DEEP PURPLE IN ROCK

This album in my view put DEEP PURPLE on the map. Alongside PINK FLOYD, DEEP PURPLE are one of my favourite groups.

DEEP PURPLE alongside LED ZEPPELIN, BLACK SABBATH and IRON BUTTERFLY helped to develop Heavy Rock with Progressive Elements and all these bands do this well.

Heavy Rock eventually became Heavy Metal oh did I mention STEPPENWOLF they also contribute to the development of Metal.

"In Rock" is one of my personal favourite albums and beautifully combines progressive and hard rock, "Chidl in Time" has signs of what a Prog Rock song should be. "Flight in Time" and "Speed King" are fantastic tracks, what more do you expect:

the high powered vocals from Ian Gillan, the wizardary of Ritchie Blackmore's Guitar, and John Lord's impressive loud, heavy Organ playing and is happy to battle the guitar. I also praise Welsh born Roger Glover for his bass playing and Ian Paice's drumming.

DEEP PURPLE are one of many bands in the 60s that helped to develop Prog.

A must have album, 5/5.

When Deep Purple was founded, all members mixed an interesting musicial curriculum vitae: singer Ian Gillan had done a wide range of musical styles, drummer Ian Paice was influenced by Buddy Rich, bass player Roger Clover had played folk, guitarist Ritchie Blackmore once joined Chuck Berry and keyboard player Jon Lord had a classical training on piano and organ. They started to blend rock, blues, jazz and classical, rehearsed very often, did an awful lot of gigs and ... THEN DEEP PURPLE CREATED THE HEAVY PROGRESSIVE ROCK SOUND! So please stop nailing Deep Purple as pure hardrock, they added far more variety and musical ideas to their music than bands like Iron Maiden, Motorhead and Black Sabbath, they played hardrock!

On this album we can listen to Deep Purple their finest hour on a studio record: a dynamic and creative rhythm-section, a splendid singer with a very distinctive and powerful voice (screaming sounded never so pleasant!), a top-notch keyboardplayer and a super talented guitarist, exciting soli, outstanding interplay, strong and catchy melodies and rhythms. My highlights are the two long compositions "Child in time" and "Flight of the rat", what a dynamic climates and what an excelent soli on organ and guitar!

THIS IS ONE OF THE BEST HEAVY PROGRESSIVE ROCK ALBUMS OF ALL TIMES!!

The mugiente pyrotechnics in the six cords with demolishers riffs of Ritchie Blackmore, the classic organ of impronta of Jon Lord, the rythmical vigor granted by the pair Roger Glover/Ian Paice, next to the vociferous and mighty vocal capacity of Ian Gillan, in one sinergia sonorous shrunk of influences like LED Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Jimi Hendrix or Cream, makes one of summits in the race of the British group Deep Purple, "In Rock", a Lp initiated with a apabullante tribute to Little Richard, "Speed King", that moves away them of its psicodélicos beginnings and progressive and it means them like one of the essential foundations of the hard-rock and heavy metal. Urging and propagating in amplified shocks the blues-rock of the 60 end of and classic rock'n'roll in ways of fibrous distortion, the British band composes for this disc, first with the singer Ian Gillan in its rows, some of the best pieces of its race, like the antiwarlike lyricism of the spectacular and épica "Child in Time", a subject with pieces gospel that presents/displays to a aullante Gillan, hamaqueado by a hipnótica instrumental association (specially in the keyboards) and absorbent single of Blackmore and Lord, resulted with magnificiencia in many passages of this great album, in special in another one of the best pieces of the disc, "Flight of the rat", that also counts on an exceptional work in the battery of Ian Paice. Indelible and forceful riffs of "Bloodsucker" or "Into the fire", the rugiente and lacerante organ of the sarcastic "Living Wreck" or the mesmerizante I release the brakes and sonorous delirium of "Hard Lovin' Man" is other fragments of a truely exceptional disc within their sort.

Here's where DP got their rise to fame. After their semi-chart hit single Black Night, it's full speed ahead for the heavy metal prog-rock pioneers. Speed King starts it all off with a crasher (aka the "woffle", this got edited off the US LP to please the ears of the WB Music heads) but Jon Lord warms up the organ engine before switching gears with Ian pouring heart n' soulful lyrics (most of 'em copied off of Little Richard tunes) to mold into the new traditional DP sound. Bloodsucker gives Ian's classic screams a whirl, but intensifies as Child In Time rolls in. CIT has a Wagnerian feel with Jon building crescendos and Ian's operatic voices settling into a Wring That Neck-like interlude before returning to the main theme and then to a thundering finale. Flight Of The Rat and Into the Fire show the darker side of DP. Living Wreck brings about the theme of "sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll". Finally, Hard Lovin' Man rolls the wrecking ball, closing with Ritchie imitating sounds of Pete's Townshend's smashing guitar routine. This is a perfect introduction to the classic Mark II era of Deep Purple. A Must-buy!!!

One of the first rock albums I ever listened to.I can still sing along to Child in Time,and that about says it,this album IS a classic and has to be up there with the greats.Jon Lord has always been a favourite of mine and whilst I was a fan I was never aware that I considered them as being prog rock.Speed King is awesome and surely the track to influence many to join rock bands.Ian Gillans voice was never better and Ritchie Blackmore surely gave the proto-rockers goosebumps here.

4,5 stars really!!!!

Well here we jump into history. Maybe not prog history but certainly in ROCK history. What a superb album this is regardless of it being prog or not! Groundbreaking would be the best adjective I can think of about the time this album was released! Gone were Evans and Glover, Blackmore taking over the musical direction along with Screaming Ian Gillan.

For years , North American youths were stolen the first minutes or so of this masterpiece. I believe this is still the case , the North American CD issue is still missing the first musically chaotic minute. I can hardly forgive the record company for having pulled such a stunt and to think that American youth could not hear such a great start. Anyway Speed King (almost 6 min in its entirity) is the one track that I can single out to describe best the second Purple line-up (known as Mk II) and was the first crack at superstardom for them. Bloodsuckers actually depicts the recording industry (maybe to protest the suppression of the intro of the previous track) but goes a little un-noticed as we reach Child In Time. OK , the tracks is plagiated from It's A Beautiful Day's Bombay Calling , but man , would we miss this if track if they had not done it. Among all of the version I heard , this studio track is still the best, IMHO and the guitar solo the most audible. Thje tracks ends in another musical chaos to book end the first Vinyl Side.

All of the four tracks on side 2 can be considered classic hard rock tracks of their own and Flight being my fave among them. The special 25th Anniversary version comes also with the superb non-album single Black Night, indispensible companion of the album. The rest of the bonus tracks are of interest to fans (I am one of them) . Beware of buying a non_us pressing because of the missing minutes I mentioned above.

What can be said about this fantastic album?

Well, first you have a four octave vocal assult, given by no other than the legendary Ian Gillan, also known as Jesus Christ (Superstar, of course.) His amazing banshee wails have been known to Disturb the Priest, every now and then. I can't emphasize how great Ian Gillan is, you have to hear this album to truly understand. Combine Ian Gillan's mastery at hard rock vocals with Ritchie Blackmore, and you have a winning team. Ritchie Blackmore is a truly great guitar player. He gives us fantastic riff after riff, and his solos are even more amazing. He is deeply rooted in classical music, and it gives a fresh perspective compared to the blues style many bands played at the time. (and hey, I love Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, but variety is good). Add Tony Iommi into the mix with these four greats, and you have my five favourite guitarists outside of prog. We cannot forget Jon Lord, the organ player. "Organ player!?" some might exclaim. But believe me, he is fantastic. He really knows what he is doing. Without him, Ritchie's guitar riffs wouldn't sound half the same. What a lot of people don't realize is that when Jon Lord is riffing with his Hammond Organ, it sounds similar to a guitar. This in turn creates a huge massive sound, which would become a trademark of the band (well, sometimes Jon played piano and stuff, but that wasn't particularly often). I could compare Jon Lord to some other organ players, maybe Keith Emerson or Rick Wakeman, but his style is far different from these geniuses. He himself is also one!

We cannot forget the rhythm section, however. They are very impressive themselves. The two of them are Ian Paice (drums) and Roger Glover (bass). I'll start with Little Ian first (Gillan was called Big Ian, and Paice wasn't really small or anything, but Gillan was pretty big). Ian Paice, in short, just has the groove. His drum beats are great. He can play speedy beats with ease, bashing his drum set, but at the same time keeping his "groove." He plays amazingly throughout the album, and is often underrated when people talk about drummers. Granted, I prefer John Bonham (Led Zeppelin) over him, but he beats out his other competitors at the time such as Bill Ward (Black Sabbath). Then again there is Keith Moon, who is fantastic, but I would still put Ian Paice on the same level as him. I just mentioned these drummers because they were all in Hard Rock bands that had overflowing influence on the genres of Hard Rock and Heavy Metal.

Now on to Roger Glover, who is very important in the history of Deep Purple, despite getting the job in Deep Purple by coming along with Ian Gillan when he was about to join Purple. Roger Glover is a great bassist, and was the co-writer of the lyrics along with Ian Gillan. You can hear his thundering bass amidst all the guitar and organ action from Ritchie and Jon. Admittedly, his bass was not as loud as Geezer Butler, but it is still loud and great. He works great alongside of Ian Paice, which is very important for the rhythm section. Someone has to keep the rhythm while Jon and Ritchie are trading off solos! (which happens frequently) We cannot forget the fact that he does the remixing and a lot of the work on the Anniversary Editions of the Mark II(which is this line-up) albums. Before I go on, I should also mention that I will be reviewing the 25th Anniversary Edition of "In Rock". The normal version is great too, but the extra songs you get are a superb addition, and the intro to Speed King isn't cut off.. Plus, the 25th version is remastered, which is very noticeable. I have both versions, and the sound quality is vastly improved on the remastered version. "Into the Fire" is barely listenable on the non remastered version! The remastered version is an import though, but it is only about five dollars more if you order it. In Germany you can get it in any well- ordered cd shop for the price around 8 dollars/euros.

Anyway, on to the songs themselves, which is what the album is about. I will review each song in detail and give this time stand out performances as an addition, which will show the particular qualities of the single band members on here.

01 - Speed King "Just a few roots, replanted."

Overview - That intro is astounding. What a strange way to start a song, but it all works. Ritchie really shows his skill here. Anyway, the song contains a pretty heavy riff for the time, and is relatively fast. It would be strange to have a slow song called Speed King, wouldn't it? There is a neat little instrumental in the middle, but Ian Gillan comes back with a furious scream-laugh, and proceeds to finish the song along with the rest of the band. It is a great song, with a great chorus. However, the normal American version of this song has that great intro cut off, which turns this almost-six- minute song into a mind-numb 4 minute rocker. Without that great intro, the song loses a lot of its power and unique-ness. I rate the full version, which is definitely a classic in general and deserves the full score!

Stand Out Performances - Ian Gillan, Ritchie Blackmore Track rating: 10/10 points

02 - Bloodsucker "A particularly nasty sort of fellow, there are lots of us."

Overview - "Aaah, No, No, No!!" From the first few seconds, you can tell this is gonna be a great hard rock song. Ian Gillan's performance in this song is outstanding! He dominates the song, easily. He gets three vocal parts right in a row, and shines in all of them. Then we hear some classic Organ-Guitar solo trade offs, which are great. The last part of the song is perhaps the most interesting. Olympic Sharpshooter explained the effect already, so I will not go more into it, except to say that it is great. All throughout the song, Roger Glover plays a crunching bassline, and Ian Paice's performance is great. The song includes some brilliant guitar breaks, which have an prog-atmosphere, at least you could imagine it, but it's quite obvious. However, despite the great instrumental prowess in this song, Ian Gillan clearly outshines the others with his great performance.

Stand Out Performances - Ian Gillan Track rating: 9/10 points

03 - Child In Time "The story of a loser - it could be you."

Overview - The most fantastic song on the album, and is truly awesome. After the first time I heard this amazing epic, I was in awe. If Deep Purple could only be remembered by one song, this would be it. Forget your Smoke on the Waters and Woman from Tokyos, this song absolutely destroys those songs, and to be quite honest, the rest of the Deep Purple catalog. This song is emotional, calm, wild, intrigueing, amazing, and many more things.

The song is essentially about victims of war, and is lyrically very short. It begins with a calm and beautiful organ intro, which is borrowed from It's A Beautiful Day's Bombay Calling. Roger and Ian Paice give us a great rhythm, which fits the song perfectly. Then there is Ian Gillan who starts singing. He does an excellent, no...more than excellent, job singing. He sings the verses passionately and powerfully. Then we enter the trademark "Aaaaaah"s, which you really have to hear to understand them. They start out soft, and progressively get louder and more aggressive. Aggressive really isn't the word to use, but I cannot find a better way to describe this amazing work of vocal art. After Ian Gillan finishes his amazing stunt, it is time for Ritchie to enter the scene. Oh, and enter he shall. He gives us a guitar solo like no other. It starts off slow, and then gets more fast paced as time goes on. It is played and written amazingly. Ritchie has done many amazing solos, but in my opinion, he has never topped this one. Maybe it is just because of the song the solo is in, but either way, the solo is amazing. The rhythm section is great as always throughout the guitar assault. Jon comes in near the end of Ritchie's solo and gives a great solo. It gets faster and faster, until suddenly it stops, and we get that calm organ again, except now Jon is playing an amazing clam organ solo. Ian Gillan sings passionately again, and enters his "Aaaaah"s again. It starts out calmly like the first time, but when he changes this time, it is much more drastic. As he goes on, he gives an even better performance than before, and leaves you wondering how he can possibly do it. The song ends with chaos, featuring Ian Gillan screaming over the top of speedy instruments, but I would have the song end no other way. The song is over ten minutes, but every second is amazing. This is the best song on the album, the best song Deep Purple ever did, and in my book, the best song ever recorded, alongside with Led Zeppelin's "Stairway To Heaven".

Stand Out Performances - Ian Gillan, Ritchie Blackmore, Jon Lord, Roger Glover, Ian Paice Track rating: 10/10 points

04 - Flight of the Rat "Just to remind you there are other ways of turning on."

Overview - After the full out assault of awesomeness that is Child In Time, Deep Purple had to give us something damn good afterwards, and they do not let us down. After I gave this song a few listens, it instantly became one of my favorites. The song just rocks, there is no other way of putting it. Ian Gillan gives a good performance, but refrains from screaming. Roger Glover gives us some great bass, and Jon Lord throws those solos at us like no other. The real stars of this song are Ritchie Blackmore and Ian Paice, though. Ritchie's guitar riff for this song is excellent, and his solos are miles beyond his riff. The man can really play guitar, and does not get the respect he deserves. Ian Paice gives us a great performance himself. His drums are rockin' throughout the song, and his drum solo at the end of the song is great. The song is really all over the place after the first three or so minutes, but that is what makes this song so great.

Stand Out Performances - Ritchie Blackmore, Ian Paice Track rating: 9.5/10 points

05 - Into the Fire "Out of the frying pan..."

Overview - This song is pretty heavy for its time, and is pretty aggressive. However, the song isn't amazing like the others, but just a very good song. Ian Gillan gives us some furious vocals, which are probably the highlight of the song. Other than that, the song really doesn't stick out too much, other than being heavy. Jon and Ritchie do not dissapoint with their solos and riffing, and Roger and Ian Paice are great as always.

Stand Out Performances - Ian Gillan Track rating: 8.5/10 points

06 - Living Wreck "It takes all sorts - support your local groupie."

Overview - Another great song. It is definitely a step up from Into the Fire. The song isn't really super heavy or in your face, it is just a great song. Jon Lord plays great during the song, his "swoosh" organ sound giving the song a lot of character. Ian Gillan also doesn't scream during the song, which is the only other time other than Flight of the Rat where he doesn't. It does not make the song any less great; in fact, his vocals are great on this one. The lyrics are a bit strange, though. You know that "groove" thing I was saying Ian Paice had? He displays it in full glory in this song. Great performance by the Little Ian. Roger gives us some great bass on this song, another of the song's highlights. Ritchie plays well, but he has better moments on the album.

Stand Out Performances - Jon Lord, Roger Glover, Ian Paice, Ian Gillan Track rating: 9/10 points

07 - Hard Lovin' Man "For Martin Birch - catalyst."

Overview - Wow, another amazing song. This album really cranks them out. Listen to the guitar riff, it is great. The intro is also killer, as well. The whole band really shines on this track, they play very well. Jon's solos at first were a bit strange to me, but after a few listens I started enjoying them a lot. Ian Gillan gives us a wild performance. He certainly makes sure we know what kind of man he is! Ritchie solos like a madman on this one, and along with Gillan is the highlight of this song. However, every band member gives a great performance on this one, as I have said before, but I cannot understate their achievements. This ends the original album with a bang, but if you take my advice and get the remastered import, you will have other goodies waiting for you.

Stand Out Performances - Ian Gillan, Ritchie Blackmore, Jon Lord, Roger Glover, Ian Paice Track rating: 10/10 points

So, on the remastered import we have some more tracks. There are two Black Nights, one is the original single version, and the other is the "Unedited Roger Glover Remix". The single version stops midway through Ritchie Blackmore's final guitar solo, and we miss out on some great stuff. But the full version is there for us. It sounds a lot better as well. We also have remixes of Speed King and Flight of the Rat, which are pretty useless if you ask me. There is a piano version of Speed King, which is a pretty good listen. There is a great instrumental called Jam Stew, and a great unreleased (at least during the Mark II days) song called Cry Free. There are also various "Studio Chats" which are pretty useless again, but some are interesting. I won't review these tracks, but I will tell you that Cry Free is great and is worthy to listen through. The Unedited Black Night is also a fantastic song, and is worthy to play over and over again.

So, there you have it. If you took the time to read this review, you either already have this amazing work of art or highly interested in the album, and therefore should go purchase it.

Cheers!

