Deep Purple in Rock

Noted metal journalist Martin Popoff, a man who I shamelessly emulate in my reviews, believes that the foundations of metal are Black Sabbath's Paranoid, Uriah Heep's Very 'Eavy Very 'Umble(self-titled in the US), and this monumental slab of early hard rock magic, Purple's In Rock. I'm inclined to agree with him, but I don't praise this as effusively as he does, nor as my fellow reviewers do. And why is that? Well dear friends, it's because this is inflicted with that all too common curse of 70's metal records: some tracks are absolutely mind-blowing and advanced, while others wallow in the past and have no modern relevance at all. Just check out Black Sabbath's first record, or the first few Scorpions and UFO albums, the first Rainbow record even. They are straight up crippled by bluesy noodling, cheap attempts at psychedelic wanderings, and excruciatingly ancient snippets of prog-rock when they should be focused on tight riffs and aggressive performances.

Deep Purple, as most of you know, started out as a typical hit and miss 60's white rhythm and blues act. You probably remember the hit ("Hush") and wisely forget the misses (uhhh...the rest of it). Apparently the Yardbirds and The Who shocked them into their metallic senses around 1969, because following the sickeningly pretentious Concerto for Group and Orchestra they finally got around to writing some songs that people would actually want to hear. Thus, In Rock was born. This is a truly seminal album in metal history. Sabbath was unrelentingly doomy and gloomy, but there were still founded on the blues. Enter Ritchie Blackmore, metal's first lead guitar hero (Iommi is mostly known for that ghastly rhythm play), who in conjunction with organist John Lord brought classical influence to the unstable mix and sundered metal from the warmed over blues riffs of Zeppelin and company, pointing to a land of Schenkers, Tiptons, and Downings that would cause metals evolution into the realm of choice for the musically adept, and also it's isolation from the mainstream because it refused to just give up and be catchy.

The opening song is a fairly impressive speedster for 1970, particularly that unique intro, but both Purple's own "Black Night" and Sabbath's "Paranoid" were more advanced metallically around the same time and rendered the archaic and completely 60's guitar sound hopelessly retro. Still, tons of classical and even jazzy passages to be found, with some hilarious Ian Gillan screams. Gotta love when a quintessential metal singer does a Little Richard impression. Also note the "house of blue light" line, words which would lend themselves to the second album in Purple's fabled 80's reunion. I'd also like to mention that the playing is much tighter than anything Zeppelin (or anyone else) put out at the time, even if as I mentioned earlier the sound is very out of date.

I'd say that the primary piece of metal influence here is "Bloodsucker". After the rootsy sound of "Speed King" "Bloodsucker" comes across as completely modern and totally classic. That riffage should be burned into your mind, and Gillain writes a truly bravado-filled metal lyric. It's full of that hokey mysticism and machismo that traditional metal is essentially built on, and Gillain is almost frightening as he shrieks and bites off syllables, really proving how much of a predecessor he is to the scenery-chewing antics of forthcoming screamers like Rob Halford and Klaus Meine. I love the final verse the most, Martin Birch (producer) using multitracking and some nifty effects to reduce Gillan's clearly enunciated performance into a frothy, screaming babble. The band is tight as a drum throughout, particularly Ritchie's nifty solo and some of Paice's snappy drum fills.

I'd be lying if I didn't say that I was blindsided by "Child in Time" the first time I heard it, on one of Purple's (approx.) 48 million compilation albums. The song barely registered on my shattered conscious, my mind simply rewinding again and again to ask "How the hell did he do that?!" To be plain, "Child in Time" features the most insanely focused (and just insane) vocal performance of the 70's, and probably of all time. Purple as a band was always perhaps more conscious of what they were doing than Sabbath or Zeppelin, and as a vocal TECHNICIAN Ian Gillan helped to lay the hard road forward that metal would almost always follow, perspiration over inspiration. I mean, Ozzy and Plant could never sing like that. Ozzy got over on personality, Plant on pseudo-mystic BS with the possible exception of the "Immigrant Song", where Plant's somewhat impressive range is dwarfed, pummelled, and in a just world ridiculed for trying to step into Ian Gillan's sonic territory.

