Deep Purple - Coronarias Redig (1974)

In May 1968 Deep Purple recorded their debut album 'Shades Of Deep Purple' at Pye Studios in London's Marble Arch, and once that was released in September of that year they quickly recorded their second 'The Book of Taliesyn', which was issued a few months later. The sessions from both of these have yielded a few out-takes, and the band were also regular guests on BBC radio shows, and so we have a number of unheard songs featuring singer Rod Evans. Early in 1969 the band released the one-off single 'Emmaretta', named after Emmaretta Marks, a cast member of the musical 'Hair' whom Evans was trying to seduce. Later that year the band had their first major upheaval, with Nick Simper and Rod Evans being fired, and replacements Roger Glover and Ian Gillan being brought in to make up the classic Mark II version of the band. The very first thing they recorded was the non-album single 'Hallelujah', before they got stuck into recording the classic 'In Rock' album, from which we have a couple of choice out-takes. The 'Fireball' sessions in 1971 also provide a further brace of leftovers, and the final out-take is from the 'Machine Head' sessions in 1972. We close with a 1974 b-side, which was originally intended to be a song with lyrics, expounding Ian Paice's suggestion of 'the return of the coronet', but on the day of recording Coverdale had vocal issues and so it was recorded as an instrumental and stuck of the b-side of 'Might Just Take Your Life'. All in all this is a nice overview of the Mark I, Mark II, and Mark III versions of the band, showing their progression from promising newcomers to all-encompassing global superstars. 

Track listing

01 Shadows (out-take 1968)

02 Oh No No No (out-take 1968)

03 Emmaretta (single 1969)

04 It's All Over (BBC session 1968)

05 Hey Bop A Re Bop (BBC session 1968)

06 Playground (out-take 1968)

07 Hallelujah (single 1969)

08 Cry Free (out-take 1970)

09 Jam Stew (out-take 1970)

10 Slow Train (out-take 1971)

11 Freedom (out-take 1971)

12 Painted Horse (out-take 1972)

13 When A Blind Man Cries (b-side of 'Never Before' 1972)

14 Coronarias Redig (b-side of 'Might Just Take Your Life' 1974)