The Book Of Taliesyn
by Deep Purple
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Deep Purple bestography
The Book Of Taliesyn is ranked 11th best out of 72 albums by Deep Purple on BestEverAlbums.com.
The best album by Deep Purple is Machine Head which is ranked number 251 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 6,280.
(N.B. Bestographies include all albums by an artist (and their variations), but do not include albums ranked outside the top 100,000).
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The Book Of Taliesyn track list
The tracks on this album have an average rating of 77 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).
The Book Of Taliesyn rankings
(Calculated from aggregate positions across 60,000 charts (2 million album rankings). (Last updated: 3 hours ago).
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The Book Of Taliesyn ratings
Average Rating = (n ÷ (n + m)) × av + (m ÷ (n + m)) × AVwhere:
av = trimmed mean average rating an item has currently received.
n = number of ratings an item has currently received.
m = minimum number of ratings required for an item to appear in a 'top-rated' chart (currently 10).
AV = the site mean average rating.
Showing latest 5 ratings for this album. | Show all 132 ratings for this album.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Album ratings | Avg. album rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ! | 05/19/2026 08:26 | Leginlists | 3,753 | 83/100 |
| ! | 05/06/2026 16:32 | Jakor | 5,437 | 70/100 |
| ! | 04/25/2026 23:00 |  Robert Anton Wil | 1,149 | 84/100 |
| ! | 03/03/2026 09:43 | bulutsuzluk | 37 | 90/100 |
| ! | 01/27/2026 22:36 | Adhura | 1,696 | 77/100 |
Rating metrics:
Outliers can be removed when calculating a mean average to dampen the effects of ratings outside the normal distribution. This figure is provided as the trimmed mean. A high standard deviation can be legitimate, but can sometimes indicate 'gaming' is occurring. Consider a simplified example* of an item receiving ratings of 100, 50, & 0. The mean average rating would be 50. However, ratings of 55, 50 & 45 could also result in the same average. The second average might be more trusted because there is more consensus around a particular rating (a lower deviation).
(*In practice, some albums can have several thousand ratings)
This album has a Bayesian average rating of 71.3/100, a mean average of 70.9/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 71.2/100. The standard deviation for this album is 11.8.
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The Book Of Taliesyn comments
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VictorVale 05/09/2023 19:02 | #296819
Bela viagem, mas os covers eu achei menos inspirados.
ExTeaSea 10/15/2022 03:03 | #290487 | TOP COMMENT
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Great sophomore album! Improvement over their first especially the back half with The Shield, Anthem and the amazing Ike and Tina Turner cover River Deep Mountain High. That album cover is one of their best.
I'll try to answer jackbrown8786's question about how someone could think this album is better than Machine Head.
The thing is, if you are into 60's psychedelic music that has prog tendencies (Syd Barrett's Pink Floyd, The Moody Blues, Caravan), then you might enjoy this album better than a more straight rock album like Machine Head. Of course, if you are looking for hard rock, straight-ahead no non-sense rock n'roll, you'll prefer Machine Head or In Rock. But maybe if you are more into progressive or psychedelic music, you will enjoy this album better. Well that's my case anyways, I can really enjoy the kind of effort Deep Purple has made on this record to go beyond simply doing a rock record.
I really enjoy their psychedelic version of We Can Work It Out with the Intro from Tchaikovsky's music. Though the real highlight for me here is The Shield. But that's what you can expect from someone who's 2nd favorite Pink Floyd album is The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn and who thinks the Rolling Stones' best album is Their Satanic Majesties Request.
I'm not saying The Book Of Taliesyn is the best DP album, but I definitely can understand why someone would say it is.
I am not going to compare this to Machine Head, In Rock, Fireball, Stormbringer, Burn et al.
I am providing this viewpoint as if this is the first time I ever heard anything from this band, as if I was hearing this back in 1968 when none of the above mentioned albums ever existed. I love the psychedelic era and I love this album which is tinged with a psychedelic leaning, particularly the guitar sound. Great sixties psychedelic cover too!
And for the record, I love all the Purple albums which I own and they were one of the best live bands I aver had the pleasure to see!
Different sounding Deep Purple of course with Rod Evans on vocals. Could be mistaken for a completely different band. On saying that, it's still a great album. Bit more mellow than the rock beast they were to become. Few covers but I think they do them fine. More folk rock than the hard rock of MKII but still a worthy listen.
you honestly think it's better than machine head? how? if you're going to say that, explain...
you can't just say that, ask not to be shot, and that's it.
Best Track: Kentucky Woman
Sorry but I consider this their best (at the moment). Don't shoot me.
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