Point-system: 0 - 3 points = 1 star / 3.5 - 5.5 points = 2 stars / 6 - 7 points = 3 stars / 7.5 - 8.5 points = 4 stars / 9 - 10 points = 5 stars

Record rating: 10 + 9 + 10 + 9.5 + 8.5 + 9 + 10 = 66/7 tracks = 9.428571429 = 9.5 points

Deep Purple - "In Rock": 9.5/10 points = 94 % on MPV scale = 5/5 stars

Essential: a masterpiece of progressive music

If this weren't a review done from the viewpoint of a progressive rock music, I would give this album five stars, as "Into The Fire" is the only average song on this record. But I think this LP started the hard-rock phase of this band, and there are only few proggy moments left. Most notably, "Child in Time", which is truly a beautiful and classic song.

Lot's of bold screamin' goin' on this sucker, I can assure you!

This album is a seminal hard rock album. There are progressive influences, most notably in the epic Child in Time, which sets it apart but it remains a hard rock album. This is exactly where Blackmore wanted to take the group, to a riffy hard rock style of playing. They succeeded admirably and the rest is history.

My favourites are the lengthy Flight of the Rat, Hard Lovin Man and of course Child in Time. There is some great soloing from both Blackmore and Lord and Gillan's singing is just out of this world.

As I said a landmark album, but not prog rock in my opinion. Apart from the tracks mentioned its not my favourite Purple album either.

The 25th Anniversary re-master includes Black Night and is the one to own.

This is Heavy Metal! From whatever part it is wanted to see it this Heavy Metal! "Speed King" is not perhaps pure Heavy Metal? And "Into The Fire", "Living Wreck" or "Bloodsucker" is not the Metallica will do 15 years after? This is pure energy. Finally "Child In Time", together with "When a Blind Man Cries" the Purple ballad. "Child In Time" is a stratospheric piece. Be is a very dramatic song. Immense album!

This is my favourite album from the band.

Why?

1_Matured sound 2_Child in Time Matured Sound: This is the first album in which the band has fused the progressive rock elements of the early albums with hard rock. The result is a classically influenced hard rock sound with lots of hammond keyboards. All the songs are above average in quality with standouts such as Hard Loving Man, Flight of the Rat, and Highway Star (amazing fast-rocker)

Child In Time: It stands Easily in my top 10 list of songs. This is perfection. This is the band at its best. The ultimate blend of hard rock, prog, and classical music. It begins with a simple chord riff that is augmented by improvised hammond playing and extremely melodic and powerful singing. After Gillan sings his last lyric, the same riffs are played without the keyboard improvising. Instead, you hear gorgous and delicate 'wooooooo,oooo,oooo' from Gillan. Eventually, the chords are louder and more menacing while the soft innocent-like singing turns into mind-blowing screams with the same melody. After the intensity reaches its climax, a 2 minute long hard rock solo (Blackmore's best) blows you away and is later accompanied by a simple, yet effective, organ riff that suddently stops. After silence, the intro is played again and the build-up too (this time, it is shorter and even louder). The song ends majestically with anthemic organs and screams.

1. Speed King (10/10) 2. Bloodsucker (7.5/10) 3. Child in Time (11/10) 4. Flight of the Rat (8/10) 5. Into the Fire (7.5/10) 6. Living Wreck (6.5/10) 7. Hard Lovin' Man (8/10)

my grade : B+

Without In Rock no rock, one of corner stone in rock music, explosion in 1970. In Rock not like Machine Head clean and polish, yes this is raw and loud, Ian Gillan screaming, Ritchie Blackmore riping strings, Jon Lord lieing heavy Hammond, Roger Glover turbulencing bass and Ian Paice volcanicing drums. 1. Speed King - stormy start, prog drive, fany lirics. 2. Bloodsucker - i saw this in Riga concert 2000, after this song one girl said - what i do here. Very Very loud and Gillan ultra sreaming. 3. Child in Time - one of rock chef-d'oeuvre. 4. Flight of the Rat - drive rock & roll. 5. Into the Fire - this is clacic hard rock example. 6. Living Wreck - my favourite, each instrument work individually and altogether, 7. Hard Lovin' Man - progy psichadelic hard rock.

A must have album every rock listener, even for CD shelf.

This is one of those classic rock albums you must have. But, in my opinion, Deep Purple is at it best on "Machine head". Every rock music lover should have this. I think on the first era (until Gillan left the band) Purple was Heavy Progressive Rock, and before this album, Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin (why is it not on Prog Archives??), on the world of music there weren't "heavy" bands. I think in spite of these bands are not metal, metal wouldn't exist without this rock masters. And here Purple found their classical sound.

Well, the album starts with the classic "Speed King", with the unconfused Gillan's screamings, any more to say?

"Bloodsucker" has a terrific rocker riff, on the wave of "Black night". Oh my god!! It REALLY ROCKS when it says "I tried another but she didn't want to know, AHH KNOW, KNOW, KNOW!!!" And there comes another killer riff (Deep Purple trademark).

Then comes one of the best songs of all time, "Child in time". Here I realised that Ian Gillan is one of the best singers on earth. Each time I listen to this song It really touches me. Starts quietly, showing the incredible and touching Ian's voice. And then, in the instrumental section (PROG), master Blackmore does one of the best solos ever, starting quietly and growing speed, becoming now a "heavy" song. Then, the vocals come back and the outro closes this rock masterpiece. Any more to say?

"Flight of the rat" is an excellent hard - prog song which starts with another nice riff. I love the soloing time, it's extended and it starts wildly with a beautiful organ solo followed by another one with that characteristic Blackmore guitar sound. And to finish, a terrible drum solo (made with three hands??).

Another nice riff to start "Into the fire", YEAH, a typical 70's hard rock song.

"Living wreck" is a nice song with well done bass lines and excellent chorus. I also like the distorted guitar solo.

"Hard loving man" is the heaviest song of the record, and I think, on that times it would be a too much heavy song, it's almost metal and it's 1970, revolutionary!! The solos are very good again.

This 25 anniversary edition has 13 bonus tracks (CD 2), that includes: studio chats, with the guys talking and jamming a little, the original single of "Black night", an unedited "Black night" remix with extended soloing at the end, another two versions of "Speed king" (one is the same to the original, and the other one is very raw). A remix of "Flight of the rat" that it's the same recording but I think it has better sound, "Jam stew": as the name says, a jam with a guitar-piano duel, and "Cry free", another typical 70's hard rock song.

Well, this is a four star album, but not any four star album, it's a must have in your discography (I put it four stars because the masterpiece is "Machine head"). ENJOY!!

Rating: 4.3/5

After experimental 'Concerto' , Deep Purple turned to their rock roots and within six months of intense work they released 'Deep Purple in Rock', an album which established them as one of the most progressive British hard rock bands of that time. I remember late summer of 1970 when we were listening to Kid Jensen Show on Radio Luxembourg, a man and a broadcast that had an pioneering and pivotal role in promoting progressive rock at the turn of decades.Even though broadcast was starting at 1 am our taperecorders were ready to catch impressive tune of 'Child In Time'. When few months later my friend gave me LP I discovered that beside 'Child In Time' there were also some other good tracks which have occupied my attention like 'Speed King', 'Flight Of The Rat', 'Hard Lovin' Man'. So, this Purple move to rock (and roll) prooved to be quite correct, since the album was commercially highly successful and also well received by critic. This was, in my opinion , the best Purple line-up and none of the subsequent albums matched the quality of this one.

I am a great fan of the DPs, but for me they are a heavy rock band and not progressive. Surely they are four great musicians and the best singer that has ever heard, in their concerts they are pursued today still solos and variations, (I have seen live them in 2001 and I remained pleasantly impressed) but for me remain the parents of the heavy metal. IN ROCK is together with MACHINE HEAD their CHILD IN TIME. It makes to come still today the shivers: softly begin for then having the famous 12 acute of Ian Gillan before a grandiose instrumental part, taken back of the beginning and galloped conclusive!!!!!! stupendous (impressive is the version video in Copenhagen 1972). SPEED KING is pure heavy rock, but the whole album maintains him on tall levels. Already said of GIllan, known by all Blackmore, it needs to say that Ian Paice is a big drummer, very underestimated by the criticism, Lord is the best keyboards player in hiskind and pure Glover gives his great contribution .

DEEP PURPLE'S MOS OVERRATED ALBUM!!

This is by far the most overrated album, this is way inferior than Fireball and Deep purple, and yet is loved by fans, but anyway, those are not true prog fans.

Sure, this album is really powerful and with metal-like sounds, but it is so monotone! at least Machine head has songs like "when a blind man cries" but this has one of them!

The whole album is a constant fight between keyboards and guitars, causing all the tracks to sound the same.

Anyway...

I must admit it has good points like Child in time, or hard lovin' man, but after all its not a great abum

*PD*: personally, i see Deep Purple (from this album) as a hard/progresive rock band, not progressive metal, nor softer prgressive acts like genesis

A seminal album, for rock history, obviously, but also for me. I was exposed to it in my early teens and it never got out of my life. In a certain way In rock introduced me to prog, mainly because of the dramatic use of the hammond organ by Jon Lord and the unusual lenghty tracks (well, unusual for me at the time). It may sound a bit dated today, but I think that its importance can be hardly denied. A genre-defining album that can be easily recommended to everyone that's into prog. Five historic stars.

Let us not get into an endless debate about whether "In Rock" is prog or not. Prog it may not be (though, as I will point out later on, the question is open to debate), but it is without any possible doubt one of the landmarks of the whole history of rock music - the blueprint for the later exploits of thousands of hard rock and heavy metal bands. Released in 1970, "In Rock" saw one of the most incredible musical ensembles ever come together for the first time - a redoubtable fivesome boasting Ian Gillan's stratospheric vocals (the voice that launched a thousand screamers, though no one as talented as himself), the rock-solid rythm section of Ian Paice and Roger Glover, Jon Lord's masterful, classically-influenced Hammond prowess, but especially Ritchie Blackmore's fiery yet elegant, immensely influential guitar playing. As the years to come were to prove, it was an extremely volatile mixture, which nevertheless managed to produce a series of essential albums for the development of harder-edged rock music.

That said, "In Rock" is much more progressive than one might think, the best example of how Deep Purple managed to blend their symphonic roots with diamond-hard rock being the immortal "Child in Time". Although it has been often indicted of plagiarising It's A Beautiful Day's "Bombay Calling", this song has rightly become legendary, especially thanks to the incendiary version included in 1972's live album "Made in Japan". Its solemn, atmospheric, organ-driven intro leads the way for a vocal performance by Ian Gillan which many singers would kill for, and climaxes with a guitar solo that no words can rightly describe (this may be the Blackmore fangirl in me speaking, but that's the way things are...). Another classic is opener "Speed King", with Blackmore's distorted guitar immediately setting the scene and Lord's Hammond providing a pulsating, relentless background., while Gillan screams his way through the song with wild abandon.

The remaining tracks are not as widely known (with the exception of hit single "Black Night", a rather straighforward yet irresistible song, whose original version is included in the 30th Anniversary edition of the record), though in no way less valid. A particular mention goes to the long, musically accomplished "Hard Lovin' Man" (dedicated to legendary producer Martin Birch, who went on to make stars out of Iron Maiden), with dazzling performances from all band members. All the songs, in fact, have a much more progressive structure than they are usually given credit for, based as they are on the unleashed power of Blackmore's guitar duelling with Lord's majestic, driving Hammond.

The 30th Anniversary edition contains some added bonus tracks, including alternative versions of "Black Night" and "Speed King", but most notably an unreleased instrumental called "Jam Stew" in which Blackmore is very much in evidence. However, even without any bonuses, this album would be an essential addition to ANY music collection. Would Prog-Metal exist without "In Rock" paving the way? This is the stuff legends are made of. Crank it up and enjoy.

Deep Purple's fifth album and their most potent statement. The vocalist (Ian Gillan) and bassist (Roger Glover) are new to the band, replacing Rod Evans and Nicky Simper. Accordingly, Purple decides to adjust their musical style. Ritchie Blackmore and organist Jon Lord concentrate more on power chords, both of them contributing evenly to the new sound. In Rock is more of a hybrid, ingeniously combining power-rock and progressive.

In Rock is still progressive enough, though, in that it has a central theme: Stay away from hard drugs. The tactics they use, to get this point across, are fear and terror. (Recall that Purple's earlier, more experimental recordings relied on dramatic flourishes by Lord). This don't-wind-up-a-junkie theme is hammered home by one song; their magnum opus.

"Child in Time" has a stunning instrumental run in its middle; like Purple's previous works this furiously builds up to climax. You may not want to play this for someone who is terribly paranoid, though. This one is serious. And once you think the fright is over, the song again builds to another (this one final) climax, laced with screams of terror by Gillan. Their magnum opus.

The album's other prog remnants are (1.) a low-key, jazzy guitar 'n' organ duel in the middle of "Speed King" and, (2.) the fact that Gillan's vocals on "Flight of the Rat" sound so much like Greg Lake. When I first heard the song on FM radio, I thought it was.

Powerful and dramatic. A great combination. Yet, In Rock is more a bold step toward heavy rock than it is a drift into the pastures of Yes and Genesis. This one Purple album is actually in category all its own. It is a must have for all rock music fans.

You'd better close your eyes, bow your head and wait for the ricochet.

At the time of its release, "In Rock" was a remarkable achievement. Deep Purple had been building up a small but faithful following, as they dabbled in various styles ranging from covers of Neil Diamond songs(!) to a collaboration with full orchestra. Suddenly with "In Rock" they found their true path and never looked back.

While this is unquestionably a landmark album, it is far from flawless. The band's overriding ethos here was to make the loudest, most powerful album they could come up with, sometimes to the detriment of the song-writing. What makes it absolutely essential though is the inclusion of one of rock's and indeed prog's seminal moments. I am of course referring to the majestic "Child in time". Like certain well known world changing events, I remember well the first time I heard this track. I had borrowed a number of albums which sat outside my usual boundaries to give them a try. The first couple of tracks on "In rock" were enjoyable, but did not particularly whet my appetite for the band . Then came "Child in time" and I was quite simply blown away. I must have played the track 10-20 times in succession. "Child in time" has so many of the right ingredients; a magnificent vocal performance by Ian Gillan, one of Ritchie Blackmore's greatest guitar solos, and a blistering organ solo by Jon Lord. It moves from an almost solemn opening section through ever higher screams by Gillan and a thundering instrumental section to reach a chaotic climax which leaves everyone exhausted.

The rest of the tracks cannot hope to match the magnificence of "Child in time", and very much play a supporting role. "Speed king" is an early burst of the loud driving rock the band would refine and improve upon on tracks like "Fireball" and later "Burn". "Bloodsucker" lacks focus, Roger Glover's powerful bass work being the only really notable aspect. "Flight of the rat" maintains the blistering pace in more traditional Deep Purple fashion, the melodic vocal line sitting well alongside the instrumental gymnastics. This particular track is probably as close as the oft compared Deep Purple and URIAH HEEP actually got.

"Into the fire" veers into BLACK SABBATH territory, indeed with an Ozzy vocal this particular song would be right at home on any of that band's early albums. The slower, bluesier pace affords Blackmore a little more room to slow things down on the solo. "Living wreck" is the oldest sounding track on the album, and the only one which sounds like might have appeared on one of the band's previous albums. Only Jon Lord's organ swishes reflect the new direction. "Hard lovin' man" closes the album by maintaining the relentless pace, the express train Paice ensuring that Lord and Blackmore attack their respective instruments one final time.

One of the major selling points of the album was the wonderful sleeve illustration. The "In rock" title was designed to reflect the fact that the band had moved on from the "In concert" album recorded with the orchestra, and were now exploring a different vein. It did however lend itself nicely to images of the five band members being cast in stone, and used to replace the four presidents at Mount Rushmore. An inspired idea indeed!

The "25th anniversary edition" presents the album in remastered format, with 7 bonus tracks, interspersed with studio chat. These include two versions of the non-album single "Black night" the song which introduced the band to the masses, and which was only prevented from being a UK number one by Freda Payne's "band of gold". There are also two more versions of "Speed king", and one of "Flight of the rat". "Cry free" was recorded over 30 times by the band, but still excluded from the final release (for admittedly obvious reasons). "Jam stew" was recorded during the "Into the fire" recording sessions, but was never developed beyond the instrumental presented here. The anniversary edition also has extensive sleeve notes and a customised jewel case.

This album in my view put DEEP PURPLE on the map. Alongside PINK FLOYD, DEEP PURPLE are one of my favourite groups. The mugiente pyrotechnics in the six cords with demolishers riffs of Ritchie Blackmore, the classic organ of impronta of Jon Lord, the rythmical vigor granted by the pair Roger Glover/Ian Paice, next to the vociferous and mighty vocal capacity of Ian Gillan, in one sinergia sonorous shrunk of influences like LED Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Jimi Hendrix or Cream, makes one of summits in the race of the British group Deep Purple, "In Rock", a Lp initiated with a apabullante tribute to Little Richard, "Speed King", that moves away them of its psicodélicos beginnings and progressive and it means them like one of the essential foundations of the hard-rock and heavy metal.

The first great Deep Purple album. Child In Time is an all-time classic. The lyrics are just fantastic, along with the energetic, screaming vocals towards the end. The rest of the songs are very fun, energetic, captivating rockers. Unfortunately, the sound quality is undeniably revolting. This album is also one of Ian Paice's best showcases for his amazing drumming ability (especially on Flight of the Rat). Deep Purple was my first prog bands...in fact, my first 'older' band. My dad has a huge obsession with these jazzy, proggy, bluesy hard rock icons, which is passed on to me. This was one of the earlier albums I really got into. But, despite it's high energy, guitar screeching, head banging goodness, there is very little artistic, emotional, creative elements (as most Deep Purple albums).

