Deep Purple in Rock
| Deep Purple in Rock | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
||||
| Studio album by Deep Purple | ||||
| Released | 3 June 1970 | |||
| Recorded | 14 October 1969 – 13 April 1970 | |||
| Studio |
Various
|
|||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 43:30 | |||
| Label | Harvest | |||
| Producer | Deep Purple | |||
| Deep Purple chronology | ||||
|
||||
| 25th anniversary edition | ||||
 |
||||
| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |   |
| BBC | (favourable) |
| Sputnik Music | |
Deep Purple in Rock, also known as In Rock, is the fourth studio album by English rock band Deep Purple, released on 3 June 1970. It was the first studio album recorded by the classic Mark II line-up. Rod Evans (vocals) and Nick Simper (bass) had been fired in June 1969 and were replaced by Ian Gillan and Roger Glover, respectively.
Deep Purple in Rock was their breakthrough album in Europe and would peak at No. 4 in the UK, remaining in the charts for months. (The band's prior MK I albums had been much better received in North America than in their homeland.) The album was supported by the hugely successful In Rock World Tour which lasted 15 months.
Although this was the first studio album to feature the MK II line-up of the band, it was this line-up that had earlier recorded the live Concerto for Group and Orchestra. The album was also preceded by the single "Hallelujah", the first studio recording that Gillan made with Deep Purple. "Hallelujah" was a Greenaway-Cook composition released in late 1969, but the song flopped. A second single, "Black Night", was developed around the same time as the In Rock album, but not included on the album. "Black Night" fared much better, as it rose all the way to No. 2 on the UK charts.
In 2005 the album won the Classic Rock and Roll of Honour Award (given by the British monthly magazine Classic Rock) in the category Classic Album. The award was presented to Ian Gillan, Ian Paice, Jon Lord and Ritchie Blackmore.
While the original lineup of Deep Purple included experienced musicians, none of the five were accomplished songwriters. Thus, Deep Purple's earlier work ranged from psychedelic hard rock built around Blackmore riffs, to classical-influenced tracks developed and arranged by Lord, to cover songs that ranged from The Beatles to Neil Diamond, among others. Conversely, Gillan and Glover had a good amount of experience writing songs for Episode Six, their previous band, and all tracks on In Rock are credited to the five members of the group.
...
Wikipedia