Deep Purple - The Book Of Taliesyn [LP] (1969)

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.