Let us not forget though, that there was a band playing behind the wailing banshee in the front, and without their magnificent performances it's likely that Gillan would just sound ridiculous doing his thing. The opening few minutes are gloriously understated, John Lord doing a sparse but nimble organ intro over essentially silence, slowly building in speed and intensity as Glover and Paice come in with some quiet rhythmic pulses in time with the keyboard riff. We finally reach Gillan's entrance, and he sings quietly yet hypnotically, a true master of phrasing and emoting. He sounds almost like a preacher, leading his congregation in prayer over their sins as the hand of fate inexorably strikes them down. Even thought it's a very short piece lyrically, it's such a great narrative and a really philosophical and thought provoking that it sticks with you as you wait for the proverbial ricochet. When was the last time most metal was thought provoking anyway? Certainly not the last few extreme metal releases that's for sure.

Anyway, after the gradual build up we hear Gillan crooning like no one else can, slowly building up to a shattering Wagnerian crescendo as the keyboards soar and the guitars crunch. Ian could shatter glass singing like that! And after he finishes pummelling your ear drums, we get a fucking sweet prog-metal section, some great Glover bass work underneath what has to be Ritchie Blackmore's greatest solo. It just goes on and on before hitting a retro-active Dream Theater deja vu, guitar and organ mingling seemlessly for an impossibly agile neo-classical run over a jazzy beat before rock has such things. Hell, we even get a nasty drum breakdown before cruising back down for a reprise, repeating the devastating operatics at an even higher level and then going mad again to end the song is appropriately earthcrushing fashion. "Child in Time" is one of those inimitable be-all and end-all's in rock music, the best example of opera outside of "Bohemian Rhapsody", and with none of the kitsch factor. This is serious art, and I really wish that bands like Nightwish and Blind Guardian could be as powerful.

Following "Child in Time" is another favourite of mine, a giddy diddler called "Flight of the Rat". This song is infectiously listenable despite its impressive length, fetchingly rock'n'rollsy yet filled with impeccable guitar. Seriously, any song featuring in excess of three Ritchie guitar solos is good in my book. This one is real close to my heart and the delivery on the lyrics exerts an influence on all manner of smiley, happy power metal to this day. So spread the word around, the rat is leaving town... see, I'm supposed to be writing a review and I can't stop singing this motherfucker!

Alas, what follows that divine trio of perfect songs is not nearly so shiny, and a prime example of that crippling lack of consistency I mentioned before. "Into the Fire" is mediocre Aerosmithy hard rock before that existed, and the lyrics are just dumb. Not that any of the others outside of "Child in Time" have been MENSA level, but I think the group could do better. So far as I can tell it's about a woman getting stoned and masturbating to a Deep Purple song. That's confidence, lemme tell ya. "Living Wreck" on the other hand is possessed of absolutely hilarious lyrics, but isn't a particularly good listen. Gillan would get better at storytelling on songs like the (wearysome) classic "Smoke on the Water", but this one lacks push and drive.

I have to admit, "Hard Lovin' Man" is both propulsive and modern, and it's very much a forerunner of the manic proto-speed of Judas Priest circa-1976, but it's also overlong, boring, and has too many solos. Too many solos?! From a reviewer who gave Images & Words a 95? Well, let me rephrase. The Blackmore solos are awesome, and the Lord solos (and he gets several) sound like he was having a seisure and rolling all over his Hammond organ. Oh, and Gillan doesn't really seem to be singing with the song precisely and his performance is histrionic and somewhat lacklustre. I do repeat though, this is a seriously cool riff that does not sound at all like anything else in 1970.

In Rock is an album that is ahead of it's time, but also hurt by the fact that it is in many ways OF it's time. If you want to assemble all of the puzzle pieces that went into the metal of today, this is a must. But if you just want a really good piece of hard rock or heavy metal, you know what? It's a must for you too.

Stand-Outs: “Child in Time”, “Bloodsucker”, “Flight of the Rat”