Customer Reviews

Book of Taliesyn

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Before Deep Purple was a pioneering hard rock/heavy metal band, Deep Purple was a pioneering progressive/art rock band. The original Deep Purple line up included Jon Lord (organ), Ian Paice (Drums), Ritchie Blackmore (guitar), with Rod Evans (vocals) and Nick Simper (bass and vocals). This group recorded three albums (Shades of Deep Purple, Book of Taiesyn and Deep Purple). This is their second album.

This is probably the best of the first three albums and may be their best studio album. It is a nice mixture of progressive and psychodelic styles with a hard edge. Alot of the music is dominated by Lord's keyboards, but Blackmore comes through on a number of tracks. There are surprising hard rock versions of a Neil Diamond song (Kentucky Woman) and a Phil Spector/Berry Gordy tune (River Deep, Mountain High that was later popularized by Ike and Tina Turner). Then there is the expected Beatles cover (We Can Work It Out). (There must have been a law in England that any new band must cover a Beatles song on the first two albums). But the best things are two of the original tunes, the title track and The Shield.

This CD reissue contains five extra tunes which total 21 minutes. They are all fairly good, and three of them are excellent. There is a psychodelic tune, an energetic live version of Wring That Neck, a blues tune and two hard driving songs. They make the CD worth buying even if you already have the LP.

Make sure to get the Spitfire reiussue and not one of the earlier CD versions. The first releases on CD had bad sound quality and an unbelievably bad reproduction of the cover. The Spitfire reissue has great sound quality, the five extra songs, a nice booklet and an amazingly low price.

It should be noted that this sixties version of Deep Purple sounds quite a different than the later versions. After these three albums, Simper and Evans were kicked out and replaced with Glover and Gillian (who were kicked out later). The group turned more to hard rock on the studio albums. If you think Machine Head was the greatest thing Deep Purple ever did, you probably won't like this CD. If you like the Deep Purple's live material, you may appreciate this.

Thank heavens for the Mk. 1 Purple masters...for too long we fans have had to settle for cheaply produced and packaged Mk. 1 CDs which sounded like they were recorded off the original vinyl. (Not only that, my original Taliesyn CD had a cover so blurry, you couldn't read the band members' names). Well, suffer no more! The Book of Taliesyn, like the other 2 Mk. 1 CDs, has been remastered, packaged with a beautiful book containing a great essay by noted Purple historian Simon Robinson (my hero!), and peppered with several bonus tracks, the best of which is a tune called "Oh No No No." Although Taliesyn has never been my favorite Purple album (and in fact the album that followed it, titled simply Deep Purple, is better), it is still well worth having. The remastering job really does sound better, although remember the album was recorded in 1968, probably on 8 tracks at best, a rush job done to capitalize on the band's nascent buzz in America. "Kentucky Woman" features one of Blackmore's best solos ever; "Anthem" features Jon Lord in an early attempt to fuse rock and classical (and add to it to underrated vocals of Rod Evans: "If the day would only come/then you might just appear, if only you'd be gone/when I reached out my hand..."). "The Shield" is pure psychedelia, and I wonder if Tina Turner ever heard the Purple treatment of "River Deep, Mountain High"? Some of the material is dorky ("Listen Learn Read On" is highly dated, and "We Can Work It Out" a tedious Beatles cover), and "Playground" lacks the whimsical false start found on 1989's excellent Ritchie Blackmore Rock Profile Vol. 1 CD, but these are minor quibbles. I'm telling you, you gotta turn the page and read the Book of Taliesyn!

Band Personnell:
Rod Evans - Vocals
Ritchie Blackmore - Guitars
Nick Simper - Bass and Backing Vocals
Ian Paice - Drums
Jon Lord - Organs and Backing Vocals

Not long after their first album was released, they produced their second album, this was a little heavier and had more highlights and less cover songs, the opening track "Listen, Learn, Read on" is a really cool song, the instrumental "Hard Road" has good riffs, but the best song in this album must be "River Deep, Mountain High", it begins instrumentally, but after a while Evans shows how gread voice he really had, this is the best of the three poineering albums, no doubt, buy it!

Spitfire Records is a subdivision of Eagle Rock Entertainment located in New York, United States.
So now that we know that, let's talk about Deep Purples' The Book of Taliesyn. It took the industry long enough but they finally got it right for the earlier Deep Purple. These guys did it right. First of all this CD was digitized from the original master tapes. Before this CD the recordings where very bad, definitely not from first generation tapes, if from tape at all. The second thing, they did the remastering at Abbey Road. The sound is really great. They also did a great job with the liner notes. If you buy "Shades Of Deep Purple", "The Book of Taliesyn" and "Deep Purple" these liner notes pretty much all together tell you the early story of the Deep Purple. I am very glad I purchased this CD. Deep Purple was at their peak with this album. I only wished I would have done this earlier. I highly recommend this whole Spitfire series. I don't believe this will ever get any better. By the way for all of you who believe that this band didn't contributed to the hard rock era. Living through it I can remember the actions of people when Kentucky Woman and then River Deep, Mountain High came out. The older generation of the time S#?t a brick.(same response as Hush from their first album. The rawness and the harshness again! This was definitely a group that contributed to Hard Rock. It may not match what happened after these guys MK1 broke up but they did help shape it.
Buy the way this review is about the same for all three releases because when these 3 albums came out they where very close together the impact of all three influenced the music industry.

