FIREBALL

Fireball had a tough time following up the superb In Rock album , but still manages to have its moments. Clearly there are no huge hits or real pleasers , but the album is remarkably even with the track selection.

Demon's Eye, No One came , Anyone's Daughter and Fools would 've fitted as average tracks on the previous In Rock or the following Machine Head , but here they are the better tracks and this spells out a bit the problem. The rest of the tracks , while good are relatively subpar to the average tracks that they wrote in those days. Strange Kind Of Woman and I'm Alone Now are non-album singles that come to much needed beefing-up the content of this album. I never heard the remastered version , so I have no advice on the bous tracks!

Not their best album , but it does not stand much chance to shine on its own , since it is stuck in between two monster albums.

The last studio album of this band that I'm willing to listen voluntarily. There's some nice hard rock goin' on here, and "The Mule" and specially "Fools" have a nice progressive feeling on them. Good album with few fillers, but this is not for the elitist progheads! I haven't heard the bonus tracks, so I don't know if they have any gems hidden in them.

"Your music is really HOT"

After their breakthrough "In rock" album, Deep Purple consolidated their new found popularity with a remarkably confident and competent follow up. "Fireball" has all the consistency which was lacking in the brash rawness of "In rock", making for a much more satisfying album as a whole.

The title track opens the album in blistering fashion, a phonetic representation of the track name indeed. A sort of cross between their own "Black night" Led Zeppelin's "Immigrant song", and Uriah Heep's "Easy Livin", it packs more into three minutes than most albums manage in forty. Classic stuff indeed!

The following two tracks sit well together. "No no no" is a powerful more structured song, with aggressive lyrics and a fine guitar solo by Ritchie Blackmore, while "Demon's eye" is a rather funky mid-paced number with an infectious melody.

Ian Gillan is in fine vocal form throughout the album, but he clearly enjoys himself on "Anyone's daughter". This is quite the quirkiest song Deep Purple have ever recorded. It has a country flavour supporting comedic lyrics which tell the tale of Gillan's various conquests. A superbly outrageous piece, to which Blackmore adds some subtly lilting slide guitar, and Jon Lord contributes some wonderfully dirty piano.

The second side of the original LP was marginally the weaker, but still contains three excellent longer pieces. "The mule" is a rather understated piece, with one of those riffs which sounds instantly familiar. Lord has fun letting loose of the Hammond towards the end here. "Fools" has a deceptively soft intro with Gillan gently crooning "I'm crying" as to a melodic background shuffle, but when Ritchie Blackmore brings in the main riff Gillan bursts forth with the most aggressive vocal performance of the album. Lyrically too this is most acidic track, Blackmore's superbly atmospheric guitar break only serving to increase the tension as we build towards the return of the main theme.

The closing "no one came" has the mildly amusing lyrics of "Anyone's daughter", but with a more orthodox Deep Purple riff.

The 25th Anniversary remaster has no fewer than nine additional tracks. The first of these is a remix of the superb non-album single "Strange kind of woman" (originally titled "prostitute"!), a wonderfully progressive track with a soft centre. The song was recorded during the sessions for the "Fireball" album, but preceded it as a sort of stopgap single. It is followed here by three other tracks recorded during the early stages of making the album. While these are undoubtedly fine pieces, it is understandable that they were ultimately omitted. The third, "Slow train" is probably more progressive, in a prog metal sort of way, than anything which appeared on the album. Incidentally, it is interesting to consider that had the album been made in the days of the compact disc, these tracks would probably have been retained. Would the album as a whole have sounded as good?

The bonus tracks also include a couple of inconsequential remixes of tracks from the album, and an interesting instrumental backing track for "Fireball". Lastly, and most definitely least, we have "The noise abatement society tapes", a bit of studio tomfoolery, and "Backwards piano", of which the less said the better!

