Deep Purple in Rock | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | 5 June 1970 [1] | |||
Recorded | October 1969 – April 1970 | |||
Studio | IBC, De Lane Lea, and Abbey Road, London | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 43:29 | |||
Label | Harvest | |||
Producer | Deep Purple | |||
Deep Purple chronology | ||||
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Singles from Deep Purple in Rock | ||||
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Deep Purple in Rock is the fourth studio album by English rock band Deep Purple, released on 5 June 1970. [1] It was the first studio album recorded by the Mark II line-up of Ritchie Blackmore, Ian Gillan, Roger Glover, Jon Lord and Ian Paice.
Work on In Rock began shortly after Gillan and Glover joined the band in June 1969, with rehearsals at Hanwell Community Centre. The music was intended to be loud and heavy, and accurately represent the group's live show. Recording took place at various studios around London in between extensive touring, during which time songs and arrangements were honed into shape.
In Rock was the band's breakthrough album in Europe and peaked at No. 4 in the UK, remaining in the charts for over a year. By contrast, it underperformed in the US, where the band's Mark I albums had been more successful. An accompanying single, "Black Night" reached No. 2 in the UK, becoming their highest charting single there. The album has continued to attract critical praise as a key early example of the hard rock and heavy metal genres.
By mid-1969, Deep Purple had recorded three albums, and achieved commercial success in the US, but suffered from a lack of musical direction. [5] [6] Although the group contained experienced musicians, none of the original members were accomplished songwriters, [7] and their earlier work ranged from psychedelic hard rock based around guitarist Ritchie Blackmore's riffs, classical-influenced tracks developed and arranged by organist Jon Lord, and cover songs from the Beatles, Joe South, Neil Diamond and Donovan. [5] [8]
After a US tour in May, Blackmore, Lord and drummer Ian Paice decided to replace original lead singer Rod Evans with someone who could tackle a hard rock style. [5] The group had also recently signed a deal with Harvest Records in the UK, who were intending to represent progressive and underground bands, but label owner Malcolm Jones thought Deep Purple relied too much on gimmicks and only appealed to the US market. [9] Lord and Blackmore had met with Paice during the tour to discuss the personnel change, and Blackmore said he wanted to "have a go at being really heavy" after hearing Led Zeppelin's debut album. [10] [11] Blackmore asked his former bandmate, drummer Mick Underwood, to see if he knew a suitable singer. Underwood suggested his Episode Six bandmate Ian Gillan. [5] Blackmore, Lord and Paice went to see an Episode Six gig in Woodford Green on 4 June, and after Blackmore sat in with the band, they offered Gillan the job. [12] [13]
Gillan and Episode Six bassist Roger Glover were friends and had formed a songwriting partnership. However, Glover did not want to leave Episode Six, so Gillan suggested he could help out with Deep Purple's songwriting as a compromise. [13] On 7 June, Gillan and Glover were asked to play on a Deep Purple recording session for their next single, "Hallelujah", with Glover performing as a session musician. [13] [14] Afterwards, Glover changed his mind and decided to join the band. [13] [15]
The group initially met and developed song ideas in secrecy, not telling Evans or original bassist Nick Simper because the original lineup still had tour dates to promote the album The Book of Taliesyn , which Harvest had finally released in the UK (several months after its October 1968 US release). [10] [16] Furthermore, Episode Six's management did not want Gillan and Glover to quit the group, and they attempted to get a settlement from Deep Purple. [16] However, after a few weeks, both Evans and Simper discovered they had been fired, and were unimpressed with the underhanded way it had been done, particularly recording with a different line-up. Underwood later said he regretted recommending Gillan to Deep Purple because he did not want Simper to lose his job. [17] The final show with Evans and Simper was on 4 July, with the new lineup playing their first gig at The Speakeasy Club in London on 10 July. Gillan and Glover continued to play several more dates with Episode Six, the final show taking place on 26 July. They were replaced by John Gustafson as singer and bassist. [18]
