Deep Purple Early Years

First Works Featuring Jon Lord, Ritchie Blackmore, and Ian Paice

May 15, 2009 Ali Eftekhari

In the presence of three of main members, Deep Purple works in the late 1960s were influential and pioneering; but without their characteristic creativity until 1970.

Deep Purple, one of the leading pioneers of hard rock, formed in Hertford, UK in 1968, the year they released their debut album.

Deep Purple have regularly changed their members in the course of time, having fully eight lineups; however, the main members are generally considered as Jon Lord, Ritchie Blackmore, Ian Paice, Ian Gillan, and Roger Glover (Mark II: 1969-74, 1984-89, and 1992-93). The band started with the first three members, but now the last three members are in the band line-up.

Ian Paice was the only member who was a part of all Deep Purple line-ups, and in the other words, Deep Purple never tried another drummer.

Initial Line-Up of Deep Purple

Deep Purple was initially formed by five members Jon Lord, Ritchie Blackmore, Ian Paice, Nick Simper, and Rod Evans. Among the first members, Nick Simper and Rod Evans left the band in 1969 without any noticeable contribution to rock music in their future careers.

However, Jon Lord, Ritchie Blackmore, and Ian Paice became the leading rock musicians with several legendary records with and without Deep Purple.

The debut album of Deep Purple, Shades of Deep Purple, was released in October 1968. The second album The Book of Taliesyn followed in July 1968.

Shades of Deep Purple and The Book of Taliesyn

The early albums of Deep Purple recorded in 1968-69 (Shades of Deep Purple and The Book of Taliesyn) were similar to the common styles of their time rather than the hard rock style formed in the late 1960s. For instance, one may find the early works of Deep Purple similar to 13th Floor Elevators' Easter Everywhere recorded in 1967.

Half of the tracks in the first two albums were cover songs originally recorded by The Beatles, Neil Diamond, Tina Turner, Jimi Hendrix, Skip James, Joe South. However, future line-ups reserved some tracks like Hush, Kentucky Woman, Wring That Neck for live performances.

The third self-titled album had some more creativity by recording some unusual songs like April, which was a rock version of some classic pieces, written by Jon Lord and Ritchie Blackmore. There was only one cover song (originally by Donovan) in this album.

Ian Gillan and Roger Glover

Although Mark I of Deep Purple contained three legendary rock musicians, the legendary works of Deep Purple were recorded when Ian Gillan and Roger Glover joined the band. Right after the formation of Mark II, two legendary albums were recorded, which are among the most influential rock records.

The album, Deep Purple in Rock, released in June 1970, and is indeed a nice rock album containing the legendary song of Child in Time. Concerto for Group and Orchestra released in December 1969 is indeed an incredible pioneering attempt for mixing rock and classic music. It was a three-movement epic composed by Jon Lord as a solo project and performed by the band at the Royal Albert Hall with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Malcolm Arnold.