"Fireball" is a stunning album of great maturity. It seems quite incredible that this album was recorded when the 70's were but a new born infant. Even today it has a vitality and strength which sets it aside from anything else not only by Deep Purple, but by the thousands of bands subsequently influenced by them.

Ian Gillan has often stated that this is his favourite MK 2 Studio album. It is a more experimental album than In Rock,and once again there isn´t one weak track.

Opening up with that classic drum introduction by Ian Paice, the band bursts into "Fireball", a fast paced song with a hypnotic beat that has become a firm live favourite by fans, and is always included in any "Best Of" Purple compilation.

Gillan belts out some fine vocals with his classic scream in "No No No" and "Demons Eye" while Blackmore delivers some vintage riffs and clean guitar solos. You can also hear each instrument so clearly on this album.

"Anyones Daughter" is quite a surprise, as it´s an almost country blues type of song. It somehow all seems to come together and is done with a lot of a style. This track features Jon Lord on piano while Blackmore´s guitar sings sweetly over a honky tonk piano sound.

"The Mule" is another interesting number and gives Ian Paice the spotlight for a short drum solo (Later on he would do a longer solo on "Made In Japan")

"Fools" has to be one of my all time favourite Purple songs. You can also hear Gillan breathe in air before each line! Actually "Anyone´s Daughter" "The Mule" and "Fools" are all very experimental sounding songs.

The album closes with "No One Came" and has some very witty lyrics written by Ian Gillan. Its a song about fitting into society, and at the end of the day the moral of the story is to just be yourself!

Another classic album from Deep Purple.

This was my first introduction to Deep Purple when I was a child, and it could be one of my first love with rock music at that time. I was visiting my big brother's house in Jakarta when the first time he played this album. "Fools" was the first track that blew me away when my brother, Boedi, started to play the cassette version of this track in his National Cassette Recorder - mono. (At that time "stereo" was a state of the art equipment and most of people could not afford to buy it). Not just Deep Purple that my brother played as he had also Grand Funk Railroad - hm .. I still remember that I also loved "I Can Feel Him In The Morning" from "Survival" album.

I repeated "Fools" many times on daily basis as I like the composition. It has excellent melody, varied style of hard and soft parts and good performance. The most part that I like is the interlude section with solo keyboard accompanied by drum. Oh yeas, what a nice childhood! The other tracks that attracted me were "Fireball" as it has powerful energy,"No No No", "Anyone's Daughter" and "The MUle". Keep on rockin' ..!

Peace on earth and mercy mild - GW

I discovered Deep Purple with the single "Black Night" / "Speed King". I purchased it the same day than "Whola Lotta Love" and "Paranoïd. That day was a great day, back in December 1970 : I was almost 12 years old and I was of course the only one to listen to this kind of music in my classroom.

The first Purple album I purchased was "Fireball". Although this album does not contain any of some legendary tracks, it is a damned great album. Like "In Rock" this album will not include their hit single "Strange Kind Of Woman" (my second Purple one) released five months earlier. This will also be rectified with the remastered version of the album. "Fireball", the title track has an incredible rythm : it is said that during the live renditions, Ian Paice was the fastest drummer in the world. "No, No, No" is a great tune : nor slow, nor crazy (sounds a bit Oriental - in the vein of Kashmir). Great job from Jon. "Demon's Eye", is a good middle of the road rock tune. A classic Purple hard rock song with good piece of instrumental breaks. "Anyone's Daughter" closes side one but is way too jazzy / folky. Out of tune and definitely the weakest track of this album.

Side two opens with "The Mule" : it is of course of another calibre : deeply Oriental influenced with an incredible drumming in the background (it will be in the foreground of course with Made In Japan). What a great job from Ian Paice (one of the very drummer in rock history). One of the highlight comes next. With "Fools", the Deep reached quite a level : this song mixes some prog elements to hard rock ones of the best vein (but after all, Purple is a hard-rock band, right ?). "No One Came" is another great hard rock songs like the band will produce quite a lot : heavy jkeys, strong bass and drumming. Blackmore is a bit more present than on most of the tracks (he will have his turn in the next album). Like the three albums of the mark I era, Jon Lord has a privileged and fundemental role on "Fireball".

