HALLELUJAH (I AM THE PREACHER) / APRIL (PART ONE)

It is a bit strange for me that the new line-up of DEEP PURPLE ("Mark Two": Blackmore, Gillan, Glover, Lord and Paice) decided to record a song which was not composed by them for the A-side of this single. "Hallelujah" was in fact the first song that this line-up recorded in mid 1969, and in fact it was even recorded before Glover was officially invited to be a full member of the band. Blackmore and Lord wanted Gillan in the band, but were not sure about including Glover. So, Gillan was the new official lead singer and Glover was then invited to play as a session musician to record "Hallelujah". It seems that after this song was recorded with good results and after Paice supported Glover as being the new official bass player that finally Blackmore and Lord agreed to include Glover in the band. Gillan and Glover previously played togehter and wrote some songs together in a band called "Episode Six", a band that both left to join DEEP PURPLE, with some legal problems with the "Episode Six" management which were resolved with some money!

"Hallelujah" sounds to me more like a "religious rock hippie song" similar to some of the songs from the "Jesus Christ Superstar" Rock Opera album. I don`t know why the band recorded "Hallelujah", but it is curious that Gillan was going to be the main lead singer in the original album from that Rock Opera which was going to be released in 1970. It is a good song, but not very typical in musical style from the band. It still sounds to me like it could have been recorded by the original line-up of the band.