The Book Of Taliesyn
by Deep Purple

The Book Of Taliesyn by Deep Purple
Year: 1968
Release date: 1968-00-00
Overall rank: 5,383rd   
Average Rating: 
71/100 (from 129 votes)
     
Accolades:
Award Top albums of 1968 (77th)
Award Top albums of the 1960s (425th)
Award Best albums of all time (5,383rd)

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Deep Purple The Book of Taliesyn (CD) Album (UK IMPORT)
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Deep Purple bestography

The Book Of Taliesyn is ranked 11th best out of 70 albums by Deep Purple on BestEverAlbums.com.

The best album by Deep Purple is Machine Head which is ranked number 253 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 6,394.

Deep Purple album bestography « Higher ranked (4,487th)
Stormbringer
This album (5,383rd)
The Book Of Taliesyn
Lower ranked (7,057th) »
Who Do We Think We Are

(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 78 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).

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1.
Average Rating: 78 (31 votes)Comments: View 1
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3.
Average Rating: 78 (34 votes)Comments: View 0
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Average Rating: 78 (30 votes)Comments: View 1
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Average Rating: 77 (30 votes)Comments: View 0
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The Book Of Taliesyn rankings

Rankings summary
Overall rank: 5,383rd | 1960s rank: 425th | 1968 rank: 77th

The Book Of Taliesyn collection

The Book Of Taliesyn ratings

Average Rating: 
71/100 (from 129 votes)
   Help Average Rating = (n ÷ (n + m)) × av + (m ÷ (n + m)) × AV
where:
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 129 ratings for this album.

Sort by
RatingDate updatedMemberAlbum ratingsAvg. album rating
 
75/100
 !
01/27/2026 22:36 Adhura   1,41377/100
 
65/100
 !
01/14/2026 04:57 Exist-en-ciel   7,53270/100
 
75/100
 !
11/05/2025 01:24 mnmont   24789/100
 
65/100
 !
11/02/2025 17:21 AAL2014   3,60675/100
 
80/100
 !
08/15/2025 13:02 platus   5,82274/100

Rating metrics: Help 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 71.3/100. The standard deviation for this album is 12.0.

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The Book Of Taliesyn favourites

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The Book Of Taliesyn comments

Showing all 5 comments |
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Rating:  
80/100
From 05/09/2023 19:02 | #296819
Bela viagem, mas os covers eu achei menos inspirados.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
85/100
From 10/15/2022 03:03 | #290487
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.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
75/100
From 01/06/2022 05:24 | #278708
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.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
70/100
From 10/28/2021 19:31 | #275485
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!
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
80/100
From 09/10/2020 02:25 | #257995
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.
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Best Albums of 1968
1. The Beatles (The White Album) by The Beatles
2. Electric Ladyland by The Jimi Hendrix Experience
3. Astral Weeks by Van Morrison
4. Odessey And Oracle by The Zombies
5. The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society by The Kinks
6. Beggars Banquet by The Rolling Stones
7. White Light/White Heat by The Velvet Underground
8. Bookends by Simon & Garfunkel
9. Music From Big Pink by The Band
10. At Folsom Prison by Johnny Cash
11. Waiting For The Sun by The Doors
12. A Saucerful Of Secrets by Pink Floyd
13. Lady Soul by Aretha Franklin
14. We're Only In It For The Money by The Mothers Of Invention
15. The Notorious Byrd Brothers by The Byrds
16. Cheap Thrills by Big Brother And The Holding Company
17. Os Mutantes by Os Mutantes
18. Wheels Of Fire by Cream
19. Sweetheart Of The Rodeo by The Byrds
20. S.F. Sorrow by The Pretty Things
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