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Yes, the masterpiece

B. E Jackson | Pennsylvania | 09/21/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is honestly a BRILLIANT studio album. I can sit here and talk about which songs are memorable, but I'd be beating a dead horse for doing so, since the entire disc features one excellent track after another.



You have melodic tracks such as the heart-racing "Chasing Shadows" with an early Pink Floyd vibe, "Lalena" which is TRULY a haunting ballad (unlike all those other so-called "haunting ballads" from other bands, don't make me laugh, THIS is the real deal!) and "Blind", with EXCELLENT vocals.



The epic masterpiece of the album is a 12-minute track called "April", which starts out with a chilling guitar riff that builds into a theme and seems very heavenly for the most part, before the track moves in a very dated soundtrack direction for a few minutes (probably not a good idea since the halfway point of the track DOES sound like Leave it to Beaver or something) and finally the few minutes at the end brings back the Deep Purple you had at this point- a mix of hard rock, blues and already revealing their trademark sound even in the early stage of their career.



"The Painter" and "Why Didn't Rosemary" are blues tracks, with some great guitar soloing. Worth owning? YES! This is Deep Purple's best studio album next to Come Taste the Band and Fireball. The 80's and beyond were alright, but the early 70's and late 60's were a SPECIAL period for the band."

The BEST ever offered from Deep Purple...

Eric Swenson | 01/30/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I have listened to Deep Purple for a few years now, and after hearing almost all their offerings from the 60's, 70's, and even a little Perfect Strangers on occasion. This album destroys all the others in shear originality and perfection as true magic was created during this recording, and even after repeatedly hearing this self-titled classic for years it still sounds fresh after every listen. I like a lot of the material with Ian Gillan, but honestly in my opinion Rod Taylor who later headed the amazing Captain Beyond, is just a much better and more accomplished vocalist and singer. Overall he just sounds better and Ritchie Blackmore's guitar shreds the ears open wide with his stunning solo's featured throughout the entire record. After hearing this again today and listening to it closely I wish the MK 1 lineup had made a couple more albums before calling it quits. The other annoying thing is that not many fans of Deep Purple seem to love this one, and that is a shame as it really features what DEEP PURPLE is meant to be, at least to me. Do yourself a favor if you don't own this immortal piece of classical music then buy it immediately and get ready for some musical ecstasy."