It was Ritchie Blackmore, who decided to take the band in a heavier direction, and what a great decision that was! Add to that, the recruitment of vocalist Ian Gillan and bassist Roger Glover, and what you have is a powerhouse!

The album kicks off with "Speed King" and is a strong nod to Little Richard (But much more heavier) who is one of Ian Gillan´s influences.

On "Bloodsucker" Gillan shows the world just what he can do with his silver scream, the same scream that would influence hundreds of hard rock vocalists. "Child in Time" is the standout classic track on this album, showing remarkable musicianship and screaming (actually wailing in octaves) vocals. Blackmore releases a fiery solo on his Stratocaster which is now regarded as one of his best solos ever, while Jon Lord unleashes sounds from his organ that were unheard of in the day! Ian Paice somehow keeps it altogether with one of his best performances on drums. A true classic.

The rest of the album has classic Blackmore riffs (It´s actually quite incredible how he could have come up with so many classic riffs on one album) "Into the fire" and "Hard Loving Man" are good examples. Ian Gillan really lifted the band to new heights when he entered the band, with his classic vintage scream as heard on "Into the fire".

The song writing on this album is fantastic (also thanks to Roger Glover) and their creativity was at it´s peak. Deep Purple´s MK 2 debut, is one of the greatest rock albums of all time and is almost a blueprint of what the Hard Rock genre became (and still is to this day) A Masterpiece.

This album marks probabley one of the must incridble loses of the music industrey. After three AMAZING albums of deep purple, whice the pick of course is the album "deep purple" (or how I like to call it - "April"), and one live album with the orcestrea , Jon lord was kicked from the position of "leader of the purple", the lead vocaliset was fired and the bass player recived the boot as well. The devil himself, richi blackmore, took over the band.

Purple ended thier previous album with the epic "April", an prog masterpiece, that in everytime I finish to lister I just keep on wondering... why god? WHY?!

When I entered this album to my CD player, I expected the band to grow only better... what suprise expected me ah? screaming guitares, a Chicken for a singer and alot.. ALOT of gain whom destroyed my hearing. purple was finished, and will always be rememberd for thier lousy riff of "smoke on the water". thier first albums today seemed to wanished, and thier left is a band how reycicle itself, but lets face it... thier been long gone dead... it least for me.

"In Rock" was the band's definitive direction on which platform the music of DP would pursue in the future. There are many excellent tracks in hard rock vein. This album has always my point of reference whenever I talk about straight hard rock music as to differentiate with prog music where there are curved melodies as its major components. No one would argue about how good this album and how legendary it has been. Who can't tell this band if you were there at the glory days of rock music - the seventies?? You can enjoy how powerful and clean the vocal line of Ian Gillan, the stunning guitar solo of Blackmore and inventive organ work of Jon Lord which has become a key characteristic and sound of Deep Purple.

I grew with "Child In Time" as the song was used at one of radio stations - Moderato - in small city where I was born - Madiun, East Java, Indonesia. I heard that this radio station is still alive until now but am not sure if "Child In Time" is till being used as featured song of the radio. I'm curious now. So you can imagine how memorable this album is for me. That's just the nuance. The music? No one would argue the good composition that this song offers. Even though friends of mine told me that this song is not "original" (they said something derivative to the music of Aprodite' Child? - I don't know exactly) the song delivers interesting organ work and captivating electric guitar solo in the interlude part. Other famous tracks include: "Speed King", "Bloodsucker", "Into The Fire".

It's an excellent hard rock music.

Peace on earth and mercy mild - GW

Along with Sabbath's "Paranoid" this album singlehandedly invented new genre-heavy metal.An absolute masterpiece of modern music,"In rock" opened completely new territories in exploration of guitar soundscapes at the end of psychedelic era of the sixties.Not a real heavy riff was heard ever before this monster,paving road for countless imitators and guitar hero wannabes.All seven original songs are considered classics,including "Hard lovin' man"which is probably first ever staccato riff.Even "Child in time",with its hammond ladden main theme(which is,by the way,stolen from It's a beautiful day's self titled first album) is a major accomplishment,although,somehow it doesn't fit ultra heaviness of the rest of the album.Remastered version of the album is also the ultimate version to get,includin Roger Glover remixes of "Flight of the rat","Speed king" and hit single"Black night".Absolutely essential rock record,not to be missed in anybody's collection.

This is the quintessential studio album from Deep Purple. I do not think that many albums that followed came as close to near perfection as In Rock, possibly Made in Japan as a live album. Side one of the original LP release for the brilliant opener 'Speed King', the highlight of the this release, and then to the ' Stairway To Heaven' equivalent ' Child In Time'. Gillan's vocals were at his all time best on In Rock, as were all the respective contributions from Glover, Lord, Paice and Blackmore.

Few albums of Progressive Rock come close to emphatic five star ratings but this is certainly one of them, even if parts of side two diminish slightly in terms of delivery the overall quality still stands out way above almost anything else released at this time. No need to recommend as most fan will already agree and have this in their collection.

The milestone of rock, hard rock and heavy metal. Progressive enough (more than enough) to deserve anyone's attention. Breathtaking. It rocks. Loud. Very loud.

Speaking of loudness...

The album opens with "Speed King", and the intro of the "Speed King" itself is loud, insane guitar cacophony. This noises are smoothly cross-faded with Hammond-organ melody, and then, suddenly, the opening riff of the song starts. Most of the compilations do not contain this introduction of the song. Pity. By the way, there's a single version of this song, it's much slower, much less energetic, utilising piano instead of Hammond. Try to avoid that one.

"Bloodsucker" follows, an excellent hard rock tune that contain Gillan's extremely high-pitched screaming and almost hip-hop vocals. Yes, that's right. This one is so ahead of it's time...only the organ solo sounds dated, otherwise you can easily fit this one into the middle nineties, somewhere between Faith No More and Red Hot Chili Peppers...only much, much better.

Everything is said about "Child In Time" and I won't be repeating another's impressions. But "The Flight Of The Rat" is my personal favourite on this album. Powerful, again very load, with loads of good soloing! Blackmore's wah-wah guitar work is impressive, and Lord's Hammond is...well, I don't know. I NEVER heard any similar organ solo, not even from the Mr. Emerson himself.

"Into The Fire" and "Living Wreck" are two weakest compositions on the album, but weaker only compared to the rest of the "In Rock", an album who set very high standards for DEEP PURPLE and for the genre itself. "Into The Fire" is a good beat, something like THE BEATLES on distortion and screaming vocals. The second part of this duet of weakness contains some nice organ work.

The last track on the album is preeeteeeeeencious "Hard Lovin' Woman"...no. Sorry, wrong album. Hard Lovin' Man it is. Brilliant, ultimate hard-rock riff, epic organ solo, and Ian's voice is again tearing molecules somewhere above 15 kHz.....and nice, long psychedelic/dissonant section. The song is perhaps a little bit too protracted, but I like those kind of things. It's remarkable. Like the album in a whole. Progressive masterpiece.

Stunning! This is their best album, so hard and so powerful. Speed King starts off LOUD with Blackmore's guitar madness that changes into a calm Hammond organ part. Then comes Gillan with his really high voice and the rock and roll begins. There are also great bluesy solos in the middle of the track. Bloodsucker has cool (maybe funky?) rythm with a lot of great keyboard work. Child in time is an alltime classic, one of the best songs ever written. Meybe the best guitar solo ever and those screams by Gillan. This is simply marvelous. Flight of the rat is fast. Really fast and really enjoyable. Again Blackmore and Lord at their best. I love that riff and that solos. And it's almost 8 minutes long. Pure energy. Into the fire is the only weaker track on the album. It's a simple hard rock song that you'll forget about very quickly. Living wreck is another funky style track with great drumming. Finally at the end we have another huge rocker - Hard lovin' man. It's long, it's loud and it has a lot of cool instrumental parts. I also must mention about the drumming. Ian Paice is one of my favourite drummers of all time and this album clearly shows why. His work is maybe less spectacular than Blackmores' or Lord's but just listen to how he plays. Not giving the rythm but plays awsome things. And I also love this pure, 'dry' sound. Overally it's a masterpiece. It's progressive enough to recieve full 5 stars. The greatest hard rock album ever.

An absolute masterpiece of modern music,"In rock" opened completely new territories in exploration of guitar soundscapes at the end of psychedelic era of the sixties.Not a real heavy riff was heard ever before this monster,paving road for countless imitators and guitar hero wannabes.All seven original songs are considered classics,including "Hard lovin' man"which is probably first ever staccato riff.Even "Child in time",with its hammond ladden main theme(which is,by the way,stolen from It's a beautiful day's self titled first album) is a major accomplishment,although,somehow it doesn't fit ultra heaviness of the rest of the album.Remastered version of the album is also the ultimate version to get,includin Roger Glover remixes of "Flight of the rat","Speed king" and hit single"Black night".Amazing

Deep Purple, along with Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath, helped to usher in heavy metal for the early 70s. In Rock marks the first studio album with the Mark II or classic lineup (the live orchestra album preceded it), featuring Ian Gillan, Ritchie Blackmore, Jon Lord, Ian Paice, and Roger Glover. Each member proved to be archetypal players: Gillan screams influenced metallers like Rob Halford; Ian Paice's aggressive yet technical drums can be heard in Neil Peart, among others; Jon Lord's aggressive keyboards set the stage for prog metal ivory ticklers; Roger Glover's poundign bass gave it the metallic edge, and Ritchie Blackmore's guitar is the primary influence for neo-classical music.

In Rock was the loudest album of its time without question. From the opening cacophony in Speed King to the shrieks of Child in Time to the final notes of Hard Lovin Man, this album never lets up.

"Speed King" starts the album with crashing guitars and drums that fade into a soft keyboard sound before launching back in with Gillan's screams. A great rocker, ths is one of Purple's best songs. The riff and bassline make this a chugging classic.

Bloodsucker loses no momentum as Gillan continues to belt his trademark multi-octave screams.

Child in Time is my favorite Purple track ever. It's Gillan's best performznce, as he shrieks over building volume until it erupts in Blackmore's finest solo ever complemented by Lord's interplay. The song is ten minutes but feel so much shorter, and the final cacophony will leave you panting.

Flight of the Rat marks the emergence of Ian Gillan's signature loopy lyrics. How can such meaningless words be so convincing? TO me Gillan's lyrics are some of rock's best because he manages to make the dumbest, silliest crap work perfectly. Lord gets his moment in the spotlight here.

Into the Fire is a groovy song that breaks up the fast pace of the album, though it's no less crushing.

Livin Wreck features a great disorted noise from Lord over a slightly softer Gillan.

Hard Lovin Man closes the album propelled by Paice, while Blackmore andLord muster enough strength to destroy what's left of their instruments.

In Rock sounds a bit dated today, but it is still a classic of hard rock, though it's not very proggy. Along with Machine Head, Fireball, and Made In Japan, this album helped to cement the bad as legends.

Here's where DP got their rise to fame. After their semi-chart hit single Black Night, it's full speed ahead for the heavy metal prog-rock pioneers. Speed King starts it all off with a crasher (aka the "woffle", this got edited off the US LP to please the ears of the WB Music heads) but Jon Lord warms up the organ engine before switching gears with Ian pouring heart n' soulful lyrics (most of 'em copied off of Little Richard tunes) to mold into the new traditional DP sound. Bloodsucker gives Ian's classic screams a whirl, but intensifies as Child In Time rolls in. CIT has a Wagnerian feel with Jon building crescendos and Ian's operatic voices settling into a Wring That Neck-like interlude before returning to the main theme and then to a thundering finale. Flight Of The Rat and Into the Fire show the darker side of DP. Living Wreck brings about the theme of "sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll". Finally, Hard Lovin' Man rolls the wrecking ball, closing with Ritchie imitating sounds of Pete's Townshend's smashing guitar routine. This is a perfect introduction to the classic Mark II era of Deep Purple.

I like DP. I really do. But I can not find so many positives about this album. The truth is, I really like the MK I. Gillan singing is the first problem for me. I don't like his voice. The next thing is Child In Time is de facto a cover of the group It's A Beutiful Day. Third - I don't think this album is prog at all. I like the tracks, but, the only one that makes me satisfied is Flight Of The Rat. And production of this album is very bad. It sounds like it was recorded in 67 and not 70. But thats only my opinion, I know many people, for whom that DP album is the greatest of all times. Not for me. Sorry. And what's with that heavy metal thing? Black Sabbath is much heavier and if you want something really heavy and distorted check out thefirst High Tide lp. Although it's not that band album after all. It's just normal. Maybe my expectations were to high? 3 stars it is.

December 1970. I purchased "Whole Lotta Love", "Paranoïd" and "Black Bight / Speed King" on the same day. A month later the album "Abraxas". I was almost 12 years old.

So, my first contact with the Deep was "Black Night". I never understood why this song was not included in the "In Rock" album but this nonsense was rectified with the 25 years anniversary version. A major line-up change here : Evans and Simper were sacked and replaced by Gilan / Glover.

Although I cannot judge for the bass playing, Gillan will bring a significant improvement in the vocals : from a boring, low-tone voice we are swithched to a brilliant, strong, violent and sweet at times lead vocalist.

"Speed King" has one the wildiest intro I have ever heard. This is 200% hard rock of the purest vein. Then, all of a sudden, we get one of the most classical and beautiful moment thanks to Jon who, as usual is very present but probably less than on the three previous Purple albums which were more prog oriented. It is one of their greatest track ever (with another twenty probably ...). On stage, it could often leads to a 15 to 20 minutes moment. But who will complain ?

"Bloodsucker" is another hard rock track like Purple will produce quite a few : good riff, a guitar solo, an organ solo ... But melody is weak and it lacks of rythm : too heavy.

"Child In Time".

What can I say about this one ? Another of the best Purple of course (top three). Probably one of the best ever rock song all times, all genres. Lord's intro misleads us and make us think that it will be a quiet and tranquil piece of music throughout those wonderful 10'18". Wrong, man !

It is only the intro to one of the best song you can imagine : a fabulous Gillan on vocals will lead this song to unknown limits. Evans could never have dreamed to achieve such result.

The song is built crescendo and the vocals part leads to the Ritchie's solo guitar which will remain one of the best in the rock history (probably equalled only by some Page ones - I'm not talking of pure guitar oriented bands like Jimi Hendrix Experience). Then again a short smooth break from Jon (a shorter version of the intro) and Gillan again for the most incredible vocal performance ever (comparable to Plant in "Immigrant Song" or "Since I've Been Loving You" maybe, but that's another story which I will outline extensively while reviewing Led Zep's entire catalogue). A fabulous song.

But when you listen to "Bombay Calling" from the Californian band It's a Beautiful Day, you'll know where Purple got his inspiration (to say the least).

B-side starts with "Flight Of The Rat". One of the most underated Purple song. No live versions to be found. Never did they play it. This is another highlight of "In Rock".

Almost eight minutes of wildest hard rock like they can produce. It is a "Highway Star" type song written almost two years before : fantastic riff, great rhythm work from Roger and Ian, a guitar solo, an organ one : typical Purple song but really this one surpassed all its like ones (except "Highway" star). It would have been a great experience to see how the band could have reproduced the song on stage. "Into the Fire" is another example of the Purple work. It is a predecessor to "No, No, No" from the "Fireball" album.

"Living Wreck" is also a good track : good guitar riff and melodious. It does not belong to their standards but would have been a highlight on lots of rock albums of the genre. It is amazing to notice that some of the vocal parts are almost similar than the one on "Smoke". I advise you to listen to both tracks one after the other (starting with "Living") : the exercise is amazing. This really means that "In Rock" is the essence of the Mark II sound and inspiration, no doubt about that.

"Hard Lovin' Man" is another lost marvel from their repertoire. No live work either for this one which is a pity since it is a superb song. Almost as good as "Flight Of The Rat". A great closing number. Jon's organ is outrageous. Ritchie's solo almost reached the level of his "Child In Time" one. The song has the typical struture I have already outlined. Ian is fabulous on the vocals. Great, great, great. The vocal parts also have influenced "Highway Star" (do the same excercise as mentioned above for "Living Wreck" and "Smoke" but this time with "Hard" and "Highway". The conclusion will be the same.

If this was not sufficient, the Deep issued a 25 years anniversary with a bonus CD that finally includes their hit single "Black Night" (number 4 in the UK), a piano version of "Speed King" (emasculated because the fabulous intro has been cut out. So you can start mixing your own one : piano oriented with the wild intro) ! Some remixes of existing songs: "Flight" which is rawer but still well achieved and pretty close to the final version and some "Studio Chats" (not very interesting). Finally, the leftover "Cry Free" which is not too bad.

There is also an extended version of "Black Night" with some Ritchie's soloing at the end. A pure marvel. This is the first album of a mythical trilogy "In Rock", "Fireball" and "Machine Head" which will be released in less than 24 months (only Led Zep will surpass this in producing their first four gigantic albums in a bit more than two years). Can you imagine this nowadays (2007)?

If you do not own this album there is only one thing for you to do : go and get it NOW ! NOW ! NOW ! NOW ! NOW ! (as Peter urges you to do in "The Musical Box").

It will peak at number 4 in the UK charts and incomprehensively only 143 in the US. As far as prog rock is concerned, there are three sections available here : one during "Speed King" (fifty seconds), and two in "Child in Time" (fifty-three seconds during the intro and thirty after the first break). Total : two minutes thirteen seconds.

This album will pave the way for a unique music genre : combining the wildiest rock with elements of classic. It is even more obvious in their live sets in which Jon will always integrate bits of his classical taste and talent.

Five stars of course.

It's no coincidence that with the arrival of Ian Gillan came the arrival of DEEP PURPLE. Ian's throaty vocals would fit perfectly with the new heavy sound that Blackmore decided the band should have.They were following in the heavy path that LED ZEPPELIN blazed in the late sixties.

