Deep Purple in Rock is the fourth studio album by Deep Purple, released on June 5, 1970. 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 under-performed 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.
WikipediaGrinding, driving, 70s metal. This album is relentless. It starts big and just keeps going until the end. Good stuff, mostly. It got docked a star because there was an inordinate amount of pointless, wordless screeching.
When I was younger, I would read or hear a lot of people saying "Deep Purple was a huge influence on early heavy metal" and think PFFFFTTTT! What? Nah, Black Sabbath did it all, as I was only familiar with Deep Purple's bigger hits at that time. I still think Sabbath is obviously the most influential, but realize I was too quick to dismiss the work of others in the pre-metal scene. This album is THICK with sound. A driving rhythm section, big distortion, and versatile organ usage make for a sound modern stoner rock constantly seeks to emulate. This is a Jam. Probably a 4.5, but I'm rounding up as an apology for my previous disrespect to these metal pioneers.
Listening to guitar solos on this album is like putting your head into an exhaust of F1 car with V12 engine and pushing with low-fuel load around Monza. Absolute eargasm.
Vous n'êtes pas sans savoir que j'ai vu le groupe Deep Purple de mes yeux à la Patinoire Mériadeck de Bordeaux il y a de cela quelques années. Le bassiste était ce jour-là particulièrement en forme puisque, après avoir chaussé ses patins et invité sa partenaire à le rejoindre, il enchaîna deux sauts de biche, un triple axel avant d'effectuer une magnifique pirouette sautée, récoltant ainsi la note de 186,66.
Listened before: No Enjoyed: No Listens: 1 Only got the chance to listen to this one once and didn't really take anything away from it
A period piece, capturing the point at which psych rock became hard rock/metal. Ridiculous lyrics don't detract from the energy here, the key to this album is they play fast and don't repeat themselves (something many later heavy rock bands sadly didn't learn from).
To my shame, one that I’ve never deep dived into. Amazing stuff here. I loved it
Some good old fashioned rock. Honestly a pretty good album through and through, short but nice long songs. I liked this.
A well deserved 5 - outstanding musicianship, amazing guitar work - took me totally by surprise - brilliant stuff ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Speed King Is such a great hard rock opener and carries on through to the rest of the classic albumn. Just such an amazing of its time albumn transports to that era instantly.
I forgot just how much I loved Deep Purple (and classic heavy metal in general). Ian Paice continues his legacy as one of the most criminally underrated drummers of all time, but the rest of the band has no problem at all keeping up with him. The organ especially slaps in the back end of the record. Fantastic stuff, through and through.
Now this was electric! Noise all over the place with each track came a different engine like sound. Despite having seven songs, the album goes on for a while. Three words to describe this album; loud, fast and chaotic... and fucking brilliant!
Given the inclinations of the writers of this list, I'm a little surprised to see Deep Purple in Rock here. For one thing, there were no hits on this album. It wasn't all that popular at the time either, as far as I know. It wasn't a presence on album-oriented radio. It doesn't even have a hipster reputation, like Dr. John's Gris Gris. Could it be that it was included because of the actual quality of the music? Shocker.On DPIR, Richie Blackmore got his way and molded Deep Purple into a hard rock band with a nasty edge, both musically and lyrically. His leads, heavy on whammy bar and feedback, were pretty revelatory at the time, and are impressive even now. Child in Time is a particularly brutal anti-war song. Living Wreck's depiction of a drug-addled groupie is downright ugly. And Ian Gillan's operatic wails, no doubt inspired by Arthur Brown, are the rancid cherry on top. But the pop and progressive leanings of early incarnations of the band weren't completely abandoned. In essence, the songs on DPIR are inventive, tightly constructed pop tunes, albeit with a blues foundation. This isn't the blundering, overly literal blues of all too many British bands.Frankly, the ungainly combination of elements in DPIR was a bit much for me as a kid and even now it makes me queasy, but the tension of the push and pull of the seemingly irreconcilable is large part of what makes DOIR such a bracing listen. Deep Purple would never make another album as balls out and uncompromising as this one.
This was among the sound track of my freshman year in high school. It was great to hear it again, though it's not going to climb back into my regular playlist.
Zalige riffs, machtige orgel-solo's, een steengoeie (pun intended) zanger. topalbum
A classic rock album. Love it - child in time gives me goose pimples every time I hear it!
Holy shit this was great especially the first 3 songs goddamn that guitar
Deep Purple? Sure, great song, but aren't they a one hit wonder? And it's not even on this album. But OK, I'm game. What else you got, Deep Purple? I do appreciate the hubris of the album art. And the names of the song, taken together, are brutals. The album roars out of the gate with Speed King, I love it. All time classic heavy metal screaming, notable work on the drums, and I'm taken completely by surprise by the organ. Bloodsucker I'm feeling the base. Wait, the track is great too. *All* of the songs are strong, but my faves are Speed King, Flight of the Rat, Black Night. I hear a certain amount of Alice Cooper, a tiny bit of Doors, some Zeppelin, even Steppenwolf. Child in Time makes me think of both David Bowie and Pink Floyd. Obviously Deep Purple had more influence than I realized, and was right in the middle of everything, giving and getting and helping invent heavy metal. I find my own ignorance genuinely stunning sometimes. TL;DR Great album.
Un peu honte de pas avoir écouté ce monument du rock avant aujourd'hui.