Hanwell Community Centre was booked for the band to rehearse and write new material; according to Glover, it was chosen because "it was the only place we could find where we could make a lot of noise". [19] The basic structure of "Child in Time" was worked out at these sessions, and both it and "Speed King" (then titled "Kneel and Pray") were in the live set by the line-up's seventh gig at the Paradiso, Amsterdam, on 24 August. [2] [18] [20] The Mk II lineup began to tour extensively, and found they had good musical chemistry together. [21] Work on the new material was briefly interrupted by Lord's Concerto for Group and Orchestra , which featured Deep Purple playing with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at the Royal Albert Hall on 24 September. Though the concerto was a different style to the material worked on at Hanwell, it led to increased publicity in the UK, which along with the group's live act, started to give them a following. [22] [23]
Recording on In Rock began at IBC Studios, London, with the first sessions in October. [22] Studio work was spaced out between gigs, which were needed to provide the band with income, and continued intermittently until April the following year. [24] Gillan later said that the regular gigging was important for material to be developed and to find the most suitable arrangements before recording. [25] The basic ethos behind recording is that everything had to be loud and heavy; Glover recalls seeing VU meters in the red (signalling audio distortion) in the studio. [19] In November 1969, the group played "Speed King" and "Living Wreck" for a BBC session, while in February 1970, the group performed a concert for the station, previewing some of the new live material. [26] The band's US record company, Tetragrammaton, declared bankruptcy around this time, meaning an uncertainty of the album being released there. Warner Bros subsequently bought out the Tetragrammaton contract, and would release Deep Purple's albums in the US throughout the 1970s. [27]
The album was the first one produced by the group, though they made prominent use of the engineers at the sessions, particularly Martin Birch who aimed to reproduce the live sound of the studio room on tape. [28] [25] The title was a reaction to Concerto for Group and Orchestra, emphasising that Deep Purple were a rock band. [29] The cover was designed by the group's management; it depicts Mount Rushmore with photographs of the band's faces superimposed over the US presidents. [25]
After recording had finished, the group continued touring. Gillan recalled playing 50 UK gigs in the first half of 1970, plus a further 15 in Europe. They also performed a live television special for Granada TV's Doing Their Thing and for London Weekend Television's South Bank Summer. [27] On 9 August, the group appeared at the National Jazz and Blues Festival, which culminated in Blackmore setting fire to his amplifiers. [30]
Unlike earlier albums, every song on In Rock is credited to the five Deep Purple band members. Gillan recalled the songs were initially rehearsed at Hanwell, then introduced to the live show to see how they would work. Lord said the purpose of the album was to make "a conscious effort to stop and think about writing material we all understood". [25]
"Speed King" developed from a bass riff written by Glover at Hanwell, in an attempt to emulate Jimi Hendrix's "Fire". [31] Gillan wrote the lyrics by taking phrases of old rock 'n' roll songs by Little Richard. [32] It was originally known as "Kneel and Pray" and developed as a live piece for several months before recording. The first studio take of the song featured Lord playing piano instead of organ, which was later released as a B-side in Holland. The final take used on the album was recorded in January 1970; it opens with an untitled instrumental known as "Woffle", recorded in November 1969. [33]
"Bloodsucker" was recorded at De Lane Lea Studios and finished at Abbey Road Studios. Paice enjoyed playing on the track. [1] The song would be re-recorded 28 years later, with Steve Morse on guitar, and retitled "Bludsucker" for Deep Purple's 1998 album Abandon . [34] [35]