"Speed King" opens with lower toned guitar and vocals coming out hard and heavy right from the get go.The organ/guitar interplay is pretty cool. "Bloodsucker" has some melodic guitar and Gillan sceaming away. There are some good guitar and organ solos, and the vocal melody to end the song is great. "Child In Time" is a classic DEEP PURPLE song, perhaps their best. The first 3 minutes are very atmospheric then things start to intensify as drums pound away and Blackmore lets a guitar solo fly. The rhythm starts to gallop and Blackmore's solo is on fire. 6 minutes in Ian is just letting it rip on vocals.

"Flight Of The Rat" is my second favourite song after "Child In Time".This one is all about Blackmore. The guitar solos are scathing and amazing ! The song ends with a drum solo. The next two songs are the weakest in my opinion. "Into The Fire" is heavy on the bass to open.The vocals are quite rough as well. "Living Wreck" features some good drum and organ work. "Hard Lovin' Man" has some amazing vocals and a great organ solo. And check out the raw guitar solo 6 minutes in.

DEEP PURPLE fans will argue to the end of time which album is better, "In Rock" or "Machine Head", but let's face it they're both amazing !

I'm no Deep Purple historian per se but I imagine that the following scenario isn't too far from the truth. After three interesting yet below average-selling prog rock-tinted LPs failed to keep their label afloat, the core members of the band decided big changes were necessary if they didn't want to fade into obscurity as just another group that scored a couple of hit singles in the late 60s. After securing a new contract with Warner Brothers they jettisoned crooner Rod Evans and bassist Nick Simper and replaced them with Ian Gillian and Roger Glover. At that juncture I envision organist Jon Lord and guitarist Ritchie Blackmore sitting down and making a deal. They would record two albums, one Jon's way and the other Ritchie's and whichever generated the most buzz would determine the direction they would take from then on. Lord's amateurish "Concerto for Group and Orchestra" came out first and fell flat on its face. "Deep Purple In Rock" was released next and the issue was resolved permanently.

Blackmore was right to realize that bands like The Who, Led Zeppelin, The Jeff Beck Group and The Jimi Hendrix Experience had opened up a whole new genre of popular music called hard rock and that there was an insatiable global audience that couldn't get enough of it. Ritchie calculated correctly that there was a very low tolerance for sweet ballads or restraint of any kind in this crowd, just a yearning for loud, guitar-based rock and roll with some ear-shattering vocals on top. When this album hit the racks and the airwaves in 1970 it attracted headbangers like bears to honey and stereo speakers were strained to (and beyond) their designed capabilities in millions of households and college dorm rooms as this barnburner spread like wildfire through a dry field.

"Speed King" hits like a hammer, emphatically pointing out the band's intent as Blackmore and Glover's shared riff dominates the track. In fact, you have to listen carefully to even hear Lord's organ until the quieter middle section arrives where he and Ritchie trade some tasteful solos. And then there's the new singer. Ian Gillian's unbelievable, powerful vocal style is something to behold. As he so eloquently informs us, "I'm a speed king/you got to hear me sing/I'm a speed king/see me fly." On the next song, "Bloodsucker," when Gillian wails "Aww, no, no, no." it sounds like he deliberately stuck his finger into a wall socket and a whole new style of rock vocalization was born. The song is not much more than a heavy rock progression where, again, the organ doesn't really appear until its designated lead break but it is still memorable because Ian yaps incoherently like a rabid Pomeranian throughout the final verse. It's a slice of insanity. But what follows is a defining moment in the evolution of majestic, bigger-than-life rock anthems. "Child In Time" is 10:15 of Bic-waving, grandiose rock music that takes the listener on a journey of drastic peaks and valleys as they lay down the gauntlet for the competition to match. Gillian is a master here, singing delicately at first, then screaming like a banshee being stretched across a torture wheel. During the uptempo shuffle midway through Ritchie shreds his guitar's fretboard like a maniac and you have no difficulty hearing him as his axe booms through. The whole build up sequence is then repeated and the ending is a frenzied, end-of-the-world extravaganza that sounds like they destroyed the studio.

On "Flight of the Rat" Deep Purple displays everything their new direction is to be. It has an infectious recurring lick and a snarling guitar lead from Blackmore, a distorted organ ride from Jon and a lot of snazzy drumming from Ian Paice from start to finish (complete with a drawn out concert-style ending). Next is "Into the Fire" which is little more than a funky jam with Gillian's unusually rough voice sounding like he's been hollering for a few weeks too many. "Living Wreck" follows and, as the insightful liner notes tell you, "It takes all sorts - support your local groupie." Unfortunately, the tune is nothing to write home about, although Lord's organ shrieks are a fine imitation of an infuriated mountain lion. "Hard Lovin' Man" is obviously penned with the stage in mind because here they pull out all the stops. There's no doubt that this is Ritchie's baby because in the end they drop everything but the guitar out of the mix for a few bars and then for the finale you get to experience Blackmore doing his best Hendrix mimicry with a beat-the-guitar-into-submission musical homicide.

In retrospect I'd say that Deep Purple's first four LPs are a lot more progressive than this one. It's still a landmark album but, with the exception of "Child In Time," there's more proto-metal to be heard than psychedelia or art rock. There's certainly no lack of energy or enthusiasm, though, and for those who like a little classic skull pounding from time to time, this is your ticket. 3.4 stars.

This is perfect example of how hard rock can be progresive. We have here many hard sounds - guitar and Hammond. Byt this music is not only wonderful piece of hard rock music but also perfect proto-prog LP which influenced on many other hard rock a well as progresive bands.

Each song is special in some way. But Child in Time, Flight of the Rat and Hard Lovin' Man are unforgettible. Since I've heard this LP for a first time a was so positively shocked...

This is one of proto-prog Masterpiece!

Deep Purple shows you here that they know how to rock. Hard! Forget this orchestra crap- every song is loud, fast, powerful and in your face. It's relentless. Don't forget to check out their classic song, "Child In Time"- Gillan and Blackmore just tear it up. This album is basically the audio equivalent of getting punched in the faced. Sweet.

Standout songs: "Speed King," "Child In Time"

With a couple albums behind them and Machine Head still on the horizon, Deep Purple take a great leap forward.

Characterized by great guitar from Blackmore, and excellent vocal wrok from Gillan this is an album that by far outshines some of their later (and increadably popular) works. While Machine Head had their great mainstream hit (Smoke on the Water), this album has a lot more music that the prog community can relate to. Longer tracks like FLIGHT OF THE RAT and HARD LOVIN' MAN definately have their charm with some very good work by each member, and is somewhat upbeat, considering the heavyness of the music for the time it was released. Other shorter tracks on the album are just as noteworthy, the opener SPEEDKING, with it's quirky lyrics, is a great tune that is often overlooked, as is the screamer BLOODSUCKER.

However, even with all these great songs the standout, and main focus of the album really is CHILD IN TIME. The slow intro given life by the organ and Gillan's soft vocals are especially well done, but soon give way into the main meat (if you will) of the song. Enter Gillan's shrieking scream and some exceptional guitar solos by Blackmore. In the end, this track is a wonderful epic that demands listening to again and again.

When it comes right down to it, this is a great album to listen to for progheads and metalheads alike, and it's likely Deep Purple's most progressive release. I'd recomend this to anyone and everyone, really. 4 stars, an excellent addition to any collection.

OK, I'm definitely going against the grain here but ... this is about prog and about whether albums should be in a prog collection. As a bit of a rocker this is a 5+++ star album. In fact if you claim to like heavy rock and you don't have this album many people will think you are talking out of "Your Back Door".No doubt about it, but as prog ........

Speed King/Flight of the Rat both top notch heavy rock tracks. My personal favourite is Living Wreck one in a line of amusing tracks from this seminal HARD ROCK band. Still my prog seisometer is stil registering the sort of disturbance caused by a passing truck: no earthquakes or tremors here.

Child in Time. There's the rub. Fabulous track. Most definitely prog. Right up there as a great prog number. Gillan is awesome. One of the truly great tracks in any genre.

The difficult question is how it rates as a prog album. I reckon the strength of Child in Time lifts this to a Decent Prog Album, but by no stretch of teh imagination essential

Sometimes it is hard to review a classic... Yes, "Deep Purple In Rock" is the classic of rock, heavy rock, heavy metal or whatever you might call this style of early 70s loud, hard, agressive energy rocking. Ian Gillan came in and Mark II was born. Gone are the psychedelic wanderings of the first three albums; now we hear the band establishing (co-establishing together with BLACK SABBATH and LED ZEPPELIN) one of the most popular rock genres, with Gillan's screaming vocal setting a template for the coming hordes of long-haired, greasy, wild and "savage" heavy metal singers.

But I never got into it. Even when I liked "Child In Time" in my teens, I was never attracted to this album as a whole. Now, many years later, when I simply cannot stand this pretty original heavy ballad, I found that tracks like "Bloodsucker", "Into the Fire" and "Living Wreck" are in fact the neglected gems. Did anyone mentioned "Speed King"? No, for Heaven's sake - no! If you are 15, maybe...

Therefore I will repeat my rating of another classic album I reviewed here - "Sergeant Pepper".

PERSONAL RATING: 2,5/5

P.A. RATING: 3/5

Deep Purple In Prog?

Well, I really don't care if it's Rock or Prog or Heavy Prog or Heavy Prog Rock Metal or whatever. This record was at the time a full metal gauntlet in the face of everyone (but especially Led Zeppelin, see below) and simply 45 minutes of very good, innovative music. The classic tracks Speed King and Child in Time are accompanied by such gems as Bloodsucker, Living Wreck and - of couse - Hard Lovin' Man. This is a much underrated track with a driving riff and screaming guitar and maybe one of the birth places of the faster side of metal. The other two tracks -Flight of the Rat and Into the Fire - are heavy, but not really my cup of tea. Nevertheless they can't eclipse the overwhelming impression this album made when it hit the stores. 5 stars and no messing around.

The promised remark on Led Zeppelin: Some people I once knew made the observation that the impressive artwork of the In Rock album might be a reaction to the inner gatefold sleeve of Led Zeppelin II (you know the one with the four pedestals, each with the name of one Zep member on it). Purple simply topped this attitude by usurping Mount Rushmore, which is the biggest monument on the planet, I believe. And maybe the heaviness of Led Zeppelin IV was due to the album reviewed here...?

What an interesting album from these hard rocking Brits. The thing that struck me now is how heav it was. Often old hard rock bands can seem amusing when compared to the heights (or the lows) that heaviness has reached nowadays, but this, while hardly being a death metal aural barage is, to be quite frank, heavy.

One just has to hear the intro to 'speed King' to realise that. That minute or so of absolute chaos is truly monumental. This is probably the birth of speed metal (a heavy metal subgenre that Black Sabbath refrained from inventing). Then there is a discordant organ scale before plunging into a really fast rocker of excellent quality. Next is 'Bloodsucker', a bit of a riff-monster nothing incredible but a solid hard rock track to get us ready for the album's centrepiece. 'Child in Time'. Simply wow! The slow refined intro building up to those semi-orgasmic, semi-painful screams, and the guitar solo... incredible, so fast and inventive. Ritchie is a genius. Not to mention the keyboard solo: Lord is also a genius. This one ends in a chaotic climax. Mindblowing is the word to describe 'Child in Time'. 'Flight of the Rat' is a more up-beat song that always seems to remind me of Queen. I love this song and is great relief after the intensity of the last song. 'Into the Fire' follows and is another great hard rock song. 'Livin' Wreck' is also in this vein and is an early example of rock groups singing about groupies, before it went too far and a certain Australian band decided to write ALL(!) their songs about this subject. 'Hard Lovin' Man' is a good closer and ends with the same sort of chaos as the intro of 'Speed King'.

Also worth mentioning is the track 'Black Night', added onto the CD version of the album which is one of Purple's classic song, that was originally a single only release to accompany the album, as was common practice back then. This CD version also includes twelve other bonus tracks including several entitled 'Studio Chat' which are pointless but slightly amusing. Also there are remixes o album tracks and two unrleased tracks called 'Crying Free' and 'Jam Stew' which are both pretty decent. This CD also comes with an excellent booklet documenting the making of this album, which is extremely informative.

The whole package of this remastered edition with bonus tracks and booklets should be worth five stars, but as a principal I only take into account the music on the original album in my ratings, so I will place this a four star album, albeit a very high four stars.

Simply wonderful. One of the most powerful hard rock albums of all times. Just 7 songs, but no weak tracks. I especially adore Child In Time, Flight Of The Rat and Living Wreck. I love the cover art too, and those funny liner notes on the inner gatefold sleeve ('Child In Time - the story of a loser ; it could be you'). Ritchie Blackmore is a god, Ian Gillan's voice is perfect, Jon Lord's keyboards are nice, as oger Glover's bass. And Ian Paice is a fantastic drummer, no need to argue. This is a masterpiece.

If you have in one team , John Lord ( the godfather of hammond organ ) and Ritchie Blackmore ( one of the best stratocaster guitarist player ) , Ian Gillan ( best hard rock vocalist ), and surely Glover & Paice on bass & drums , we must get the best releases from In Rock till Machine Head . In fact this original line - up was the best in 40 years of DP , also they rejoin in many occasions for live concerts & new releases . So ,,, a conclusion to my DP in Rock review . I have this album on vinyl and satisfies me more than the 95 anniversary cd remastered, and to be honest , i haven't felt any major difference in the making , except for cd two , which is not essential at all to add as a twin with the 7 essential tracks in this album .............................. . Favourites are Child in Time 4.5 Stars , flight of the Rat & hard lovin' Man 3.5 Stars ........................ So enjoy it . Tracks Toni .

First of all....some have said there is no prog here.....but I would have to disagree....Child In Time is one of my favourite songs of all time....and I would definitely call it progressive..... The rest of the album is still very good....but it doesn't meet that high standard...... unless you have been living under a rock ....you probably already know that this album...and all good Deep Purple albums....contains manic Hammond Organ along with loud guitars and a screaming style of vocals....... If you like Purple at all...then this album is a MUST have.....

If you´re looking for the roots of the so called ´prog metal´ genre, this may be its mark zero. Coming at the heels of a very bold experiment of Concert For Group And Orchestra, and after 3 more pop oriented studio albums before that one, Deep Pruple forged a whole new identity: it was heavy music indeed, but with such a sophistication and classical influences that it could not be called plain Hard Rock. Besides, the blues scales progression (the very base for hard rock) was almost gone, traded for strong jazz and classical musical harmonies.

In Rock was the first studio release by the ´classic´ MKII line up that included singer extraordinaire Ian Gillan. songs like Child In Time and Flight Of The Rat were the obvious choices, but the whole album was quite ahead of its time. No wonder Deep Purple was one of the very few heavy bands that proheads respectec in the 70´s, much more than other more commercial successful, bigger bands (like Led Zeppelin).

In Rock set new standards for heavy music and with the help of legendary producer Martin Birch they would release a string of classic albums in the 70´s. They proved that heavy music could be good, technical, sophisticated and very well played. With such extraordinary musicians they could not really last long. But while they did, they produced some of the most interesting and influential heavy prog music of the their time. In Rock may be not their best ever (hence the 4 star rating). But it is a classic anyway. A must have for any prog lover, who also enjoys music with balls.

Wow, what an unexpected shot of pure rock. From a band that had given us psychdelicized hits covering such luminaries as Billy Joe Royal and Neil Diamond, not to mention lame renditions of Beatles tunes, and especially not to mention ill-advised ventures with symphony orchestras, In Rock marked the point when Deep Purple actually became a band to be reckoned with.

I have the both the original LP and the anniversary edition CD, which includes many frills, but let's look at the original song lineup:

Speed King Bloodsucker Child In Time Flight of the Rat Into The Fire Living Wreck Hard Lovin' Man

Speed King, Bloodsucker, Into The Fire, and Living Wreck are all pure hard rock by a band that knows how to rock, but really there's nothing pacesetting in these songs. Nonetheless this is about as good as hard rock got at the time. But then we get to Flight of the Rat and Hard Lovin' Man, and the band begins to stretch out into more progressive territory, with more extended solos and somewhat more complex songwriting.

However, Child In Time is where Deep Purple come closest to earning their prog credentials. Gillan is a screaming banshee, Blackmore is pulling monstrous solos seemingly out of thin air, and the rest of the band is not merely along for the ride but rather driving the whole concept to a new plane. This is Deep Purple's finest song, and one for the ages.

It's clear that Blackmore has taken control of the band on this album. No more of Lord's pretentions to write some great rock symphony. No more psychedelic noodling. No more covers.

So this is the great moment when a band finds its soul or its niche, which would serve them well over the next few albums. As a prog album, well let's just say it almost gets there. As a rock album, it's a classic.

After three inconsistent albums with Rod Evans in vocals, and Nick Simper playing bass... The Mark II came destroying all the rock and roll basis and offering this powerful milestone!

I really love the beginnning of this album... Four jewels in a row! Speedking surprises with its hard riffing (we are talking about a 1970's release...) and original keyboard's song, and Bloodsucker is just another punch in your face, with an ever harder riff, and the charismatic Ian Gillan's voice singing with rage (and some incoherence too...) Then, Child in Time comes to give the most progressive, psychedelic and variated moment of the album. This track is just incredible, only supased by its live version... The high pitched Gillan's vocals are one of the heavy metal roots! Then, Flight of the Rat recover the strength of the beginning, but with more groove and a incredible instrumental section, one of my favourite parts of the album... Ritchie Blackmore plays just incredible in this song, specially the guitar entry in 3'57''!

After this carousel of pure genious, the three last songs are not so brilliant... Although they are pretty good! Into the Fire is maybe the weaker and most repetitive track, despite its catchy riff. Living Wreck is also slow and groovy like Into the Fire, but maybe a bit better due to the great keyboard's final solo. Then Hard Lovin' Man recovers some of the outstanding quality and speed of the beginning, giving a fine closing to the album. The final impression is that we have a great work, but not pefect due to some weak moments.

