussion. The release probably comes as a consequence after Ian Gillan and Roger Glover left the band in the summer of 73, which meant that the Mark II era had come to an end.

Deep Purple "Who Do We Think We Are" (1973)

Who Do We Think We Are!
release date: Jan. 13, 1973
format: vinyl (TPSA 7508) / cd (2002 remaster)
[album rate: 4 / 5] [3,86]
producer: Deep Purple
label: Purple Records - nationality: England, UK

Tracklist: A) 1. "Woman From Tokyo" (4 / 5) - 2. "Mary Long" (4 / 5) - 3. "Super Trouper" (3 / 5) - 4. "Smooth Dancer" (3,5 / 5) - - B) 1. "Rat Bat Blue" (4 / 5) - 2. "Place in Line" (3 / 5) - 3. "Our Lady" (3,5 / 5)

7th studio album by Deep Purple released on Purple and produced by the band had its official release in the US in January and in the UK and Europe one month later. With this the band has moved somewhat away from the harder heavy metal sound they have showcased on Deep Purple in Rock (1970) and Machine Head (1972), and are more blues rock founded. Deep Purple always had a huge crowd of fans in the US, as they saw as their primary market, and they have throughout their career paid tribute to the blues and especially the Hendrix version of blues rock.
The album sold well, although peaking at number #4 in the UK and number #15 in the US, but it still made it to top the albums chart lists in several countries in the throughout Europe.
Although, fans of the band and many critics do not agree, I find that this is one their better albums. It's the last with the 'Mark II' constitution of the band as both Ian Gillan and Roger Glover left the band in the summer of '73 due to tensions and heavy disputes within the band.
Imho, this is the last fine studio album by Deep Purple.
[ allmusic.com album 2 / 5 stars ]

Deep Purple "Made in Japan" (1972) (live)

Made in Japan (live)
release date: Dec. 1972
format: cd (1989 reissue)
[album rate: 4 / 5]
producer: Deep Purple
label: EMI - nationality: England, UK

Track highlights: 1. "Highway Star" - 2. "Child in Time" - 3. "Smoke on the Water" - 4. "The Mule" - 5. "Strange Kind of Woman" - 6. "Lazy" - 7. "Space Truckin'  "

Live album by Deep Purple originally released as a double vinyl album on Purple Records is taken from three live concerts - at the Festival Hall, Osaka, on both Aug. 15 and 16, and then at Nippon Budokan, Tokyo, Aug. 17, 1972.
The album really functions well to document how fine musicians this 'Mark II' constellation were. The tracks are at this point of their career highlights and it's a fine collection of songs, but also the live versions are quite different from the original tracks, mostly as much lengthier compositions.
Highly recommended.
[ allmusic.com 4,5 / 5, SputnikMusic 5 / 5 stars ]

Deep Purple "Machine Head" (1972)

Machine Head
release date: Mar. 25, 1972
format: vinyl (TPSA 7504) / cd (2008 remaster)
[album rate: 4 / 5] [4,12]
producer: Deep Purple
label: Purple Records - nationality: England, UK

Tracklist: A) 1. "Highway Star" (4 / 5) - 2. "Maybe I'm a Leo" (3 / 5) - 3. "Pictures of Home" (2,5 / 5) - 4. "Never Before" (2,5 / 5) - - B) 1. "Smoke on the Water" (4,5 / 5) - 2. "Lazy" (4,5 / 5) - 3. "Space Truckin' (3 / 5)

6th studio album by Deep Purple is once again produced by the band, and it's the first album to be released on their own new-founded label Purple Records.
The band continue its grounding in hard rock with strong bonds to the album Deep Purple in Rock (1970) as contrary to the predecessor Fireball (1971) as the band has returned to play more simple and direct heavy rock based on blues rock, which means a move away from the progressive and experimental touches one finds on the '71 album.
Chart wise, the album was even bigger success than the predecessor topping the national albums chart list and reaching the same top position in many countries, and for the first time making a top-10 in the US with a position as number #7 on the Billboard 200, and it's the first (of just two) Deep Purple albums to sell Platinum in the US (the other being Perfect Strangers from 1984).
Machine Head is famous for the band's biggest ever hit "Smoke on the Water". Personally, I have always liked the band's more instrumental and progressive tracks, and "Lazy" is in my mind the perhaps most complex and best track of the album. It's undoubtedly a classic album, but I find that it's a bit uneven. It has 3 great and unforgettable tracks but also its lows are not memorable. The album is enlisted in "1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die".
[ allmusic.com 5 / 5 stars ]