The first of three knockout punches. Before Blackmore became a fairy. Showing Ian Paice to be one of the three best English drummers
Deep Purple in Rock is a great album with some fantastic songs from beginning to end. "Speed King" is a well-known classic rock song that opens the album really well, followed by the more dramatic and slightly more obscure "Bloodsucker". The third track of the album is one of Deep Purple's standout songs, "Child in Time", a particularly unique song which really uses the various skills of the members at the time. "Flight of the Rat" has some really good punk rock vibes to it, which come in unexpectedly after the more melodic-rock style of "Child in Time", but the song itself is great. "Into the Fire", "Living Wreck" and "Hard Lovin' Man" are solid songs that don't particularly stand out but are still fun to listen to, and the album closes off strongly with another well-known song in "Black Night", featuring what may arguably be Deep Purple's second-most recognizable guitar riff. While not my favourite album by the band, In Rock is still a great example of Deep Purple's most well-known lineup and is a great listen to any fans of the genre.
An early heavy metal album that has more in common with modern day desert rock than heavy metal but don't take that as a slight. This album has a killer groove running through it and i am all for it. Having only heard the big tracks from Deep Purple i was pleasantly surprised how much i really loved this album. Definitely earned its spot on my classic rock playlist.
When I bought that album (it was about 40 years ago) it didn't leave my record player for a long time. For me, it was the foundation stone of heavy metal. 5+
The first record with the essential Mark II line-up, and what a great introduction!
I would almost put this on par with Zeppelin. There’s so many heavy metal bands from the late 70s to today that owe Deep Purple for their sound.
Cet album me rappel beaucoup de souvenirs avec Child in time. Cependnat le reste est juste du vraiment bon metal/rock. J'aime beaucoup Deep Purple. 5
Deep Purple is a rock band I had never paid much attention to outside of the ever-memorable Smoke On The Water. However, after getting both Machine Head and Deep Purple In Rock from the generator in quick succession, I have to say that I am sold. Not sure if I prefer this over Machine Head or not, but both are just some excellent 1970's hard rock and I am all for it. Favourite: Speed King
My favorite Deep Purple album. Every song on the album is great. The song Child in time has one of the best singing in rock history by Ian Gillan. Ritchie Blackmore really shows his skills and plays masterfully which he carries on to the next Deep Purple albums and later on when he starts the band Rainbow. This is definitely an album everyone should listen to.
Terrific album. Child in Time is such an awesome song, no matter how often I hear it. Wait-for-the-ricochet...
Let A = {Deep Purple In Rock, Fireball, Machine Head, Burn}. ((Every album in A is 5*) AND (DPiR is in A)) => DPiR is 5*.
Great album, lots of great heavy riffs mixed with interesting chord progressions to give a little something for everyone. Ambitious keyboard + guitar work, and what's not to love listening to the OG Jesus Christ Superstar wailing away? * Speed King * Flight of the Rat
As a teenager, I purchased a "Best of Deep Purple" album. A lot of the tracks on that compilation were from this album. This probably should tell you that this is a great Deep Purple album.
Great riffs and heavy sound. Shall definitely be coming back to this. The drumming is wonderful also.
One of pillars of Heavy Metal and perhaps my favorite Deep Purple album. It's almost perfect.
not too bad, don't mind a little bit of deep purple. I'd heard Child in Time before (and Black Night obvs but it's a bonus track), and the rest is pretty cool as well. Hard Lovin Man is p thumping. 4/5.
altough child in time is a timeless masterpiece this album is overal of lesser quality than lets say machine head, its not bad though
Never really listened to their stuff, only when it was in a various compilation. Quite enjoyed this.
Very Black Sabbath-y. Enjoyed it quite a bit and will definitely require a revisit
"Mum! Dad got drunk in the basement with his friends again and won't stop singing". Jk. Dad rock ftw
Never really listened to Deep Purple besides smoke on the water and highway star. Good album
No me va el rock duro, así que le daré estrellas porque sé que es bueno, pero a mi no me gusta
4.4 - It feels fitting that this album features the band's likenesses carved into Mt. Rushmore. This image though ostentatious, in retrospect feels appropriate given how uncannily Deep Purple seemed to underpin and even portend what was to come in rock, both good and bad. In this album, we hear elements of prog, glam, early metal, free jazz, as well as butt rock, intertwined artfully. It's a sound that so many bands have tried mightily to channel, though lacking the same abundance of virtuosity. Here's a band honed to a razor's edge - the guitar riffs shred impeccably, the arrangements executed with technical polish to almost imbue them with a sense of spontaneity. There's considerable majesty and drama in these tracks - taken out of context, some will find it too audacious. I think much of that criticism may lie in our shared understanding of rock 'n' roll excess, as parodied by Spinal Tap. Taken by itself though, this album is a beacon that well deserves a place in the classic rock canon.
Can’t fault it. It’s got to be another 4* if only for Black Knight. I remember dancing to this at school discos ! Who is compiling the lists to have 3 Purple albums already ?
Like it a lot more than I expected. I'd only really listened to Deep Purples "Smoke on the Water" which has been overplayed and over rated. So I enjoyed how much fun this album was.
This album makes me wanna drive a muscle car and wear a leather jacket
Objectively a great record. Just doesn't hook me to make playlist. Child in Time reminds me so much of a maiden song I can't quite out my finger on
Great hard rifts. Enjoyed the album especially Child in Time and Living Wreck
They really did just keep releasing Highway Star huh? It's kinda cute, dad rock. The guitar solos are fun, and how good was that song that went for ten minutes.