Deep Purple - Mark I - 5CD-Set "Hard Road" - July 2014

Yes, great mix indeed !!!

 

Simper's bass is old fashioned, but I find the Mk. I lineup to have very 60's sound to it. He probably would have adapted just like the remaining band members did, but he was the odd man out when Gillan wanted Glover to join.

I do remember actively disliking Evans voice when I first heard this material in the 80s (I suppose my teenage self wanted everything to sound like Gillan), but it's really grown on me.

 

Why was this stuff recorded so poorly? Deep Purple had had a hit with Hush & Kentucky Woman. You would think at least by the third album the SQ would get better. I heard the remix today of "Blind" and tonally, it didn't sound much better than the original LP mix.

 

The original UK LPs of Book Of Taliesyn and Deep Purple didn't have purple spines, did they? I don't mind it on Book Of Taliesyn, but it breaks up the artwork for Deep Purple.

 

Also those remasters had the BBC songs not included in Hard Road box.
Why they didn't included here?
Because of bbc sessions 68-70 released time ago, I think

 

I think that's part of it.

Since they were including the remixes, no other bonus tracks fit on the self-titled disc. So, I guess they decided not to include them at all.

No biggie for me. I only thought "Hey Joe" was particularly good. The rest were just okay. Completists would have the BBC Sessions anyhow.

The other missing track is "Hush" from Playboy After Dark, but the sound quality of that is horrible. Without the visual, it's worthless.

 

if someone had played me this and asked who it was I would have said the first version of deep purple sounds just like them

 

I just received this and wanted to note, in case anyone was interested but hadn't heard it yet, that the "Early Version" of Bird Has Flown is a stereo mix of the version that was on the single. Much like the Emmaretta stereo mix, it's slightly longer, but it's the same take.

 

Just curious... has anyone tried to contact Warner/Parlophone, Nigel Reeve (A&R/Compiler), or Andy Pearce (mastering engineer) about this error? IMO this is a pretty big mistake and I'm surprised they haven't caught this (or tried to address this) by now.

BTW you can't simply copy and paste from the 2000 EMI remaster. Wanna know why? The signal for this ending clip there is, for lack of a better word, doubled... or in other words, resulting in a grievous flaw where you're essentially hearing "two doors" closing on the remaster but it's actually the one sound, duplicated twice! And you can't really paste in the mono's ending and be home free, since the ending tag actually IS in stereo, with the loud door-closing sound having echo in the right channel.

Which means the only place to get Hey Joe's ending, in stereo and without the doubling flaw, is the 1989 Japan or Europe CDs, which I believe are taken from vinyl, and safe to say less accessible than the previous 2000 remaster. I really do hope they find a way to rectify this soon; it would be terrific to get a fixed non-flawed version for the first time directly from master tape, and not from vinyl.

 

Well said, Sir!! Can't believe that no one else made a fuss about this. Yet due to one small glitch on the new Kinks box, people are demanding blood!!

 

When I first heard Evans, I was like, "WTH?" I shelled out big bucks for an import copy of Shades in 1979 and I just couldn't believe what I was hearing. It seemed like Tom Jones with a rock band. Like you, I've grown to appreciate it. Actually, I must have grown to appreciate it pretty quickly because I got Book of Taliesin a couple of weeks later.

 

In light of the glowing reviews, I guess I'm going to have to pick this up as well. Here's hoping Pearce will continue other Purple works despite the 40th Anniversary of Machine Head and Made in Japan.

 

You won't regret this purchase. This is the definitive version of this material as far as sound and packaging goes. The only odd thing is the clipped ending for "Hey Joe" on the stereo disc.

 

Don't have this set, but interested in. Have all threee original Mark I first press UK releases - all of them are recorded with pretty dirty sound. I know that in December 1968 a special mono mix of Book of Taliesyn was produced but due to the fact that in the United States mono lps were no longer popular, the mix was never released. So it's pretty interesting - is the mono CD - the original unused mix from December 1968?

 

It is in all likelihood a fold of the stereo mix.

 

So it's a fold mix... Usual practice for late 1968 - early 1969 lps. T. Rex's Unicorn, Beatles' Yellow Submarine, Shades Of Deep Purple were all fold mixes. But interesting that early 1969 UK mono version of Zappa's Ruben & The Jets is a real mono mix, not a fold one.

 

I'm certain "UNICORN" is not a fold-down. (Sorry to get off-topic).

Really confused why they would release official CDs of fold-down mixes (haven't heard "Shades" or "Taliesyn" in mono yet).

 

I own my mono copy of Unicorn. While My people were fair, Prophets & Seers are real alternate mono mixes, Unicorn sounds like two channels were folded together. Plus it's May 1969, at that time there were no proper mono mixes, cause mono LPs quantity was very small. And in 2004 Unicorn was not issued on CD as mono, while monomixes from the first two albums were re-released.

 

I wonder if there is any chance these might be released as individual CDs - at least the stereo discs of Shades, Book, and the third album? Then they could replace the horrid single discs that are still on the market.

 

In the last two days I had a critical listening and comparison between Roland's favourite Japan CD of "Shades Of Deep Purple" and the remaster from the "Hard Road" box...and I have to say that I really dislike the new mastering. It sounds VERY different, compared to some old sources (like my Odeon EMI first pressing on good old german vinyl). At the time I am listening to the Japan CD version again (the one from 1989) and it sounds very close, compared to my german vinyl. I did further comparison of the tracks "Hush" and "One More Rainy Day" and checked both tracks on the 1983 CD of "Singles A's & B's" and they sound very similar in tonality.
Conclusion: The "Hard Road" remaster is not incomplete only (it's lacking the "Outro" after "Hey Joe"), but it also sounds the most different, compared to all versions I heard in my life.

 

But the sound of this release is clear or dirty?

 

Which one ?

 

I mean the debut album in the box.

 

It has really strange EQ choices for my personal taste. Sure, it was taken from a nice tape, but compared to the Japan 1989 CD, it seems to be a copy...I tried to fix the azimuth issues on the Japan CD - and it works !!! For the 2014 remaster, there is no chance to fix the azimuth issues...it also sounds very phasey, especially on the first two tracks.

 

It's matter of taste. I do prefer the new mastering. The Japan CD is on 2nd.