Customer Reviews

Fireball (Dlx)

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After its first line-up fell apart in 1969, Deep Purple decided (or more appropriately, guitarist Ritchie Blackmore decided) to stray from their obvious classical music influence and focus on shaping their music into a much more deliberate hard rock form, making a hard-edged sound which would later be rightfully described as a part of the birth of heavy metal. By straying from their previous sound ("Concerto For Group and Orchestra" and later "The Gemini Suite" were the only significant "classical" breaths from this new era), 1970's innovative "In Rock" saw new additions Ian Gillan and Roger Glover joining Blackmore, Jon Lord, and Ian Paice, making for Deep Purple's most memorable line-up, and firmly established the band's new purpose.
As is always the case, a follow-up was in demand, but Deep Purple were plagued with a hectic touring schedule, thus the several start-and-stop visits to the recording studio, which certainly influenced 1971's "Fireball." Sometimes, Deep Purple pulled together musically better than they did personally, which gave their albums their luster, and the songs here are no exception. "Fireball" made one of this band's most unique traits even more obvious; it was here that DP (lyrically and musically) took the obligatory themes of fast-paced, hard-living rock and roll lifestyles, and placed them in dramatic structures that gave these seemingly cliched topics a unique perspective. 'The Mule' is the best example of this; it is a dense, heavy, and dramatic piece that features a brief but poignant and well-sung verse from Gillan, topped off most notably by Paice's disciplined and raging percussion. 'Fools' is another dramatic song which clocks in at over eight minutes and is highlighted by a lonely, melancholy solo by Blackmore (most likely using a guitar though it sounds like, and may be, a violin or cello). But it's the more traditional rockers that put "Fireball" in the same class as the other Mark II line-up albums; the title track became a radio favorite, and 'Demon's Eye' sounds as if it could have been recorded even by the later Deep Purple line-ups. The closer, 'No One Came' is on the edge of erratic, with an always clever prose by Gillan.
Finally, Warner Archives and Rhino Records have given "Fireball" a well-deserved treatment; this remastered package comes with the hit single 'Strange Kind of Woman,' two songs left off the album (one of which, 'I'm Alone,' is ironically one of the best songs on this CD) and an unreleased track straight vaults ('Slow Train'). Also included is 'The Noise Abatement Society Tapes,' a hodgepodge of quirky rehearsals, not to mention a detailed booklet with abundant liner notes by Simon Robinson and contributions from Roger Glover.

THE BAND: Ian Gillan (vocals), Ritchie Blackmore (guitars), Roger Glover (bass), Jon Lord (keyboards, organ), Ian Paice (drums & percussion).

THE DISC: (1971) Originally 7 tracks clocking in at approximately 39 minutes. This "Fireball - 25th Anniversary Edition" (1996) contains 16 total tracks (coming in at just under 79 total minutes). Included with the disc is a 26-page booklet containing 11 pages of written band history, numerous band photos and memorabilia, and thank you's. This is the band's 5th studio album. Recorded In London's De Lane Lea and Olympic Studios. Originally on Warner Bros (U.S.) and Harvest (UK) labels, this "Anniversary" edition is on the HEC Enterprises / EMI label.

COMMENTS: I always remember "Fireball" as the infamous album that preceded the band's high-water mark, "Machine Head" (1972). There were some good tracks here - especially the boogey-fused and lone single "Strange Kind Of Woman", "The Mule" (with Paice's drum solo), "Fireball", and perhaps my favorite deep album track here, "No One Came" (with Lord's ultra smooth solo). As good as "Strange Kind Of Woman" and "The Mule" were in the studio, they really came alive on their live "Made In Japan" (1972) - both songs became concert staples. Interestingly, Japan and US albums contained the hit "Strange Kind Of Woman", where the European copy had "Demon Eyes" in its place - I hadn't heard this track before, and man is it cool (it's got that same bar-room boogie feel to it as "Strange Kind Of Woman"). Bonus track highlights - hard to find songs like "I'm Alone" (issued as a 45 B-Side only), 2 album outtakes that were cut from the original LP "Freedom" and "Slow Train", and the instrumental version of the title track - what a jam! "Backwards Piano" and "The Noise Abatement Society Tapes..." come off as experiments (only) and are good to hear once and can then be deemed skippable. The only song that seems out of place here is "Anyone's Daughter" (Deep Purple doing country/western just doesn't work for me). I rank "Fireball" behind the flawless "Machine Head", as well as Coverdale's "Burn", the powerful "In Rock" and perhaps the band's aptly titled 80's comeback "Perfect Strangers" - though "Fireball" still holds its weight decades later. While I don't consider this a true DP classic in the utmost sense, the package here (the original 7 songs, the extensive liner notes, the 9 bonus tracks, the remastered sound) is top notch and essential to any/all Deep Purple fans. Thank you Roger Glover for revisiting and remastering all these vintage Deep Purple albums (4.5 stars).