"Child in Time" was written early during the Hanwell rehearsals, after Lord began playing the introduction to "Bombay Calling" by It's a Beautiful Day. The group decided to play the song's main theme at a slower tempo, with Gillan writing new words inspired by the Vietnam War. [lower-alpha 1] He later said he came up with the song's title spontaneously. [36] The song was regularly played live, and was well-rehearsed by the time it was recorded at IBC in November 1969. [37] [2] It subsequently became a de facto anthem for anti-Communist resistance groups in Eastern Europe during the period of the Iron Curtain. [38]
"Flight of the Rat" was the last song recorded for the album, at De Lane Lea on 11 March. [1] It evolved during rehearsals from a humorous re-arrangement by Glover of "Flight of the Bumblebee". [24]
"Into the Fire" was written by Glover as a warning against drugs. The main riff developed after discussing chromatic scales with Blackmore. [39]
"Living Wreck" was recorded at the early IBC sessions in October 1969. It was almost left off the album as the group felt it was not good enough, but they listened to it again towards the end of the sessions and decided they liked it. Blackmore played the guitar solo through an octave pedal. [31]
"Hard Lovin' Man" was derived from a Glover bass riff and developed as a jam session by the rest of the band. It was the first track for the album recorded at De Lane Lea in January 1970 with engineer Martin Birch. The group were impressed with Birch's skills, and he was retained as engineer for the rest of the group's albums up to 1976. He was credited as a "catalyst" on the original LP. [40]
After completing the album, the group's management were worried there was no obvious hit single, and booked De Lane Lea in early May 1970 so the band could write and record one. After struggling to come up with a commercial-sounding song, Blackmore started playing the riff to Ricky Nelson's arrangement of "Summertime", while the group improvised the rest of the structure. Gillan later said he tried to write "the most banal lyrics we could think of". The result was the single "Black Night", which became the group's first UK hit. [41]
"Cry Free" was recorded at IBC in January 1970. Although the group recorded over 30 takes, it did not make the final track listing, and was later released on a compilation album. [1]
An instrumental, "Jam Stew" was recorded in late November 1969 at IBC. A version with improvised lyrics had been recorded as "John Stew" for a BBC session, while the main riff was featured on the track "Bullfrog" on the session album Green Bullfrog , released the following year. [39]
The album and the single "Black Night" were both released on 5 June 1970. [1] In Rock reached No. 4 in the UK and stayed in the album charts throughout the year and into the next, until the follow-up album Fireball was ready. [42] The original release featured a gatefold sleeve with full lyrics, and a set of black and white photographs of the band. [43]
The U.S. release of the album cut the intro to "Speed King", which lasts just over a minute. It remains edited on the standard Warner Bros. U.S. release, but was restored to full length on the 25th Anniversary package. The album was reissued in a single-sleeve vinyl in 1982, replacing the original gatefold sleeve. The Mexican release also included "Black Night" to the track listing. [43]
The chart success of In Rock greatly raised Deep Purple's profile. In October, while touring the UK, Melody Maker ran a feature of "Purple Mania" showing the group's concerts were attracting increasingly enthusiastic crowds. The band finished the year touring Scandinavia and Germany. [44] At a show at Lüdenscheid, they played without Blackmore who had taken ill. Fans started a riot and destroyed £2,000 worth of equipment. [45]
In 1995 a remastered and revised 25th anniversary edition of the album was released by EMI. The album was remastered by Glover, adding "Black Night", "Jam Stew", a new mix of "Cry Free", and remixes of "Flight of the Rat" and "Speed King". [42]
