SHADES OF DEEP PURPLE

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.