BEST OF 1971:Deep Purple "Fireball" (1971)

Fireball
release date: Jul. 1971
format: vinyl (SHVL 793) / digital (2008 remaster)
[album rate: 4,5 / 5] [4,63]
producer: Deep Purple
label: Harvest Records - nationality: England, UK

Tracklist: A) 1. "Fireball" (4,5 / 5) - 2. "No No No" (4 / 5) - 3*. "Demon's Eye" (4 / 5) - 4. "Anyone's Daughter" (4 / 5) - - B) 1. "The Mule" (5 / 5) - 2. "Fools" (4 / 5) - 3. "No One Came" (3,5 / 5)
*(On the org. US and Canadian release the track is replaced by "Strange Kind of a Woman")

5th studio album by Deep Purple produced by the band. The album had its first release on Warner Bros. in the US and Canada Jul. '71, which was followed by its European release on Harvest Records (sublabel of EMI) Sep. 71 following the same recipe by releasing in the US first.
With Deep Purple in Rock (1970) the band had taken a remarkable stand and positioned itself as one of the most original and hard rockin' bands of the early '70s but with this they extent their repertoire to embrace an experimental hard rock style they unfortunately abandoned after this.
With this Deep Purple made its first number #1 charting album in the UK, which it copied in Austria, Denmark, Finland, Norway and Germany, and critics were delighted about the album.
I received a bag of vinyl albums including eight Deep Purple albums by my older brother when he moved out of our family home at some point back in the late 1970s when I was 13. The album was one of several Deep Purple albums that he gave me on that occasion but this one has always been my favourite by the band. Even in '78, I think this had a modern sound, and I really like the production side of it. To me, the title track and the instrumental "The Mule" are the album's true highlights but really, it doesn't contain fillers or mediocre tracks.
Highly recommended.
[ allmusic.com 4,5 / 5 stars ]

1971 Favourite releases: 1. Deep Purple "Fireball" - 2. Joni Mitchell "Blue" - 3. T. Rex "Electric Warrior"

Deep Purple "Deep Purple in Rock" (1970)

Deep Purple in Rock
release date: Jun. 3, 1970
format: cd (2008 remaster)
[album rate: 4 / 5] [3,96]
producer: Deep Purple
label: Warner Bros., Japan - nationality: England, UK

Track highlights: A) 1. "Speed King" (4,5 / 5) - 2. "Bloodsucker" (4 / 5) - 3. "Child in Time" (5 / 5) - - B) 1. "Flight of the Rat" - 2. "Into the Fire"

4th studio album by Deep Purple originally released on Harvest introduces the heydays of the band in a new line-up aka the 'Mark II' era. The 'Mark I' version of the band had Rod Evans on vocals and Nick Simper playing bass, but in the summer of 1969 the two were replaced by Ian Gillan on vocals and with Roger Glover on bass after a dispute of what direction to take after Deep Purple III (1969). Listening to the band's first three releases, it's not easy to hear that this is the same band. Of course it's also a radically changed band, although, the lead guitarist, drummer and keyboardist remain the same. They had simply agreed to choose a direction into hard rock and Ian Gillan and Roger Glover were just the right people to pick for that mission.
The album became the band's first major success peaking at number #4 in the UK but topping the albums chart lists in Austria, Norway and Germany, as well as facing critical acclaim from critics.
Upon hearing this album from 2014, what's most striking is the secure output and style they manage to establish at this early stage of hard rock. The psychedelic and experimental rock is completely gone. I've never been a hard rock or heavy metal fan but I do like the tightness of the tracks and the unique melodic arrangements of most songs on the album. The A-side of the vinyl version is without doubt the strongest. It consists of only three tracks, ending with "Child in Time" which is a marvellous progressive, hard rock composition that has more in common with Led Zeppelin than their earlier Hendrix, Jefferson Airplane, and American sources of inspiration. Here they turn more British in a way by being a more direct and original band.
The album is rightfully enlisted in "1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die".
[ allmusic.com 4,5 / 5 stars ]