A few years ago (in 2003), I purchased the remastered edition and if you have to spend any money for "Fireball", do buy this one. It has very good bonus tracks like the hit-single "Strange Kind Of Woman" (number 8 in the UK) which is remixed and a bit longer than the original. It will be one of their live highlights : remember the "talk" between Gillan and Blackmore in Made In Japan ? Next tracks are really worth but "Freedom" and "Slow Train" deserves a higher consideration. The vocal parts of "Feedom" at the end of the song have strongly inspired "Smooth Dancer" from "Who Do We Think". This is not the first ime that such a thing happen with the Deep (read my "In Rock" review for more details). Great hard rock moments. I do not like the remixes that much. The medley "The Noise ..." shows Jon's Lord great musicianship but really, it does not belong here (even as bonus track). It is an indication though on his "imrov" on stage later on. The instrumental "Fireball" will probably do you nothing wrong, but I am kind of sceptic about the use of this. This album will hit Nr. 1 in the UK (Nr. 7 in the US). Four solid stars.

This oft-overlooked album, wedged in between two highly influential landmark LPs ("Deep Purple In Rock" and "Machine Head") shows the band to still be searching for their true identity while continuing to crank out powerful, cutting-edge songs. There are considerable amounts of their 60s proto-progressive style mixed in with the slicin' & dicin' hard rock streak they had showcased on the previous album as well as some quirky, out-of-left field moments that give it a real potpourri atmosphere I find unique among their many recordings.

Starting with what sounds like some kind of huge electrical generator firing up, underrated drummer Ian Paice leads you into the title cut that might be a leftover track from the "In Rock" sessions. You can't help but notice that Ian Gillian's voice seems a bit ragged, probably from hitting the stratospheric notes on "Child in Time" night after night while touring so that's not a revelation. Yet in the midst of this churning pre-metal song Jon Lord injects a classical-tinged organ solo that harkens back to their earlier days. There are some great one-liners scattered throughout the lyrics on this album beginning with this tune's "You're a Gemini and I don't know which one I like the most." Their usually-downplayed humor has never been so up front and it adds a real charm to the proceedings. The next number, "No No No" seems like they were trying to write a trendy, topical protest song but it's one of the weakest cuts on the album. Despite Ritchie Blackmore's cool guitar licks and slide solo and Jon Lord's growling organ ride the verse and chorus repeatedly go nowhere and, at 6:40 in length, it could have benefited from some intelligent editing.

"Strange Kind of Woman" is a prototype, bluesy rock and roll shuffle that was custom made for Blackmore to strut his guitar prowess and he does that without a hitch. Lyrically, however, this is a strange kind of story as it tells the tale of the protagonist pursuing a hooker named Nancy relentlessly until she agrees to marry him. The curious kicker to this narrative comes when he announces to the world with pride that "I won my woman just before she died." Kinda weird. And, speaking of weird, the odd duck that is "Anyone's Daughter" follows. It has an uncharacteristic but intentionally loose beginning before the band stumbles into a country-style ditty with some Delta blues slide guitar that brings to mind The Rolling Stones' interesting forays into that genre. (I like Mick and Keith's "Dead Flowers" as much as the next guy but this is Deep Purple, for heaven's sake!) Here Ian assumes the character of a rogue Casanova who finds out too late that he has deflowered/impregnated the daughter of a vindictive judge but, making lemonade out of lemons, gets the last laugh when he realizes that he's now married into a family of wealth. Lord's honky-tonk piano is decent but Ritchie proves that he couldn't pull off country picking if his life depended on it (and he'd probably be the first to agree with that observation). It's not an embarrassment but this song is an anomaly if there ever was one.

