The Book of Taliesyn

Tetragrammaton wanted a new record to promote during the first American tour, so the band went back into the studio only three months after the debut. They had little time to write, and came up with four long original pieces. To fill the album they reworked three covers, Neil Diamond's Kentucky Woman, Ike and Tina Turner's River Deep, Mountain High and the Beatles' We Can Work It Out. They followed the example of Vanilla Fudge, whom several members admired.

Sessions began on 1 August 1968 at De Lane Lea Studios in Kingsway with Derek Lawrence producing and Brian Aintsworth engineering. Tetragrammaton's advance of $250,000 paid for two weeks of studio time. Shield and Anthem were recorded on the first day, and Anthem carries a baroque-style interlude by Jon Lord for Mellotron and string quartet. The instrumental Wring That Neck was finished on 19 August, and River Deep, Mountain High was taped on 10 October. Tetragrammaton retitled the instrumental Hard Road for the American release because it found the original too violent.

The album came out in the United States in December 1968 and reached number 54, with the Kentucky Woman single reaching number 38. In Britain it appeared in June 1969 as the first release on EMI's new Harvest label and did not chart. A 2000 EMI remaster by Peter Mew at Abbey Road added previously unreleased recordings.