Deep Purple "Deep Purple" (1969)

Deep Purple
release date: Jun. 1969
format: digital
[album rate: 2,5 / 5] [2,68]
producer: Derek Lawrence
label: Harvest Records - nationality: England, UK

Track highlights: 1. "Chasing Shadows" - 5. "Why Didn't Rosemary?"

3rd studio album by Deep Purple is also known as 'Deep Purple III', and its the last album to feature the original line-up of the band. Stylistically, the band experiments even more on this one, or at least so it seems. Arguments during studio recordings on what direction to choose finally led to a change of band members after the release. The band had faced huge success playing both psychedelic rock inspired by Jimi Hendrix but also for contributing with an experimental progressive rock attitude, which is strongest on this album. Basically, the band had been on a search for their trademark over the first three albums, exploring a vast variety of styles and genres without really making it any clearer. The original line-up would later become known as the 'Mark I' constitution of the band, but already one month after the album release, both vocalist Rod Evans and bassist Nick Simper would be replaced to turn the band in the direction of hard rock.
I don't fancy this album nor their take on what one may see as a classical music fusion approach. Numerous of artist did that at the time. Also, another great British act, Pink Floyd started out playing highly experimental rock progressive rock and psychedelic rock before finding their own unique sound.
I find this to be somewhat dull, uninspiring experiments, and perhaps more accurately something that sounds more like mere studio improvisations. One of the most fascinating things about the album is its front cover showing a detail of the right panel of the triptych 'The Garden of Earthly Delights' painted in the late 15th century by Dutch master Hieronymus Bosch.
[ allmusic.com 4,5 / 5, PopMatters 3/ 5 stars ]

Deep Purple "The Book of Taliesyn" (1968)

The Book of Taliesyn
release date: Dec. 1968
format: cd (2011 remaster)
[album rate: 3 / 5] [2,96]
producer: Derek Lawrence
label: Victor Entertainment, Japan - nationality: England, UK

Track highlights: 1. "Listen, Learn, Read On" - 2. "Hard Road (Wring That Neck)" - 7. "River Deep, Mountain High"

2nd studio album by Deep Purple originally released by Tetragrammaton in Dec. '68 actually had its first release in the US - as was the case for the debut album - and it wasn't released in the UK until another six months later, in Jun. 1969 on Harvest Records. Although, rather close to the release of the debut, the style is already quite different on this as there has been left more room for progressive rock experimental rock and psychedelic rock on this.
The first two tracks are closely related to "Hush" on the predecessor but the overall sensation is a more original band with ideas beyond just covering the time-typical Hendrix universe. In the aftermath, the most appraised track on the album is undoubtedly the Ike and Tina Turner (with Phil Spector) cover "River Deep, Mountain High", which here in the original version is a completely other track with a running time of more than 10 minutes and showcasing the band's taste for experimental and progressive rock.
With the album, Deep Purple prove to be a band in strong progress. They're not just pale imitators of Hendrix and Jefferson Airplane, but they also stumble along that treacherous no rules- experimental road where you easily find yourselves in a dead end street. There's still room for parts that sound like founded on the blues rock style of Hendrix, but there are also compositions that point more to (Frank Zappa and) The Mothers of Invention and Pink Floyd (track #5, "Shield" and track #6 "Anthem") and then there are even bits that sound like inspired by The Walker Brothers, The Beatles and Neil Diamond, which all together makes it a (more than) difficult mish-mash of styles and genres.
It's definitely not all bad, I just never found the long progressive and experimental styles the most interesting parts of late 60s and early 1970s rock to be that exiting.

Deep Purple "Shades of Deep Purple" (1968)

Shades of Deep Purple [debut]
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.