Nevertheless, the disc is variated, funny, deep, interesting... And a true milestone! Led Zeppelin was important to hard rock and progressive rock, and so were Black Sabbath in terms of heavy metal... But I think that Deep Purple created in 1970 some true metal songs. Later, Black Sabbath did the same in Paranoid and specially in Master of Reality... But In Rock is maybe the most clear and brilliant heavy metal root you'll find out there!

And of course, I think this album deserves to be here... It's not strictly progressive, but enough to be considered a Proto-Prog album. Later, bands like Kansas or Uriah Heep they took the Deep Purple influence to build their progressive sound. This hard riffs, mixed with long instrumental sections and some psychedelic elements... The perfect Proto-Prog album!

Best songs: the first four... Just four perfect rock anthems!

Conclusion: if you've not heard this album... Run to buy it yet! Because this is one of the best Deep Purple's albums, and I think it's necessary listening to it to understand the developing of hard rock and heavy metal through the 70's and 80's. And of course, its influence in prog music is also huge... Excellent adition to any music collection!

My rating: ****1/2

Together with Black Sabbath's debut album, Deep Purple In Rock was the very first heavy metal album. Gone are the classical aspirations of the two previous albums, no orchestras here, also no harpsichords and no pianos or acoustic guitars. This, however, does not mean that it is no longer connected to prog. Since they created a whole new style of music with this album, that fact by itself showed a progressive spirit at least.

We all know who joined the band, and who left etc. so I'm not going to into that here (see other reviews). Now, on to the music.

While Deep Purple's previous self-titled album had been a perfect balance between ballads and rockers, this album contains no ballads whatsoever. It is an all out rock album, just like the title implies. And I can imagine that it shocked a lot of people when the thunderous introduction to Speed King came out of the speakers in early 1970.

Speed King might deceive you, but it is basically a 50's style rocker updated in heavy metal style. Child In Time is another deceiver, with its over ten minutes length you might expect a prog epic, but it is a very simple song with a long middle section. Still, it is a classic and not bad at all, but not really progressive.

While I rated Deep Purple's self-titled album four stars, I give this one only three. The one- sided emphasis on rockers over ballads and the lack of real progressive elements stop me from giving this one four also. Still, In Rock is an album with great historical value and it is a good album too, but not really essential for prog fans.

The bands next album, Fireball would have more prog content but that's another story.

One of the best music pieces, the world have ever seen. This is a perfect album. A band that is always on the top. Admiration for that essential band. This is one of my favourite 5 or 10 albums of all time. Every song is completed and true masterpiece. This is music for the history of the musical industry. Symbol of hard rock. It is not progressive rock, but I hope you understand that I will rate 5 stars for this album even I am in site for jazz or classical music! All musicians on this album has minimum one performance, that turn me around - unique! Almost everywhere on the album we can hear one of the trademarks of Deep Purple - solo on guitar by Blackmore, followed by solo on keyboards by Lord. I can also mark the performances of Paice on Flight of the Rat, Gillan on Child in Time and Bloodsucker, Glover on Black Night! This is the one and only In Rock by Deep Purple!

Deep Purple's 'In Rock' is of course most famous for its hit 'Child in Time', which by the way was a rework of a song by the psychedelic rock band 'Its A Beautiful Day'. This classic song is a real treat; with its famous up-tempo rhythm and blues guitar solo and keyboard-guitar interplay by Richie Blackmore and Jon Lord. I would however argue that its not much of an example of what makes this album stand out. This is is actually one of the best studio-recordings of a great live band, catching Deep Purple at their most energetic and raw. On 'In Rock' you'll get to hear wild experimentation (the album opens and closes in a acid-rock fashion), some great rhythm and blues type swing (which would be sorely missed on later hardrock type releases), piercing hard rock, some of the best stratocaster playing ever recorded, shrieking organs and madmen performances by Ian Gillan. The performances are so energetic that a later album like 'Machine Head' pales in comparison. I would recommended listening to those songs on the 'Made in Japan' live-version anyway. Deep Purple's 'In Rock' is an historic document and it would prove extremely difficult for all copy-cat bands to creating anything like it. This is probably where hardrock got loose from its psychedelic rock roots.

The cover art was copied from Vanilla Fudge by the way, a very influential band heavy prog listeners should also check out.

One of the best heavy metal/hard rock albums ever

Please note that I am reviewing the original album with the classic track listing. I got this album 25 years ago as a rotten, second hand cassette/tape. The first minutes of a jumbo jet crashing into their instruments........ or something like that got me wondering about the quality of this tape. But thankfully; it was only the opening minutes of Speed King and it was meant to be like that. The album soon opened up and revealed itself as a truly remarkable output from a reborn band. Deep Purple mark 1 has never done anything for me..... except from curing my insomnia. Mark 2, the classic Deep Purple on the other hand was brilliant in my view and they delivered some truly great albums. In Rock is the opening salvo from them.

There is no point of reeling of the songs here. Child In Time is the best track. The rest of the album is brilliant too. By stating that this album is one of the best hard rock/heavy metal albums of all time, I guess you all understand where I am heading. The music is heavy, innovative, playfull and teasing at times. It is like being headbutted by a horse and being kissed by a butterfly at the same time. This album will forever be one of the mainstays in my record collection.

My second 5 stars of today, I am afraid. But I guess I may be forgiven.

Deep Purple In Rock, 1970

Probably going to raise a few hairs with this one, but here goes. In Rock is clearly considered a seminal hard rock/metal album, and understandably so. It's dirty, heavy, a bit groundbreaking, has a couple of killer tunes and some of the best straight musicians out there on it. Unfortunately, being heavy and well-played doesn't necessarily make for a consistently stunning album (coincidentally, the progressive leanings aren't jump-out obvious here, sure, they're there, but it's a clear virtuosic hard rock album first and foremost). First off, let me say that the opener Speed King is 42,633 types of awesome, all the songs are listenable, solid, and have some pretty good moments (as well as the odd killer riff), but none of the others is really an especial highlight for me. Clearly a must-have if you're a hard-rock person or simply love a plain instrumental/heaviness showcase for what it is, even if you aren't, the historical import of In Rock probably makes it a must, however, from a personal point of view, nothing more or less than a consistently pretty good album with one blowaway song and a couple of other very impressive ones (Flight Of The Rat, Hard Lovin' Man).

As I said, Speed King is simply leagues ahead of the rest of this disc, it's leagues ahead of just about any other hard rock I've heard... the keening, forceful, hurtling solo from Blackmore, the reverent organ, and then the all-out ear-blasting take on rock'n'roll, with thunderous but tight drumming and Gillan belting out with all possible verve the mixture of dirty blues and mock-Presley lyrics adds up to one of the best songs I've ever heard, hammering through the speakers right into the gut. A cool organ/guitar duet fills up an instrumental break while Glover's bass puts out some more churning lines, before the song slides off into its anarchic conclusion. The energy, the riffs, the soloing and the feel are all fantastic, and an absolutely killer sound from the production adds to it. Easily the best thing on the album, in my view, and worth the price of the whole thing.

Bloodsucker is remarkable mostly for Gillan's screaming 'Oh nonono!', but, to be fair, the riff is pretty memorable and well constructed, even if it wallows a bit, and the whole vocal performance is quite cleverly done. The obligatory instrumental break, in spite of some cool Blackmore soloing and a neat flourish from Lord is so disjointed it virtually loses my interest, and the only change for the return of the verse seems to be an annoying vocal effect. Not bad, but hardly a standout.

The iconic Child In Time, while not as impressive to me as to most others, it seems, does deserve its status in a way. Delicate, but gradually building in power, a great, defined organ tone from Lord, and a much more low-key and accessible vocal from Gillan, perhaps showing off a bit more of his range and contribution to the band, it's an understandable classic and a good song. Really, though, I think the first few minutes are merely nice developments of one melody, and only after that do we come onto the real gold of the harder-rocking mid-section, complete with a slightly meandering, but nonetheless great fun, solo from Blackmore. A return of the vocals, with an ever-excellent rhythm section, marks a considerably more moving and powerful revival of that melody with a newfound sense of direction in the rhythm section and Lord's more chaotic organ-work. Don't get me wrong, it's a very good song, but not, for me, the classic which it's often made out to be.

Flight Of The Rat is another pure rocker, with a hell of a kicking riff, a good vocal, more solid drumming and extremely neat funk-tinged solos from Blackmore and Paice stuck into the mix. The energy is back, and only an overly noodlesome Lord solo brings the song down a bit for me. Approaching the opening in terms of general coolness.

Into The Fire... well, Bloodsucker wallowed only a little, Into The Fire takes it to a whole new level of extended, awkward, shuffling riff with an obvious effort at both seriousness and heaviness, which comes off instead as laboured and plain daft. Basically unimpressive, not even really redeemed by a Blackmore solo, and for once Gillan comes across as a liability rather than an asset.

Living Wreck opens with a cool solo drum part, before a Hammond swipe brings it forwards, and though a particularly cool bass part comes through the mix, the opening and the swipes are definitely the song's most memorable bits. The riffs are heavy and clear, though one is clearly better than the other, I have mixed feelings about the vocals, the more rhythmic use of the drums is great, and the lyrics don't do much for me. One of Lord's better moments, and overall a good thing.

Hard Lovin' Man begins with kicking riffs and some ferocious organ dissonants, before Gillan kicks in with a slightly watery but nonetheless energetic performance, and it continues as a sort of showcase piece in its own way, with more great work from Paice, a grinding, albeit unconvincing, organ from Lord, a classy and collected solo from Blackmore, and some of the album's arguably most progressive moments (mainly messing around with sound effects and production, nothing Hendrix hadn't done earlier), before heading off to a noisy conclusion. Good stuff, by and large.

Black Night opens with a surprisingly calm riff, before Jon Lord's hazy organ latches on and Ian Gillan throws in his fairly fun set of vocals. It's essentially a slightly volumed-up pop song, with a very neat drum part from Paice and a small, but neat organ solo as well as the immense ability of Blackmore wailing off without all too much direction. Memorable and fun, but not an outstanding number. The rest of the bonus material is either studio chatter or forgettable/missable. I'd guess it's worth getting the 25th Anniversary remaster for anyone more enthralled with the band than me, though... it has a lot of bonus goodies.

In short, could do with more direction (especially the solos... for a band so strong, the solos manage surprisingly little other than showing the skill of the players), a bit more balance and a bit more real atmosphere rather than plain musicality and heaviness (a criticism I've levelled at just about every hard rock album I've heard, not just this one). Undeniably very good most of the time, but not my favourite style of music, and perhaps not essential for fans of progressive rock who aren't so interested in a general understanding of classic rock. A conservative three stars from me on a personal level, but four for historical importance/doing what it sets out to do. Rating: Three Stars subjectively, perhaps four if we're trying objectivity. Favourite Track: Speed King

I think the only reason I bought this album in the first place was because of the band's 45's of "Kentucky Woman" and "Hush." I owned both of the singles at the time. When I opened the album and started listening to "Speed King," I wasn't prepared for what I was listening to. It definitely was not top 40 music. It was more adult and harder than anything they previously did. I remember looking over the lyrics and thinking, this is some wild stuff here. I think I was impressed with the lyrics to the song "The Rat" the most. I had never heard any band get into spiritual stuff before.(I am referring to Child in Time) I was intrigued. I had some trouble getting used to this kind of music, simply because I was never exposed to it a whole lot. I think Led Zep's "Whole Lotta Love" was the closest I came to Deep Purple. Speed King just flies in speed and agility on the part of every band member. I especially loved the instrumental section. It is like being on a jet up in the cloudy blue diving headlong into certain death and then the group brings you back to the super sonic ear crushing heart of the song. "Blood Sucker" is a great rocker. The only thing bad about it is that it is somewhat repetitious. This is still a good song that you will want to hear over and over again. Next is my favorite, "Child in Time." It is simply a gift from above. Ian Gillan really impressed me to no end here. I never heard any guy hit those kinds of notes before him. I even named one of my son's after him. Blackmore just goes crazy on the guitar.He pushed himself over the edge on this and he messed up very slightly a few times, but he couldn't have gotten the beauty out of it if he went by a planned solo. I think the only thing I would have done differently is to connect the last part with the end of the solo. I don't know if they separated the end from it on purpose or by accident. Jon Lord is also mastering the sonic realm on this and many of the other tunes as well! "The Flight of the Rat" is another speedster and is wonderful to get into. Like I said earlier the lyrics are great! "Into the fire" slows it down and Blackmore gets some very expressive guitar work to come out of his fingers on this one. I like the tune of "Living Wreck", but I didn't care for the lyrics too much. I guess at the time, I wasn't aware of the groupie crap that was going on in the rock world. "Hard Lovin' Man" seemed similar to "Flight of the Rat" to me. It also speeds along and at the end we get treated to the smell of burning feet as Mr. Blackmore plays footsie with his axe to get some very wonderful sounds to come out of it. I didn't find that out until years later when I read one of their many interviews. Then I finally got a chance to see Ritchie do his thing with the foot at Cal Jam II. I am giving this album four stars.

Though this is not an album I frequently listen to, it's hard to argue it is anything less then a stellar excellence. Speed King and Child in Time are the obvious favourites and need no introduction. Other songs like Flight of the Rat are swirling hard rock tracks that would spawn countless generations of future metal bands. Into The Fire is a certain favourite of mine. The main riff spans multiple bars and would be executed to perfection on future Rainbow albums. Hard Lovin' Man is less convincing then the other songs but still a great track.

In Rock is simply an essential album in the rock history, but I think that prog fans will generally feel more for the live masterpiece Made In Japan.

A masterpiece from 70´s in the Hard rock scene!!!

Yes, easily this is my FAVORITE album from the MK II, and this is the first release from them in the studio, wow the album has a great opener Speed King has a heavy riff intro,so many bands in heavy metal nowadays surely were influenced by this one and the whole album.

Each track is a worth add to this album we have various tracks with heavy riffs and others with softs riff but wow a great length on each one. Of course my favorite track here is Child in time (obviously) why? well this song is just amazing, I love the intro and after comes the vocals, and then we have a jam in the guitar solo, so we back to the vocals part and finally a darker outro.

Maybe that was the perfect description for the song, and the rest of the tracks well i just was amazed when i listened the album for the first time. It blew my mind. So if you want to start in the Purple´s world, i´d recommend to start with this one, but if you dont like a lot the screamings and heavy riffs, so this is not for you at least to start.

If you listen the hard rock trinity ( In rock , Led Zep IV and Paranoid) of the 70´s, Surely you will be enjoying the hard rock genre with some elements in Prog rock genre on it.

Worthy 5/5 starts!!

Sweet Child in Time, You'll see the Line

I will probably make enemies with my opinion here, but i really never understood the hype of this album beyond "Child In Time" and "Speed King". Those two tracks are of course, tracks that probably will be listented to for centuries to come. In fact to me, "Child In Time" competes with Zeps Stairway for the greatest hard rock song ever written. I saw Purple live here in Finland in December and was partially disappointed when they didn't play "Speed King" let alone "Child In Time"(Monsieur Blackmoore got anything to do with this?). The album! Right.

The rest of the tracks really don't do justice for those affore mentioned masterpieces. They are to me pretty boring, "Bloodsucker" and "Flight of the rat" being slightly exceptional, but nothing groundbreaking. This album is probably the most historical rock album of all time, but in terms of proto-prog or prog relations, this is a average rocker with two masterpiece tracks. Without SK and CIT this would be worth 3 stars, but im gonna give it 4.

All killer no filler - Deep Purple rock like no others in 1970!

An incredible triumphant album, 'In Rock' is stone cold heavy metal in its earliest incarnation. When you put this into context, that metal was in its infancy, Metallica were in diapers and Dream Theater were nothing but a dream, Deep Purple were THE definitive progenitors of heavy prog. What a bold, brave album is here with one of the most astonishing vocal performances by the incomparable Gillan. In fact each band member became legends in their own right especially the guitar god Blackmore who absolutely burns it up on each track. Although I am not a massive fan of DP (I have all their essential albums) I have to give credit where it is due and this is their greatest album by a long shot. Let us examine the tracks that are evidence in themselves.

'Speed King' has become a well covered song by all manner of artists and for good reason ? it seriously kicks. The very first thing you hear is a ramming organ that builds up with guitar crescendos then it stops and we get that iconic screaming vocal "Good golly said little Miss Molly...". The fantastic thing about the track is all the affectionate references to classic 50s rock such as 'Tutti Frutti', 'Lucille', 'Let's have a Party', 'Saturday Night', 'Hard Headed Woman' and even the 'House of Blue Light' get a mention, which later became a title for a DP album of course. The killer riff is well known in metal and the lead break and organ tradeoff is dynamic and masterfully executed. A dynamite song that drives the hammer in the flower power coffin.

'Bloodsucker' features another brain searing riff where Blackmore shows his incredible skill. Gillan keeps screaming at the top of his lungs, "AAAAAAGH NO NO NO NO!" and we believe him! I have no idea what the song is about because meaning is incidental to the all over rocking hammering you receive from this. The glorious bassline by Glover is relentless and driving. The birth of head banging may well be contained in this song alone. I love the way it changes time sig and stops and starts with the shimmering organ. Ian Lord was a master and this is the magician at his peak until we hear the next track....

I have to take a breath before attempting to describe this track. 'Child In Time' is a masterpiece. There, that may be enough, but I must mention the way it builds up with quiet patient tempo, threatening to explode. Explode, it does, in the freakout instrumental section where guitar and keys break into fractured organ riffs and angular guitar playing. It is sheer bliss listening to these magicians at their craft, weaving their spell of magic around the soundscape. Fret melting hammer offs and lavish organ flourishes are epically performed. It is wonderful how the song does not just rely on the musicianship to launch it into the stratosphere, but rather there is a virtuoso performance by Gillan with his high octave range that would haunt him in later years when he could not perform to this range again. The band would perform this track thousands of time live and you must hear the version on 'Made In Japan' which is even better than this. Joe Satriani has performed a superb version on his cover album, demonstrating how influential this is. It returns after the instrumental break to the quiet melancholy section, until it blasts off at the end in an orgasmic paroxysm of light and dark shades of metal mayhem. It is like death has come to the track and it is crying out for mercy.

