publicly performed was titled "Hey Bop a Re Bop", which aired on the Top Gear radio show on 14 January 1969. It was broadcast again on 11 February before being reworked and becoming the psychedelic blues song "The Painter". Although most recording dates are lost, it is known that the band recorded two songs on 17 February. "Lalena" and most of "April" were recorded on 28 February, while a new version of "The Bird Has Flown", retitled "Bird Has Flown", was put on tape on 28 March. The orchestral part of "April" played by hired musicians was the last recording for the yet-unnamed album, which was mixed and delivered by the end of March. Musical style As is the case with most of the material on their previous two albums, the songs of Deep Purple mix elements of progressive rock, hard rock and psychedelic rock, but this time in a darker and more baroque atmosphere. Perhaps in response to British audiences craving more blues-based rock, the band also incorporated a 12-bar blues structure on the songs "The Painter" and "Why Didn't Rosemary?" "Emmaretta" is a pop rock song written to be a commercial single, but the sound of the album is heavier and more guitar-oriented than previous works, similar to how the band sounded live during this period. Lord had been the main writer on the first two albums and his classical music upbringing and interest in fusing classical and rock had profoundly influenced the direction taken by the band. Blackmore compared the organ-heavy mix of those releases to the works of British progressive rock band the Nice, who featured Keith Emerson on keyboards. On Deep Purple Lord still had a great influence, which found maximum expression in the harpsichord-flavoured "Blind" and in the orchestral section of "April", an original piece for choir and string quartet that he composed despite being hard at work in writing and arranging his Concerto for Group and Orchestra. Lord's dominance waned some in this release as more writing and performing space was given to Blackmore, who delivered his longest and, for some critics, best guitar solos to date. Critics also remark Paice's progress as performer, especially on the "tribal" opening track "Chasing Shadows" where he had his first chance at songwriting. Bass player Nick Simper later stated that "there was a lot of pressure from Jon Lord to do this kind of semi-classical stuff