Deep Purple III  by Deep Purple

In September 1969, Deep Purple released their third album titled after the band's name, but it is also referred to by many as Deep Purple III. Here, Deep Purple begins to show signs of a hard rock direction, with progressive rock still remaining strong in compositions like April or Blind. The covers have been limited to one, Donovan's song Lalena, while the remaining seven songs are compositions by the band's members.

The impressive cover of the album is a painting by the Dutch artist Hieronymus Bosch titled "The Garden of Earthly Delights." The painting is originally in color, but due to a mistake in the printing of the cover, it came out black and white, and the band ultimately decided to keep it that way.

This album was the last album for singer Rod Evans. The other members asked him to leave as they believed his voice did not fit with the hard rock path they wanted to follow. Thus, with Deep Purple III, the first era of Deep Purple comes to a close.