If you like Deep Purple but don't own Fireball, you are in for a treat. This album is a hard rock masterpiece and Ian Gillan would totally agree with me. It's a shame that Fireball has been kind of forgotten about, it clearly holds up against In Rock and Who Do We Think We Are. If you're just starting to collect their albums, maybe you already have Machine Head, this one won't disappoint you. It is one of the great rock albums of the seventies.

The diverse highlights include: Fireball, Strange Kind of Woman, Anyone's Daughter, Fools and No One Came. (The 25th anniversary edition also includes additional highlights: Demon's Eye, I'm Alone and Freedom) I'd easily take this album over any Sabbath or Zeppelin album. Gillan sings far superior to Ozzy or Plant, Ritchie Blackmore plays a more classically tinged and intense guitar, Roger Glover plays a more hard driving aggressive bass, Ian Paice plays a more sophisticated style of drumming, that swings and Jon Lord brings keyboards to the table, which puts them miles ahead of their rivals.

One last note, Deep Purples songs are all original and not borrowed rip offs from old blues men (Zep) or spooky child like rock (Sab). This is the thinking persons rock music, raw and powerful. Blackmore, Gillan, Glover, Lord and Paice are probably the best Deep Purple line-up of the seventies.

PS: Please check out their 2003 album, Bananas. It holds up well after a hundred hearings.
I would say it is right up there with their classic seventies material. That is not easy to do.

"It could have done with another steamer on it," says organist Jon Lord in the wonderful sleevenotes to this remastered album. That, together with the inclusion of the studio doodle entitled 'Anyone's Daughter', was probably the reason why the 'Fireball' album didn't do as well as the two Deep Purple classic LPs sandwiching it ('In Rock' and 'Machine Head').

While 'Machine Head' is a highly consistent LP, it isn't experimental. On the other hand, 'In Rock' and 'Fireball' both pushed forward the frontiers of progressive hard rock. Sometimes you win and sometimes you lose for trying new things, and perhaps 'Fireball' tried too hard to be different. Purple's main audience at the time were cash-starved males in the 12-to-17 age group. (That's why the band regularly spoke of releasing reduced-price double LPs as a thank-you to their fans, and why they refused to include on their LPs singles which had already been released such as 'Black Night' or 'Strange Kind of Woman'.) In the early 70s, most hard rock fans of that ilk had a strong aversion to country-and-western music. Purple quickly removed 'Anyone's Daughter' from their concert repertoire, but by then it was too late for the LP, where the song's presence was screwing up fans' enjoyment of side one.

I listened to this album once, around 1972/73, and never felt motivated to hear it again until buying this remastered set. It improves steadily with each play, slowly revealing its treasures as you get used to the breadth of tracks on offer. I think Ritchie Blackmore has it roughly right: the best tracks are 'Fireball', 'No No No' and 'Fools', as he says on the sleevenotes. But 'Demon's Eye' and 'No-one Came' are pretty good too. To my ear, the band's influences come from far and wide: the opening to 'No One Came' bears similarities to the Doors' 'The End'; and the start of 'The Mule', particularly with Paice's rolling drum style, sounds like a pastiche of the Who's 'Tommy' period.

This remastered CD is the definitive version of the album: the sound is much clearer than on the original rush-released CD version of the mid-80s. The sleevenotes are a gem, particularly Roger Glover's discussion of life in the lonely Devon cottage, where, because he had no wife or girlfriend, he had to sleep in the damp kitchen with several roadies. Much drinking occurred. The band dabbled in seances at night: Blackmore attacked Glover's door with an axe, Glover chased Blackmore with a broken chair leg. (Ever wondered why Ritchie had that demonic look in some photos of the period?) Most of the furniture ended in the fire when they ran out of logs.

