Shades of Deep Purple - Album Cover and Release

Album Cover and Release

The album was now well and finished and tapes were taken to Tetragrammaton representatives that had come to London. The material proved to be more than satisfactory with the label. Due to this, it was with few worries the band approached their next stop, which was the famous Mr. Fish Emporium, where the band-members were clothed in hip styles and fashions. There they did the obligatory photo-shoot. The resulting shots were shipped to America and Tetragrammaton began their distribution of the album there.

The "Hush" single was released overseas by Tetragrammaton and it turned out to be a huge success, peaking at #4 on the US charts, #2 on the Canadian charts, and garnering the band considerable attention. The label's reluctance to release "Help" as the promotional single and instead go for "Hush", proved ingenious. Widely distributed and hyped, the song was played on radios all over the US, particularly the West Coast and the band was well noticed thanks to this. The album was released in the United States in July, 1968 and raced up the Billboard Pop Chart, ultimately peaking at #24. This was more than anyone could hope for back in England and probably more than the label itself had envisioned.

The single was released in the UK as well, but it was, not surprisingly, overlooked as their European label chose to promote "Help" more heavily there. Ian Paice had this to say about success in the US versus the lack of success back home, in an interview for Melody Maker:

"We have been given proper exposure over there. The Americans really know how to push records."

Then, the band did some promotional gigs for the BBC, but otherwise, England in general was not very prioritised. They did some gigs in local pubs and festivals, but the crowd didn't seem that interested. As Jon Lord reflected it to Beat Instrumental Magazine:

"We felt that England was unlikely to be as receptive to a new group as America, so we tried to get signed up with an American record company. We were lucky in that we were signed by a new label, who were anxious to get started with a hit and we had a lot of promotion and publicity. We had far greater freedom both financially and artistically than we could ever have got with a British company. An English company as a rule won't spend any time or effort with you until you're an established name, but isn't that leaving it a bit late?"

Ian Paice's explanation for their lack of touring and promotion in England, reflected to Melody Maker:

"This is because we haven't been offered the money we want and unless there is some sort of prestige attached, there is no point in doing the general run of gigs. And as far as we are concerned, dancing audiences are out. There are only about three numbers in our act that they can dance to. We make a point of warning promoters that we are not a dancing group."

The album was released in the United Kingdom in September 1968 and just as Lord states, the whole thing was not really noticed in the musical environment there. By October, Deep Purple set off to the States, where they were to tour. When they arrived and played their first gigs, attention that was completely in contrast to what they had been given in England, was blasting their way. The success of the "Hush" single was a giant boost in America. The band played at many different locations, including festivals, bars and even at the Playboy Mansion, alongside Hugh Hefner and a bunch of dancing women. The album was from then on a success. If they hadn't been taken seriously in the UK, they certainly were in The States.