Deep Purple ‎– Deep Purple In Rock (First UK)

This is the first UK issue. The main identifiers are:

– Laminated gatefold sleeve with ‘Printed and Made by Garrod & Lofthouse Ltd.’ (until about 1981)

– Inner sleeve: Copies bought in the first month of the release feature a plain inner sleeve with ‘Patent Nos. 1125555’ text and ‘Made In Great Britain’ text in BLACK PRINT near the bottom on 1 side. Shortly after this LP was released (about July / August 1970) EMI introduced the ‘Harvest’ advertising inner sleeve. So all copies made from this date onwards mostly have the ‘Harvest’ advertising inner sleeve instead. However, plain EMI inner sleeve were also used;

– Runouts: A2 / B1 (until about mid-1975). It is worth noting that variant 1 – 1st pressings with A-1 / B-1 matrixes are extremely rare on this LP. They were changed prior to the release date, with even most release date copies having A2/B1 matrixes instead. Only 1 in 20 1st pressings have this matrix – with A2/B1 matrix being used through all remaining 1st pressings, and many 2nd pressings also;

– The upper rim text begins with ‘THE GRAMOPHONE CO LTD.’ (until about May 1974);
– No ‘EMI’ logo on labels (until about June 1971);
– The inscription ‘MADE IN GT. BRITAIN’ on labels is separated from the lower rim text and centered above the circular bottom line (until about May 1974);
– Song listing in 3-lines for side A and in 4 lines for side B (until about the second half of 1972);
– The Ⓟ icon (under the ‘Side A/B’ indicator on labels) is about a third smaller than the year ‘1970’ to the right of it (until about December 1970 / January 1971);
– Inscriptions (on the right side of the label) ‘STEREO’, ‘SHVL 777’, and ‘(SHVL.777A or B) 33 1/3′ are located one above the other and have an equal gap between them.

After satisfying all of their classical music kinks with keyboard player Jon Lord’s overblown Concerto for Group and Orchestra, Deep Purple’s soon-to-be classic Mark II version made its proper debut and established the sonic blueprint that would immortalize this lineup of the band on 1970s awesome In Rock. The cacophony of sound (spearheaded by Ritchie Blackmore’s blistering guitar solo) introducing opener “Speed King” made it immediately obvious that the band was no longer fooling around, but the slightly less intense “Bloodsucker” did afford stunned listeners a chance to catch their breaths before the band launched into the album’s epic, ten-minute tour de force, “Child in Time.” In what still stands as arguably his single greatest performance, singer Ian Gillan led his bandmates on a series of hypnotizing crescendos, from the song’s gentle beginning through to its ear-shattering climax and then back again for an even more intense encore that brought the original vinyl album’s seismic first side to a close. Side two opened with the searing power chords of “Flight of the Rat” — another example of the band’s new take-no-prisoners hard rock stance, though at nearly eight minutes, it too found room for some extended soloing from Blackmore and Lord. Next, “Into the Fire” and “Living Wreck” proved more concise but equally appealing, and though closer “Hard Lovin’ Man” finally saw the new-look Deep Purple waffling on a bit too long before descending into feedback, the die was cast for one of heavy metal’s defining albums.