Deep Purple 'In Rock' - What Makes this Album So Good? 

My favourite Deep Purple album.

'In Rock' was the first album I ever bought, and I played it to death. I still play it today and never tire of it. An absolute classic.

Certainly their best. In my view much heavier and more exciting than Machine Head

In the summer of 1970 my great summer friend, Joel, arrived at camp with Deep Purple In Rock under his arm. He spun it all summer long assaulting our ears and rocking the whole cabin. Joel sadly passed away too soon and I now spin Deep Purple in Rock every summer in his memory. Sweet Child in Time.

I was 16 years old then. this was absolutly the bigest WOW ever . . .

All killer..no filler. Absolutely their best lp.

100% ass kicking front to back with maybe the greatest hard rock vocals of all time

Deep Purple In Rock, the real rock in the Rock'n Roll Hall Of Fame, and still relevant today !

I was 9 when this came out. My sister got it and played it endlessly. I found it quite scary sounding, then fascinating, then loved it. It's really ahead of it's time, quite a brutal sound for the dawn of the '70s.

Probably my all time favourite album. Child in time is my favourite piece of music.

Absolutely monumental album. Majestic in sweep! Straight down to business, no frills hard rock. The mighty Purple set the template with this one.

I don't think there has ever been a more powerful statement of musical intent. I love how raw and on the edge the album sounds.

An album that, given my passion for classic rock, I should have loved but simply liked

Their best album. Uncompromising and focused. Superb.

The album that, at 15, changed my life & informed my musical sensibilities. Walking past a "head shop" in Sydney in Dec 70, I heard this sound... "Into The Fire". First album I ever bought with my own money.

Maybe because ev'ry track is stellar ...writing,production,performance...solid like rocks!

It was the one to carry under your arm at school. Great record!

The seeds of metal were planted with this album. Child in Time sounds like it could be on any Iron Maiden album. The solo at the end of Hard Lovin' Man is pure thrash.

That guitar bend at the end of the intro to Speed King still gives me goose bumps.

I also believe that fireball gets very overlooked..

Indeed the most powerful and most cohesive. Also my favorite DP album. It's certainly their loudest and heaviest.

Pure raw sheer energy, big YES to this album. Listen to it since 1974, so you can assume it's a classic album.

In my top 3 albums of all time. And in my humble opinion the greatest guitar solo on Child In Time!

You sir, and your channel are my new place to learn and appreciate music. THANK YOU.

Without doubt, this album "got me" into hard rock and formed the base of what I have listened to ever since. Am sure many, many bands that have followed found inspiraion from it too. THE classic hard rock album of all time.

Their best. Hands down.

My favorite Deep Purple album and the record that introduced me to Hard Rock.

A true "landmark" (see what I did there?) of an album. Nice overview. 🎸

It's more than good! First heard it in 1971 on it's release. One of the greatest Rock Albums ever made.

My favourite deep purple studio album. I was a bit young to buy it when it was released. But prlurchased it in the mid to late 70s...... love, hard lovin man and Flight of the rat!!

The arrival of Gillan & Glover to complete the jigsaw and take them from run of the mill to rock legends. In Rock is far and away the bands best album, which bought the best out of Blackmore, Lord & Pace.

First Purple album I bought in 1982 on cassette on the Fame label (remember that?) for £2.99 which bizarrely was sequenced with side 2 as the first side so it opened with "Flight Of The Rat". Still Purple's best ❤

Great show. My Favorite purple Album a Masterpiece the Birth of Heavy Metal.☮️🎸

I would just like to add that the criminally underrated and relatively ignored Purpendicular album was, for me, the band's most 'musical' album. As for the In Rock album 'Flight Of The Rat' surely contains one of the band's greatest studio instrumental breaks but seems to be generally overlooked when this album is analysed. Therefore i'm grateful Barry mentions it in a positive light.

I come from a small town called Innsbruck - Austria. There was only one record store and the manager at the time was around 60 years old. She told us, you have to listen to this, it's unique. I'll never forget hearing Speed King first. That influenced my musical future more than anything else. Great, I really like what you're doing here. I particularly like your appreciation of velvet underground and the kinks, which I value very highly. I love your work and I also love that you don't always agree with me, because it's very interesting to find out other opinions. Please carry on, with love, Peter.

I'm gonna keep watching your stream because you rock! Enough said.

Totally groundbreaking. Knocked everything else into a cocked hat. Still does!

This is Deep Purples BEST album, it doesn't take a scientist to figure that one out. I was hearing this lp right after it was released and it blu-my-mind... edit: then after came Fireball and that album blu-my-mind again 🎼

Blackmore said that he wanted In Rock to sound like a 'party' album.

My first Rock album.. I bought it in summer of 1970 a few weeks after in was released after listening to it at my older cousins house. I was twelve years old and it was my inspiration for my love of rock music and the reason I learnt to play guitar... 54 years later I've still not lost my love for this album, Deep Purple, rock music in general and the electric guitar.. It's been a good journey.

I never became a big fan of Deep Purple, but I bought a few albums. Got this on CD and I love Made In Japan.

