 | In Rock (1970)Genres: classic rock, hard rock, heavy metal |
review by thomas
Black Sabbath is often looked upon as the creators or pioneers of heavy metal, and I don’t argue with that. Bands like Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, Mountain and Uriah Heep did, however, all contribute with their distinctive style to the genre heavy metal, or hard rock if you prefer that name. So in year zero in the heavy metal world – that is 1970 – Black Sabbath released their self-titled debut, Uriah debuted with “Very ‘Eavy, Very ‘Umble”, Zeppelin came forth with “III”, although “IV” (or “Four Symbols” or “The Runes Album”) from the year after and “II” from the year before are more “hard rock-ish”, and Deep Purple released their first album in this new style, called “In Rock”.
Purple was the wild, hard, noisy and sensitive keyboard playing of Jon Lord, the metallic riffs and heaviness of guitarist Ritchie Blackmore, Roger Glover’s fine bass playing, the excellent drum sound of Ian Paice and the sharp voice of Ian Gillan complete with leanings towards screaming. The voice of the latter could go too far, as could the whole group, as is the case with “Bloodsucker” and “Into the Fire”. “Speed King” has two good intros – first the organ intro and then the heavy riff intro – but the song doesn’t hold for repetitive listening. The other four tracks of the album are real good and especially the power and passion of “Child In Time”, a classic song.
Very good and, for the most of the time, enjoyable hard rock with touches of progressive rock.
 | Fireball (1971)Genres: classic rock, hard rock |
review by thomas
This is Purple’s most experimental album, which flirts with funk and groovy rhythms in ”No One Came” with good result. “Anyone’s Daughter” is an acoustic piece that flirts with Country&Western and it is not very good. Some tracks like “The Mule”, “Demon’s Eye” and the title track are natural followers from the last album, though not so metallic. “Demon’s Eye” would have been better if it had been one or two minutes shorter and “The Mule” is also dangerously close to this but manages to avoid repetitious boredom. “Fools” is both the heaviest and the most symphonic track on the album, it’s just brilliant with a calm intro were Gillan is whispering “I’m crying…” over and over before a super-heavy riff kicks in and is then relieved by some atmospheric playing and lovely percussion work from Paice, then back to the riff again with a strong vocal performance from Gillan before the crescendo. “No No No” is a very complicated piece that seems to be drawn from everything they experimented with – jazz, funk, heavy metal and more into one strange song.
Purple took a chance and didn’t just do “In Rock” part two. “Fireball” is a very experimental album and hard to describe, but it’s almost as good as “In Rock”. Don’t be afraid to try them out.
 | Machine Head (1972)Genres: classic rock, hard rock |
review by thomas
At last Purple got almost everything right. In this seven songs set it’s only the single “Never Before” that leaves you unsatisfied. And the problem with “Smoke on the Water” is certainly not that it’s a bad song, no, the problem is that it has been played to death.
The famous quartet from this album is “Highway Star”, “Lazy”, “Space Truckin’” and “Smoke on the Water”. These are songs that appear on almost every live or compilation album made. The more overlooked and forgotten tracks are “Picture of Home”, with an absolute amazing intro, and “Maybe I’m a Leo”, these are in fact better than both “Smoke…” and “Lazy”. The Purple members bring forth some of their best performances and especially singer Ian Gillan is in perfect form. You will never hear him better his performance from “Machine Head”.
A more down to earth hard rock album from Purple. Not as experimental as “Fireball” or as metallic as “In Rock”, but in fact better than both of ‘em. A classic hard rock album.