Where does it lead from here? Side two is not as good but what an act to follow, though there are still great tracks.

'Flight of the Rat' is a rocker that is popular among fans, but not as well known as the other tracks. The standout performance on this is the drumming metrical patterns of Paice, who is as good as he can get. He actually performs a drum solo in this track. There are many diversions on the song, very proggy and very heavy.

'Into the Fire' is a medium paced rocker with aggressive vocals "Into the Fiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiire!" That is as memorable as it gets though, and it is the weakest song on the album, though by no means a throwaway. There are some brutal riffs on this and Lord continues to impress on keyboards.

'Living Wreck' features a lot of staccato stabbing Hammond sounds from Lord that blast up and down the scales. The vocal pipes of Gillan are more restrained on this but he has a great octave range and uses it to perfection.

'Hard Lovin' Man' is the last track that is a highlight of side 2 with a frenetic intro and angular guitar riffing from Blackmore. The band go into full flight crunching out the riffs and solos in turn, they were so professional and tight it is astonishing.

It could be over if you only have the vinyl but the remastered Anniversary CD has a bonus. A CD full of edits, remixes, unreleased and unedited versions and of course a stack of studio chatting. The duel 'Black Night' versions are welcome, as it is always great to hear those indelible riffs, and the 'Unedited Roger Glover Remix' is compelling listening. The remix of 'Speed King' and 'Flight of the Rat' are there for the diehard fans but you will desire the original versions. The piano version of 'Speed King' is fascinating as is the instrumental, 'Jam Stew'. The unreleased 'Cry Free' is a curio if nothing else.

It is brilliant that this has been unleashed from the vaults at last and it makes the album an even greater experience completing its masterpiece status. 'Machine Head' and 'Fireball' are excellent albums too, but of the big three 'In Rock' is lord and master over all. In conclusion, grab this version and enter the Deep Purple experience at your nearest opportunity.

Deep Purple In Rock is a highly significant album in the Deep Purple discography because of the shift in the direction that the band had undergone in 1969. Gone were Evans and Simple which meant that the famous MkII lineup was now in place with the new additions of Ian Gillan and Roger Glover. But musically the biggest difference had to do with Ritchie Blackmore's guitar that has now began to take over some of the space that was previously occupied by Jon Lord's organ sound. Blackmore's guitar is literally all over this release starting with an excellent performance of Speed King, a formula that the band would perfect with each consecutive album opener, the completely guitar dominated Into The Fire and finally ending the record on a guitar solo!

This album also marks the final chapter of Deep Purple's Proto-Prog era with the 10 minute suite called Child In Time. Although I personally prefer the much more spontaneous live version of this composition featured on Made In Japan there is really no denying that it is a gorgeous swan song to Lord's attempts at fusing classical music with rock. By 1970 other acts like King Crimson, ELP, Focus and Genesis have already started to shape this sound into the Symphonic Prog genre that we all know and love. There was really no need for Deep Purple to compete with these bands especially since their assets lay elsewhere.

To me, In Rock is a classic rock album that was playing in my parents home and so this music has definitely an important part in my upbringing. Still I never considered it as significant as the early albums like band-titled 1969 release nor the later albums like Machine Head and Burn. The music here is just too raw and unpolished which is something that I could never relate to. I gave the album a few spins today because it's been a while since I've heard this release in it's entirety and unfortunately wasn't even all that impressed by the best tracks like Child In Time and Speed King. They just don't sound right anymore and I can't really figure out the exact reasons for this.

Either way, In Rock is another important release for anyone exploring Deep Purple's discography which is well worth sinking your teeth into once you've heard the essentials like Machine Head and Made In Japan. Therefore a good, but non-essential album.

**** star songs: Speed King (4:18) Child In Time (10:15) Flight Of The Rat (7:52) Into The Fire (3:29) Hard Lovin' Man (7:10)

*** star songs: Bloodsucker (4:12) Living Wreck (4:30)

After making fools of themselves with Concerto for Group and Orchestra, one gets the feeling that a long long chat took place about the band's new direction. Simply put, the band's strengths were being wasted in this direction, especially given the specific talents of the two new band members, and I doubt this was lost on Ritchie and Co. Hence, Lord retreated from his de facto "creative force of the group" chair with his tail between his legs, put the neo-classical blah away (though the band did indulge him once more with the later Gemini Suite, possibly as a way to mend fences), and "settled" for being a primary cog in one of the best heavy metal albums the world has ever seen.

The greatest improvement for the band from the previous studio albums, of course, comes from picking up Gillan to sing. Gillan, in his prime, was one of the greatest vocalists in all of rock music, and certainly at or near the top among all heavy metal singers ever. Not only did he have a great "normal" voice, a solid tenor with ever-present low-key power, but he also had one of the best "screaming" voices I've ever heard. It's difficult for me to fathom that anybody in rock could hit high notes the way he could (often in vibrato, no less), not only showing a range that could rival Jon Anderson but also staying totally in tune, all the while maintaining a resonant force in the sound (as opposed to merely hitting the high notes for their own sake). In short, he was the perfect metal vocalist.

That said, making In Rock was not merely a function of taking the sound on previous DP albums and slightly modifying it to account for a new vocalist. In particular, Ritchie sounds completely reborn on this album, as he amply demonstrates that his reduced role in the last two albums was not a function of reduced ability but rather of impaired judgement on the part of Lord and other relevant parties. His solos and riffage are given the prominent place in the mix that they deserve, as opposed to seemingly disappearing for minutes at a time as before, and they're well worth it - the guitarwork on this album is some of the most entertaining I've ever heard in my life, combining well- conceived "show-off" shredding with just enough sloppiness to give it an edge (and in the process make it that much more entertaining, much like Hendrix used to do). Jon reduces his role from before a bit in order to make room for Ritchie, but that just means he's conceded enough to become an equal partner with Blackmore - he gets his fair share of incredible keyboard solos and sounds on this album, and what's most impressive is how so many of them interact so tightly with the guitar parts that it seems they came from the same mind. Add in that Paice could do whatever the heck was required of him, and that Glover had no limit to how low he wanted the bottom of the sound to go, and you have the workings of one hell of a metal band and album.

The end result of all this is an amazing combination of songwriting and showmanship, a collection of seemingly a zillion notes with only a few wasted, and a band that can balance incredible chops with a tightness that few have ever rivaled. If pressed for "weak" tracks, I could single out side two's "Into the Fire" and "Living Wreck" as somewhat weaker than the rest. The former does seemingly "plod" a bit too much, especially in comparison to the speed-of-sound tempos of the rest of the album, but on the other hand it has a GREAT introductory riff, and the mid-tempo rhythm stomps SO much on each beat that it really becomes fascinating. In other words, it may seem like a weak DP track, but it would make a GREAT Black Sabbath track. The latter also seems like a bit of a toss-off in comparison to the rest of the album, but again these things are only relative; the slightly "airy" production helps give the drum intro a nice effect, the "screaming" sound Lord coaxes out of his organ at times is disturbing as hell, the lyrics are amusing, the riff is perfectly decent ... in short, it's weak compared to the high points of the album, but still plenty fine on its own.

The other five tracks, then, range from "excellent" to "indescribably awesome." The only one that I consider just "excellent" is the album closer, "Hard Loving Man," and that's largely an effect of me getting tired by album's end. It's also partially an effect of the song being based a little too much on the blazing speed of the main rhythm track, as opposed to a particularly interesting riff, than I'd prefer, but that's just the nerdy nitpicker in me talking. The headbanger in me has a blast when it's on, as my foot doesn't stop twitching (as opposed to tapping, which is impossible because the song's too fast) for almost the entire time as the rhythm is covered with ear-piercing organ and guitar solos, before ending with Ritchie having some feedback and stereo-panning fun.

And then there's the first four tracks. Honestly, I don't think the opening "Speed King" gets its proper dues in general - I often (at least, more than I'd prefer) see reviews of the album refer to the lyrics as "stupid" or "immature," (they're based around cliches from 50's lyrics) and from time to time this seemingly causes people to think of the opening track as a bit of a tossoff. Personally, I think nothing could be further from the truth. Simply put, I think of this track as one of the best "calling card" numbers with which I've ever heard a band open an album. This is basic, primal, gut-instinct rock'n'roll that just happens to be faster, heavier and louder than what people had previously thought basic, primal, gut-instinct rock'n'roll could be. The first minute of the track seemingly screams out, "Hey! You don't necessarily need to make rock music more complicated or more vulgar or more serious to make it better; if you want, you can just make it kick more ass!" Of course, the song doesn't just contain that awesome series of heavy riffs and glorious Gillan singing that makes up the first minute - within a minute-and-a-half after that, Blackmore and Lord have presented us with jazzy/neo-classical/whatever interplay that practically makes all their interplay of the first three albums irrelevant. And then, more glorious screams, more glorious riffage, a spooky laugh ... damn, what a song.

The argument could be made, though, that the next track, "Bloodsucker," is even better. Holy cow, WHAT AN OPENING RIFF. Listen to how tight these guys are, working their way through all sorts of starts-and-stops that don't seem forced at all, with Ritchie and Jon trading off solos over a rhythm section that sounds like it could go until the end of time. Ian is the main star of the song, though, as his "OOH NO NO NOOOOOO!!" screams beat the crap out of anything Robert Plant could pull off even in his best days. Sheesh, and then there's the side two opener, "Flight of the Rat," which is basically garage rock (with another fabulous main riff) done at an unstoppably fast tempo, replete with enough brief ass- kicking solos to fill an entire side of a normal band's album. Man, if you're not sold on the band by the time you've gone through that amazing Lord part in the fourth minute, followed by Ritchie soloing like a madman in the fifth, capped by those funky-as-hell wah-wah's starting at the 4:48 Mk., there's just no hope for you with this band.

Yet for all that, it's the amazing side-one closer that ensures the album of such a high grade. "Child in Time" is arguably the first prog-metal piece ever, and while that genre has definitely had its fair share of ups and downs, few pieces of that type can match the original. The main slow organ theme is a welcome respite from the speed of the first two tracks, the main verse melody (with lyrics about being in a war, scared of the seeming inevitability of dying) is freaking gorgeous, and the whole thing just seemingly oozes a sense of majesty. Yet what is most impressive about it is how natural the majesty sounds - it's not the result of an artificial atmosphere, created by automated strumming of some simple chords and singing about various pot-induced fantasies, but instead comes straight from the performances themselves and not from the band jumping out of its skin to go "you're supposed to catch the atmosphere now." (Not that I necessarily dislike this approach, you see - Yes does it all the time - but it is definitely novel to see a band pull off majesty in the way DP does so here). This especially becomes obvious when Ian starts singing his "ooh's" and "aah's" in his falsetto, before stepping it up a notch (both in octave and performance) and belting out some of the most blood-chilling high-pitched in-tune screams I've ever heard. And, oh man, I really cannot explain how much in awe I am of the band as they slowly crescendo to match Gillan, before going into that brief sequence starting at 3:21 that has got to be one of the most grandiose stretches I've ever heard from any rock band ever.

And sheesh, it's just beginning at this point. Blackmore does some excellent slow, "heavenly" soloing over the verse theme for a bit, until the 4:07 Mk. when he breaks out his hyper-speedy, hyper-moving "apocalyptic" guitar parts for a couple of minutes, before Lord synchs up with him and the band plays off of Ritchie before crashing to a halt exactly two minutes later. Then the "main" part starts again, the Gillan-led catharsis re- enters, and it's all capped off with a (TIGHT AS HELL) race-to-the-finish climax (with a bunch of anguished Gillan screams) that ends on a giant, loud, long chord. I mean, damn.

In short, as far as I'm concerned, this is close to as perfect as heavy metal can get. If there are any reservations I have towards this album, they're because I tend to get exhausted when my brain spends a whole album getting bashed in with a sledgehammer (as all "pure" metal albums, even this one, tend to do), but that's my problem. If you're a headbanger who doesn't like this album, well, I guess I just don't understand headbangers at all. DP would come close to the quality of this in some songs, but never again would they make an entire album this close to immaculate.

I discovered Deep Purple by way of Rainbow, and even then I was in no way prepared for how hard n' heavy In Rock hit me-- from the very first second this album rocked my socks off.

In Rock is a destructive force of nature, huge, heavy, ballsy, and almost reckless with intensity. "Speed King" starts things off with a powerful, bottom-heavy intensity, led by aggressive guitar riffing and a first-rate rhythm section-- saying nothing of Gillan's vocal excess. The energy is outstanding, and the fact that it doesn't let up for a second throughout the album is very impressive. The signature track, "Child in Time" needs to be experienced to be believed.

While superficially this album is pretty much straight-ahead hard rock in the vein of Led Zepplin, there is a lot more going on beneath the surface that makes it fit very snuggly into PA's Proto-Prog category. First, is the instrumental performances. Blackmore plays a mean guitar, with his riffing and soloing coming across as being very experimental and creative; furthermore, the vintage feel to Lord's keyboards lends a sensation of classical nuance and charm which almost steals the show in a few songs. The songwriting is also a step above the hard rock norm, with many songs featuring tempo and dynamic changes more at home in true prog than in FM classic rock stations, though they're not nearly as diverse or ambitious as prog bands of the day. Gillan's vocals are a load of fun, but are topically and intellectually pretty banal, though his enthusiasm and non-stop wails keeps that from being anything especially bad-- they're certainly not filled with Robert Plant's trite "Oooh baby, baby, baby" repetitions.

The thing I am most impressed by is the sheer weight of In Rock. It'll crush you with its speed and heaviness, and you'll come back for more.

Songwriting: 3 Instrumental Performances: 4 Lyrics/Vocals: 4 Style/Emotion/Replay: 5

It's hard to believe there few new generations grew up after this LP was released! Absolute classic of heavy rock and one of (future) heavy metal very influential release. For decades for me it looked a bit strange to review that album - just virtually everyone was familiar with it!

But nowadays I more and more often see all-around music fans ,who believe that Blind Guardian is one great "early" hard rock example, and Labrie is one great heavy rock vocalist.

It's not funny any more, I just understand that possibly these 40 years gone from " In Rock" release are too long distance,and possibly we should start just to remind how real "early" heavy rock sounded when it still was REAL.

This album is far not ideal for me, and between absolutely excellent songs, as " Black Night" or " Child In Time" (best DP song for me ever) there are some quite average level compositions. But music is loud,music is true and it's played very competently. All album sounds very variable, ok,it was released when heavy rock still wasn't just a method of producing some money. Gillan voice is in extremely good form there, and in all when listening you feel kind of catharsis - state of mind and heart almost impossible when listening modern metal mass products.

Speaking about this music progressiveness, I am quite sceptic, and I believe this album's importance for later evolution of prog rock is mostly indirect. What doesn't make it less attractive or influential.

I believe virtually every music fan of previous few generations are familiar with release in details, but I really would like to recommend it for those,who want to understand, where from all that jazz was started. Play loud!

My rating is 4,5,rounded to 5.

"In Rock" is one of the best rock albums of all times! It contains nothing but classics! And there are plenty of things on it that should appeal to metalheads and general rock fans alike.

The tracks "Speed King" (a legendary hard rocker in its own right) and "Flight of the Bat" are very much precursors of heavy metal music, with their uptempo beats and hard rocking guitars, as is "Hard Lovin' Man" which its galloping rhythm guitar. The groovy "Bloodsucker" is also a guitar-driven hard rocker, containing a type of blues scale based riffage which Rage Against the Machine would later give a central position in their brand of rap metal. Then there is the masterpiece "Child in Time" which is more of a progressive semi-psychedelic epic track, but it contains a lot of guitar work that would influence later neo-classical heavy metal (this track in itself is enough to make this album an essential addition to a prog music collection).

There's so much that can be said about this album, but mere words cannot describe this behemoth of a rock music masterpiece. Check it out for yourself.

This was the first album by the "mark two" line up and it began with a blast. "In Rock" and "Machine Head" are definiely my two favourite Deep Purple albums and are also both among the greatest rock releases of all time.

Here the band had moved away from their psychedelic and orchestral rock style of the previous three albums. Belters like "Speed King" and "Flight of the Rat" were examples of thier new and pure heavy rock. The epic "Child In Time" is a must hear for lovers of classic hard rock. Ian Gillan's vocal range is absolutely amazing. Jon Lord's combination of classical and bluesy organ work is also an important part of their sound. He played his hammond organ through different amplifiers on this album so there is a good variety of sound in the songs.

I love the cover depicting the band in a rock sculpture which was inspired by the famous Mount Rushmore. I often wished that the single "Black Night" had been included on the album as it was recorded during the same sessions. Still, there isn't really much wrong with this release. It's a great one to play as loud as possible. 4.5 stars.

It is very important to consider the time period in which an album is released. The release of In Rock marked a change in the way music was made, and it's easy to tell that bands such as Deep Purple were tired of the familiar singer-songwriter songs that were most popular at the time.

Deep Purple is one of my favorite bands. Although In Rock is not my favorite Deep Purple album (and I don't think any Deep Purple album is my favorite because I love most of them; it's hard for me to classify), it is certainly very strong and has the more known hits such as "Child in Time" and "Speed King". The album is really a representative of raw heavy rock. If I were to suggest an album or two that are not recognizable by people who don't really know DP, Who Do We Think We Are and Fireball are albums that are usually overlooked; this comes from my experience when talking to most people about Deep Purple. Those albums are among the greats of the Mark II lineup that consisted of Ian Gillan and Roger Glover as the replacements in the band. To me, I saw this as the traditional Deep Purple that everyone has heard of. Anyways, I digress.

