Deep Purple aren’t just pioneers of heavy metal and hard rock — they’ve also got one of the weirdest, wildest, and occasionally WTF collections of album art in rock history. From psychedelic swirls and medieval knights to melting candle heads and stock-photo storm horses, their sleeves tell just as much of a story as the music inside.

So, let’s march through the decades, album by album, cover by cover, with plenty of cheek, fandom, and the odd Welsh “What’s occurring?” along the way.

🌸 1968 – Shades of Deep Purple

  • The Look: A trippy, colour-splattered portrait of the band.
  • Backstory: Tetragrammaton Records in the US slapped this together to ride the psychedelic wave. The problem? Purple weren’t really a flower-power band — they were already leaning toward heavier riffs.
  • Fan Verdict: Looks more like Strawberry Alarm Clock than proto-metal. Even Jon Lord joked it made them look like “hippies who’d lost the sitar.”

📜 1968 – The Book of Taliesyn

  • The Look: A medieval fever dream — dragons, knights, wizards — you name it.
  • Backstory: Named after a real 14th-century Welsh manuscript (yep, Cymru on the map already! 🏴). The cover art by John Vernon Lord (no relation to Jon) threw everything and the kitchen cauldron onto the page.
  • Fan Verdict: Metal fans loved the fantasy vibes years before Rainbow, Dio, and every power metal band nicked the aesthetic. Proper job!

🎭 1969 – Deep Purple (self-titled)

  • The Look: A mix of surreal illustrations and collaged photos, very late-60s.
  • Backstory: More of that record-company “just make it look psychedelic” energy. By now, Ritchie Blackmore was itching for something heavier, and the sleeve didn’t scream “proto-metal monsters.”
  • Fan Verdict: Forgotten by many, and for good reason — looks more like a prog sampler than the birth of heavy rock.

🪨 1970 – Deep Purple in Rock

  • The Look: Mount Rushmore… but with Deep Purple carved in instead of US presidents. Iconic.
  • Backstory: Designed by Hipgnosis (same crew behind Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon). The statement was clear: “We are literally rock.”
  • Fan Verdict: One of the greatest covers in hard rock. No notes. YESS MUN. 🤘

🎤 1971 – Fireball

  • The Look: The band members’ heads shot out like a comet tail.
  • Backstory: Inspired by the title, but looks a bit like a dodgy sci-fi poster. Fun fact: Ritchie Blackmore thought it looked rubbish.
  • Fan Verdict: A bit silly, but at least it’s memorable.

💿 1972 – Machine Head

  • The Look: A fogged-up metallic blur with the band peeking through.
  • Backstory: The blur was an accident! The photographer’s lens steamed up, and the band decided it looked suitably mysterious.
  • Fan Verdict: Matches the music perfectly — industrial, heavy, a little rough round the edges.

🎸 1972 – Made in Japan (live)

  • The Look: A warm, fuzzy live shot with golden frame.
  • Backstory: Warners didn’t want to release it in the US at first (madness!), but the cover screamed “this is the Purple live experience.”
  • Fan Verdict: Legendary live album, cover keeps it simple but effective.

🕯️ 1974 – Burn

  • The Look: The band as wax candle heads, all aflame.
  • Backstory: Designed by Nesbit, Phipps & Froome. They thought it looked mystical. Fans thought it looked like Haunted Wax Museum: The Musical.
  • Ritchie Blackmore’s Verdict: Hated it. Utterly.

🌩️ 1974 – Stormbringer

  • The Look: A horse galloping out of the clouds like some biblical apocalypse.
  • Backstory: Stock art by Joe Garnett. They didn’t commission it — they bought it off the shelf!
  • Fan Verdict: Still iconic, still one of the coolest covers. Perfect fit for the title track’s thunder.

🍷 1975 – Come Taste the Band

  • The Look: A wine glass with the band inside, looking like tipsy ghosts.
  • Backstory: A nod to both the title and the group’s drinking habits. (Purple in the mid-’70s could drink Wales dry, mun.)
  • Fan Verdict: Cheeky and fitting.

⚡ 1984 – Perfect Strangers

  • The Look: A sleek metallic DP logo on black.
  • Backstory: After years of chaos, they went minimal for the big reunion. The “no nonsense” cover said it all.
  • Fan Verdict: Clean, bold, timeless.

🐉 1993 – The Battle Rages On…

  • The Look: A snarling dragon, purple and fiery.
  • Backstory: Dragons had been circling Purple imagery for years, but this was the first proper “metal fantasy beast” cover.
  • Fan Verdict: Looks like a Power Metal record, but fans dug it.

🌌 2003 – Bananas

  • The Look: A giant crane lifting a bunch of bananas. Yes, really.
  • Backstory: The band leaned into absurdity. Ian Gillan loved it; fans were baffled.
  • Fan Verdict: Often voted their worst cover. More fruit salad than hard rock. 🍌

🌀 2005 – Rapture of the Deep

  • The Look: An underwater, mysterious design with diver motifs.
  • Backstory: A return to something arty after Bananas made them look like Chiquita’s house band.
  • Fan Verdict: Atmospheric, decent, but not iconic.

💥 2013 – Now What?!

  • The Look: A minimal, white cover with a graffiti-style question mark/exclamation mark.
  • Backstory: Producer Bob Ezrin pushed for simplicity. The idea: “let the music speak.”
  • Fan Verdict: Some hated it (“looks unfinished”), others loved the bold minimalism.

🌌 2017 – inFinite

  • The Look: The infinity symbol carved into Arctic ice, with a lone ship.
  • Backstory: Symbolising the band’s seemingly endless career (though some thought it hinted at a farewell).
  • Fan Verdict: Epic imagery. Very prog.

🏃 2020 – Whoosh!

  • The Look: A man dissolving into stardust as he runs.
  • Backstory: Ezrin again — playing with themes of mortality, time, and cosmic dust.
  • Fan Verdict: Poignant, powerful, and fitting for a band still sprinting at full tilt in their seventies.

🎶 2021 – Turning to Crime

  • The Look: Mugshot line-up of the band, “wanted” style.
  • Backstory: Their first all-covers record. The sleeve leans into the joke — “caught nicking other people’s songs.”
  • Fan Verdict: Fans loved the humour.

🤘 THE VERDICT

Deep Purple’s discography is a mad gallery:

  • Iconic: In Rock, Machine Head, Stormbringer.
  • Barmy but brilliant: Burn, Come Taste the Band, Whoosh!.
  • What were they thinking? Bananas.

But that’s Purple in a nutshell — unpredictable, chaotic, sometimes ridiculous, always legendary. And just like their riffs, their album covers keep you coming back for more.