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.

I'm just some average yokel off the street and even my untrained ears can tell you, from hearing this album, Damon Edge was anything but a professional musician. If there was anyone in this world who needed a musician to convert his ideas to an acceptable aural format, it was this guy. His first foray without Helios Creed sounds like a ill-programmed robot making what it thinks is progressive music but often comes out sounding like a drunken old crooner trapped in a bad video game. Instead of the cool evil hisses and growls of earlier works, now Damon does his vocals in a drugged/bored monotone drivel style which is beyond washed-up. The sad thing? This was good compared to what was waiting down the road.

Before Wu-Tang Clan there was the XClan...no, I'm not kidding. This group from Brooklyn was part of the Blackwatch movement, who had a stable of artists releasing albums in the early 90's buffeted by real radical political connections. Hypeman Professor X the Overseer (real name - Lumumba Carson) was the son of noted activist Sonny Carson, and the group's initial offering was a cryptic, mischievous take on Public Enemy's work from the same era. While the music is not as dense, the 'Clan's oddball sensibility comes through from the jump of the opener "Funkin' Lesson". Brother J's metronomic yet agile raps both grate and mesh great with X's high-pitched diatribes over sissies n keys. Definitely not a record that everyone is going to like but in the very least it's about politics AND it's fun, which is such a rare thing.