In 2009 audiophile label Audio Fidelity released a remastered version of Deep Purple in Rock on a limited edition 24 karat gold CD. Mastering for the CD was performed by Steve Hoffman. This release follows the original seven-track format with no bonus tracks. [46]
Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
AllMusic | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal | 10/10 [48] |
Disc and Music Echo | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Encyclopedia of Popular Music | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Reaction to In Rock was positive. Record Mirror 's Rodney Collins said it was "a stunningly good album" showing that "rock, given a fresh stab and alert material, is still one of the most rewarding areas of contemporary music." [29] Richard Green, writing in New Musical Express , said the album was "Good, meaty rock all the way" and particularly praised Gillan's singing on "Child In Time". [29] Disc and Music Echo rated it 4 stars out of 5, comparing the sound to the Nice, and noting Blackmore's instrumental dominance over Lord. [29]
According to Tony Dolan in Deep Purple: a Critical Retrospective, the first Mk II album Concerto for Group and Orchestra had given Deep Purple much needed publicity in the UK, but the band – Ritchie Blackmore in particular – were determined that they "would not be labelled as a novelty act. He was adamant that the next studio album should be an all-out assault on the eardrums. As Blackmore said to others, 'if it’s not dramatic or exciting, it has no place on this album.' In Rock was everything Blackmore had envisaged and more. It would remain in the UK charts for over a year. Deep Purple had finally found its niche with its hard-driving, heavy, thunderous, powerful rock." [50]
Retrospective reviews have been similarly favourable. AllMusic 's Eduardo Rivadavia has called In Rock "one of heavy metal's defining albums". [47] Rock journalist Malcolm Dome stated that "In Rock is one of the great albums... not just by Purple, by anybody." On new members Gillan and Glover, he added: "How Ian Gillan remains completely in control of his voice whilst going completely insane is remarkable. And Roger Glover was unfussy, but very good technically... also contributing nicely and impressively to songwriting." [50] Sid Smith remarked in his BBC Music review the "strident confidence that the new line-up had found" and how the album "pretty much carved out the template for heavy rock." [51] Canadian journalist Martin Popoff wrote that "Deep Purple's In rock, along with Sabbath's Paranoid and Heep's Uriah Heep , all in 1970, outright and triple-handedly invented Heavy Metal", with In Rock being "the flashiest, freshest and most sophisticated of the three." In his review, he reminded how the album remains "the sharpest, most insistently metallic Deep Purple record until Perfect Strangers " 14 years later, despite Deep Purple never accepting the title of heavy metal act, "fancying of themselves as a jazzy bluesy proggy hard rock band." [48]
Blackmore has since said the album is his favourite during his time with Deep Purple, along with Machine Head . [43]
All songs written by Ritchie Blackmore, Ian Gillan, Roger Glover, Jon Lord and Ian Paice. [52]
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
1. | "Speed King" | 5:54 |
2. | "Bloodsucker" | 4:16 |
3. | "Child in Time" | 10:20 |
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
4. | "Flight of the Rat" | 7:57 |
5. | "Into the Fire" | 3:30 |
6. | "Living Wreck" | 4:34 |
7. | "Hard Lovin' Man" | 7:11 |
Total length: | 43:29 |
Note
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
8. | "Black Night" (original single version) | 3:28 |
9. | "Studio Chat (1)" | 0:33 |
10. | "Speed King" (piano version) | 4:14 |
11. | "Studio Chat (2)" | 0:25 |
12. | "Cry Free" (Roger Glover remix) | 3:20 |
13. | "Studio Chat (3)" | 0:05 |
14. | "Jam Stew" (unreleased instrumental) | 2:30 |
15. | "Studio Chat (4)" | 0:40 |
16. | "Flight of the Rat" (Roger Glover remix) | 7:53 |
17. | "Studio Chat (5)" | 0:31 |
18. | "Speed King" (Roger Glover remix) | 5:52 |
19. | "Studio Chat (6)" | 0:23 |
20. | "Black Night" (unedited Roger Glover remix) | 4:47 |
Deep Purple
Additional personnel
Chart (1970–1972) | Peak position |
---|---|
Australian Albums (Kent Music Report) [55] | 1 |
Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista) [56] | 9 |
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100) [57] | 1 |
