The Who Do We Think We Are by Deep Purple album review covers the most complicated record in the Mark II catalog: the final studio album by the classic lineup before their first breakup, recorded by a band that was exhausted, fractured, and being pushed harder than any group of musicians should be pushed.
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📋 Table of Contents [+]
The Title and What It Meant
The album’s title was not invented in a studio brainstorming session.
It came from an interview Ian Paice gave to Melody Maker in 1972, in which he described the angry letters and critical reviews the band regularly received, noting that they almost always opened with a variation of the phrase “who do Deep Purple think they are.”
The band adopted it as a title that acknowledged the question while refusing to apologize for asking it.
The album cover reinforced the irony: each of the five band members photographed inside an individual bubble, separate from the others, suspended in their own world.
It is one of the more honest album covers in the history of hard rock.
By the time the record was released in January 1973, the bubbles were the most accurate representation of where the band actually stood.
Eighteen Months of Touring and a Band Hitting the Wall
After the release of Machine Head in March 1972, Deep Purple did not stop.
The band flew to the United States four times in the first six months of 1972 alone, on top of European dates and promotional obligations.
Almost every member of the band suffered from fatigue or serious illness during this period.
Ian Gillan had already contracted hepatitis before the Machine Head sessions and was advised by his doctor to rest, advice he ignored.
Roger Glover, Jon Lord, and Ian Paice all experienced physical ailments from the relentless schedule.
The band’s management, rather than calling a halt, pushed for a new album to capitalize on the commercial momentum of Machine Head and the “Smoke on the Water” single, which was becoming a US radio phenomenon through 1972 and into 1973.
Roger Glover later said that if the management had given the band three months off and told them not to pick up an instrument, Deep Purple might never have broken up.
Instead, they were sent to a rented villa near Rome in the summer of 1972 to record.
Who Do We Think We Are Album Review: Recording in Rome and Frankfurt
The band arrived at a rented villa outside Rome in July 1972 with Roger Glover later recalling that hundreds of bottles of cheap local red wine were delivered at the start of the sessions.
The villa had a living room, dining room, five or six bedrooms, a swimming pool, and a patio, and the initial plan was to record in that environment using Martin Birch as engineer.
Italian journalists who visited the villa during the sessions found Glover, Lord, and Gillan set up to record in one room with Blackmore and Paice in a separate garage.
The physical separation in the villa was not an accident.
Blackmore had grown so removed from the rest of the band that he would contribute guitar parts on his own schedule, without coordinating with Gillan.
“Woman from Tokyo” was the only track recorded in Rome.
All remaining tracks were recorded in Frankfurt, Germany, later that year.
Martin Birch engineered the sessions, with final mixing handled by Ian Paice and Roger Glover.
Blackmore vs Gillan: Recording in Separate Rooms
The central creative tension on Who Do We Think We Are was between Ritchie Blackmore and Ian Gillan, and it was by this point not creative tension in the productive sense but genuine personal conflict.
Gillan wrote the lyrics to “Smooth Dancer” directly about Blackmore, the phrase “black suede, do not mean you’re good to me” a reference to the guitarist’s signature black stage clothing.
Blackmore, for his part, later admitted he was essentially dialing in his contributions, withholding his best riff ideas on the grounds that he was saving them for a solo project.
Several riffs that did not make this album are believed to have ended up on Burn, recorded the following year with the Mark III lineup of David Coverdale and Glenn Hughes.
Roger Glover noted in interviews that Blackmore’s guitar solos on this album show a marked downturn in quality compared to Machine Head and Fireball, the audible result of a musician who had mentally checked out of the project.
The band credits all tracks jointly to all five members, as had been their practice since In Rock, but the reality of this album’s creation was far less collaborative than that credit line suggests.
Track-by-Track Review
“Woman from Tokyo” opens the album and is covered in detail in its own section below.
“Mary Long” is a satirical rocker aimed at Mary Whitehouse and Lord Longford, two prominent British censorship campaigners of the era, with Gillan’s lyrics deploying the kind of pointed wit that his best writing has always contained.
The track received considerable radio airplay despite its subject matter and is one of the more underappreciated songs in the Deep Purple catalog.
“Super Trouper” is a driving mid-tempo track with a strong Lord organ presence and one of Gillan’s more controlled vocal performances on the album, building steadily through a long instrumental section.
“Smooth Dancer” is the most openly confrontational track on the record, its lyrics a direct rebuke to Blackmore over a groove that Jon Lord dominates with his Hammond throughout.
“Rat Bat Blue” opens side two with one of the strongest riffs on the album, a hard-driving track that many critics consider the second-best track after “Woman from Tokyo,” featuring Lord at his most aggressively inventive on organ.
