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Who Do We Think We Are

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Who Do We Think We Are is the seventh studio album by the English rock band Deep Purple, released on 12 January 1973 in the US and in February 1973 in the UK.[4] It was Deep Purple's last album by the Mark II line-up with singer Ian Gillan and bassist Roger Glover until 1984’s Perfect Strangers.

Who Do We Think We Are
Studio album by
Deep Purple
Released12 January 1973 (1973-01-12) (US)[1]
RecordedJuly 1972 in Rome, Italy and October 1972 in Frankfurt, West Germany, with the Rolling Stones Mobile Studio
Genre
Length34:47
LabelPurple
ProducerDeep Purple
Deep Purple chronology
Made in Japan
(1972) 		Who Do We Think We Are
(1973) 		Burn
(1974)
Singles from Who Do We Think We Are
  1. "Woman from Tokyo"
    Released: February 1973
  2. "Super Trouper"
    Released: November 1973 (EU)[3]

Musically, the record showed a move to a more blues-based sound,[2] even featuring scat singing.[5] Although its production and the band's behaviour after its release showed the group in turmoil, with frontman Gillan remarking that "we'd all had major illnesses" and felt considerable fatigue, the album was a commercial success. Deep Purple became the top-selling U.S. artist in 1973.[2] The album featured the energetic hard-rock single "Woman from Tokyo," which while scarcely played during the 1970s, would become a live staple from the band's 1984 reunion onward.

Recording

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Who Do We Think We Are was recorded in Rome in July 1972 and Walldorf near Frankfurt in October 1972, using the Rolling Stones Mobile Studio.

"Woman from Tokyo," the first track recorded in July, is about touring Japan for the first time (e.g. the lyric "Fly into the Rising Sun"). The only other track released from the Rome sessions is the outtake "Painted Horse." The rest were recorded in Frankfurt after more touring (including Japan, which yielded Made in Japan). The group, riven with internal strife, struggled to come up with tracks they agreed upon. Members were not speaking to each other and many songs were finished only after schedules were arranged so they could record parts separately.

Of "Mary Long," Gillan said: "Mary Whitehouse and Lord Longford were particularly high-profile figures at the time, with very waggy-waggy finger attitudes… It was about the standards of the older generation, the whole moral framework, intellectual vandalism – all of the things that exist throughout the generations… Mary Whitehouse and Lord Longford became one person, fusing together to represent the hypocrisy that I saw at the time."[6]

Ian Gillan left the band following this album, citing internal tensions – widely thought to include a feud with guitarist Ritchie Blackmore. However, in an interview supporting the Mark II Purple comeback album Perfect Strangers, Gillan stated that fatigue and management had a lot to do with it:

We had just come off 18 months of touring, and we'd all had major illnesses at one time or another. Looking back, if they'd have been decent managers, they would have said, 'All right, stop. I want you to all go on three months' holiday. I don't even want you to pick up an instrument.' But instead they pushed us to complete the album on time. We should have stopped. I think if we did, Deep Purple would have still been around to this day.[2][7]

Added Jerry Bloom, editor of the book More Black than Purple:

At this point, Deep Purple had become hugely successful. Success breeds demand, demand breeds more work, more work means you’re spending more time together. Generally, when you spend more time together, you get on each other’s nerves.[8]

The last Mark II concert in the 1970s before Gillan and Glover left was in Osaka, Japan on 29 June 1973.[2]

Album title and artwork

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The original album artwork has many quoted articles from newspapers. One of them is from magazine Melody Maker of July 1972, where drummer Ian Paice remarks:

Deep Purple get piles of passionate letters either violently against or pro the group. The angry ones generally start off "Who do Deep Purple think they are..."

Another clipping simply has the Paice quote "I bought it so i'll bloody well boot it", which was his reply to an angry letter admonishing the drummer for kicking over his drum kit at the end of a live performance on the television show South Bank Pops from 1970.

