DEEP PURPLE IN ROCK

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.