The little-known English pop-rock band Roundabout was formed in late 1967 by keyboardist Jon Lord and guitarist Richie Blackmore, with the line-up completed by singer Rod Evans, drummer Ian Paice and Nick Simper (Warhorse) on bass. They renamed themselves Deep Purple, after the title of a ballad from the 1930s, and this was the first of several line-ups. Thanks to Chris Curtis, the former drummer of The Searchers, who had the idea for the band but soon left, they secured a record deal with Parlophone, a subsidiary of EMI. Due to a limited budget and restricted time at Pye Studios, all the recordings were completed in May 1968 within just three days and were played live in one or two takes, supplemented by only minimal overdubs. The band, whose members barely knew one another at the time, were supported by producer Derek Lawrence and sound engineer Barry Ainsworth.

Shades of Deep Purple contains eight songs, half original compositions and half cover versions, all created in the wake of the pop and psychedelic rock movements of the era. This, therefore, was not yet the hard rock band that would later achieve worldwide fame. The debut album was released in July 1968 in the USA on Tetragrammaton Records and with a delay in September 1968, in the UK. While the album, featuring the hit single Hush, proved a huge success in America (even reaching number 24 in the Billboard Pop Charts), it was by contrast largely ignored in their native England, which is a rather strange irony for this now world-famous British band. The limited edition with its much simpler cover artwork went almost unnoticed there, and only a few copies were sold. However, original British mono pressings are now in huge demand, and not just among die-hard Purple fans.