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Deep Purple - Deep Purple CD (album) cover

DEEP PURPLE

Deep Purple

 

Proto-Prog

3.62 | 701 ratings

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Magnum Vaeltaja
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator
3 stars What we have hear is possibly the finest example of proto-prog that Deep Purple ever put out. But, as experimental and original as the music on this self-titled release is, it is not quite up to the same standard as what would come with the band's Mark II era.

Even though "Deep Purple" has numerous tracks, ranging from "Chasing Shadows", which sounds like an early demo version of Uriah Heep's "Look At Yourself", to backwards tape experiments to folk-ier acoustic ballads to typical blues rockers, the one that should be on everyone's mind is "April". Indeed, if there's ever a reason to buy this album, that would be it. A 12 minute suite, "April" was probably one of the finest prog tracks when it came out, perhaps even one of the first prog epics, period. The first section is classic British prog-folk, with Ritchie Blackmore offering beautiful pastoral guitar and Jon Lord complementing him with his signature distorted Hammond organ. If you're a fan of early Genesis or just a fan of the general pastoral English vibe with blues touches going on in a lot of the prog of the time, these 4 minutes alone are worth investigating. From there follows some orchestral string interplay, before a haunting bluesy conclusion wraps up the album.

If only "April" had been revisited later with the Mk II era and included on one of their phenomenal albums; unfortunately the rest of the material on "Deep Purple" is too forgettable to give this album over 3 stars. Still a great disc to look for if you're into turn-of-the-70's proto prog, a la "Salisbury". Good, but non-essential.

Magnum Vaeltaja | 3/5 |

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