Personnel:
Ritchie Blackmore - guitar
Rod Evans - lead vocals
Nick Simper - bass, backing vocals
Jon Lord - Hammond organ, keyboards, backing vocals
Ian Paice - drums
Deep Purple reached the crossroads in 1969 with the third and final album released by the Mk I lineup, Deep Purple or Deep Purple III. When I say crossroads I'm talking about the album's overall sound. The first part of the record has the psychedelic sound that dominated the first two albums, while the second part consists of heavy hitting hard rock tracks. But the album also experiments with progressive/classical elements too, with string/woodwind instruments being used in the closer "April".
The album coincides with the band itself and what it was going through. There was a struggle between the members about the direction the band wanted to go in, especially guitarist Ritchie Blackmore who wanted to take the band down a hard rock path.
Despite weak album sales, I really like this album. My favorite song on the album is another cover "Lalena", a beautiful ballad done by singer/songwriter Donovan which Deep Purple turns into a progressive rock masterpiece. The album also has a few interesting psychedelic tracks including the opener Chasing Shadows and the second song "Blind" where Jon Lord shows off his mastery of the keyboard.
The second half consists of a few decent rockers, "The Painter", "Why Didn't Rosemary?", and "The Bird has Flown", dominated by the guitar work of Ritchie Blackmore. Deep Purple (1969) offers the best of both worlds when it comes to Deep Purple's sound at the time. For a period of time the band's future was uncertain at this point, but they sure went out with a bang. Bass guitarist Nick Simper and vocalist Rod Evans would be booted from the band and Deep Purple's record label in the United States Tetragrammaton Records would go out of business leaving the surviving members Paice, Blackmore, and Lord strapped for cash. Would Deep Purple survive? Find out on the next album review!!!
Favorite Songs: Blind, Lalena, The Painter, Why Didn't Rosemary, The Bird Has Flown
The Verdict: 4.0
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