Speed King is an incredible hook to In Rock. It's heavy and exciting, with great vocals by Gillan. Bloodsuckers riff is very catchy and memorable. I hate sounding like a scientist when I review the album. Child in Time is alone, what really can make this album stand out as being one of the foundations for progressive music. The other good pieces off the album include Into the Fire, Living Wreck, and Hard Lovin Man....well, I guess that includes the whole LP doesn't it.

If I had to recommend a Deep Purple album to someone starting fresh, this one would probably have to be it, just because it starts at the history of the Mark II lineup, and anyone can then easily follow up with the history of the band with Fireball, and eventually to the the Mark III lineup with Coverdale and Hughes.

One of my all time favorite band; and a good way to introduce myself in ProgArchives reviews.

In Rock is an album that shows the effects of changing vocalist and bass player. I have no doubt about considering Ian Gillan one of best voices in rock´n´roll history; but on the other hand I am not a so much musically skilled guy in order to compare Nick Simper with Roger Glover. But more than this, In Rock marks the leaving of a lighter period and the beginning of one of the most brilliant hard rock band I have ever heard.

The album opens with Speed King; a song that represents hard rock at its best. The guitar riffs are heavy, but it is softened by Jon Lord´s Hammond organ pleasant stamp. Gillan sings it very fast with a voice that perfectly matches song ´s need. Rhythm section does a good job, although I think it only cares about giving place for guitar-organ-voice expertise of their colleagues.

Bloodsucker is not a beautiful song, but Ian Gillan saves the day. Child In Time is a highlight; everyone is at the top of their musical performance. The climax that foregoes second soft part of the song, drum conducted, is very much well place by Ian Paice, maybe the best piece he had ever made with the band.

Of the other songs, Flight Of The Rat is one of my preferred one, it is a hard rock anthem as good as Speed King, although not so much known. Living Wreck is other favorite of mine, due to bass lines of Mr. Glover in its instrumental parts. The other two songs are good, but not so memorable songs.

Five stars, even with three no masterpiece songs. But the others and the moment of album release makes it deserve this rating

I agree with many that this is the band's peak, their finest hour. The flowery trappings of the sixties are well and truly swept into the dust with this hard, edgy, punching music. Sure, it breaks no new ground, and the writing is nothing to write home about, but the musicianship is great, it sparkles and crackles and kicks you where it hurts. Not a lot of point in listening to much before or after this, there would be no new surprises, though it was often fun, and the later addition of David Coverdale's fine defined vocals was, for me, a plus in an often drab history.

An album with a monumental reputation, but which as far as I can tell has had that reputation built on two of its seven songs - Speed King, which is a great intro, and the admittedly wonderful Child In Time. The rest of the material on display, frankly, is of decidedly mixed quality; the second side is particularly weak, with Hard Lovin' Man and Into the Fire being particularly repetitive and lightweight. The incorporation of organ into a proto-metal sort of structure is tastefully done, and at points is able to drive the group to powerful heights - as on Child In Time - but can anyone really say any of the other songs on the album compares to that masterpiece? Personally, I can't.

There's not that many bands that took the mood of 1970 to heart as much as Deep Purple, who had by now ditched their original vocalist and bassist and were heading in a completely new direction musically. Orchestras and harpsichords were disposed of in favor of sheer volume, with Lord wailing on his keyboard and Ritchie unleashing fury on his guitar. Ian's drumming was fast, wild and almost hypnotic at times, and matched by Glover's driving rhythms. The other Ian, that singer guy, yeah he was something else.

The album opens with a noise-fest of guitar blasts before settling into a church-like organ ditty for a bit. Then the song kicks in with Ian's wild yet ridiculously skillful wailing leading the way, tossing out some 50's rock & roll song titles within his lyrics. An important note is that even though much of this album is all about being loud and often speedy, there is no questioning the fantastic musicianship and remarkable performances by all of the players here. Few prog bands could touch these men in the talent department.

Child In Time would have to be considered the album's classic track, and why not? It has everything, including a progressive approach to songwriting. Ian Gillian's voice is incredible, especially during the crescendos as his quiet coos build into intense shrieks as the music blasts into infinity. Other songs are noteworthy as well, such as Flight Of The Rat's speed rhythms and the brilliant guitar solo in Living Wreck, where Ritchie's atmospheric touch proved that the band weren't merely reverting to a loud one trick pony. The most interesting track for me, though, is Hard Lovin' Man, which possesses that classic galloping chugged guitar rhythm pattern that can also be heard on Queen's Keep Yourself Alive, Zep's Achilles Last Stand, Heart's Barracuda and plenty of other rockers. Funny that the song is dedicated to Martin Birch who would later produce Iron Maiden starting with Killers, in which that album's title track shares the same galloping rhythm as Hard Lovin' Man.

Deep Purple seemed to embrace the dawning of the 70s better than most bands, surviving and thriving by changing their sound completely. Along with other loud beasts like Black Sabbath and Fun House, Deep Purple upped the ante in aggression and power to help bring about a new era in rock with In Rock.

This is Deep Purple in their finest hour: their breakthrough record. It's still almost as rough as their prime influence, Vanilla Fudge. The chaotic out-of-control church organ intro sets clear this is psychedelic influenced hard rock. Also the famous "Child in time" ends with chaos and panic. These are great moments.

While there is in essence nothing new in this Deep Purple in Rock as their sound is very much like Vanilla Fudge's Renaissance and the intro of the all-time hit "Child in time" is a downright copy of a song of "It's a beautiful day" this is great record. This is Deep Purple's second effort with these band members (the first is a live record with the Philharmonic Orchestra) and Deep Purple is bursting out of energy. The interaction of Ritchie Blackmore on guitar and John Lord is awsome and Ian Gillan is one of the greatest vocalists of all time and on this record he sounds exceptional good.

The record is filled with great songs like "Flight of the Rat" and "Hard Lovin' Man". Some of the songs are not that great, but the album certainly amuses me. This is essential Deep Purple and a nice addition to a prog collection, although the progressive part is limited to some chaotic parts and excellent instrumental handling.

Deep Purple have two classic albums that I will always be proud to say I own: Machine Head and In Rock. Machine Head is one of those albums that I enjoy listening to from time to time but I don't need to hear it often. It's a classic and that's good enough. In Rock, however, is one of my all-time favourite albums, a certainly one of my desert island picks.

I first bought this on cassette in the 80's and then on CD in the 90's. Then the remastered version came out and features the full length version of Speed King which definitely adds dimension to not only the song but the whole album. It literally explodes in the same tympanic membrane-ripping style that it closes with on Hard Loving Man. Jon Lord (RIP) is an amazing musician, doing to his organ what few can manage even on guitar. His solos are crazy, wild, off-key even, and yet come across with style, talent, and energy. The man was the first person who could make me appreciate the sound of the Hammond organ.

Ritchie Blackmore chooses the raunchiest guitar sound to come out of any DP album until Steve Morse turned up the distortion on Abandon. Somehow, however, that early raw sound is just so much wilder. If the band's purpose was to drive the recording levels off the charts then they certainly did it here.

Gillan is amazing and I don't think he has ever sounded better since. His vocals are wilder and crazier than on any subsequent album, and he holds nothing back. If you've heard him with Episode Six then you have to wonder what happened between Mr. Universe and Bloodsucker. Who let the rabid cougar out? (If you've heard him on the Episode Six demos from the last year of their existence, you can hear what attracted Blackmore to Gillan's pipes).

The remastered release is a gem with not only a cleaner sound but with the b-sides, studio outtakes and studio goof-ups it becomes an even greater joy to listen to. In between bonus tracks you can here improvised musical comedy as members goof up or goof around in the studio. It's too bad the rest of the remastered albums didn't have all this, but as I understand they weren't laughing so much by the time they did "Who Do We Think We Are?"

If you're still not convinced after all these great reviews then give the samples a listen and then get your copy. This album is a milestone in hardrock/metal with some inventive twists on classical and jazz in some parts. While DP are not listed as progressive exactly, this album really contributed to the progress of the heavy rock genre.

8/10

(One of) the cornerstones of hard rock

Well, it's hard to talk about an album so well-commented and appreciated, but I'll try to leave here my (positive) impressions of this work: it is a big step for Deep Purple and hard rock in general. His predecessor was an unfortunate disappointment for me, but I had a harder edge that is magnified here, where we also have input from Ian Gillian on vocals and Roger Glover on bass.

Look, I'm not a big fan of excessive treble used by singers like Gillian and Plant, then the new singer is not my favorite here (do not think Evans should have nothing to it), although it is idolized by most fans. After all, this is not the Mark II? The classic lineup of the group. Although I do not see how Rock In a masterpiece worthy of five stars, I can not deny his brilliance and terrifying influence it exercised in the genre. Note for example the heavy guitar riffs accompanied by the shrill organ solo (more varied here) Living in Wreck, one of my favorites. Other songs here are the big epic Child in Time (God as Gillian manages to give these highs? He is reference for any singer of genre), Flight of the Rat and Into the Fire. And on drums ... Ian Paice shines here, providing powerful solos, complex and vigorous! Here is a drummer ahead of its time!

I think four stars is the best for this work. Let's see if this shift to the hard rock rather than pop / progressive worth even having influenced generations and secured millions of dollars for this fantastic band.

I entirely agree with P A community when they have given to DEEP PURPLE "In Rock" a highest quotation between all discography of the band. In spite "Machine Head" be their most popular album, in my humble opinion in "In Rock" (after 3 good albuns) the band finally find their own sound identity. The disk are a lesson of how to make a fine hard-rock without lost their psychedelic vein (Like in the first track "Speed King" with a "Hendrix" overture or in the track four "Flight of the Rat" with the hammond-organ melodic conduction), and add a strong heavy-rock "atmosphere" (like in the same firt track and the track five, both with a very "explosive" riff) and beside all these things the "majestic" track three "Child in Time" . All the tracks are very good ones and the disk haven't none weak or unpleasant. My rate is 4 stars !!! With enthusiasm !

Deep Purple in rock showed a change in direction for the band. On the first three albums they were an eclectic brand of psychedelia, Progressive Rock and blues. The 4th album saw the band take a hard rock direction which catapulted them into the big league. Original vocalist Craig Evans and Bassist Nic Simple are replaced on this album ( and others after ) by Bassman Roger Groover and Ian Gillian. SPEED KING starts of in a bad mood fashion with great aggressive playing by the band, it then settles down into a churchy sound from Jack Lord and then explodes into the main body of the song which is a real rocker. Nice interplay by Jack Lord and Clayton Blackmore, topped off by some great vocals from Ian Gillian which brings to mind the smell of lifts in blocks of flats just after the cleaner has mopped them out.. BLOODSUCKER has Ian Gillian with black breast Chinese eyes and a long story he has to tell. Musically it is quite Stinka-ish in places and also recalls a friend of mine lying on a floor pretending to have fainted, with a placard on his chest saying " I HAVE JUST FREAKED OUT OVER PAMELA CARD" Some great Stinka and Massey effects on Blackmores guitar on this song. CHILD IN TIME again shows Jack Lord playing some churchy organ with Ian Gillian telling you to wait for the ricochet. the song builds up with Ian Gillian singing the lyrics Oooooh oooooh oooooh before the song gathers intensity drowning out GIllians vocals to the point he has to start screaming the lyrics AGGHHHHH! AGGHHHHH AGGHHHHHHH! Blackmore then displays a fine solo with niceFake Lulu reminders and a touch of Gillian Whittle too. The solo also has a great Kennel feel to it too. At the end Ian Gillian also proclaims he aint gonna do it. FLIGHT OF THE RAT has some great Keedwell house sound to it, with Fake Lulu guitar and general huggins-ness of it. Ian Gilian also proclaims in this song his disappointment that the Queen didn't want to hear him sing, therefore she refused to see the show wo wo.....what a fright for Ian as he couldn't do it right. Has anyone heard Terry Sweet sniggering during Ian Paces short drum solo at the end? INTO THE FIRE starts off in fine Female Italian cook at a childrens hospital mode with Ian Gillian at his most Billish. Gillans finger appears to be popping in this song too. LIVING WRECK is about someone coming along for a weekend but only staying one night. The line in the song "You took off your hair, you pulled out your teeth" is interesting as i swear i read somewhere that this was a real incident involving Babe Levy who came to stay for a weekend at Ian Gillians pad and suddenly went very strange by taking off his hair with hair clippers to look like Christian Szell, and then pulling out his own teeth while repeating "Is It Safe? " HARD LOVING MAN starts off in judge shaking his head in disappointment fashion and then quickly goes into a nice judge nodding his head in joy fashion. THis song is about Ian Gillian telling a girl to break his back in hard loving. He also wants his back broken quite quickly as he says "Don't slow down we're nearly there now" She then obviously lives up to his expectations, because as the pain builds up he starts to holler Oh Oh Oh AGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH! He can stand the pain Ohh Oh oh because he's a hard loving man. Some great stinka fake lulu guitars from Guy Ritchie Blackmore, solid drumming from Ian Pace, strident bass from Roger Groover and great melodic and bad mood organ sounds from Jack Lord makes this album an essential in my book. Purple never bettered this album, although i do love "Burn" from The David Coverversion and Nerys Hughes era.

For Fans of Deep Purple, Ritchie Blackmores Rainbow, Blackmores Rainbow, Rainbow Gillan, Paice Ashton And Lord, Black Sabbath, Blackmores Night, Gillan and Glover, The Outlaws (1960's ) Jesus Christ Superstar, and The Kinks.

After three studio albums with the original line-up of the band (Blackmore, Lord, Paice, Evans and Simper), and a live album recorded with an orchestra and with new members Ian Gillan and Roger Glover, the band finally found the right line-up to develop a heavier musical style. Their first four albums were more influenced by Lord`s Classical Music mixed with some Rock, Pop and Prog things. But by late 1969 and by 1970 they were ready to follow the musical style they liked the most, with a very good lead singer (Gillan) singing powerful vocals and also with his very characteristic "screams" that helped to develop a new musical style: Hard Rock / Heavy Metal. Other bands were starting to make similar music (URIAH HEEP, BLACK SABBATH, LED ZEPPELIN...), so one could really consider DEEP PURPLE with this album called "In Rock" as one of the pioneers of this new musical style called Heavy Metal . This album is full of heavy rhythms, heavy distorted guitars, distorted organ, energetic drums and very good riffs. Maybe the only somewhat "different" song is "Child in Time", with has a more "quiet" style in some parts, but it also has some impressive lead vocals and screams by Gillan. There are also some Prog Rock influences in some arrangements. But as a whole this album is very good, maybe one of the best from the band with also their "Machine Head" and "Made in Japan" albums. A very solid album despite not having a very good recording and mixing.

Ok, my first review here, and while it's not one of my all time favourite albums it contains one of my all time top 5 songs. This album was published a few months before I was born, so it was already quite old when I first listened in (I must have been around 16 or 17 then) and immediately bought it, of course on vinyl then.

And what a start Speed King offers. Easily one of the fastest songs Deep Purple ever recorded, it drives on for 6 minutes, including a classic of a guitar solo by Ritchie Blackmore. Track 2 is Bloodsucker, a fine contrast in its heaviness.  But the highlight of the album is Child In Time, 10 minutes and 17 seconds of intensity, vibration and variety. Starting innocently with this wonderfully simple bass lick and organ motif, the first part is one single crescendo culminating in Ian Gillan's famous screaming. The following solo section is similar, the first minute or so comes rather bluesy before the whole thing accelerates and finally ends with a strong chord. One might think that this is already the end of the song, but no, it's back to the beginning with just some variations in the organ parts, and of course the screaming part is not followed by another solo but a rather dramatic winddown ending the song with something like a big crash.

Side two begins with Flight Of The Rat, which is one of the reasons the album didn't get all time favourite status and 5 stars. Yes, it is another powerful song, but I never was able to get a really distinct impression. This is different with the next song, Into The Fire. Though it's the shortest and probably least "progressive" song on the album, the riff and chorus are something I find myself whistling now and then. Living Wreck is the second less distinct song on this album, before it closes down with Hard Lovin' Man, another rather long track which I rate somewhere between the good and the less good songs, but closer to the good ones. While energy and the chorus are firmly in my ears, most of the other parts of the song are put back into the back drawers of my memory recall about 2 songs later.

I don't own the remaster, but the Black Night single, and I'm quite disappointed with it. While the core of the song is quite good, this version will never be equal to the live versions on Made in Japan or Nobody's Perfect with their beautiful bass intros. So it's gonna be 4 stars, maybe 4.5 because Child In Time is a 6 stars song.

A new singer, a new bassist, and one of the best band line-ups in the History of Music is here. What they did? A monumental album!

That's what the Fantastic Five did in their first attempt, track-by-track:

Speed King: BOOM! A bold introduction to the new, hard rock Deep Purple! I don't particularly like this song, but it's definitely a very impressive way to grab you by the hair for what you are about o receive!

Bloodsucker: Straight forward rocker, with a nice riff and great section of successive guitar and keyboard mini solos in the middle. Not a classic, but a very good song.

Child In Time: One of the best songs in History. Period.

Flight Of The Rat: Black Sabbath might very well been inspired by that riff for their own After Forever second riff! Give them a listen back to back and you 'll see what I'm talking about. Here we have a very good fast rocker, with great performances by all the members of the group. It's the "Highway Star" of In Rock, the second best song of the album.

Into The Fire: Excellent heavy riff, emboldened by the simultaneous play of Lord and Blackmore. Great song, the most catchy of the album.

Living Wreck: Very smart lyrics, and yet another very good hard rocker. They were on fire on this album!

Hard Lovin' Man: Orgasmic performance with concert-like improvisations by Lord and Blackmore, and the most memorable Gillan performance after Child In Time (obviously). It's chaotic, so it looses some points as a studio performance. If it was a live one it would be great, but I like a studio recording to be tighter.

RATING: 4 stars without a second thought. Not a single bad song, not even a mediocre one. All of them range from very good to absolutely majestic. You must own this one!

