Track Listing

1. Speed King
2. Bloodsucker
3. Child in Time
4. Flight of the Rat
5. Into the Fire
6. Living Wreck
7. Hard Lovin' Man

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #6195 in Music
• Released on: 1990-10-25
• Number of discs: 1

Customer Reviews

Great Album, Only "Fair" Sound...
"In Rock" is arguably one of the first true "heavy metal" albums. It still stands as one of Deep Purple's best & "heaviest" works. The sound on this cd version, however, leaves much to be desired. I will swear my old lp sounds better. So 5 stars for the music, 1 star for the sound. Your best option is to spend a few extra bucks on the Import "25th Anniversary" edition. Unlike many "limited editions" & "remasters" the bonus tracks on the "In Rock 25th Anniversary" kick @ss thanks to some remixing by Roger Glover.
Again, pass on this one in favor of the better sounding and expanded Import version.

Machine Head gets all the attention, but in rock is just as good.
This must have been a pleasant surprise coming from a band that had been a vannila fudge knock-off until then. It's one of those seminal albums, a step up on the heavy ladder. In Rock, along with Sabbath and Zeppelin, started heavy metal. Gillian's singing is soulful and unique, Ian Paice is a very underrated drummer, and Ritchie Blackmore...well, he's just Ritchie Blackmore, the King of Riffs. Jon Lord has some nice moments, too, but he's completely upstaged by the guitar god in front of him.

Speed King 10/10. This song would probably make my list for top 20 of all time. It's a ludicrously simple idea - take some old Little Richard lyrics, have Gillian scream them over a pounding rock riff. Add in a jazzy Blackmore/Lord solo, too.
Bloodsucker 9/10. Cool riff, but what really carries this song is Ian screaming "OHHHHHHH NO NO NO!!!". The echoey last verse is even funnier.
Child in Time 9/10. Boring at first, but it builds up until Gillian is screaming. When he stops, Blackmore and Lord are happy to unleash a pounding instrumental section, until the boring part comes back in again.
Flight of the Rat 9/10. Another underrated song, with a fairly simple riff. But the fact that they could play a seven minute song that was metal all the way, with out being distracted by jazz or whatever the solo in Speed King was, is great in itself.
Into the Fire 9/10. With a riff that could match Smoke on the Water and Iron Man blow for blow, it's a wonder this wasn't a big hit. Maybe the plodding verses are what the radio stations don't like. It's an anti-drug song, opposite Black Sabbath, who sang about marijuana with glee in Sweet Leaf.
Living Wreck 7/10. It's the weakest song on the album with bad lyrics, a so-so riff, and a chorus that somewhat makes up for it.
Hard Loving Man 8/10. A freight train of a song, its problem is that there's not enough variety in it for a song that long - it gets kinda boring.
One of those albums that it's hard to get tired of listening to.

This, my friends, is where it ALL began...
In the year 1970, heavy metal was just beginning in its first stages of development. Black Sabbath's monumental debut blasted their audience with a new, heavy sound; Led Zeppelin rocked the blues harder than it had ever been rocked; but it was Deep Purple that combined the heaviness and the speed to form what we now know as heavy metal.

Look no further than the opening track, "Speed King". Then listen to anything else that came out in 1970. This song shows no mercy as it instantly blasts out of the speakers, with a fury, excitement, and sexual drive never before heard in rock music. The whole album is consistently furious (although the band definitely slows it down for much of the rest of the album).

Not to mention, of course, the purely awesome technical skill involved in the playing. In the epic "Child In Time", all the instruments run counterpoint harmonies on incredibly fast minor-scale riffs in the brilliant climax. Ritchie Blackmore, in particular, shines on this record. His guitar playing, although it would improve on subsequent releases, was even then simply awesome. He is my personal favorite guitarist of all time, although many would argue with my opinion. Jon Lord is a fine organist as well, working with Blackmore to incorporate subtle neo-classical elements into the music. Ian Gillan, of course, is the famed singer, although the production on this album makes his voice sound strangely shrill and distorted (this is not a huge problem, it's actually not that bad). Ian Paice, while not a particularly notable drummer, certainly drives the music forward, while also showing some ability to lay down the funky beats as well.

Every song on In Rock is a winner, my favorites being the mid-paced groove "Bloodsucker", the ferocious "Flight of the Rat", and the aforementioned "Child In Time". This, my friends, is where it ALL began...