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Deep Purple - Fireball (1971)

Track listing:
  1. Fireball 3:26
  2. No No No 6:56
  3. Demon's Eye 5:21
  4. Anyone's Daughter 4:44
  5. The Mule 5:23
  6. Fools 8:20
  7. No One Came 6:24

Notes

One of Deep Purple's three essential albums, 1971's Fireball finds the band taking the no-holds-barred, hard-rock direction of the previous year's In Rock to new creative heights. Metal machine noises introduce the sizzling title track, which is an explosively tight group effort with Jon Lord's organ truly shining. The somewhat repetitive "No No No" threatens to drop the ball, but the fantastic "Strange Kind of Woman" picks things up again. The innuendo-encrusted hilarity of "Anyone's Daughter" features one of singer Ian Gillan's best lyrics, and guitarist Ritchie Blackmore shows his range with one of his most uncharacteristic, bluesier performances. "The Mule" is perhaps the band's finest instrumental and they flirt with progressive rock on "Fools," which probably could have been done without the rather boring, drawn-out middle section. Closing the album is the exceptional "No One Came," which sounds so fresh that its plausible that the band improvised it on the spot. Their intertwining instrumental lines lock together beautifully, and Gillan weaves a comic, semi-autobiographical story that is equal parts rooted in fact and Monty Python.