THE BOOK OF TALIESYN

Purple´s second album was always my favorite of the three albums released by DP MKI. It is a big improvemnt over the debut album, with better original songs and less obvious choice of covers. The group sounds much more confident on the studio and more bold on the arrangements. Jon Lord kind of dominates the album throughly, but Blackmore is also becoming the driving force behind the band´s sound, with some already original and powerful guitar licks.

Don´t expect the heavy rock powerhouse of later classics like In Rock or Machine Head. The band still had to find its own way, and the songs flow through differeent styles: a mix of hard rock, pop and progressive. And, like everything done by Deep Purple, it is very well done. The backing vocals are also fine (and, unfortunatly, were latter abandoned).

The Book Of Taliesyn was another step towards their definitive sound, but showed the band in a creative period anyway, and I should point out the fact that they could handle almost any style in rock music. It was a matter of time to find their unique sound (and right line up), but they left quite a good impression by the time they release this LP. Highlight: The Shield.

I can´t call this LP essential, but it was very good. 3,5 stars.