Author: Peter Podbrežnik
Artist: Deep Purple
Label: Harvest Records
Released: 1970
Length: 43:30
Rating: 5/5
»Deep Purple in Rock« (usually just called »In Rock«) was the fourth studio album from the legendary British hard rock titans Deep Purple, and the first one recorded by the so-called Mark II lineup, widely considered the most beloved in the band’s history. The arrival of two new members, singer Ian Gillan and bassist Roger Glover (both formerly of the psychedelic rockers Episode Six), went hand in hand with a radical change in style. On »In Rock« the revamped band charged headfirst into hard rock waters they’d flirted with before but somehow never had the guts to really tackle, the choppy waves of what was then a brand-new genre. From this legendary album, which has been a must-have in every household for decades, their assault on the summit and their claim to the title of loudest band in the world was little more than a formality.
Gillan’s technically superior vocal approach compared to his predecessor Rod Evans, plus his rare ability to hit insanely high notes with his trademark ‘screaming’ wail, fused perfectly into a much punchier and rawer sound. Even with some of the prog rock elements dropped, there was no shortage of wild experimental adventures, especially in the long instrumental jams, which were the picture of each player’s boundless virtuosity. Glover brought a melodic yet technically polished approach to laying down complex bass lines, and paired with Ian Paice’s devastating, unpredictable drum escapades, that made for a far rawer and more massive rhythmic foundation than before.
The main voices behind the swerve into hard rock were the legendary keyboard wizard and unofficial band commander Jon Lord and the brilliant guitar innovator Ritchie Blackmore, who burned hotter than anyone in the band with the desire to see a new, much louder and more macho version of Deep Purple finally conquer the world. With this album, Ritchie’s wish started coming true. After two years of languishing on home soil in Britain and a success on the other side of the Atlantic that melted away far too quickly, it finally brought them the breakthrough they craved and established them as a hard rock superpower, whose heavy metal pioneering put them shoulder to shoulder with commercially successful ‘heavyweights’ like Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin.
After the release of »In Rock the British public, spoiled as it was, finally welcomed them with open arms, while the brilliant single »Black Night«, released before this studio masterpiece even came out, gave the Mark II lineup their first big success, and that not long after their first single »Hallelujah« had flopped completely commercially. Besides the excellent music, the brilliant cover, one of the best in hard rock history, did a lot for the successful promotion of »In Rock«. On it, the band members are depicted as stone faces on the famous American mountain Mount Rushmore, replacing the stuffy portraits of the most revered American presidents.
Deep Purple started recording the »In Rock« material not long after the live gem »Concerto for Group and Orchestra« (1969), and already during the first jams and while composing the new material, they sensed something big was brewing. They weren’t wrong in the slightest, because »In Rock« contains a good number of the most beloved Deep Purple classics, starting with the opening barnburner »Speed King«, written as a musical and lyrical tribute to the legends of rock’n’roll, and with it they staked out plenty of hard rock standards. Contrary to the popular belief that it’s a song singing an ‘ode to joy’ for drugs, the lyrics touch on the often grueling life of singers in rock’n’roll bands and draw inspiration from the life stories of genre legends like Elvis Presley, Little Richard, Chuck Berry and so on. All of these singers/musicians were among Gillan’s important vocal inspirations.
While the Americans, in their ‘infinite wisdom’, chopped off the brilliant opening jam between Lord and Blackmore on the transatlantic version of »In Rock«, it was left untouched on the British and most other versions, serving as an unexpectedly experimental and vivid intro to this supersonic classic, which is bursting with untamed power and unstoppable vigor. That explosive instrumental intro to »Speed King« is a devastating fusion of Blackmore’s electric guitar distortion and Lord’s sacred-sounding organ. Next comes a shift into a faster tempo, backed by a full-fat guitar riff, where Gillan’s macho singing commands over merciless drum marches and untamed organ flourishes, and peaks in a mighty chorus. The intense atmosphere constantly gives the feeling that the charismatic singer, with the thunderous backing of his bandmates’ supersonic virtuoso finesse, is about to take off into the sky at supersonic speed.
»Bloodsucker« is a feisty hard rocker packed with trade-offs of the lead instrumental duties between Blackmore’s roaring guitar phrases and Lord’s witty organ flourishes, while Gillan strikes an excellent balance with his relentless, screeching vocal outbursts. The Mark VII version of Deep Purple, with Steve Morse on guitar, played this classic again in 1998 on the album »Abandon« under the altered name »Bludsucker«. Like many standards from this legendary band, it tells of romantic ups and downs.