Italian Albums ( Musica e Dischi ) [58] | 19 |
Japanese Albums (Oricon) [59] | 68 |
Norwegian Albums (VG-lista) [60] | 5 |
UK Albums (OCC) [61] | 4 |
US Billboard 200 [62] | 143 |
Chart (1975) | Peak position |
---|---|
Danish Albums (Hitlisten) [63] | 15 |
Chart (1995) | Peak position |
---|---|
UK Rock & Metal Albums (OCC) [64] | 16 |
Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
---|---|---|
Denmark (IFPI Danmark) [65] | Gold | 25,000 [65] |
France (SNEP) [66] | Gold | 100,000* |
Germany (BVMI) [67] | Gold | 250,000^ |
Italy (FIMI) [68] | Gold | 25,000‡ |
Netherlands (NVPI) [69] | Gold | 50,000^ |
Sweden | — | 25,000 [70] |
United Kingdom (BPI) [71] original release | Gold | 100,000^ |
United Kingdom (BPI) [72] sales since 1995 | Gold | 100,000* |
United States (RIAA) [73] | Gold | 500,000^ |
* Sales figures based on certification alone. |
Publication | Country | Accolade | Year | Rank |
---|---|---|---|---|
Kerrang! | United Kingdom | "100 Greatest Heavy Metal Albums of All Time" [74] | 1989 | 15 |
Guitarist | United Kingdom | "Top 50 Most Influential Guitar Albums of All Time Ever" [75] | 1994 | 8 |
Q | United Kingdom | "50 Best Albums of The '70's" [76] | 1998 | 48 |
Kerrang! | United Kingdom | "100 Best British Rock Albums Ever" [77] | 2005 | 56 |
Classic Rock | United Kingdom | "100 Greatest British Rock Album Ever" [78] | 2006 | 13 |
1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die | United States | "1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die" [79] | 2006 | * |
(*) designates unordered lists.
Deep Purple are an English rock band formed in London in 1968. They are considered to be among the pioneers of heavy metal and modern hard rock, although their musical style has varied throughout their career. Originally formed as a psychedelic rock and progressive rock band, they shifted to a heavier sound with their 1970 album Deep Purple in Rock. Deep Purple, together with Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath, have been referred to as the "unholy trinity of British hard rock and heavy metal in the early to mid-seventies". Listed in the 1975 Guinness Book of World Records as "the globe's loudest band" for a 1972 concert at London's Rainbow Theatre, they have sold over 100 million records worldwide.
Machine Head is the sixth studio album by English rock band Deep Purple. It was recorded in December 1971 in Montreux, Switzerland, and released on 30 March 1972 by Purple Records. It is the band's third album to feature the Mark II line-up of Ritchie Blackmore, Ian Gillan, Roger Glover, Jon Lord and Ian Paice.
Burn is the eighth studio album by English rock band Deep Purple, released on 15 February 1974. It was the first album to feature then-unknown lead singer David Coverdale. The group's Mark III line-up, of which this was the recording debut, included Coverdale, Glenn Hughes on bass and vocals, Ritchie Blackmore on guitar, Jon Lord on keyboards, and Ian Paice on drums.
Fireball is the fifth studio album by English rock band Deep Purple, released in 1971 as the second album with the Mark II line-up, consisting of Ritchie Blackmore, Ian Gillan, Roger Glover, Jon Lord and Ian Paice. It was recorded at various times between September 1970 and June 1971. It became the first of the band's three UK No. 1 albums, though it did not stay on the charts as long as its predecessor, Deep Purple in Rock. Even though the album has sold over a million copies in the UK, it has never received a certification there.
Who Do We Think We Are is the seventh studio album by the English rock band Deep Purple, released on 12 January 1973 in the US and in February 1973 in the UK. It was Deep Purple's last album by the Mark II line-up with singer Ian Gillan and bassist Roger Glover until 1984’s Perfect Strangers.
Shades of Deep Purple is the debut album by the English rock band Deep Purple, released in July 1968 on Tetragrammaton in the United States and in September 1968 on Parlophone in the United Kingdom. The band, initially called Roundabout, was the idea of former Searchers drummer Chris Curtis, who recruited Jon Lord and Ritchie Blackmore before leaving the project. The Mk. I line-up of the band was completed by vocalist/frontman Rod Evans, along with bassist Nick Simper and drummer Ian Paice, in March 1968.
