609 Deep Purple - Deep Purple in Rock (1970)

Studio Album - Heavy Rock

About the Act:

Deep Purple are a British Heavy Rock band. They were formed in 1968 and spent a few years being psychedelic. They then changed some members, turned into a rock band, had success, changed some more members, broke up for a few years, and then got back together, having more line-up changes and are still going, the only one of the original member being Ian Paice on Drums.

They are credited with being one of the formative bands of heavy metal, the "Unholy Trinity" of them, Led Zep and Black Sabbath.

About the Album:

This was the band's fourth album, although in some ways it was their fifth. The first three albums were psychedelic rock, which had gone down well in the USA but not got them a following in the UK. Three of the members (Jon Lord, Ian Paice and Ritchie Blackmore)wanted to move on to a more heavy rock sound, and conspired to change the singer and bassist to Ian Gillan and Roger Glover, without letting on to the current singer and bassist, because they were still needed for gigs. It was all quite underhand.

Preceding this album, Jon Lord created an event with the band and an Orchestra called "Concerto for Group and Orchestra" which was performed at the Royal Albert Hall and released as an album. This gained them exposure in the UK but they wanted to follow this up with a loud and energetic rock album. That was this album, and it gained a lot of attention and sales in the UK, but not in the USA.

My History with this Album:

I have a copy but don't remember particularly listening to it. I have too many albums like that.

Review:

When I was about 8, I had a friend called Stewart. He had a big brother, whose name I forgot, but who I had a few conversations with. He was about 12 and was unutterably cool in my eyes. One day he derided the pop music I listened to and told me about "real music", and that there was a style called "Heavy Metal" that was played by bands like Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple and Pink Floyd. I remember at the time thinking that he was winding me up, all of the names and the genre name seemed so outlandish. It took a few years for me to realise he was telling the truth, although Pink Floyd as a Heavy Metal band - not so much.

This album is one of the foundations of Heavy Metal which was emerging at the time. The band deliberately took a move towards heavier music, having heard the debut album by Led Zeppelin. I suspect they may also have hear some Black Sabbath. If somebody produced music like this now, it would not be labelled Metal, because it has moved on so much. This is Heavy Rock or Hard Rock. Having said that, there are some features here which, musically, indicate it's moving towards this metal thing. Three things:

1. The use of the bass and guitar (and/or sometimes organ) playing the same riff together an octave apart.

2. The use of unusual chord sequences and moving away from the diatonic major scale into modal music, as an extension of Blues really.

3. The ponderous doom-laden sound of Child in Time, the longest track, which sounds very Black Sabbath.

As well as the expected loud and over-driven guitar work of legend Ritchie Blackmore, the unusual musical thing here is the use of rock organ, which is often front and centre. Jon Lord on the organ is also legendary, and he brings a classical edge to the music (he was well versed in classical and baroque music, and was one of the first to really bring those influences into rock).

The move to Ian Gillan as vocalist was a good on too. He is versatile and has a great rock voice, with quite an impressive range, an ability to sing with a growl, and a really impressive high wail, which was becoming a signature sound for rock like this.

The songs are about various things, rock and roll lifestyle, casual relationships, the dangers of drugs (unusual at this stage for a rock band I would think), and an anti-communist resistance song. They are OK, but I think it's mor about the music really. They don't seem to have embraced the fantasy of Led Zep or the devil/evil stuff of Black Sabbath.

I enjoyed listening to this album. Having read up on it now, I can see that it was a formative and pivotal album in a genre that would spawn lots of good things. It has enough musical complexity to interest me in that side, without being prog.

8/10

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/3yWO0OWcsKQa46sqSgR3uj

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLIKpCFu8FpmmAtaNvqeGMBl7f4hjWkqbz

Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep_Purple_in_Rock