The Mark I lineup of Deep Purple is still highly underrated. Rod Evans rich, melodic vocals give depth to the haunting ballads "The Shield" and "Anthem". He truly is an overlooked talent (just check out the first 2 Captain Beyond albums). These moody songs are also some of the best progressive rock that Deep Purple ever did. The cover of "Kentucky Woman" really swings. Not only does Evans put Neil Diamond to shame but the great over the top solos from Jon Lord and Ritchie Blackmore turn a pop song into a real rave up!!! Ian Paice is absolutely frantic on percussion. Nick Simper's plucky bass makes you wonder why the group ever let him go. Blackmore and Lord are already masters of their instruments. Ritchie just wails on this album. Jon Lord was showing a keyboard wizardry and compositional talent that surely placed him at the forefront of UK rock. Mark I is often unfairly dismissed as being too "pop" or derivative of "Vanilla Fudge". But this was 1968 for crying out loud!!! Not many bands were this HEAVY so early in the game. And Deep Purple had already developed the great heavy organ/guitar duels that would be their trademark. There are pop moments, like the throwaway cover of "We Can Work It Out". And the bonus tracks are not exceptional (though it's always nice to get rarities). But this CD is worth the purchase just for "The Shield" and "Anthem". They are two of the finest compositions in the Purple catalog. They show a more mellow and progressive dimension of this band. Add to that a detailed and informative booklet and digital remastering that's a huge improvement over previous issues and you've got a real winner. Every Deep Purple fan should have the Mark I CDs in their collection.

Most rock n roll fans think of Deep Purple as a premiere hard rock n roll band with some intriguing organ passages which compliment the shrieking vocals of Ian Gillan as well as some ellaborate Ritchie Blackmore. However, Deep Purple was not always so hard and heavy from the start.

On their first three CD's, Deep Purple's music had a very pronounced psychedelic tone with even some classical touches. This second release, The Book of Taliesyn is certainly high on creativity because of these aforementioned touches. Especially noteworthy are the covers of Neil Diamond's Kentucky Woman, the Beatles' We Can Work It Out, and River Deep Mountain High. Heck the drumming on these songs as well as the harmony vocals inject a great deal of pulse into these songs while keeping the volume at a reasonable level. The ballad Anthem is a nice diversion from some of the rockin' tunes on the record. Listen, Learn, Read On and Shield add some supernatural mystical tones that are truly captivating. The organ work by Jon Lord is extremely exemplary.

The five bonus tracks are quite notworthy particularly Oh No No No and Its All Over. Great balance between the keyboards, guitar, bass, drums, and vocals continue the winning trend for Deep Purple.

I do appreciate the heavy style of the Mark 2 era of Deep Purple, particularly on the highly acclaimed Machine Head CD. However, one should not overlook the Mark 1 era as this Book of Taliesyn is certainly an underatted gem.

As the author of the Jefferson Airplane book "Take Me To A Circus Tent" and a former radio disc-jockey, I am often asked to write and or discuss various recordings from the 60's and 70's.

"The Book of Taliesyn" brought Deep Purple closer to the appearance of the famed and great "Mark II" line-up. Ian Gillan and Roger Glover would raise the bar even higher. Before they become part of the fold, there is the tremendous second album and the self-titled third.

"Listen, Learn, Read On" leads off the second Purple release. Possibly, by design the record starts with the shortest tune and ends with their epic cover of a Motown classic. "Listen, Learn, Read On" Features a terrific and varied vocal by Rod Evans along with a perfect guitar solo by Blackmore. Ritchie already is finding his way and it isn't only the ability to excel with his leads and fills but the perfect tone to coincide with the song.

"Hard Road" also known as "Wring That Neck" is the perfect instrumental. Blackmore is tasty with a timeless riff supported by Ian Paice's drumming and Jon Lord's in your face but not over the top keyboards.

"Kentucky Woman" is a wonderful cover to the Neil Diamond hit. Purple does a well-rounded interpretation and deserves credit for not only pulling off a well-respected interpretation but also being open-minded in their selection of non-group recordings.

"Exposition"/"We Can Work It Out" gives us two for the price of one. Starting with their own composition of high energy- merging into a slower cover of the Beatles legendary song. This is the second Beatles selection ("Help" was recorded on the first LP) they pulled off well.