"The Mule" shows that the group still had a foot planted firmly in the progressive rock river. Gillian's input is limited to just a few lines where the mule is identified as Lucifer and he tells us that he has tragically become his slave, but it's the stirring, regally melodic theme that drives this turbocharged, quasi-psychedelic tune. It's a fun ride and both Lord and Blackmore turn in some blistering solos before the song dissolves into cacophony. "Fools" is another surprise, featuring an almost Doors-like, mystery- shrouded intro that floats around for a while before the jarring verse bursts in like a thunderbolt out of nowhere. On this one Ian relates a chilling story of a self-hating sociopath who doesn't allow himself to feel emotions because "rocks and stones can't bruise my soul/but tears will leave a stain." But it's the inspired, ethereal breakdown in the middle that is so unexpected as Ritchie, working his guitar's volume control expertly, creates a mournful cello sound that is breath-takingly beautiful. It's a magic moment.

The closer, "No One Came," (from miles around) is one of my all-time favorite rockers. Not only does it have an irresistible, driving groove that won't quit but Ian's ironic, sarcastic, self-effacing words and smart-ass delivery are not to be missed. I think Blackmore's biting guitar lead here is one of his best and Lord delivers another snarling organ solo but you've got to crack a grin at some of the zingers Gillian spouts along the way. "Well, I could write a million songs about the things I've done/but I could never sing them so they'd never get sung/there's a law for the rich and one for the poor/and there's another one for singers/it's die young and live much longer/spend your money and sit and wonder." Who can argue with that logic? Here's another doozy. "I believe that I must tell the truth/and say things as they really are/but if I told the truth and nothing but the truth/could I ever be a star?" Gotta love it. Ritchie's backwards guitar licks take the album out on a fitting, trippy note.

While some of the group's fans seem want to treat this as an album that can be easily ignored, I find it to be very enjoyable and entertaining. I dare say they never made another one with this much variety or tongue-in-cheek perspective. Deep Purple was still building their empire at this point but their musicianship was never in question and you get a strong dose of quality rock and roll with a dash of prog from beginning to end. 3.5 stars.

Yet another hard rock classic I really like which I've listened to 100s of times in the last 25 years, and you've guessed it I'm going to pan it as a prog album.

I've only got the old gatefold LP so I don't know about the bonus CD material.

The opening Fireball is classic rock.

One of the things I have always loved about DP is the humour. In this album we get Anyone's Daughter and No One Came. Fantastic but 0 stars for prog. "Imagine I was a full-grown man/And I could talk just right/Could I come and see you here/And do this every night Wham! The door comes crashing down/Your daddy's face all pale/Says come with me you hairy bum/I'll put you in my jail" you get the drift ...

My favourite is Demon's Eye, a true classic 70s rock number. I also like the mule.

Again this is an essential album for any self-respecting rock collection (as are Burn/Machine Head/In Rock) but I dont's see how it fits in at all as a prog album.

Follow after the stunning In rock, DP took their prog roots to a more and more hard rock orentation. Not as proggy as In Rock and not as intristing and well done as Machine Head, Fireball remains for many the most interesting and confident DP album of the seventies. The album has a lots of hight points like the title track, a hard rock tune with great beat from Ian Paice on drums, also the guitar is very good. Maybe The mule and Fools are the most prog parts of the album, like the early days, but my favourite piece from here is by far Anyone's Daughter, and one my fav from entire DP catalog. Very funny lyrics and very catchy song. Again, to me they don't sound really prog but a combination of prog with hard rock elements, in fact Deep Purple is one of the pioneers of hard rock, so i don't consider them a trully prog band like genesis or Jethro Tull for ex. So a great album, among the best DP albums and an essential piece for everybody. 4 stars

Stuck in the middle.