On the back cover of earlier pressings, the opening track is listed as "Woman from Tokayo." Coincidentally, Ian Gillan's pronunciation of "Tokyo" does resemble this misspelling.

Release

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Despite the chaotic birth of the album, "Woman from Tokyo" was a hit single and other songs picked up considerable airplay. In the United States, it sold half a million copies in its first three months, achieving a gold record award faster than any Deep Purple album released up to that time.[2]

It hit number 4 in the UK charts[9] and number 15 in the US charts.[10] These numbers helped make Deep Purple the best-selling artist in the United States in 1973 (with the release of Made in Japan and the prior acclaim for Machine Head helping considerably).

In 2000 Who Do We Think We Are was remastered and re-released with bonus tracks. The last bonus track is a lengthy instrumental jam called "First Day Jam" that features Ritchie Blackmore on bass. Roger Glover, the group's usual bassist, was absent, allegedly lost in traffic. Roger also did remixes of many tracks, but Mary Long was not included (it appears on 2002 box set, "Listen, Learn, Read On").

In 2005 Audio Fidelity released their own re-mastering of the album on 24 karat Gold CD.

Reception

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Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic     [5]
The Daily VaultA−[11]

The album received mixed reviews. Ann Cheauvy of Rolling Stone reviewed the album negatively and, comparing Who Do We Think We Are to Deep Purple's breakthrough album In Rock, wrote that the former "sounds so damn tired in spots that it's downright disconcerting", and "the band seems to just barely summon up enough energy to lay down the rhythm track, much less improvise."[12] In a retrospective critical review, Eduardo Rivadavia of AllMusic expresses the same opinion and writes that, apart from "Woman from Tokyo", the album's songs are "wildly inconsistent and find the band simply going through the motions", although he does praise "Rat Bat Blue".[5]

On the contrary, reviewer David Bowling writes in the Blogcritics site that Who Do We Think We Are "is one of the band’s strongest and stands near the top of the Deep Purple catalogue in terms of quality", providing "some of the best hard rock of the era".[13]

Track listing

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All tracks are written by Ritchie Blackmore, Ian Gillan, Roger Glover, Jon Lord and Ian Paice

Side one
No.TitleLength
1."Woman from Tokyo"5:48
2."Mary Long"4:23
3."Super Trouper"2:54
4."Smooth Dancer"4:08
Side two
No.TitleLength
1."Rat Bat Blue"5:23
2."Place in Line"6:29
3."Our Lady"5:12
2000 Remastered CD Edition bonus tracks
No.TitleLength
8."Woman from Tokyo" ('99 Remix)6:37
9."Woman from Tokyo" (Alternate bridge)1:24
10."Painted Horse" (studio out-take)5:19
11."Our Lady" ('99 Remix)6:05
12."Rat Bat Blue" (writing session)0:57
13."Rat Bat Blue" ('99 Remix)5:49
14."First Day Jam" (instrumental)11:31

Personnel

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Deep Purple
Additional personnel
  • Produced by Deep Purple
  • Martin Birch – engineer
  • Jeremy Gee, Nick Watterton – Rolling Stones Mobile Unit operators
  • Ian Paice and Roger Glover – mixing
  • Ian Hansford, Rob Cooksey, Colin Hart, Ron Quinton – equipment
  • Roger Glover and John Coletta – cover design
  • Peter Denenberg with Roger Glover – bonus tracks remixing (2000 edition)
  • Peter Mew – remastering (original album tracks) and mastering (bonus tracks) at Abbey Road Studios, London (2000 edition)

Charts

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Certifications and sales

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Region Certification Certified units/sales
France (SNEP)[29] Gold 100,000*
Sweden — 25,000[30]
United States (RIAA)[31] Gold 500,000^

* Sales figures based on certification alone.
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

