I disappear for over three years and come back with a no-brainer, but at some point I would have to address this landmark in early metal music, so I may as well get back in the groove with an easy one. Hmmm...talk about deja vu, it's almost like I copied and pasted the first sentence of my last review. Anyway, the three dark titans of early 70s hard rock and heavy metal were Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, and Deep Purple. Unlike the other two groups, DP did not roar out of the gates with their debut album (In Rock is their 4th release, not counting the live orchestra album), but there was a noticeable evolution over their two or so years of playing together and releasing records, so that by the time Purple had finished opening for Cream on the latter's farewell tour, guitarist Ritchie Blackmore, keyboardist Jon Lord and drummer Ian Paice got together and discussed the direction they wanted to take the band. The three, particularly Blackmore, wanted to explore the riffs and bombastic energy of heavy rock.
Original singer Rod Evans had his heart set on girls and California, so it wasn't hard to get rid of him (he wound up in Captain Beyond with former Iron Butterfly members), so they brought in Ian Gillan to handle vocals and Roger Glover to man the bass, both formerly of Episode Six, which Wikipedia humorously describes thusly: "The band did not have commercial success in the U.K, releasing nine singles that all failed to chart, but they did find minor success in Beirut at the time" First Beirut, then the world. Original bassist Nic Simper eventually found out he was not in the band when he discovered Purple was recording without him. Oops. The surviving members did not think Evans and Simper could handle the new hard and heavy direction of the band, although Simper went on to play with Warhouse and Evans fronted the aforementioned Captain Beyond, both early 70s hard rock bands. No one's perfect, right?
In Rock landed on shelves on June 3, 1970 - 45 years ago as of the date of this blog post - and featured 7 tracks of protometal with Lord's organ as flamboyant and heavy as Blackmore's guitar licks, both backed backed by a tight rhythm section and featuring the soaring, boozy vocals of Gillan. "Flight of the Rat" and "Bloodsucker" are prime examples of the band's new direction, showcasing musical skill, loud rock and raw power. The stand out track, however, has to be Hard Lovin' Man. Keyboards never really grabbed a foothold in heavy metal, but this tune shows that keyboards can certainly have a place alongside the pounding and crushing of the standard rock weapons.