The Hallelujah single was like hello/goodbye from the Rod to Ian transition.

I had bought In Rock just after it came out, but didn’t listen to it too much, UNTIL I saw an ELP concert, and heard Emerson bend notes on his organ. I thought, I have that at home, and Hard Lovin Man was it!! I’ve been a hard core fan ever since!

Child in Time, the best rock song in history ever made !!!!!

No doubt in rock, fireball & machine head are pure genius. mkii creativity has stood the test of time and still sound fresh.

So glad I found your channel a couple days ago. Goes deeper than my usual ‘Classic or Yacht’ rock rut.

I remember looking through my Dads records as a kid and discovering this brilliant album! I would listen to it every night... 🤘❤

What makes it good? "Speed King". It's not only harder than anything Zeppelin ever did, but it's absolutely unhinged! And the "piano version" is even a million times better!

In Rock is and will always remain a masterpiece! It's one of those albums you have to respect even if you don't like it! Its importance for rock music can't be overrated.

Always been my favourite Purple studio album, something magical and heavy about it.

It's my favourite Purple album.

Loving the audio clips! Wonderful addition.

When this Album came out I was @ boarding school , it was one of the Albums I didn’t feel comfortable playing to my mother, so it stayed at school, along with MC5 “kick out the Jams” Steppenwolf “Monster” & Hendrix etc

Knocked the socks off my 14 year old feet!

The first proto thrash record. My memory might be betraying me, but this to me is the first 'full' heavy metal album. BS had the title track, but the rest of that debut record was heavily tinged with blues and folk still. In Rock is just rock n roll all the way. Bloodsucker, Into the Fire, Living Wreck, Hard Lovin Man all contain strong elements you see in metal to this day. As good as their contemporaries were, Purple's musicianship was just another level. They were all virtuosos. Blackmore and Lord's competitiveness on record and on the stage was a joy to listen to. The finest band the UK has produced for me.

Mark2 created their own genre with this monumental album. It was genre of which only they ever played. It was a miracle that these 5 ended up together in the first place & they quite simply, became the greatest group of rock musicians of all-time.

Worth saying that "Its a Beautiful Day" is a fantastic album.

Nice. And always good to point out the source of inspiration for songs. Led Zeppelin and the Beatles weren't the only ones guilty nicking the licks of others. A couple additional points: - the band was originally the concept of former Searchers drummer Chris Curtis and somewhat like the Monkees was originally assembled as a business proposition by some businessmen. Curtis, who proved unstable, was shed from the initiative. - though there were a couple names, Roundabout being the most often cited, the band was pieced together bit by bit, with Curtis bringing Blackmore back to the UK from Hamburg, a move possibly funded by those financial backers. - the original idea was that the band would be, in their words, 'the European Vanilla Fudge'. The Fudge were, IMO, the originators of the prog-rock aesthetic (the Jeff Beck-era Yardbirds were more prog than any of them, though their aesthetic was different). The Fudge's debut album and gigs in London proved to be serious catalysts for what became the London prog scene led by 1-2-3 (later renamed Clouds), the Nice, Yes, King Crimson etc. A major difference was that Fudge drummer Carmine Appice was r&b centred whereas the drummers in the British bands - Harry Hughes with 1-2-3, Brian Davidson with the Nice, Bill Bruford with Yes, and Michael Giles with King Crimson - were jazzers. Ian Paice is also heavily jazz influenced. - Ian Gillan's extreme vocal styling was apparently inspired by Arthur Brown, whose singing on his debut album 'The Crazy World of Arthur Brown' (most notably chart topper 'Fire') is surely some of the best ever on a rock record. - interesting that 'In Rock' was recorded at Hanwell Community Centre, a fabulous big old brick edifice in Hanwell, west London, as it was in Hanwell where Jim Marshall, founder of Marshall Amplification had his shop. Deep Purple were, of course along with the likes of Cream and Hendrix, amongst the earliest exponents of 'loud', an aesthetic rooted in the Marshall brand. Though never a big Purple fan I did like the Glenn Hughes/David Coverdale period. Too bad that lineup went off the rails. But it is great to see the current lineup continues to play and have fun being rock 'n' rollers to this day. New guitarist Simon McBride is a fine addition.

Brilliant album, brilliant musicians

Unquestionably the best Mk II album imo 👍

Deep Purple fans always (etc) write In Rock and Rainbow Rising. It's Deep Purple in Rock and Rising.

My brother was in the Navy at the time the album came out mainly stationed on Okinawa but also spent time in Japan. He sent a copy of the album home where the liner notes were in English and Japanese. I played that album to death and when I was 12 it inspired me to start playing guitar. Forty five years later I still play, write and perform with my band, Worm Grunter.

i have been listening to this album and reading about it for over 40 years, but this is by far the best review of it by far. keep up the awesome work Barry.

I got Gillan's autograph on a copy of stormbringer. I met him backstage at Morecambe Gardens as my friend was entertainments manager, he was in Garth Rocket guise. I was 14 and asked if he'd sign my record, he put out his hand grabbed the record, signed it and handed it back. Didn't say a word lol. I think he was star-struck lol.

