Deep Purple
Who Do We Think We Are
The Mark II finale the critic called tired and disconcerting
Released in January 1973, Who Do We Think We Are was Deep Purple's last Mark II studio album. A contemporary hostile review, alongside chart results from the US, UK and Norway with their dates.
The verdict at the time
Cheauvy called Who Do We Think We Are 'a fouled imitation' of Deep Purple's earlier self and found it 'so damn tired in spots that it's downright disconcerting', a record whose band 'just barely summon[s] up enough energy to lay down the rhythm track'. She dismissed 'Woman from Tokyo' as 'one massive riff lumbering along' with 'no development, no direction', and called 'Place in Line' 'a sound sleep imitating a coma'. The hostile verdict belongs to Ann Cheauvy and Rolling Stone, not to Echo Mandala.
Chart peaks
European positions are listed by country. Later chart entries are labelled separately.
Sources & context
One critic's opinion, summarised from Ann Cheauvy's original Rolling Stone review of 12 April 1973. The album is now recognised as part of Deep Purple's classic Mark II canon; 'Woman from Tokyo' became a concert staple from the band's 1984 reunion onward.
