Deep Purple was a rock heavyweight back in the 1970’s. They went toe to toe with the progenitors of metal Black Sabbath for supremacy of that genre. Eventually Ozzy and the boys would win that battle but Deep Purple went through many different incarnations over time and they would evolve into something else. I fondly recall reading all of those Circus Magazines asking the question who was best.
In Rock would beat the Black Sabbath classic Paranoid (their first album did not qualify as it was more blues influenced) to the punch, coming out one year earlier. So it was Deep Purple that ushered in the Metal genre with plenty of fireworks with this now legendary recording in 1970.
The MK2 lineup of Deep Purple is no doubt the most popular amongst devoted longtime fans and In Rock was a good choice by Audio Fidelity to dedicate their special remastering process to. For those unfamiliar with the label’s process, they take the analog masters and put them through a sonically constructed vintage tube playback deck and then their new Kensei Audio Transformer for the ultimate reproduction.
This album is especially powerful in every way and the remaster highlights every nuance with precision. All the members are in vintage form. Ian Gillan was perhaps at his very best on this session. Ian Paice (drums) and Roger Glover (bass) was the outrageous one-two bottom end of the day while Ritchie Blackmore played the most magnificent and recognizable blues influenced rock guitar on the planet at the time. Then of course there was the steadfast Jon Lord providing the necessary mood whenever they needed it in every song. His moody keyboards gave their classic “Child In Time” (check out the live version on Made In Japan) an eerie characteristic that anyone would be hard pressed to duplicate to this day.
The lead off track “Speed King” kicked off the proceedings quite appropriately with Blackmore making his guitar spew out all kinds of distortion. From that point onward Deep Purple would establish themselves as the reigning kings of fire and brimstone rock and metal but just around the corner was Black Sabbath to put their stake in the ground and they would never turn back. Regardless Deep Purple set the table with In Rock and everyone would follow them down the path to rock ‘n’ roll glory.
My hat is off again to Audio Fidelity for turning a classic album into pure audio gold. It is a true pleasure to hear again and not only for discriminating audiophiles but just good old rock music fans that enjoy the catalog of early Deep Purple.
Keith “MuzikMan” Hannaleck
July 23, 2009
