Funny what you can learn from blogging isn’t it? I’ve learned all manner of things about architecture, Bulgarian death metal, UFO conspiracies and, after accidentally following several quite lewd blogs*, some things that have really made my hair curl. BUT, one of the absolute best things I ever found out about my blogging was that Deep Purple Fireball was an absolute must-buy; thanks Scott and Mike! I always had the album pegged as a poor cousin to Machine Head**, in much the same way as I think Stormbringer is to Burn. Wrong, it’s way more interesting than that.
You can’t beat the title and opener for a good exciting start – what sounds like a knackered air-conditioning unit is left for dust by Ian Paice’s drumming, which was robbed wholesale for Motörhead’s ‘Overkill’, until the band join in, in the most exhilarating fashion. I love ‘Fireball’ it really does sound like the band are having almost more fun than they can handle, playing just as fast as they possibly can. Towards the end of the song Jon Lord puts in some great stabs of organ and then … and then …. THERE IS THE SINGLE GREATEST BIT OF TAMBOURINING EVER IN THE WHOLE HISTORY OF THINGS AND HISTORY AND STUFF! I fucking mean that, fucking sincerely.
As was common in far off distant days of yore^ the various international versions of Fireball differ from each other, the US and Canadian versions particularly^^ (which were released 2 months before the UK one), including the February 1971 single ‘Strange Kind of Woman’ at the expense of ‘Demon’s Eye’. Now I like ‘Strange …’ but I can’t help feeling we got by far the better of the deal there. ‘Demon’s Eye’ starts off with an organ pulse (Ooo-err!) that wouldn’t sound out of place on a Goldfrapp LP and it just gets funkier and lewder from thereon in, totally busting the myth that it was the arrival of Bolin, Hughes and Coverdale that brought the funk thang to the band. I love every second of this track, everything is just so perfectly judged here, everyone shows off what they can do but nothing is overplayed. Ian Gillan’s vocals are particularly great on this one too, the bit where he chucks in a little Daltrey-esque stuttering gets me up off my seat every time.
To be totally fair those may be the best pair of tracks but there are 5 other really good ones too on Fireball too. I have a real soft spot for the Who-goes-progressive sound of the ‘The Mule’, which has some great flickering guitar bursts from Blackmore and Paice gets to embrace his inner Keith Moon to brilliant effect. At 8:19 ‘Fools’ is the longest track here and if you ignore a certain lyrical clumsiness, it’s masked by Gillan’s delivery – he sings it with real intent and bite, to match Lord and Blackmore’s gritty attack, although you could lose the soft midsection^* without losing anything much from the song. I like the basic chug and thrust of ‘No-one Came’ but it just isn’t up to the quality of the others here, although there are some good, amusing lines in it, spoiled a tad by Gillan adopting a bit of a faux American accent and ‘No No No’ is fine, but just not a stand-out in this pretty exalted company.
Now the joker in the Fireball pack, literally, is ‘Anyone’s Daughter’ which is a completely atypical Purple offering, mostly about Gillan’s purple offering. It sounds like the band never have before or since (to my knowledge) at least, it is a straight-up jokey tale of dodging dads and doing the do played at a straight shuffle speed. It is a real little oddity, especially hearing Gillan singing in a conversational way, a bit like a Chiswick Dylan; more ballfire than fireball. I’m torn between quite liking and hating this one, occasionally it makes me just want to turn the record over, but sometimes, just sometimes it’s fine.
I think this is really essential Deep Purple, they’re having fun on Fireball playing with who they could be and sound like in the future before screwing the lid down, brilliantly, with Machine Head.
703 Down.
PS: After Mike and Scott mercilessly bullied me into buying Fireball I was lucky enough to pick up a nearly mint copy on eBay for very little cash indeed, like myself, it is a beautifully preserved specimen with almost no cover wear and a great spine. True dat.
PPS: Has anyone else noticed that WP seems to have changed so that media files, embedded video/Spotify in my case, end up as the featured picture in reader? which is why I haven’t embedded any for this.
*for the last three years.
**which followed it only 8 months later. Mental.
^’Yore’ can be precisely and scientifically defined as, and I quote from a recent article in New Scientist here, ‘roughly December 1964 through to May 1973, and shit’.
^^possibly because, and I will have to check my facts here, Fireball was released when they were still British colonies; like, totally totally long ago.
^*I’ve been trying to lose mine for years.
Deep Purple have always been one of those bands that I love about half of every album I listen to. I only own Machine Head. Everything else I just don’t think I’ll listen to more than once all the way through before they end up taking space in the collection. I did listen to Fireball awhile back and thought it was pretty decent. Blackmore and Jon Lord always blow me away, though. I’m not sure there’s a better rock song than “Highway Star”.
