(1970) Warner Bros label. Original issue gatefold jacket.  Much has been written about rock and roll and the birth of metal. I am clearly no expert. I tend to collect albums that lean along pop standards. However, I grew up listening to this album.  It came into my childhood in the boxes of stuff my stepfather brought when he moved in. I know every song lyric, every scream, every dirty bass line like a nursery rhyme.  Jumping rope and singing ..“feel the blood a knockin’ when you’re finger poppin’ ”  is a wild memory.  I credit Jon Lord’s keyboards to sparking my interest in what is now called “Prog Rock”. On this album Deep Purple are Ritchie Blackmore on guitar, Ian Gillan on vocals, Roger Glover on bass, Jon Lord on keyboards, and Ian Paice on drums.

Side One

1. Speed King  (5:55)
2. Bloodsucker  (4:15)
3. Child In Time  (10:22)

Side Two

1. Flight Of The Rat  (7:57)
2. Into The Fire  (3:30)
3. Living Wreck  (4:34)
4. Hard Lovin’ Man  (7:13)

At the time this album was playing in my childhood home I had never heard anything like it.  It was funky, it was groovy, it was frightening, it was quiet like a hymn and then thundering like an avalanche.  You wanted to learn how to play drums after listening to it. You wanted to get into a fight.  You wanted to turn it way up until the walls trembled. If you were home alone and the house was dark and quiet, you might dare to listen to Child In Time alone; eight lines of lyrics for a 10 minute song taking you to church, to hell and back again.  Spooky.

Each member of this band is now legendary.  Each established and defined their craft for others to follow.  Although Deep Purple weaved many other artists in and out of the group over time, this particular line up will always be my favorite.