References

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  1. ^ Popoff, Martin (2016). The Deep Purple Family (2nd ed.). Wymer Publishing. p. 129. ISBN 978-1-908724-42-7.
  2. ^ a b c d e f Stan Cornyn. "Stay Tuned By Stan Cornyn: Loudest Purple". Rhino.com. Retrieved 20 January 2015.
  3. ^ "Deep Purple singles".
  4. ^ "Great Rock discography". p. 209.
  5. ^ a b c Rivadavia, Eduardo. "Deep Purple - Who Do We Think We Are review". AllMusic. All Media Network. Retrieved 5 March 2017.
  6. ^ Jeffries, Neil: "The stories behind the songs"; Classic Rock #138, November 2009, p34
  7. ^ Deep Purple: The Interview. Interview picture disc, 1984, Mercury Records.
  8. ^ "Deep Purple - A Critical Retrospective/Rock Review". YouTube. Retrieved 25 July 2018.
  9. ^ "Deep Purple Official Charts". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 5 February 2017.
  10. ^ "Deep Purple Chart History: Billboard 200". Billboard. Retrieved 5 February 2017.
  11. ^ Bowling, David (2019). "The Daily Vault Music Reviews : Who Do We Think We Are". dailyvault.com. Retrieved 17 February 2019.
  12. ^ Cheauvy, Ann (12 April 1973). "Deep Purple: Who Do We Think We Are". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 7 March 2017.
  13. ^ Bowling, David (30 November 2011). "Music Review: Deep Purple – Who Do We Think We Are". Blogcritics. Retrieved 7 March 2017.
  14. ^ Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (illustrated ed.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
  15. ^ "Austriancharts.at – Deep Purple – Who Do We Think We Are" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved March 25, 2024.
  16. ^ "Top RPM Albums: Issue 4791". RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved March 25, 2024.
  17. ^ "Danske Hitliter: Who Do We Think We Are - Deep Purple" (in Danish). Royal Library, Denmark. Archived from the original on 9 April 2016. Retrieved 25 March 2024.
  18. ^ "Dutchcharts.nl – Deep Purple – Who Do We Think We Are" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved March 25, 2024.
  19. ^ Pennanen, Timo (2006). Sisältää hitin – levyt ja esittäjät Suomen musiikkilistoilla vuodesta 1972 (in Finnish) (1st ed.). Helsinki: Kustannusosakeyhtiö Otava. p. 166. ISBN 978-951-1-21053-5.
  20. ^ "Offiziellecharts.de – Deep Purple – Who Do We Think We Are" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved March 25, 2024.
  21. ^ Oricon Album Chart Book: Complete Edition 1970–2005 (in Japanese). Roppongi, Tokyo: Oricon Entertainment. 2006. ISBN 4-87131-077-9.
  22. ^ "Norwegiancharts.com – Deep Purple – Who Do We Think We Are". Hung Medien. Retrieved March 25, 2024.
  23. ^ Salaverri, Fernando (2005). Sólo éxitos: año a año, 1959–2002 (in Spanish) (1st ed.). Spain: Fundación Autor-SGAE. ISBN 84-8048-639-2.
  24. ^ "SwedishCharts 0969-0872" (PDF). Hitsallertijden.nl. Archived (PDF) from the original on 14 October 2012. Retrieved 25 March 2024.
  25. ^ "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved March 25, 2024.
  26. ^ "Deep Purple Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved March 25, 2024.
  27. ^ "Official Rock & Metal Albums Chart Top 40". Official Charts Company. Retrieved March 25, 2024.
  28. ^ "Top 100 Album-Jahrescharts" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. 1973. Archived from the original on 23 May 2021. Retrieved 2 April 2022.
  29. ^ "French album certifications – Deep Purple – Who Do We Think We Are" (in French). InfoDisc. Select DEEP PURPLE and click OK. 
  30. ^ "From Music Capitals of the World - Stockholm" (PDF). Billboard. 29 December 1973. p. 36. ISSN 0006-2510. Retrieved 16 April 2022.
  31. ^ "American album certifications – Deep Purple – Who Do We Think We Are". Recording Industry Association of America.
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