Who Do We Think We Are (Deluxe Edition)

Side one, Woman From Tokyo, Mary Long, Smooth Dancer and Super Trooper is a clear example of Ian Gillan trying to change the style of the band. But after Machine Head and Made In Japan still very high in the charts, and very much in the minds of the public at that time, no one was ready for this album. At all! EVERYONE was still listening to Made In Japan everyday and this album just came WAY too soon. And where is the explosive energy of Highway Star, Picture of Home, Fireball, No No No, Fools, Speed King, Flight of the Rat or Bloodsucker? Side two is a different story. Rat Bat Blue is the classic that never was. It’s the Highway Star of this album and if this album wouldn’t have been buried between Machine Head, Made In Japan and Burn, and if they would have included it in their live set, it would have become a classic, no doubt. But it was too late. Made In Japan was so big, audiences only wanted to hear MIJ songs on that tour. Only Mary Long got played which sounded good but they should have played Woman From Tokyo and Rat Bat Blue and this album would have been HUGE! But does Rat Bat Blue remind you of anything? How about Place in Line and Our Lady? Was Blackmore already putting MKIII or Baby Face together and using side two as a testing ground? Rat Bat Blue sounds like You Fool No One. Our Lady could have been a Glenn Hughes/MKIII song, easily. Kinda like Holy Man perhaps. So, side one is a band breaking up. A band that could no longer capture that Made In Japan energy on a studio record, nor could they write with the bravado of the three previous studio albums. Side two, clearly Blackmore’s test for Burn. “Hmm, how might Rat Bat Blue sound with Glenn Hughes and David Coverdale”, said Blackmore. But despite the mistakes and bad ideas, Deep Purple were at it’s peak as a band (another peak occurred during the Stormbringer tour, check out Live In Paris - the boys were on fire live), Who Do We Think We Are is a very good album that’s really fun to listen to. Especially when you’re tired of Made In Japan, but really love MKII DP. In all of Deep Purple’s catalog, where does it stand? After Made In Japan, Made In Europe, Machine Head, Burn, Fireball, In Rock, Come Taste The Band, Deep Purple (MKIs last album), and maybe Stormbringer, or at least a tie with that album. That’s not bad company folks. And for you “MKII only” folks, it’s not so different from Fireball. Listen, It’s GREAT album. It had the misfortune of being rushed out after Made In Japan (It was being recorded while Made In Japan was being put together for release, and Made In Japan beat Who Do We Think We Are to the punch). Then after MKII broke up, while people were still wildly listening to Made In Japan, big press says two new members have joined, one a known rock star in Glenn Hughes, and another yet to be a huge rock star, David Coverdale of Whitesnake quickly came in and Deep Purple, using this new and great talent made Burn - another Deep Purple masterpiece. How do you replace Ian Gillan, one of the greatest 70s rock singers? Bring in high-tenor Glenn Hughes, which would have been enough, but they also brought in sexy low baritone David Coverdale. A bold and genius move. Who Do We Think We Are never stood a chance. It was surrounded by DP’s best of the best albums, not to mention the easy excuse that the band were fighting at the time. I say this. Buy it. For sure, you’ll really like it. It’s like comparing Beethoven’s 5th to his 6th. The 5th is the classic but the 6th is better than anyone else’s work at the time. And it’s classic DP in their prime. It SOUNDS like DP. If you’ve never heard it, you’ll instantly feel like you just bought a 1973 Deep Purple album you never knew about. Get it! Get the re-master. It’s a must for MKII fans.

The relative lack of popularity for "Who Do We Think We Are" stems, I think, from the impossible task of following up the band's previous effort, "Machine Head," arguably among the 10 finest hard rock albums ever. These guys had a hard act to follow. Long-time Purple fans will notice at once that this album plays a bit more like "Fireball" and a bit less like "Machine Head," especially side 1 (as it was laid out on the vinyl record), and because of that it falls short by comparison. It sits uncomfortably between "Machine Head" and the surprisingly good "Burn," the first Purple album after bassist Roger Glover and vocalist Ian Gillan from the "classic" lineup were evicted. Taken on its own merits, "Who Do We Think We Are" is a pretty good album, meticulously recorded and with at least a couple of classic cuts. One of them is the big hit, "Woman From Tokyo." It's a fine song featuring some of Gillan's best work, but has a sort of padded feeling, lacking the attack and edge of many of the cuts on "Machine Head." Perhaps they should have recorded at the "Rolling Truck Stones thing" again. Drummer Ian Paice seems more in the background here, a shame considering his work on "Machine Head" was nothing short of dazzling. The late Jon Lord's keyboard work dominates side 2, and that's not a bad thing. Friction was forming in the band at this time - "How long can you go on being Ritchie Blackmore's backup band?" wryly asked founding member Lord, and this might explain why some of the playing seems a bit uninspired on Side 1. Side 2 opens with a bang. "Rat Bat Blue" features a killer solo from Lord, and is among Purple's best tunes, a seldom-played gem with a great power hook ala "Smoke on the Water" or "Space Truckin.'" The ambitious "Place In Line" works similar territory to "Lazy," but while Lazy mined a lot of influences to create something special, "Place In Line" seems to be holding back, only breaking loose near the end. "Our Lady" is an ethereal, Lord/Gillan-dominated tune, and if you like Lord's organ work, you will certainly like it here. This is not a bad album by any means. Just don't expect the groundbreaking level of instrumental genius this band showed on "Machine Head" and its follow-up live album, "Made In Japan." Just ask Peter Frampton how hard it is to follow up a mega-album (and exhausting world wide tour in support of it) and still survive. Maybe it's not fair, but the biggest problem with this album is simply that it's not as good as the one that preceeded it, or the one that followed it.