Great Stuff Tonight I love this Album And Black Night and Hallelujah 👍❤️👌

Thanks for your insights, they have helped me to appreciate music even more

My introduction to the genre. Life would never be the same again after hearing this for the first time. Great review.

Saw them in Cardiff University 1970. 👍🙂🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿😎

First heard this album in 72 loved it ever since get shiversevery time I hear child in time brilliant album one of the best ever

It's a lullaby. It rocks you like a mother soothing her child in pain. His gradual ascent until he cries hits something hidden in me. A cry never released let alone healed deep in my own soul. Gillan cries, as he aches far more than the "cold war" of nations but a personal cold war between lovers where his lover will never love him again. There, at that moment, my eye never fails to release at least one tear, which slowly runs down my cheek, and I don't know why? The phrase "Art Rock" is aptly named.

My favorite album.

I appreciate someone referencing “Hallelujah” that was released in Summer 1969 a couple of months before “In Rock”. This song if you’re a Deep Purple MKII fan is a must know, it’s haunting and the guitar bends set a new standard for hard rock. And of course another reference in Uriah Heep, both Deep Purple and Uriah Heep were neck and neck in the early 70s with Purple barely courting fame a bit more. Thanks for the video!

In Rock is my favourite album too. With Machine Head as a good second 🤘🏻

My favourite Purple studio album. Made In Japan is their best album in my opinion. Just thinking about the music that was out there in my teenage years in the early to mid 70s makes the hairs on my neck stand on end. Purple, Zeppelin, Sabbath, Floyd, Yes, Free, ELP, SAHB, Tull, TYA and quite a few more is just amazing. Best decade for music? Definitely.

In Rock, one of the most important albums in the evolution of rock and metal and yet the modern media like to ignore it. There's a reason why it spent over a year in the UK album charts and six months of it in the top 10. Child in Time may have been filched but it was totally different and mutally agreed - see Don and Dewey by It's a Beautiful Day

I just listened to this album a couple of days ago as I am trying to get into heavy metal history as far as the bands that help found its creation and man does this kick ass. I’ve known of purple mainly due to their big hits but I’ve never heard of this album and I love it. Probably my favorite.

Fantastic album , up there with Led Zeppelin 2 and Paranoid.

"Glass worrying shriek" I have to admit that I love your wordy shenanigans

A seminal hard rock album that made a huge impression on a very much younger me. I suspect it, or at least my Dad's copy plus his C3PO headphones also were a contributing factor to my mild tinnitus..

Absolutely True!. Deep Purple & Jethro Tull are too me The Best Bands ever from Britian. I am American however what do I know, we don't even speak proper english here😊

Great album. The band are firing on all cylinders on In Rock.

I'd been a fan since '68 and particularly liked the third (self-titled) album from '69. But 'Deep Purple in Rock' seemed a virtual rebirth, and as a statement of intent sounded like one of the greatest rock debut albums ever. BTW the Warner's release in North America omitted that mind blowing opening to 'Speed King' that you hear on the original Harvest release - something I wasn't aware of until I bought a German pressing in '74. For those of us who came of age at the tail end of the Vietnam war, 'Child in Time' was a pretty heavy number to trip to...

Fantastic video as usual. Awesome album. Thanks

Personally I prefer machine head. But when my friends asked what LP I wanted as a birthday gift after buying my first LP player I didn´t even doubt on asking for In Rock

This video has been very revealing, particularly about all the musical thievery going on in this band. I could really hear it from Child in Time (Bombay Calling, indeed). In any case, this is one of my all-time favorite albums, as well, which is why I am taking the time to view your video. I once read an interview Ritchie Blackmore gave where he mentioned the reason why Flight of the Rat has never been performed live is because Ian Paice doesn't like the song, for some reason. I remember some interviews in the early 1990s when both Ritchie and Ian were both keen on playing that song in particular, but it never happened.

I saw Deep Purple when they played at Randwick Racetrack in Sydney 1971. I was 19. I bought this vinyl back then. I still have it in my Recored Collection.

Their best … No one could have played the fantastic solo on Child in time but Ritchie Blackmore .. in 1969. There are so many good to great albums … ones that relatively few have heard …. Bananas 🍌 Purpendicular Whoosh!

Excellent analogy of a brilliant album. Dave✅✅

The best Deep Purple album in my opinion!

Fantastic album from a top band.

Great review of a great album love your channel

This album opened the door into a new area of “bigbeat” music.

Excellent as always

What a fantastic video have a wonderful weekend also today is my friends birthday ❤😊

Nice one, Barry. This was indeed a seminal album. My only gripe might be the production.....but, hey. What do you expect for 1970!

Child in time is a masterpiece of rock

The best heavy rock album ever along with Led Zep 2 and Black Sabbaths debut . Brought all three on their release and they have'nt aged a day and sound as good now as they did then .

I never made that connection between Bombay Calling and Child of Time. I'm always learning something new here!

It's just like a great album, only better!

The best hard rock album of them all.