Deep Purple: In Rock (Anniversary Edition)

There's a little consternation in the house this evening. I'm wondering what happened to my original vinyl version of In Rock, with the gatefold sleeve, on Harvest, which I bought second hand from Giles Croft in 1979. I can't find it in the cabinet, and it's not listed in my database, which I first compiled around 2000 — so that suggests I disposed of it somehow, some time ago. But how? And to whom?

I'd have liked to have compared that listening experience to this CD, which has been remastered and thoroughly raked over. It doesn't half burst out of the speakers, in a good way. I was reading on Wikipedia how the US edition of the album cut out the jet blast of noise that comprises the first minute or so of Speed King. Bad mistake. That blast is the template that Arc-Weld and hundreds of other hard rock albums adopted. There's no testosterone thrill quite like a perfect riff crystallising out chaotic noise.

Hard rock, not heavy metal — Giles was very particular about making that distinction. I think it's an organ thing. As though someone's sprinkled just a pinch of Soft Machine into the crucible, and that was enough to stop the molten brew from calcifying.

Then there's the Little Richard and Chuck Berry references in Speed King, too. All the interesting heavy groups have a bit of that swing to them. I remember hearing Angus Young from AC/DC tell Tommy Vance that when he played guitar he tried to make it sound like Aretha Franklin. Too many guitarists try to make it sound like Diamanda Galas, and that's harder to keep interesting.

Back in 1979 I never got those Little Richard references. I just loved the big, big sound of it. And the way Ian Gillan sounded like he really meant it on Child in Time. I was saying of the Stooges that maybe I'd have got inside their sound better if I'd heard it when I was younger. I'd like to think that I could have been hip in the right circumstances. But I have a sneaking feeling that if you'd played me Raw Power and In Rock back-to-back in 1979, I'd have taken the Deep Purple every time. Still would.

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