In Rock: 25th Anniversary Edition
Monolithic, immense and enduring–much like that cover image: the band-members’ heads carved into the side of a mountain, a la Mt. Rushmore. Perhaps they felt they’d earned such veneration, having emerged relatively unscathed from the experience of Jon Lord’s overblown Concerto For Group And Orchestra. Whatever the rationale, the band regrouped in early 1970–complete with new vocalist Ian Gillan–and set about making one of the decade’s undisputed hard-rock classics. For all their undoubted power–and despite the jazzy inflections of Ian Paice’s drumming–there’s little in the way of groove to these tracks; rather, they’re about volume and density, the simple piling-on of dynamics. Clocking in at over ten minutes, “Child In Time” ranks as a classic of its kind, while tracks like “Speed King” and “Into The Fire” see the band at its most unfettered–Richie Blackmore and Lord trading solos with a dazzling sort of ease, and Gillan loosing the full-throated roar for which he soon became renowned. –Andrew McGuire
Customer Review: On fire
An explosion of guitar, cascading sparks, then the settling into serene organ: so begins ‘In Rock’ and Deep Purple’s halcyon period. The contrast between Ritchie Blackmore’s opening burst and what he did on the previous studio album with the old line-up is obvious. Here, he is unrestrained, whereas he seemed more like an anonymous team player for too much of the album. The earlier recordings were mildly impressive, but, particularly with a more dynamic vocalist in Ian Gillan upfront, the band show an unprecedented sleekness and flamboyance.
‘Speed King’ is of a much higher octane than before, while ‘Child In Time’ shows that DP could create some beautiful slower tracks. Gillan’s reading, in tandem with Jon Lord’s organ-playing, is exceptional. It’s a far more compelling track than ‘April,’ the epic which closed their third album. ‘Speed King’ and ‘Child In Time’ are acknowledged DP classics, but you won’t find any makeweights among the supporting tracks. ‘Flight Of The Rat’ has the same drive as ‘Speed King’ and ‘Into The Fire’ is a suitably malevolent, intense performance. The dirtier ‘Hard Lovin’ Man’ is a fitting end to the album proper. ‘Bloodsucker’ and ‘Living Wreck’ are not quite as good in terms of content, but DP’s finesse and flamboyance carries them through effortlessly. And just for good measure, you get another classic, ‘Black Night,’ as a bonus track. One of the great hard rock albums of any era.
Customer Review: You want hard rock? THIS is Hard Rock.
I was 16 when I picked this up in 1970. I had already dug the first incarnation of Purple’s work on “Lalena” by Donovan,”Blind”,”Chasing Shadows”, “Hard Road (Wring That Neck)”, “The Shield”, the stunning baroque rock “April”, “Emmeretta”, “Bird Has Flown”…but when Nic Simper & Rod Evans were replaced by Ian Gillian & Roger Glover, we had a *whole* different animal. This was the same year that “Led Zeppelin II” and “Black Sabbath” crossed my turntable….and this still gets played whenever I need a shot of adrenaline over the other two.This is truly the first major limb on the massive tree of metal rock.
Much as I have a fondness for the energy of punk music, I gotta tell the youngsters, “There was a reason these ‘older’, precursor, bands played in arenas: they were the only places big enough to contain the fans, the band and the sheer SOUND.
Without Jon Lord on keyboards, they MIGHT have been just another rock band. Jon was vying with Keith Emerson & Rick Wakeman for the title of King of Keys. He might not be as dextrous as speeder Emerson (possibly the fastest keyboard alive during the late 60s & 70s), or as whimsical and imaginative as Wakeman, but he laid down some soul, my oh my. ” Child In Time” and ” Lazy” (from ‘Machine Head’) show what the man could coax out. Whooo-hooo! Blackmore’s hardly every been better than here.
They were kids! Early 20s, tops. Eat your heart out, Metallica. As for ACDC,Nirvana,Sonic Youth,Judas Priest,Van Halen–just remember whose lap you sat on before you diss the mother.
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