Often overshadowed by younger brother ''Machine Head'' and older brother ''In Rock'', Fireball is an album missed by many. Very different from it's brethren, especially more bluesy, and sometimes quite heavy, Fireball is a new experience all it's own. A solid offering that demands listening.

The album opens as the name suggests, with a FIREBALL. The blistering title track is a great indicator of where heavy metal would eventually go and is likely one of the bands heaviest tracks to date. Blackmore hits the stings and Gillian wails away, making FIREBALL a essential Deep Purple [DP] track. The album takes a more bluesy note from here on in. NO NO NO is definately more down that blues road. A bit longer and more zoned out than the title track, this song still features all the things that make DP great. High vocals, great guitar, the whole sha-bang. THE MULE is a track often overlooked, a great song with a great instrumental breakdown that leads into the even better FOOLS. While itmay not be as powerful as ''Child in Time'', THE MULE still features some great, classic moments, if a bit lower in speed and aggression. NO ONE CAME ends the album powerfully, just as FIREBALL started it. A heavy, fast track with some quirky lyrics (a theme that seems to go to town here) and some great moments all around.

Then there's the middle. The two middle tracks, with their quirks lyrics and more blues approach, are a bit strange on the album, but they work none the less. STRANGE KIND OF WOMAN (which is what my issue came with, not ''Demon Eye'') is a great, classic DP song that sounds like a precursor to their ''Machine Head'' album, with some very odd lyrics. Listen and judge for yourself I suppose. ANYONE'S DAUGHTER actually goes so far into blues that it's almost out the other end and into country territory. Luckily it doesn't, and it manages to mix DP's playing with some very comical and strange lyrics to make something that's actually rather enjoyable. Even if it throws you off the first time.

Rating time!

4 stars! Excellent addition to the prog-library! Tracks like THE MULE and FOOLS are definately worth having, while people more into the rock side of DP will enjoy FIREBALL and NO ONE CAME, as well as STRANGE KIND OF WOMAN. Recommended for DP fans, hard rock fans, and prog rock fans in general.

Sandwiched between two monumental achievements such as "In Rock" and "Machine Head", Fireball has all too often ended up being considered like a sort of poor relation, a decent enough album that is nevertheless not on a par with those two behemoths - which is a pity, because "Fireball" has a lot to offer to the discerning rock (and obviously prog) fan. Though lacking the ground-breaking impact of "In Rock", or the commercial potential of "Machine Head", it is a well-rounded, sophisticated album in which the strengths of the individual band members come to the fore in a more muted, yet equally effective way. The music always manages to keep the listener's attention alive through sheer class and clear sound, and Ian Gillan's trademark, ear-shattering screams are kept to a minimum, leaving room for some almost sensitive interpretations.

In spite of the (literally) incendiary title, "Fireball" offers many quiet, thoughtful moments. While he title-track opens the album with a punch similar to that delivered by "Speed King" or "Highway Star" - a fast-paced, Hammond-driven anthem with one of those riffs that stick in the mind - this is definitely not the shape of things to come. With the following track, "No, No, No", the pace slows down to a jagged, vaguely funky mid-tempo (album closer "No One Came" is also structured along similar lines); while "Demon's Eye" shows a different side to Gillan's more familiar, screamer persona - he sings in a distinctly lower register than we are used to, and his vocal delivery impeccably follows the twists and turns of the sinuous, somewhat moody track. Next comes the en endearingly infectious country send-up that is "Anyone's Daughter", dominated by a distinctive vocal performance by Gillan that reminds me of one of his best solo efforts, "No Laughing in Heaven" (from his "Future Shock" album).

From the point of view of the average prog fan, two tracks stand out from the rest: drum tour-de-force "The Mule", which unequivocally proves the highly underrated Ian Paice's strength and skill behind the skins; and "Fools", probably the band's proggiest track ever, and one of their unsung masterpieces. Introduced by Lord's unusually spaced-out organ, it develops into a hard-edged, guitar-driven rocker led by Gillan's masterful singing - then slows down again to an eerie, richly atmospheric, middle section which could have come straight out of some of Pink Floyd's early Seventies work. A magnificent song, and one that can make many a fan wonder about what Deep Purple could have become, had they chosen to follow a fully-fledged prog career path.