"The Shield" one of the best efforts from the Purple "Mark I" line-up is also contains a superlative singing job by Rod Evans. The lyrics are intense and the clarity and conviction only further engrave them in your mind.

"Anthem" with a mid-evil keyboard sound and a Blackmore guitar that enhances the dark mood is the most overlooked composition on the record but not any lesser.

"River Deep Mountain High" has been interpreted by performers from all musical avenues. The tune partially written by record producer Phil Spector has been enjoyed not only by Motown fans (Four Tops, Supremes, and Ike & Tina Turner) but also by those having purchased records by the Animals, Harry Nilsson, and Bob Seger. Deep Purple's ten minute journey is the most adventurous of all the renditions. It could have been easily too long if they were anything less. With the Blackmore/Lord combination, it takes on a life of its own. Never is there a passage you call superfluous. A climatic ending to a great production.

Make sure to please get the remastered version with the five bonus tracks lead by "Playground." Between Blackmore's aggression, Lord's perfect keyboard, and some terrific nuances by Ian Paice it is a must listen!


Enjoy the music and be well,
Craig Fenton
Author of the Jefferson Airplane book "Take Me To A Circus Tent"

Deep Purple was one of those rare bands who managed two albums in the same year as they were formed (Shades of Deep Purple, and this one), Humble Pie being the other (As Safe As Yesterday Is and Town & Country).

The Book of Taliesyn was their second album, released three months later from Shades of Deep Purple, released on Tetragrammaton (a label ran by well-known comedian Bill Cosby), it received a UK release several months later on Harvest, and became the first ever release on that label. Well, in that short amount of time, I thought the band did their homework, and came up with a better album. Certainly it's still packed with covers of other people's songs, and there's plenty of psychedelic gimmicks that are pretty much of its time. "Listen, Learn, Read On" is the opening cut, with plenty of spoken dialog, and the lyrics are subject of the title of the album. The next cut is an instrumental piece, "Wring that Neck", which has an interesting story. Their first studio effort with the Mark II lineup, In Rock (1970) featured an extended epic, "Child in Time" that partially borrowed a song from a San Francisco band called It's a Beautiful Day called "Bombay Calling" off their self-entitled 1969 debut (same album that has their big hit "White Bird"). So It's a Beautiful Day got back on their next album, Marrying Maiden (1970) and recorded "Don & Dewey" that bears an uncanny resemblance to "Wring That Neck". The next song is their cover of Neil Diamond's "Kentucky Woman". I am hardly a fan of Neil Diamond (as is MOR pop in general), so Deep Purple certainly made a much more interesting version of it, the song even has an interesting organ solo from Jon Lord. This was their second (and final) hit with the original Mark I lineup of Rod Evans, Nick Semper, Ritchie Blackmore, Jon Lord, and Ian Paice. Then they go cover another Beatles song, which I thought was much more successful than their version of "Help" from their previous album. It first starts off with "Exposition", which is basically more or less early prog rock territory, with extended organ solos, then comes the Beatles song, which while obviously recognizable, has quite a bit of echo. "The Shield" is a nice psychedelic number with rather obvious psychedelic lyrics. "Anthem" is, for the most part, the most pop-oriented piece Deep Purple ever done. If it weren't for the classically-influenced part in the middle, and even a small use of Mellotron, it would have been just a pop song. This was obviously the kind of thing totally alien on the Mark II albums like In Rock, Fireball, Machine Head, etc. Then they do yet another cover, this time Phil Spector's "River Deep, Mountain High" (the one Ike & Tina Turner recorded, and flopped big in the States but did well in the UK). Even in Purple's version, you can still tell the lyrics are Phil Spector.

I really thought this was a move in the right direction, and their next album the band proved they could float just fine without covers of other people's songs (other than Donovan's "Lalena").

Purple's second album release, about three months after the debut, is much like the first, a combination of originals and psychedelic cover verisons of famous songs with an exceptionally talented musicianship. Blackmore and Lord lead their charges on a spirited version of Neil Diamond's "Kentucky Woman" which rivals "Hush" from the debut as a solid hit single. The Beatles are also revisted on "We Can Work it Out" which is the 2nd part of a longer song called "Exposition". For the bands own compositons, 'Taliesyn' brings two of the Mach 1 lineup's best songs in the powerful instumental slamfest "Wring That Neck" and the hauntingly beautiful "Anthem" which is unquestionably Rod Evans' greatest triumph in Purple. This album is better than "Shades" but only slightly. It really comes down to one's preference since both are very close in quality. This formula with a slight variation (only one cover) would continue for one more lp release six months later and then Purple would radically reform as Blackmore starts to flex his muscles.

If you are a Deep Purple fan, or just a good bit into older rock, I think this is an important album. It defines Deep Purple, and what they bacame later on. I gave this album 4 stars because in my opinion only 5 or 6 albums, period, deserve 5 stars. Well worth the money for classis rock.
Paul L