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The Book of Taliesyn

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Work

The Book of Taliesyn is Deep Purple's second album, recorded only three months after the debut. The label Tetragrammaton wanted a new record for the first American tour, so in August 1968 the band went to De Lane Lea Studios in London, with the producer Derek Lawrence. There were four long original songs and three adapted covers. The sound mixes psychedelic rock, progressive rock and hard rock, with classical influences from the keyboardist Jon Lord.

Anthem goes furthest in that classical direction, with a Baroque string quartet as an interlude. Wring That Neck is a heavy instrumental, and Kentucky Woman an adaptation of a hit by Neil Diamond. In America the record reached number 54. In the United Kingdom it appeared in 1969 as the first release on Harvest Records and went almost unnoticed.

Listening

Listening tip. In Anthem, listen to the Baroque interlude with string quartet in the middle of the song.

Track list

  1. 1Listen, Learn, Read On (Stereo Mix)4:03Apple Music ↗
  2. 2Wring That Neck (Stereo Mix)5:15Apple Music ↗
  3. 3Kentucky Woman (Stereo Mix)4:45Apple Music ↗
  4. 4Exposition/We Can Work It Out (Stereo Mix)7:08Apple Music ↗
  5. 5Shield (Stereo Mix)6:07Apple Music ↗
  6. 6Anthem (Stereo Mix)6:33Apple Music ↗
  7. 7River Deep, Mountain High (Stereo Mix)10:09Apple Music ↗

30-second previews via Apple Music. Listen to the whole album on Apple Music ↗

Categories: Albums and songs