Album
The Book of Taliesyn
The Book of Taliesyn is the second album by Deep Purple, made only three months after their debut, Shades of Deep Purple. It takes its name from the 14th-century Book of Taliesin. Like the first record, it mixes four originals with three reworked covers, but the tracks run longer, the arrangements are more involved and the sound is more polished. Psychedelic rock, progressive rock and hard rock sit side by side, with classical passages arranged by keyboard player Jon Lord.
It came out in 1968 on Tetragrammaton Records, which was aiming at the hippie audience, though the album and its singles did not chart as well as hoped. The band still won over crowds on a three-month US tour. At home they remained an underground act, and the British release did not follow until June 1969, on EMI's new Harvest label, without troubling the charts. Later reviewers have been kinder, and it is worth hearing as a snapshot of the band before their harder sound took shape.
The Book of Taliesyn: tracklist, credits and charts
7 tracks · 43:54Tracklist
- 1Listen, Learn, Read OnBlackmore, Evans, Lord, Paice4:05
- 2Wring That NeckBlackmore, Lord, Paice, Simper5:16
- 3Kentucky WomanNeil Diamond4:47
- 4Exposition / We Can Work It Out7:04
- 5ShieldBlackmore, Evans, Lord6:06
- 6AnthemRod Evans and Jon Lord6:31
- 7River Deep, Mountain HighBarry, Greenwich, Spector10:05
- Produced by
- Derek Lawrence
- Recorded at
- De Lane Lea Studios (Kingsway, London), De Lane Lea Studios
- Recorded
- 1 August – 10 October 1968
- Mixed by
- Derek Lawrence
- Engineered by
- Barry Ainsworth
- Labels
- Tetragrammaton Records, Tetragrammaton (US), Harvest (UK)
- Length
- 43:54
Line-up
- Ritchie Blackmore · electric guitar
- Jon Lord · Hammond organ, background vocals, mellotron
- Ian Paice · drums (drum set)
- Nick Simper · electric bass guitar
- Rod Evans · lead vocals
Singles
- “Kentucky Woman” · October 1968
- “River Deep – Mountain High” · January 1969
Peak chart positions
| Chart | Peak |
|---|---|
| Canadian Albums (RPM) · 1969 | 48 |
From MusicBrainz, Wikipedia and Wikidata. Only what the sources record is shown.
70.4
Popularity (0–100, vs the whole vault)
1.7k
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Wikipedia views, last 12 months
5.8k
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1975
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1975
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1976
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New Live & Rare: Vol. 3
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Deepest Purple: The Very Best of Deep Purple
1980
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1980
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1982
Perfect Strangers
1984
Smoke on the Water
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Smoke on My Mega‐Mix
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The House of Blue Light
1987
Bad Attitude
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Nobody’s Perfect
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Scandinavian Nights
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Days May Come and Days May Go: The California Rehearsals, June 1975
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Deep Purple The Soundboard Series 2001
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More on Tetragrammaton Records
The label →Releases and pressings
How we know the release date only month precision available
| Source | Date | Note |
|---|---|---|
| MusicBrainz | October 1968 | |
| Wikipedia infobox | December 1968 | |
| Wikidata | October 1968 | |
| US release | October 1968 | earliest US date |
27 editions
| Date | Country | Label | Barcode | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | US | Creative Sounds Ltd. | 016726602220 | other |
| — | XW | HEC Enterprises Ltd. | other | |
| — | US | Creative Sounds Ltd. | 016726602244 | other |
| October 1968 | US | Tetragrammaton Records | original | |
| June 1969 | JP | Polydor | other | |
| July 1969 | GB | Harvest | other | |
| July 1969 | GB | Harvest | other | |
| July 1969 | DE | Harvest | other | |
| 1973 | JP | Warner Bros. Records | other | |
| 1977 | JP | Warner Bros. Records | other | |
| 1979 | DE | Crystal | other | |
| 1981 | JP | Warner Bros. Records | other | |
| 1988 | US | Passport Records | 084317360729 | other |
| 1989 | GB | Harvest | 0077779240821 | other |
| 10 February 1989 | JP | Warner Bros. Records | 4988014726023 | other |
| August 1989 | GB | Harvest | 077779240821 | other |
| 1999 | GB | Harvest | 724349946910 | other |
| 2000 | US | Eagle Records | 826992022222 | other |
| 2000 | US | Spitfire Records | 670211506327 | other |
| 2000 | GB | EMI | 724352160822 | remaster |
| 21 March 2003 | JP | Purple Records | 4988021853217 | other |
| 14 February 2006 | US | Tetragrammaton Records | 9991208059321 | other |
| 14 December 2011 | JP | Victor | 4988002613724 | other |
| 19 February 2014 | JP | Victor | 4988002667819 | other |
| 2015 | GB | Parlophone | other | |
| 2015 | GB | Parlophone | other | |
| — | — | — | other |
Cover art sources
deezer · upscaled: major: best source 1200x1200, upscaled to 1500 (x1.25)
| Source | Size | Verdict |
|---|---|---|
| deezer ✓ | 1200×1200 | upscaled: major: best source 1200x1200, upscaled to 1500 (x1.25) |
| fanarttv | 1000×1000 | upscaled |
| coverartarchive | 478×468 | upscaled |