When I initially heard it, I wasn’t sure if it was done to get a laugh, or just someone’s harebrained idea of cool computerized music. I’ll grudgingly give James his due – here and there, the music is catchy, and feels like the product of a red-faced, naughty little English boy madly tweaking away on machines, drum patterns, and oddly-placed noise-makers. “4” and “Cornish Acid” sticks in my head the most, but “Girl/Boy Song” is a good pick as well. The problem is far too many of these tracks feel like pieces that fit into someone else’s mix at a late 90’s rave. The edition I have includes five bonus tracks, most notably “Milkman” which features James obnoxious’ vocals (“I would like milk from the milkman’s wife’s tits”).

They don't make albums like this anymore. Actually, they don't make albums like this in the first place! Louis "Cork" Marcheschi was an R&B musician and artist with an interest in experimental electronic music, and he was looking to blend it with rock sounds. I'm paraphrasing the story from various articles I've read, but eventually, he found someone who shared this idea, in the form of guitarist David Blossom, whose wife Nancy was a vocalist, and together they found enough players to form the band. To this end, Marcheschi created his own electronic instrument - a sort of a rudimentary synthesizer/effects machine - which accentuated what the rest of the band was doing on a more normal rock-and-pop level. If one can call that normal, since even the band's version of rock has an overall menacing edge to it, further driven by Nancy Blossom's paranoid-sounding vocals. Marcheschi's instrument really creates chaos, by adding notes to guitar lines and drum beats, words to vocals that really should not be there, and so on, giving one the effect of a very, on-the-edge-of-your-seat, psychedelic experience. And then, it goes deeper into the depths of the psyche, on tracks like "Fantasy", and the harrowing title track - which is revolting to hear, yet gripping to the point you have to hear how it progresses….Marcheschi was able to obtain the masters and reissued the album in the 90's with bonus tracks, which include an early, VERY avant-garde single called "Bad Trip" which was recorded with an early act of his, The Ethix. Very adventurous ears looking for progressive sounds from the past will love this one.

Even by 1969, the style of music the 'Purple was pursuing seemed out of touch, and a few listens of their 3rd album confirms it. Now were down to one cover, but it's Donovan's "Lalena", and Evans' painful vocal tanks the track down to the karaoke leagues. Elsewhere, despite an increase in aggression, it's generally misplaced, normally going down odd tangents which entail nothing but mediocre endings.

This album and the next one are kind of cut from the same cloth. The band seemed to be attempting to expand on the debut record but either couldn't figure out that process or did not have the time to figure it out, and then ended up copying the same general setlist feel. There's a slight bit more emphasis on original material, but once again the lead single was a cover (Neil Diamond's "Kentucky Woman"), which was fun but sounded more like a Mitch Ryder song. Elsewhere, overdramatic covers of "We Can Work It Out" (which has an "Exposition" intro tacked on the beginning of it) and "River Deep, Mountain High" drag down the record. Oh yeah, "Wring That Neck" is the "Mandrake Root" of this album!

Welcome to the many "marks" of Deep Purple. In the initial phase of the story, they were essentially court jesters jackknifing around the fringes of rock royalty…but other than the odd flash or two, were not taken at face value. Then again, Shades of Deep Purple - at its' core - was a shameless Vanilla Fudge imitation, laden with exquisite classical-tinged covers and faux-expressive psychedelic passages. Really, its' calling card (and only saving grace) were the 3 core members - Blackmore, Lord, and Paice - injecting enough tension to make things interesting. Rod Evans croons Elvis-style over the odd din, definitely standing out on the Joe South cover/hit "Hush", which became a bona fide flower power anthem. And unlike the 'Fudge debut (which was all covers), 4 of the 8 tracks were band originals - the guttural "Mandrake Root" easily the best of the four.