“Place in Line” is a slower, blues-influenced track that has divided opinion since release, some listeners finding it a welcome change of pace, others feeling it loses momentum mid-album.
“Our Lady” closes the record with a more reflective, almost pastoral quality that points toward the solo directions both Gillan and Lord would pursue after the band’s split, a closing statement that sounds, in retrospect, like a farewell.
Who Do We Think We Are Album Review: Woman from Tokyo
“Woman from Tokyo” is the album’s undeniable centerpiece and one of the finest tracks in the entire Deep Purple catalog.
Blackmore began playing the guitar figure that opens the song, and Gillan immediately sang “TO-KY-O” to match the rhythm of the riff.
He and Glover finished the lyrics together, imagining what their upcoming first visit to Japan might be like, writing authoritatively, as Glover later admitted, about a place neither of them had yet been.
The track is built in two distinct sections: a driving hard rock verse and chorus built on Blackmore’s riff, and a psychedelic, almost dreamlike bridge section in the middle that the single edit removed entirely to make the track more radio-friendly.
That bridge is the most progressive piece of music on the album and arguably one of the most creative moments in the Mark II catalog.
The album version runs over five minutes and is significantly more interesting than the single cut.
The full story of the song is covered in our dedicated article on Deep Purple Woman from Tokyo.
Chart Performance and Sales
Who Do We Think We Are was released in January 1973 in the UK and February 1973 in the United States.
It reached number 4 on the UK Albums Chart and number 15 on the US Billboard 200.
In the United States, it sold half a million copies in its first three months, earning a gold record faster than any previous Deep Purple album.
Those sales figures made Deep Purple the best-selling artist in the United States in 1973, a position achieved through the combined impact of this album, the Made in Japan live record, and the belated single release of “Smoke on the Water” which peaked at number 4 on the Billboard Hot 100.
The commercial performance was therefore considerably better than the album’s critical reputation suggested, a gap that has defined how the record has been discussed ever since.
Rolling Stone reviewed it negatively on release, describing the band as sounding “so damn tired in spots that it’s downright disconcerting.”
That review, combined with the band’s own later dismissiveness about the sessions, set the critical tone that the album has been fighting against for fifty years.
The End of Mark II: Gillan and Glover Exit
The final Mark II concert of the 1970s took place in Osaka, Japan on June 29, 1973.
No songs from Who Do We Think We Are were performed at that show, despite it being the band’s most recent studio album at the time.
That absence speaks plainly to how the band felt about the record they had made together.
Gillan submitted his resignation in writing, a decision that reflected how difficult the interpersonal situation had become.
Glover, who did not want to leave, recognized that Blackmore and the band’s management no longer wanted him around and departed at the same time.
The eleven-year gap between that Osaka concert and the Mark II reunion on Perfect Strangers in 1984 is one of the longest comeback arcs in rock history, and it began with the sessions for this album.
The 2000 Remaster and Bonus Tracks
EMI released a remastered edition of Who Do We Think We Are in 2000, including several bonus tracks from the sessions.
The most significant addition is “First Day Jam,” a lengthy instrumental recorded on the first day of sessions at the Rome villa, notable for featuring Ritchie Blackmore on bass rather than guitar because Roger Glover had not yet arrived, allegedly held up in traffic.
Roger Glover remixed several of the album tracks for the reissue but declined to include “Mary Long,” which subsequently appeared on the 2002 box set Listen, Learn, Read On.
The 2000 remaster is the recommended version for new listeners, presenting the album with improved sonics and additional context from the bonus material.
A 2019 purple vinyl reissue on 180-gram vinyl from Rhino, using the original UK gatefold artwork, is the preferred option for collectors who want the album in its original physical form.
Who Do We Think We Are Album Review: Legacy and Reassessment
Who Do We Think We Are has spent fifty years being treated as the weak entry in the Mark II studio catalog, a reputation driven partly by the Rolling Stone review, partly by the band’s own dismissiveness, and partly by the simple fact that Machine Head preceded it.
The reassessment that has developed among serious Deep Purple listeners over the past two decades is more nuanced.
“Woman from Tokyo” is now recognized as one of the defining Deep Purple tracks, regularly airing on classic rock radio in the United States decades after its release.
“Rat Bat Blue” and “Mary Long” have accumulated devoted followings among fans who find the album’s blues-influenced, slightly looser approach a refreshing contrast to the precision of Machine Head.