I think those early LPs are so good, you don’t need to actually hear them – owning them just imparts classiness to their surroundings.
This one is on my list! Bookmarking this write-up for after I find my own copy!
Cheers Aaron, I love the funkiness of this one. I may have mentioned the TAMBOURINE and how awesome it is, as well?
Love this record…and your reference to “tambourining.” Perhaps someone in our blogging community can put together a post on the all-time best tambourining. I’ll reserve my contribution for “my favorite triangling in rock & roll.”
Thanks Rich – would you include Tubular bells in your triangling? if so we have a bit of a front runner!
Anyone’s Daughter has a kind of Proustian feel to it, no? Profound. Deeply profound.
It’s a little known fact that ‘ol Marcel played rhythm guitar in an early version of Wishbone Ash. True story.
Ah. He clearly influenced the lyrics too, then:
And there’s a time for waking up
And feeling down,
It’s when you have to pick your feet
Up from the ground.
– ‘Time Was’
(awed silence)
Tambourine, eh? Clearly they were after a tambour, the drum used in both Puerto Rican and Galician musics.
PS 1: WordPress have usurped the Feature Image whenever there is a video anywhere in the post. Philistine bastards.
PS 2: Is Harvest the coolest label ever, or what?
Harvest has the best logo.
A bunch of Philistine bastards indeed!
You tambour smartarse!
(that’s my haiku, okay so the syllable count isn’t quite right, but hey)
hi ham haiku honoured.
The first time I heard this was about 1978(I was 11 or so) like many at the time it was KISS and than my buddy had this album and I remember being psyched out by the cover and than hearing the opening track it blew my mind that there was more out there than Gene And Paul! Hahaha….
I may have to revisit this one ……I like the fact that you love it yet don’t want too…..
Lol
Cheers Deke. My first purple was Machine Head, stolen from my mate’s older brother’s tape collection. This was the last one of theirs I’ve bought (last year) and I was shocked just how good it was – Storm Bringer next for me, I think.
Stormbringer is a great track!
It’s the only track I know from the LP, I’ll pick it up next time I see it.
Yas! This was the first Deep Purple album I heard. Love it. It’s all sorts of awesome. There’s something about it that I just can’t quite express when I tell my buddies that they need to hear this thing. Must be the tambourine, though. It should have one of those big stickers on the front that usually say ‘featuring the hit single’ or suchlike… “FEATURING TAMBOURINE”
I love your thinking there J – maybe a plastic wraparound cover that just reads ‘TAMBOURINE: featuring Deep Purple’?
I really like this one, it’s looser than the others from the same line-up.
Well, I’ve never been captivated by Deep Purple but perhaps it’s because I don’t believe I’ve heard this album.
The tambourine? Really??
YES, THE TAMBOURINE IS AMAZING! Put Fireball on Spotify, just for the last 45 seconds. Trust me.
As soon as I read that tambourine line, I immediately looked it up!
In all seriousness, I adore a well placed tambourine – like in The Who’s I can’t reach you, the tambourine makes the song!
In a better world band credits would be singer, bassist, rhythm guitar, drums and lead tambourinist.
Yes I did notice that able WP. I’m using proper feature images for everything now.
I don’t know what more I can say about this album that I haven’t already. It was in my Top 15 on the 15th and I’ve played it a thousand times. Not a bad track.
It’s a great LP, I really love the cover too. AND THAT TAMBOURINE!
Yass… glad you dug this. Spot on about the funk and the tambourine! I always thought Machine Head was the poor cousin to this and In Rock. And Stormbringer is better than Burn too, so there! And *lapsing into my over-excited Little Richard voice* Come Taste the Band will TAKE YA HIGHER THAN THAT! WOOOH!
Gosh you Scottish chaps do get ever so excitable. RIGHTLY SO ABOUT THE MF TAMBOURINE!!
I love CTTB too, possibly my most listened to Purps LP.
But Fireball … just wow. Thank you.
And to think Ritchie B never liked this album! What a weirdo!
The man wouldn’t recognise world-class tambourine-ing if it hit in the face with a, umm, tambourine.
I bet Blackmore’s Night doesn’t even have a full time tambourinist.
Noooo! Don’t say that, I thought everyone did – hell, I employ two of them just to follow me around in case I want to spontaneously jam.
What decadence!
Gillan is an underrated tambourinist.
I actually think of Gillan as a tambourinist who can sing a bit too.
I believe he specifically objected to the tambourining. He wanted a sackbutt (crumhorn at a push!) there instead but got outvoted.
Crumhorns are just a dullard’s TAMBOURINE, my granny always said.
You’re granny was spot on there. She loved a bit of gittern though!
Well she did roadie for Uriah Heep on their 1494 European Tour – no sleep ’til Antioch and all that.
I got a fever and the only prescription is more tambourine.
It’s a panacea.