This album has been hugely underrated in the past, particularly by me. Many thanks to Roger Glover and the Deep Purple Appreciation Society for resurrecting and polishing it to near-perfection.

For some reason, Deep Purple had fallen almost completely from memory, then I rediscovered Fireball. I think perhaps the band's commercial success helped wipe them from memory. As a much younger fellow, I tended to reject hyper-success among living artists.

But I got to tell you, I checked this album out today from my local library (only because I recognized none of the titles) and am so glad I did. Every cut brings waves of youthful memories of unantidisestablsihmentarianism, indiscretion, and long hair. Huh?

Anyway, I am in the process of getting thi album today through Amazon.com.

All best.

-Lee

Fireball (1971.), Deep Purple's fifth studio album

Fireball shows Deep Purple producing hard rock at a much more refined level than their efforts with their previous album 'Deep Purple In Rock'. 'In Rock' was an powerful, underrated classic which was one of the heaviest albums you could listen to at the time. 'Fireball' is perhaps not as heavy as its predecessor, nor is it quite at the peak that Deep Purple reached with Machine Head, but none the less it is a hard rock masterpiece with 7 tracks that all give you something different, whilst still maintaining that classic Deep Purple sound that listeners have become accostomed to.

Fireball was Deep Purple's first major album success on both sides of the Atlantic, having good success in the States and peaking at #1 in the UK. This is success well earned for Deep Purple, especially when you see how far they had come since they formed in 1968. Since discovering their true sound in the c.1970 period with the new Mark II line up, Deep Purple were ready to take on the world with their music and produce some, sometimes unparalled classic hard rock. There are some stellar performances from the band members with 'Fireball'. Ian Gillan's ability as a vocalist had certainly matured since 'In Rock' and his amazing vocal range is at its best in parts of this album. Ian Paice's powerful and gutsy work on the drums is also a feature of Fireball - especially on the track 'Mule' where the fast beat he produces underpins a great track (Paice actually played drums outside the recording studio in parts for this album as remarkably it produced a better sound on the recording!!). Roger Glover again gives us some heavy bass lines and John Lord gives us some very nifty perfomances on the keyboard. In many ways it was these two just mentioned who gave DP their real heavy edge in their music as the thick lines of sound they produce so often gives DP's music that extra emphasis and power and paved the way for guitar genius Ritchie Blackmore to riff like a madman!

So onto the album itself. The great cover to the album leaps out at you at tells you instantly that a powerful musical journey awaits and this is one that is certainly not for the feint of heart. I must admit that probably 'Fireball' is a little bit less accessible that perhaps a 'Machine Head' or 'In Rock' but that by no means weakens the work - its all the more better that this album grew on me the more I listened to it. Alongside this, the edition to buy is the 25th Anniversary Rhino Edition which has given the album an even better facelift and is well worth the investment. With the anniversary edition, you get versions of both 'Demon's Eye' and 'Strange Kind of Woman' - as these tracks inclusions vary with US and UK versions. You also get some remixes, which are excellent and some extra tracks - 'Slow Train' is an undiscovered Deep Purple gem and 'Freedom' and 'Im Alone' are well worth the listen. Overall then, my advice is to get this edition although if the standard issue is the only version you can get, do not despair as you are still getting an album which truly rocks.

The album tracks themselves give a great variety. 'Fireball' the opener is a crashing 3 minute starter with some clever guitar work from Ritchie Blackmore and some heavy keyboards from Jon Lord. 'No No No' is one of the more underrated works on the album with a catchy riff and some powerful vocals from Gillan. 'Demon's Eye' is a bit more aggressive but blends again that Deep Purple sound. 'Anyone's Daughter' is a bit more acoustic sounding with plenty of rambling story telling vocals. 'The Mule' is a drumming masterpiece in parts with crashing guitar work over the top. 'Fools' is a slower paced 8 minute epic which blends some quiet thoughful sections with some killer verses that blast out in style. 'No One Came' is a great rocker to close out the album and, depending on which versions you have, 'Strange Kind of Woman' a well known Deep Purple classic track which rounds off with an amazing Blackmore solo.

Overall, another gem from Deep Purple. The Machine Head classic of classics was approaching and this great 5* effort shows this. This hard rock gem is well worth obtaining - and, if you can lay your hands on one, make it the anniversary edition.