The immortal, more than ten-minute pacifist epic »Child In Time« is the most accomplished classic on the whole of »In Rock« and, thanks to its melodramatic mood, the most intense in terms of atmosphere. In delivering this heartbreaking tale of unhappy love, Gillan hits his peak while reaching dizzyingly high notes that still astonish again and again. After Gillan’s piercing wail, the melancholic opening section soon morphs into a bombastic rocker with fiery solo duels between Blackmore and Lord. For the organ chords between the two melancholic, calm sections, Lord was inspired by the classic »Bombay Calling« from the American psychedelic band It’s a Beautiful Day. In the closing part, the opening section returns with Lord’s organ artistry and Gillan’s sky-splitting, glass-shattering vocal wails, which, together with the uncommonly heartfelt delivery of the pacifist lyrics, still send shivers from head to toe today.
»Flight Of The Rat« is another energetic hard rocker, a bit longer this time, locked onto three main guitar chords, while the relatively simple structure is expanded by Ritchie’s and Jon’s solo flights, which are clearly separated this time. The man in black’s innovative guitar phrases in this somewhat overlooked Purple classic are still a real treat today, while maestro Lord is once again unstoppable with his rustling organ epics. Gillan thrills again with the thunderous power of his remarkably elastic vocal cords, while the drum stampede and decisive bass lines add to the thoroughly heated atmosphere, in which it’s not hard to picture one flying rat or another. The socially conscious barnburner »Into The Fire«, whose lyrics warn about hidden drug abuse in city nightspots, became a classic the moment it came out and a staple of Mark II live shows. Gillan’s enraged singing is backed by a scorching guitar riff and firm organ textures, which, with the help of grooving bass lines and thunderous drum fills, create a red-hot mood.
»Living Wreck«, which features an iconoclastic guitar phrase and mischievous passages on the Hammond while Gillan once again shines with a heart-wrenching vocal performance, is a painful confession from a man who feels like a zombie after a major romantic disappointment. Lyrics about broken hearts like this became a constant for Deep Purple, who usually steered clear of social criticism aimed at politics and organized religion. The punchy atmosphere peaks in the unusually serene chorus. At the end, Lord sends it all to hell with a supersonic organ solo.
The closing hard rock classic »Hard Lovin’ Man« is yet another stunning demonstration of each player’s virtuoso skills. It opens with a hard-hitting intro ruled by a galloping rhythm and a thunderous combination of guitar chords, backed by hellish organ escapades. Glover’s snarling bass lines further enrich Paice’s unstoppable drum stampede. With his richly felt shifts between low and high registers, Gillan once again shows off his exceptional vocal range. Ritchie’s and Jon’s solo gems in the instrumental section are once again on the edge of reality and vividly show how splendidly these two rock giants complemented each other in the ‘golden’ Deep Purple days.
The CD reissue released for the album’s 25th anniversary comes with a bunch of goodies, led by rare versions of »In Rock« standards, interesting studio jams never heard before, and the original single version of the unforgettable evergreen »Black Night«, which finally won them worldwide fame. This legendary hit, which to this day remains Deep Purple’s highest-charting single in the UK, boasts a distinctly melodic structure, a hefty guitar riff and a catchy chorus. It was precisely that combination and its seemingly ‘sacred simplicity’, with Blackmore’s raging guitar outbursts and Lord’s mischievous organ flights thrown in, that made the winning recipe for a big hit.
»Deep Purple in Rock« is a timeless hard rock masterpiece and, without a doubt, the most important studio achievement in the entire Deep Purple story. It’s also one of the most important rock albums of all time, the one with which Mark II began their triumphant march to the top of the hard rock Olympus and earned a reputation as heavy metal pioneers, even though over the years the band members constantly shied away from such stylistic labels, since genre pigeonholing, while they were forever probing sonic boundaries and mixing in different influences, got on their nerves quite a bit.
Lineup
Ian Gillan – vocals
Ritchie Blackmore – guitar
Roger Glover – bass
Jon Lord – keyboards, organ
Ian Paice – drums, percussion
Production
Deep Purple
Tracklist
1. Speed King (4:18)
2. Bloodsucker (4:12)
3. Child in Time (10:15)
4. Flight of the Rat (7:52)
5. Into the Fire (3:29)
6. Living Wreck (4:30)
7. Hard Lovin’ Man (7:10)