Roger Glover, in a 2019 interview about the mixing sessions for a reissue, described hearing the individual performances on the original twenty-four track masters and finding Jon Lord’s organ work and Ian Paice’s drumming remarkable, suggesting the album’s production had obscured performances that deserved to be heard more clearly.
That the album was made at all, under the conditions it was made in, by musicians who were physically exhausted and personally estranged, is itself a testament to how deep the band’s musicianship ran even when the collaborative spirit had essentially collapsed.
Final Verdict
The Who Do We Think We Are by Deep Purple album review ends with a verdict that differs from the consensus: this is not a great Deep Purple album, but it is a better album than its reputation allows.
“Woman from Tokyo” alone would justify its place in the catalog.
“Rat Bat Blue” is the second-best track and would have been a highlight on almost any other hard rock album of 1973.
The remainder is uneven, and the audible disengagement of Blackmore, the band’s primary riff architect, costs the record the energy that In Rock, Fireball, and Machine Head all sustained across their full running times.
But Who Do We Think We Are is also a document of something that rarely gets recorded: a great band at the exact moment it runs out of fuel, still capable of producing occasional brilliance even as the engine seizes.
For that reason alone it belongs in any serious Deep Purple collection, and the Who Do We Think We Are by Deep Purple album review recommends the 2000 remaster as the version to own.
People Also Ask
What is Deep Purple’s Who Do We Think We Are album?
Who Do We Think We Are is the seventh studio album by Deep Purple, released in January 1973 in the UK and February 1973 in the United States. It is the final studio album recorded by the classic Mark II lineup of Ritchie Blackmore, Ian Gillan, Roger Glover, Jon Lord, and Ian Paice before Ian Gillan and Roger Glover’s departure in mid-1973. The album was recorded at a villa near Rome and in Frankfurt, Germany, in the summer of 1972, and was engineered by Martin Birch.
Where did the title Who Do We Think We Are come from?
The title came from an Ian Paice interview with Melody Maker in 1972, in which he described the angry letters and critical reviews the band regularly received, noting they almost always opened with a variation of the phrase “who do Deep Purple think they are.” The band adopted it as a self-aware acknowledgment of the question, reinforced by the album cover showing each member isolated in their own bubble.
Why was Who Do We Think We Are the last Mark II album?
The Mark II lineup had been touring virtually without break for eighteen months after Machine Head, and the physical and personal strain had become unsustainable. The relationship between Ritchie Blackmore and Ian Gillan had deteriorated to the point where they were recording their parts in separate rooms. Gillan submitted his resignation in writing during the subsequent touring cycle, with Roger Glover departing at the same time. Their final concert was in Osaka, Japan on June 29, 1973.
How did Who Do We Think We Are chart?
The album reached number 4 on the UK Albums Chart and number 15 on the US Billboard 200. In the United States it sold half a million copies in its first three months, earning a gold record faster than any previous Deep Purple album and contributing to Deep Purple being the best-selling artist in America in 1973, aided by the concurrent success of the Made in Japan live album and the Smoke on the Water single.
Which version of Who Do We Think We Are should I buy?
The 2000 remaster is the recommended version for most listeners, offering improved sound quality and bonus tracks including the First Day Jam instrumental featuring Blackmore on bass. Collectors who prefer the original album in physical form should look for the 2019 purple vinyl reissue from Rhino, which presents the original UK gatefold artwork on 180-gram vinyl.
Watch: Who Do We Think We Are by Deep Purple
The Mark II lineup in 1973, the year the classic band played their final concert before an eleven-year split.
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Who Do We Think We Are (1973)
Purple vinyl reissue — 180g
The final Mark II studio album, featuring Woman from Tokyo and Rat Bat Blue.
An essential chapter in the Deep Purple story, now on purple vinyl.
Machine Head (1972)
The album that preceded Who Do We Think We Are
Highway Star, Smoke on the Water, Lazy, Space Truckin.
The commercial and critical peak that set an impossible standard to follow.
Deep Purple in Rock (1970)
25th Anniversary Edition CD
Where the Mark II story began, three years and four albums before it ended.
Contains Child in Time, Speed King, and the blueprint for everything that followed.
The Very Best of Deep Purple
Compilation spanning the full career
Includes Woman from Tokyo alongside all the essential hits.
The best single-disc entry point for listeners new to the full catalog.
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Machine Head by Deep Purple — Album Review
The six-million-selling 1972 masterpiece recorded in hotel corridors after the Montreux Casino fire, and the album this one had to follow.
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The Who Do We Think We Are by Deep Purple album review arrives at the same place every honest listen to this record does: grateful that it exists, clear-eyed about its limitations, and convinced that Woman from Tokyo alone makes it worth owning.