FIREBALL

This is definitely not In Rock Part II. This album is like a swinging pendulum, on the other side of the amplitude, between In Rock and Machine Head. It is understandable: there were many musical ideas, the band's style was just forming. Of course, hard rock had already firmly taken root in the basis of the music, but with daring experiments: long dives into blues, like in No No No or a symbiosis of country and rock'n'roll, like in Anyone's Daughter, or a hybrid of techno and pseudo-blues Demon's Eye. A lot of space is devoted to improvisations, especially in No No No and Fools. There is also a wonderful fast number Fireball, which is bored in solitude next to more diverse songs. It looks like it belongs on Machine Head. Another energetic The Mule, where Ian Paice shines against the background of a languid electric organ, looks appropriate. In each song, the musical competition between Ritchie Blackmore and Jon Lord continues, becoming a real decoration of the album. In what other hard rock band of that time were keyboards as full-fledged an instrument as the guitar?

The 25th anniversary reissue of the album contains several bonus tracks that belong there. They are quite interesting, but seem to be from another time. The rhythm of Freedom reminded me of the melody of Pretty Woman by Roy Orbison. Another cheerful rock and roll is Slow Train. All these songs are in the style of Deep Purple mark I, so I suspect that they could be the embodiment of old musical ideas. It is also interesting to listen to The Noise Abatement Society Tapes with the outright hooliganism of Jon Lord on keyboards. And the instrumental version of Fireball can easily be used instead of karaoke, to try walking in Ian Gillan's shoes.

This is one of the most diverse albums of Deep Purple. The next time the band will record such unexpected music in Come Taste the Band and Purpendicular, and in both cases this will coincide with a change of guitarist. Clearly not by chance. Hard rock fans may have been disappointed. After the big breakthrough of In Rock, many were probably expecting a continuation in the same style. But for those who appreciate unconventional musical techniques like me, this is exactly what you need.