The 30th anniversary remastered edition includes some outtakes from the album recording sessions, and the two singles "Strange Kind of Woman" (one of the band's undisputed classics, immortalised by its explosive "Made in Japan" version), and the intriguing "I'm Alone", another showcase for Paice's talents. As some of the previous reviewers have already pointed out, this is definitely one of the best-ever Deep Purple remasters, adding further interest to an already strong album.

If I had another half-star at my disposal, I'd surely award "Fireball" 4.5 stars for being one of the band's strongest, most cohesive efforts. As to its prog quotient, if you are still wondering why Deep Purple have been included on this site, look no further than this. Highly recommended.

"Things you tell me have never been told"

With this album Deep Purple continued to refine their approach and, in my opinion, this was the peek of their early years. Fireball is better produced, it is a bit more varied and it has a bit more progressive leanings than In Rock or Machine Head.

Fireball is also Ian Gillan's personal favourite album and he has said in interviews that he likes it the best because of it being more progressive than other Deep Purple albums. It is also one of my personal favourite Deep Purple albums and for the same reason. The title track and Demon's Eye are great songs. No No No, however, is too long making it slightly boring towards the end.

One of my biggest complaints against the In Rock album was that it only contained one type of song (maybe with the exception of Child In Time), there was no time to catch your breath and the instrumentation was the same on all the tracks. On this album, which is overall a bit more varied, Anyone's Daughter stands out with its more folksy leanings based on and piano and non-distorted guitar.

The Mule, Fools and No One Came are longer, slightly progressive rockers. Or should I say psychedelic? These are better than anything from In Rock, in my opinion.

Overall, Fireball is surely a more inventive and interesting album than previous efforts. I would say that this is the best place to start for contemporary listeners who want to explore early Deep Purple.

Fireball has interesting fate with its release after the magical In Rock. Deep Purple have already become stardom and the expectation about them growing ad growing permanently. After first true hard rock album by Deep Purple - In Rock - almost everything is lost again for... hard rocking model of Deep Purple, but of course not for the quality of the music. The second consecutive transformation in the genre of the band came in inappropriate moment - when they catch hard rock wave; that's why so much people don't like this album enough. It is the time to talk about the genre of this album...

Blues rock in its biggest parts is the name of the genre. The first homonymous song is true hard rock masterpiece (like most of the first songs in Deep Purple's history). After that, it is time of the blues rock with the next three songs (2 - 4)... We receive another hard rock piece with The Mule and then it's turn of the best song on the album - Fools - this long song is a combination of psychedelic, hard and blues rock, preformed in refined manner. The last song on the original release is the weakest one - No One Came - a monotone one! And that's the end, but not if we talk about the remastered version of the album, where we can find one of the most popular songs made by Deep Purple - Strange Kind of Woman - just magic! True masterpiece of blues rock with refined elements of hard and psychedelic rock and very delicate folk rock fibres!!!

In(on) Fire!

Deep Purple's Fireball, as you should already know, was released between their 2 monumental albums, In Rock and Machine Head. Fireball left the rawness of In Rock behind, and showed a more cooled down band, Ritchie leaving the heavy riffs behind, letting Jon, Roger and Ian(Paice) in charge of the heavy parts of the album, this obviously leading the album to be not that heavy, a bit more groovy and eclectic. While Ian Gillan, was still quite of a newbie in the band, he had showed stardom in the previous album with the classic Child in Time, so here he doesn't ''show off'', however this doesn't mean his vocals ain't strong.