Fireball is truly one awesome recording by Deep Purple. In between all the heavy sounds there are some creative touches most notably from keyboardist Jon Lord and drummer Ian Paice. The drum fills are a pure joy to listen to on No No No and The Mule as they compliment Ian Gillan's vocals stylings to a T. The keyboard touches are great throughout. Whether its The Noise Abatement Society Tapes, Fools, or the previously mentioned No No No, they all are done with the upmost creativitiy. No One Came is another highlight on the record with some ultra cool lyrics.

The extra tracks just add to the value of this recording. Pick it up at once.

Deep Purple knocked one out of the park with their 4th studio lp and first with their new lineup, "Deep Purple in Rock". A cataclysmic juggernaut, 'In Rock' would be a tough act to follow. Funny thing happened though, the band's sound was starting to evolve as the five dynamic musicians finally got the time to know each other and the songwriting became more diverse. When 'Fireball' appeared in May of 1971, many of Purple's new heavy metal fans may have been turned off but why would they expect a band this immensely talented to just do a 'In Rock II'! 'Fireball' is very diverse but still heavy. The title track is an absolute barnstormer, a speed metal companion piece to "Hard Lovin' Man". Man does Paice play like his hands are on fire! Other favorites include "Demon's Eye", a sinister slow-blues clunker, "No One Came" (with great lyrics from Gillan), "The Mule" (an absolute gem, killer solo from Blackmore)and my personal favorite "Anyone's Daughter" which must have caught many offguard with its country music stylings. How could you not love this song, the mood is infectous! "No No No" and "Fools" are good but slightly repetitve tunes. With the 25th annivesary CD you also get another Deep Purple essential in "Strange Kind of Woman" which is just another jewel in Blackmore's cap (this song was on the US release in place of "Demon's Eye", but single only in the UK). Bonus songs are good, especially "Freedom". One more album of alchemistic genius would follow before the cracks started to appear and Mark II would implode. But in the meantime, where is that damn robin hood outfit!

This is the remix with added tracks and they all definitely rock. I had the original version on cassette and wanted an upgrade to CD, I also had the LP years ago... so I've been listening to this one since it was first released back in the 1971. Favorites: "No, No, No" and "Mule"; I even like "Anyone's Daughter" which reminds me of a Deep Purple does something akin to the Hendrix humor expressed in "Wait Until Tomorrow." This release was Heavy-Duty Deep Purple just before the Machine Head release. Machine Head came across as a cookie cutter commercial effort compared to the freedom expressed in this release (Fireball). The whole group was cooking. The drums were recorded very nicely, the Bass is really there.... The engineering of these tracks was top shelf. If you like DP but don't have this one, you'll wonder why. If you're just coming onboard, it will NOT disappoint you. Plus a great booklet detailing the group history, insights and recording notes. Nice package.

Fireball is the follow-up album to In Rock, and it too has received the Roger Glover remastering as the Deep Purple catalog gets the updating treatment it long deserved. In the spirit of the series, these albums include the original songs with added rarities, alternative takes and occasional remixes of tracks, some of which are interesting snippets of recording session jams as the band worked through the material. For fanatics only? Maybe, but the original album remains intact so the extras do not intrude.

This album is often overlooked, particularly here in the US, as it has neither the all-out assault of In Rock nor the famous anthems of Machine Head (the albums that sandwich Fireball in DP's catalog) and Blackmore himself has often dismissed this album as one of his least favorites. However, what is revealed here is a tremendous record of a line-up about to hit its creative peak. The playing is, as expected, superb. No surprises there, but this band really were always better live than in the studio. Nevertheless Blackmore is captured gloriously, even sounding great racing through a pastiche C&W solo in "Anyone's Daughter". Lord's Hammond organ pumps out of the speakers to fill the room, and Paice's drumming is revelatory - speed, timing and rythmn impeccably presented. And the songs? Witty, heavy, and full of instrumental interplay. This is a band experimenting with possibilities and sounding like they are having a lot of fun doing so.

Hearing it all in remastered form is like discovering a lost album by a favorite band. The packaging is great, the extras are fun, but the basic album is good enough on its own to remind you that Purple really are something else! Hard to believe this was recorded nearly 30 years ago - in this form it remains eternally fresh.