Deep Purple "The Book Of Taliesyn"

The Book of Taliesyn is the second studio album by English rock band Deep Purple, recorded only three months after Shades of Deep Purple and released by Tetragrammaton Records in October 1968, just before their first US tour. The name for the album was taken from the 14th-century Book of Taliesin.

The structure of the album is similar to that of their debut, with four original songs and three rearranged covers, although the tracks are longer, the arrangements more complex and the sound more polished than on Shades of Deep Purple. The music style is a mix of psychedelic rock, progressive rock and hard rock, with several inserts of classical music arranged by the band's keyboard player Jon Lord.

Deep Purple's American record label aimed at a hippie audience, which was very influential in the US at the time, but the chart results of album and singles were not as high as expected. This setback did not hinder the success of the three months long US tour, when the band played in many important venues and festivals and received positive feedback from audience and press. On the contrary, Deep Purple were still an underground band which played in small clubs and colleges in the United Kingdom, largely ignored by media and public. The British record company EMI released The Book of Taliesyn only in June 1969 on the new underground prog rock sub-label Harvest Records, but the album did not chart. Even the release of the new single "Emmaretta" and new dates in their home country in the summer of 1969 did not increase the album sales or the popularity of Deep Purple in the UK. Perception of the album changed in modern times, when it received more favourable reviews.

Deep Purple were booked for a long tour in the United States, starting in October 1968, as a result of the unexpected success gathered in North America by their debut album Shades of Deep Purple, fronted by the hit single "Hush". The single, released in June, had reached No. 4 in the US Singles Chart and No. 2 in Canada and was the main reason of their sudden popularity overseas. The situation was quite the opposite at home, where the band had been heavily criticized by media and audience.

In July, band and crew relocated from West Sussex to London. Their management rented a house at 13 Second Avenue, Acton Vale, which was used as living quarters and for preparing the upcoming US tour when not away for gigs or promotion. Guitarist Ritchie Blackmore went to live there with his German fiancée Babs Hardie.


Executives at Tetragrammaton Records, Deep Purple's American label, thought that it would have been more profitable to have a new album to promote during the US tour, besides the already successful Shades of Deep Purple. Moreover, the eight tracks recorded in May for Deep Purple's debut album and performed live in the British gigs of July and August were deemed insufficient for their shows as headliners in the US. For these reasons, they were pushed back into the studio just a couple of months before the tour began, even though their debut album had not been released in the United Kingdom yet.

Cover art and sleeve notes convey Tetragrammaton's decision to aim the album at the vast American hippie audience, which was very influential in the US at the time. The notes in particular were written in a mystical tone, evoking the bard Taliesyn as a spiritual guide and comparing listening to the songs to an exploration in the band members' souls. The original cover was drawn in pen, ink and color by the British illustrator and author John Vernon Lord, who coincidentally appears to share the same name as Deep Purple's keyboard player. The Book of Taliesyn was the only record cover John Vernon Lord ever designed and, according to the artist's recent retrospective book Drawing upon Drawing, the original artwork was never returned. In his book, John Vernon Lord remembers the assignment received from his agency Saxon Artists:

The agent gave me the title saying that the art director wanted a 'fantasy Arthurian touch' and to include hand lettering for the title and the musicians' names. I mainly drew from The Book of Taliesin, which is a collection of poems, said to be written by the sixth century Welsh bard Taliesin.


The fee for the job was £30, minus 25% for the agent. John Vernon Lord was, until recently, Professor of Illustration at the University of Brighton.