"Hush" is a song written by American composer and musician Joe South, for recording artist Billy Joe Royal. The song was later covered by Somebody's Image in 1967. Their version reached #14 in Australia. It was also covered by Deep Purple in 1968 and by Kula Shaker in 1997. Each artist had a Top 5 hit with their version.
Deep Purple, also referred to as Deep Purple III, is the third studio album by the English rock band Deep Purple, released in June 1969 on Tetragrammaton Records in the United States and only in September 1969 on Harvest Records in the United Kingdom. Its release was preceded by the single "Emmaretta" and by a long tour in the UK, whose dates were interspersed between the album's recording sessions.
Deep Purple in Concert is a live album by the English hard rock band Deep Purple, recorded by the BBC for their "In Concert" live series in 1970 and 1972. First released in 1980 in the UK, with the current US edition being made available in 2001.
The Book of Taliesyn is the second studio album by the English rock band Deep Purple, recorded only three months after Shades of Deep Purple and released by Tetragrammaton Records in October 1968, just before their first US tour. The name for the album was taken from the 14th-century Book of Taliesin.
Listen, Learn, Read On is a box set released by the English hard rock band Deep Purple in 2002.
When We Rock, We Rock, and When We Roll, We Roll is a compilation album by Deep Purple featuring some of their most popular songs from 1968 to 1974.
Ian Gillan is an English singer who is best known as the lead singer and lyricist for the rock band Deep Purple. He is known for his powerful and wide-ranging singing voice.
The Anthology is a compilation album by the English hard rock band Deep Purple, containing material by Mks I (1968–1969), II (1969–1973), III (1973–1975) and IV (1975–1976) line-ups. It was released as a double vinyl album and double-cassette, and included a few previously unreleased tracks and mixes. The sleeve-notes were written by Chris Charlesworth, author of Deep Purple – The Illustrated Biography.
30: Very Best of Deep Purple is a 1998 compilation album by English rock band Deep Purple, celebrating 30th anniversary of the band. There are two CD versions of the album, a single CD and a double CD, and a vinyl version, a double LP printed on purple vinyl, with the track listing being identical to the single CD version.
The Deep Purple Singles A's & B's is a compilation album of singles released by the English hard rock band Deep Purple. It was released on vinyl in October 1978. An updated version of the album was issued on CD in 1993 and contains the complete collection of Deep Purple's UK singles, recorded and released from 1968 to 1976 by the Mk I, II, III and IV line-ups of Deep Purple. In 2010 EMI released another double CD compilation album called Singles & E.P. Anthology '68 – '80. It contains all songs as herein plus 15 tracks. The song "Kentucky Woman" is present in the album version, which is 38 seconds longer than the single edit.
The Deep Purple European Tour was a year-long successful concert tour by English hard rock band Deep Purple, lasting from July 1969 until June 1970. The band played mostly United Kingdom shows, also covering West Germany, Switzerland, Denmark, the Netherlands and Belgium. It was the first tour to feature the classic Deep Purple line-up: Ian Gillan, Roger Glover, Ritchie Blackmore, Jon Lord and Ian Paice. It is considered to be the pre-tour for the In Rock album, as the band mostly played songs from the upcoming album.
Mark I & II is a 1973 compilation album by Deep Purple, released by EMI's German subsidiary Electrola. It contains material originally released between 1968 and 1973. This double LP was released after Ian Gillan and Roger Glover had left Deep Purple in June 1973. This compilation was mainly a European release, but was also released in various overseas territories, like Australia and New Zealand.
BBC Sessions 1968–1970 is a 2011 live compilation album featuring performances by the English hard rock band Deep Purple that were recorded at the BBC's Maida Vale Studios, London, and originally broadcast on various BBC Radio shows from 1968 through 1970. BBC Sessions 1968–1970 is a two-disc set collecting all the surviving sessions in the BBC archives.
Citations
1971's Fireball saw the band broadening out from the no-holds-barred hard rock direction of the previous year's cacophonous In Rock.
Together, these songs make up one of metal's most defining and oft-copied statements.
Sources