Deep Purple's "In Rock" was the first offering by the famous Mk II era and their fourth album in the span of under 2 years. There are many albums that are hailed as "classic", "revolutionary" or "innovative" that aren't really too deserving of those titles, but this certainly isn't one of them. Released in the spring of 1970, "In Rock" singlehandedly popularized heavy metal, a genre that had only been approached by a select few other artists, such as Uriah Heep, King Crimson, Black Sabbath and Cactus. The album is one with unyielding intensity that remained untouched back in the day and is still thrilling to listen to today.

The album contains a mixture of heavy-hitting hard rock songs like "Bloodsucker", "Into The Fire" and "Hard Lovin' Man", some of the earliest speed metal with "Speed King" and "Flight Of The Rat" and the progressive masterpiece "Child In Time". All 7 of the album's tracks, as well as its corresponding single "Black Night" are all hard rock classics and feature blistering guitar work by Ritchie Blackmore, Ian Gillan's untamable vocal range, Jon Lord's heavy Hammond organ licks and the rock solid rhythm section of Paice and Glover. An exhilarating ride for 45 years and counting, Deep Purple's "In Rock" is a masterpiece of rock music.

Mount Rushmore in the background tumbles in deep rock, the heads cut directly into this famous mount, yes we thought they had done it for real and we didn't have Google earth to check the heads, in short we are there goes:

1 Speed King and this intro that will mark some purists for life, how the hell take a famous classic air and pass it here, modeled, remodeled but tweaked all the same? in short, a vocal fury that gives the premises of the famous live where he belched more than sang, Ritchie's first movements not in the right direction and that's how the title passes ... quickly and puts you in a trance, thanks Jon again. 2 Bloodsucker continues, at the limit of a Led Zep as if they had a tad war between them! the organ, the organ as a spearhead far from prog metal I tell you, the parsimonious riff, but not by that; the latency and then the frenzied solo of Ritchie; Roger's bass imparts the vital momentum while Jon and Ian put the turbo, in short, uncompromising 70s rock 3 Child In Time for the dreamlike, transexual mega tube, not LGBT+ either, yes I'm letting off steam, yes it's going up, yes the crescendo is a, yes the orgasm is coming.... which doesn't didn't think about it? yes the drum roll always makes me think of GENESIS with the knife; yes, Ritchie's solo break isn't terrible but he surfs on the madness generated, we begin to understand why he was moving his head like that while scratching; yes .... it stops suddenly and the silence with the cymbal is part of the music, the key of the organ too, yes it starts again; well I already talked about the Kenzo ad with this piece on it, my girlfriend who says yes she can wear this dress, she has no breasts... yes women are really hard on each other, but it's true that this Japanese angel has no breasts, even when I stand to the right of the TV I can't see anything... coming, yes Ian is screaming really well, it looks like a cheese organ, a dreamlike musical orgasm... yes I will leave alone with the last minute and his apoplexy... yes you have that in mind, that's also why you're reading 4 Flight Of The Rat long track which is worth more for its destructured organ and guitar solos than for the air; never hooked, plunging into it again a few years, a few decades later tells me about my musical ear, always neutral in the face of quality no matter what people say about it; it's over, no it starts again as if nothing had happened 5 minutes away; good the end with this rising drums, it's always a pleasure, I try to type as fast as the notes... I still can't do it 5 Into The Fire brings me back to uncompromising rock, a basic rhythm to get you moving is already not bad, 6 Living Wreck and its Ian-like drums quickly harangued by Jon's organ; a well-made ersatz, a facsimile of .... for example, with this little thing less that will make said piece not stand out; the riff is good, not held enough; the organ is excellent, that's what oriented me towards the heavy sound, knowing full well that prog rock had to be played louder 7 Hard Lovin' Man .. why wasn't he chosen to be on the Made In Japan? why a title that can be good can go by the wayside if it is not listened to enough? Why with Jon too forward? Why with Ian too monolithic to tap his drums? Why because Ian too absent to belch? Why because Ritchie was a little above the lot and showed the full extent of his talent already? In short, this title is worth by Ritchie's sexual dance with his guitar behind him, on the amps, on the returns on stage, guiding the sound a little there, a little elsewhere and shocking the public still too wise at the present time. .

Ritchie Blackmore, Ian Gillan, Roger, Jon and Ian remember a great group that deciphered a lot of things in those remote times when one could invent. Deep Purple has created a monument in this darling year!

Quintessential. This is the best word I have for this legendary record. Probably the most recognizable album by Deep Purple for the general public and probably their most well-known cover art. This album was first in many aspects: the first album recorded with the two newcomers Ian Gillan and Roger Glover, comprising the Mark II lineup alongside Ritchie Blackmore, Ian Paice, and the magnificent Jon Lord. It is the first really heavy album by the band and one of the first really hard rocking proto-metal albums and their breakthrough in Europe. It is also an album that introduced the longer song form for this genre with the absolutely legendary 'Child in Time'.

No more psychedelia, just heavy and loud, a direction that each band member agreed is the right one for Purple. The sessions have obviously resulted in the creation of some of the most iconic rock songs ever recorded. 'Speed King' and 'Bloodsucker' are two stark examples of this new musical direction, fast, heavy, loud, and enjoyable head-bangers. Tremendous, big and memorable riffs, masterful playing from each instrumentalist, and frantic screams from Gillan - what else would anyone want from these guys? Then comes 'Child in Time' which really needs no introduction - it is simply essential.

Side two is weaker in terms of resonation and overall sound quality. Here, the band let the music flow more freely and to more unconventional directions, if the opposite word was to be applied for side one. 'Flight of the Rat' is a more traditional rock song with crazy solo moments from Lord, Blackmore, and Paice. 'Into the Fire' almost feels like a proto-groove metal, a song written by Glover as a warning against drugs. 'Living Wreck' was almost left out of the album but it obviously made the final cut and for good, a decent riff and nice vocals by Gillan, topped by a darker solo by Blackmore played through an octave pedal. 'Hard Lovin' Man' is more of a jam, and something that sounds like the blueprint for many NWOBHM songs. Finally, the non-album single 'Black Night' is fairly well-known and beloved by many fans of DP.

Each member is absolutely in control of everything they do, the record is stunning and 'one of heavy metal's defining albums' - simply a classic album that does not necessarily display the 'prog' sensibility but has the progressive elements well-imbued within the overall sound and the impression that the record leaves.

The album "Deep Purple in Rock", released in 1970, marked an important place in Deep Purple history as it was the first studio album (#4 overall) to feature the most famous line-up of the band. However, it wasn't the first album to feature the line-up since the Mark II line-up would appear for the actual first time on the live album "Concerto for Group and Orchestra", which tends to get overlooked by many. "In Rock" would be the first time most people would hear this new line-up together, though, in reality, only two members were "new" to the line-up, that would be Ian Gillan (vocals) and Roger Glover (bass).

The band definitely had something to prove with this new line-up as the band moved away from the more meandering, psychedelic based rock to a heavier, more blues-focused hard rock, and prove it they did. Right from the outset, when the needle drops into the first groove of the record, the beginning of "Speed King", the listener gets a blast of guitar noise and over-the-top organ. Then when Gillan begins his wild singing style, fans new and old alike knew they were in for some uncompromising rock unlike anything the band had played on earlier studio albums. Many concert goers were already used to this no-hold-barred hard rock, but since the band had yet to reach their pinnacle of popularity, that didn't include too many people. And as the first three tracks continue, the band seems determined not to leave any doubt. Their decision to do an album so heavy and loud turned out to be a good one as Ian's maniacal singing opened the public's ears to some extreme possibilities especially when the crazy guitar and organ stylings of Blackmore and Lord were added to the mix.

This sound would continue through "Bloodsucker" and the ever famous "Child in Time", the first being quite riff heavy and the latter being what starts out as a ballad of sorts, but is actually a slow, boiling build up to a climax (not once, but twice) that paints a picture of complete lunacy, and Gillan plays (and sings) the part so well. Even now, it's been hard to match the degree of extreme singing that is present to this point on the album. In fact, the singer must have been told to tone it down after this album as it does seem more restrained in future albums, and Gillan would not reach this extreme level of singing again until he appeared on Black Sabbath's "Born Again" album.

So, all of this power and emotion promises an amazing album. Unfortunately, the album seems to lose a lot of it's strength after this. Even Gillan seems less animated and the instrumentals suddenly less dynamic and interesting. Yes there are some high points spread throughout, and "Into the Fire" has some moments, but these last four songs seem less memorable and only moderately enjoyable. That probably wasn't so much the case back when it was released, but now it doesn't seem to hold that level of excitement. Nevertheless, this was the beginning of something quite wonderful, and even with Gillan mostly under control in future albums, the band's masterpieces were still to come anyway. This is a great album even so, and should be considered on of the band's best in their classic repertoire, but it doesn't quite reach the "essential" status that it starts to allude to in the first three tracks. It's still worth it though, and still a great album.

Now this is pretty funny.

This is the only other Deep Purple album I have listened to, the other being Machine Head, and I must say it is far superior. I wouldn't call it amazing, but it is a flawless example of Deep Purple's surprisingly incredible talent- Ian Gillan's bat[&*!#] insane vocals, creative guitar parts from the equally bat[&*!#] insane Ritchie Blackmore, and, of course, the supremely underrated keyboardist Jon Lord. All these elements come together perfectly into this absolutely mental experience. It also goes to show how underrated the band is as nobody really knows them outside of the funny water smoke song.

I have to admit something. I'm pretending to be serious. I don't really have much to say about this album, but I could probably give more extreme praise if I forced it out. The album is good, quite good. The musicians are great, the vocals are funny, the songs are consistently good, I like the album. But like I said, I wouldn't call it amazing.

In short, Deep Purple is pretty underrated and this is probably their best album though i have not listened to Burn yet and i cba to listen to their other stuff.

lol.

Few albums can claim to have rewritten history but that's exactly what IN ROCK, the fourth album by the British progressive symphonic rock turned hard rock band DEEP PURPLE achieved with this landmark release from 1970. While the controversy preservers regarding the origins of heavy metal music, there's little doubt that IN ROCK played a pivotal role in ushering in the 1970s with a hefty infusion of energetic drive and virtuosic dexterity that took the harder arenas of rock to a completely new level. The leading up to the classic Mark II lineup of vocalist Ian Gillan, guitarist Ritchie Blackmore, organist / keyboardist Jon Lord, bassist Roger Glover and drummer Ian Paice reads like a soap opera with new members snatched away from another band and the back stabbing act of forming a new lineup behind the backs of current members. Although deplorable in many ways, the tactics paid off and with the release of IN ROCK, the new lineup propelled DEEP PURPLE onto the world's stage and gave permission for bands to get hard and heavy in the 1970s with faster tempos, heavier distortion and an energetic drive that would morph into the world of heavy metal in the latter half of the decade.

Although DEEP PURPLE had formed all the way back in February of 1968, the band led by Ritchie Blackmore and Jon Lord was a bit aloof and missing some key ingredients in cementing a sound that made them stand out. While going through the proto-prog motions of crafting symphonic rock albums that followed in the footsteps of The Moody Blues, the Mark I era of DEEP PURPLE suffered from inconsistent songwriting, an over-reliance on cover songs and a noticeable lack of vitality that propelled them to the next level. As Blackmore and Glover conspired behind the backs of original members: singer Rod Evans and bassist Nick Simper to secretly replace them, after discovering a band called Episode Six commenced to seduce their singer and bassist over to the PURPLE side of the fence going as far as recording material with the new band members before telling the old ones they have been ousted. Long smitten with the organ infused psychedelic rock created by the US act Vanilla Fudge along with hearing Led Zepplein's debut that delivered bantering tracks like "Communication Breakdown," the band developed its own distinct brand of hard rock and proto-metal. Blackmore and Glover's plot to steer the band in a new direction ultimately proved to be a winning strategy.

After the drama played out and all was said and done, the new DEEP PURPLE emerged and found one of their missing ingredients, a competent songwriter in the form of Roger Glover. The newfound chemistry proved to be one of those magic moments and the band set out to start anew. IN ROCK was the perfect album to welcome the freewheeling 1970s in June of the first year after the 60s faded away. Following the recent groundbreaking albums from Led Zeppelin and early heavy metal pioneers Black Sabbath, DEEP PURPLE delivered a complementary proto-metal style that rather than delving into the occult and demonic focused on fast tempo rhythms, tight-knit instrumental interplay, catchy guitar-driven grooves and a focuss on feisty soloing trade-offs courtesy of Ritchie Blackmore's electrifying guitar playing and Jon Lord's classical trained finger gymnastics turned up a few notches. The band forged seven distinct tracks that delivered an electrifying mix of heavy driving rock, gritty yet soulful vocal performances and a delivery system that offered instantly ear wormy hooks fortified with moments of progressive complexities. The recipe proved to be a major hit in the UK and remained high on the album charts for the next year. Ironically the band found success in the USA with their earlier albums but failed to make a dent with IN ROCK.

The new material was as much about improvisation as it was about crafting enduring compositions. "Speed King" for example was an attempt to emulate Jimi Hendrix's "Fire" but took on a life of its own. "Flight Of The Rat" likewise was based on the classic tune "Flight Of The Bumblebee" before morphing into a DEEP PURPLE original through endless rehearsals. The highlight of the album "Child In Time" began by borrowing the simple opening riff from It's A Beautiful Day's track "Bombay Calling" from its 1969 debut and likewise evolved into a completely different beast that would build upon the opening keyboard melody and turn it into a sizzling shredding jam session in the middle before resolving itself as it began. With new lyrics that took an anti-war stand in the time of the Vietnam conflict, the song evolved into a monstrosity that eventually became a de facto anthem for the anti-Communists in Eastern Europe. The track is really the highlight with dramatic crescendos that alternate between slow suspenseful vocal motifs and contrasted by thunderous displays of frenetic heaviness.

IN ROCK in effect played a part in a major evolution in the history of rock music that included inventive intros to songs such as the guitar and keyboard bombast that start the album off before the crushing assault of "Speed King" delivers a bouncy guitar riffing baseline that ushers in the band's unique rhythmic drive and accompanying keyboard counterpoints. The mix was irresistible and DEEP PURPLE had hit the big time and soon would become one of the biggest bands of the entire 70s and influential to a whole new breed of heavier rockers. Newbie Ian Gillan's vocal abilities proved to be the perfect match for the band's unique sound with a wide expressive range all the while providing that hard rock gruff that would develop into the more extreme expression of heavy metal down the road. Each track featured a distinct personality with varying riffs, organ fills, drumming techniques, unexpected elements and diverse dynamics however what tied the album together cohesively was the infectious stylistic approach that was delivered in a high-powered perfection. Jon Lord's extravagant keyboard wizardry added a completely new element to the standard rock paradigm that allowed the classical wankery of the past to integrate brilliant moments of contrast to the more boogie rock guitar riffing.

With an impressive repertoire of tracks that offered varying guitar riffing styles, instantly catchy melodic twists and feisty lively performances, IN ROCK really delivered the goods in giving the world of rock music the upgrade it needed to take the popular musical form into the 1970s and along with Led Zeppelin, Uriah Heep and Black Sabbath, dominated the hard rock sector in the year 1970 and pointed the way to the next level of artistic integrity thus giving the world of rock and roll a much needed bridge from the giddy flower power hippie years to the more cynical years ahead. Not only DEEP PURPLE's finest moment but really one of the best albums ever made and although the band would become superstars and dominated the early 70s hard rock scene, these five musicians never quite rekindled the magic that was displayed on this album. It's true that some of the tracks take a little longer to warm up to. The first side of the album offers a more instant likability but repeated listening sessions have revealed that even what i once perceived as the "lesser" tracks such as "Living Wreck" and "Hard Lovin' Man" offer the same magic in a delayed fashion. In short, IN ROCK is one of the true rock masterpieces of the ages!

One of the origins of hard rock and all derivative styles. It all took shape here. Of course, the forerunners of the style were not Deep Purple, but Jimi Hendrix, Cream, Yardbirds, Kinks, Iron Butterfly, Vanilla Fudge, Mountain and many others, some more, some less. But it was Deep Purple, together with Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath, who created the basis of the style at the turn of the 60s and 70s, and all subsequent hard rockers were largely guided by their legacy. This has long been well known.

In Rock clearly and intelligibly captures all the classic features of the genre: a high-speed guitar that strikes like lightning and deafens like thunder, powerful vocals, killer drums that can crush stones. Periodically, the keyboards come into play, sometimes intertwining with the guitar squall, sometimes unraveling, periodically coming to the fore, sometimes hiding behind the scenes. This is especially well heard in Speed ​​King, Bloodsucker, Flight of the Rat. The immortal Child in Time stands at the origins of all hard rock ballads, probably without it there would not be Scorpions and Foreigner as they are. It was in this album that the easily recognizable creative style of Deep Purple was revealed and fixed, where along with the frantic guitar of Ritchie Blackmore, the electric organ of John Lord and the sometimes soaring, sometimes growling, sometimes screaming voice of Ian Gillan are a full-fledged instrument. An indisputable starting point in the development of all heavy music in all its diversity and nuances. Each song is in its place, nothing superfluous.

The anniversary reissue of 1995 includes several bonus tracks, which in my opinion add almost nothing to the greatness of the album. Among them is Black Night, which we have already heard in this version. The piano version of Speed ​​King looks unfinished, but interesting from the point of view of spying on the studio sessions of the album. Cry Free and Jam Stew may have been recorded earlier, they are both in the style of DP Mark I. The purpose of including remixes of Flight of the Rat and Speed ​​King is unclear - I did not hear any noticeable differences from the original. The only really interesting addition is an extended version of Black Night without the cut instrumental interlude, which concludes the bonus part of the disc. It is because of this that I rate the bonus part of the disc 3 stars, not 2. The album itself is 5 stars, of course.