Everyone is entitled to their opinion but I question the iTunes review . . . I always loved the B side, with Rat Bat Blue, Place in Line, and Our Lady . There is some great jamming going on and a whole lot of soul for a studio album of that day . . . it's still my opinion that it's one of the best sides on any piece of vinyl . . . ever!

Certainly nothing to write home about after the glorious heights achieved on albums like In Rock and Machine Head. Here, Deep Purple come up short and out of gas in the songwriting department. Sure it's not horrible, it's also not terribly memorable either. This is the sound of a band trying to recapture past glories and basically failing miserably and falling flat on their faces. Who do we think we are? A better group than this, I would have hoped. It's as if the band suddenly questioned themselves in hesitation and instead of properly following up a classic, released a bunch of half baked outtakes instead. Again, this isn't awful, just painfully mediocre.

Let me say up front that the iTunes review of "Who Do We Think We Are?" is complete garbage...has the reviewer ever actually listened to this record? I've always felt that the negative reviews of this record are an example of "hindsight bias", where because this version of the band imploded shortly after this record's release, suddenly some folks perceived fault lines evident in the music itself. This is not the case...the fact is, when this album came out as an LP in '73 Purple fans loved it! It happens to be a terrific record...I find it especially amusing that the iTunes "reviewer" actually singled out one of Purple's best tunes, "Mary Long", as example of how bad the record is (one might ask why the band bothers to continue performing "Mary Long" live if it is so unappreciated?)... I am a life-long fan of the band and I can say absolutely that this is not only one of the band's finest moments in their 42 year career, but one of my favorite records of the 70's...and it is very much on par with all Deep Purple's best records...The inclusion of the wonderful non-LP track "Painted Horse" is an especially cool addition as well...

I put this album side to side with Machine Head and Burn. Ritchie burns throughout the whole album and Jon Lord is right there with him. Gillan's vocals are superb and he is in top shape. Remember It took Coverdale and Hughes to replace this man in vocals. Th rhythm section of Paice and Glover is rock solid. After 35 + years, this album is heavy, specially with songs like Super Trouper and Smooth Dancer. Other great tunes are Rat Bat Blue and of course the popular Woman from Tokyo. I got this album right after Made in Japan and was never disappointed with it, it kicks some serious a*s. Crank it loud and listen to Ritchie's guitar !!!!!!!!

A difficult album to understand. The core of Purple had erupted and it seems light years away from the quality sounds on "in rock" nonetheless this album delivers some rich moments. The everlasting feud between blackmore and Gillan is so evident as portrayed in "smooth dancer" In wich Gillan briliantly dices blackmores refusal to work alongside him. The whole album was recorded when one or the other was not in the studio and by the time this effort was done they had not talked for almost a year. It sounds tired and perhaps it is greatly underrated but it does deliver some really good work such as the ballad super trouper probobly yhe best tune here or maybe even the popish woman from tokyo wich the band used to promote over and over again. The critics and the fans received this work with mixed reviews, but the hard rock from wich purple is known is just not there. A dark album. Youd have to listen many times to enjoy it but come to terms with the music and ritchies riffs can be taken away from your head only thru surgery.

This is by far the worst of the MarkII band. I saw the tour of the album and it was terrible. You could see they didn't want to be on the same stage together. This is completely how the album sounds, get in the studio and get out. I would not recommend this to any real Purple fan they would be dissapointed.

I listen to alot of Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Black Sabbith and other bands in that time peroid. In my opinion this album is the most original.

I received this LP as a gift in 1973 and it was nearly worn out on my Technics turntable. "Rat Bat Blue, " is a fantastic song with great vocals by Ian Gillian and sizzling guitar work by Ritchie Blackmore. "Woman from Tokyo," is a classic and the bonus tracks are pretty good too. Many critics say bands often peak on their fourth album (Beatles, Springsteen, Led Zep) and this is Deep Purple's fourth and perhaps best album. As other reviewers have pointed out, the main iTunes review really doesn't give this LP enough credit. This is 70's had rock at it's absolute peak. "Who Do We Think We Are," rocks and you should own it or give it as a gift!