DEEP PURPLE IN ROCK

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.

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