The album starts off with the well-known title track, having as stand-outs Ian Paice's fierceful drumming all through the song and Roger's short but powerful Rickenbacker solo. The song itself is very energetic, and very straight-forward hard rock, something the album won't be consistent at. With the next song, No No No, Deep Purple adds some funk influences, mainly due to Roger's groovy bass, and Jon Lord's fascinating Hammond-Organ solo, which grows from subtle, low-key notes to powerful chords, which just commands you to do your typical 'air-hammond' show, and go crazy. While No No No follows a repetitive patern, it's truly one of Deep Purple's finest.

Follows up another groovy-stylish hard rock song, this one called Demon's Eye, showing Ian Gillan's low-key singing which grabs the listener instantly, as well as a catchy bass/guitar riff which is persistent all throughout the song. After these 3 rock tunes, one less heavier than the other, follows up a very unexpected country-esque tune called Anyone's Daughter, this time with Gillan almost ''talk-singing'' style, as well as featuring the surprising subtle rythm and Ritchie's soft guitar. It's a fun song nonetheless, making the album a bit more eclectic in style, as well as not making it monotone.

Now to side 2 of the original LP release, which opens with another powerful rocker, this time prog-tinged, called The Mule. Just like Side's 1 opener, the title track, The Mule also is lead by Paice's powerful drumming, however like I mentioned before, The Mule has some Prog relation due to Jon Lord's odd use of his organ, showing a almost spacey side of him. However it will be short until Deep Purple appears with a totally full blown Prog track, which is the following one to The Mule, called Fools, which in this one In Rock's rawness re-appears, just that this time it's shared by slow instrumental passages, which show clearly the band exploring through Prog territory.

The album ends up with No One Came, featuring a irresistable, groovy, though heavy, rythm and riff, as well as a groovy organ solo which is truly essential for the song. However the last seconds feature a very odd 'backwards piano' solo, which is quite annoying and un-necessary. Though definitely a energetic ending, which is truly great. As far as the remaster with bonus tracks goes, I find them pretty lame and worthless, with the exception of the classic Strange Kind of Woman, and the B-side of it, I'm Alone which is in the heights of Demon's Eye.

Now I'll quote some thoughts of the members of Deep Purple about this album: ''Unfortunately it fell between two very good albums and therefore might seem to pale in comparison. Taken on its own I think its a very good hard rock album'' Jon Lord; ''I thought we kept our progressive standards with that album(Fireball) and I am proud of the material'' ''It was lyrically and melodically more adventurous...'' Ian Gillan; ''...we didn't really have time to write consistently good songs'' Ian Paice; ''It's certainly mellower'' Roger Glover; and finally the most displeased member said: ''I got kind of bitter and threw ideas to the group that I had thought up on the spur of the moment'' and ''There are only 3 tracks that I think are good - No No No, Fools and Fireball itself'' Ritchie Blackmore.

In conclusion I can only add that besides what members of the band think about it, I consider it as one of their best efforts, from both views, from the Progressive view and Hard Rock view, as very well Ian Gillan said. Highly recomended for fans of 70's Hard Rock, Proto-Heavy Prog, and of the Hammond-Organ.

Fireball is a good album and marks a big sonic improvement over In Rock. It is too inconsistent though to be playing in the same class.

The opener is a great rocker, no more no less. No No No just make me frown though. I can't imagine how such mediocre tracks could end up on albums in those years. The only positive thing I can point out is that it at least indicates that bands wanted to try something different once in a while, a bit of a lost art these days.

Demon's Eye gets my diminishing attention back to the album. It's basically just a great blues groove played with the dirtiest possible sound you could get out of an organ and a guitar in those days. It inspired the band to tight rocking and Gillan to great emotive singing.

Anyone's Daughter is just a bit of fun really but I like the slide guitar here. The Mule goes into spacey territories. It is the only song on the Made In Japan album where I prefer the original. Fools has great instrumental parts but the vocal lines sound a bit strained and predictable. No One Came isn't very remarkable neither.

Overall, this is the weaker album of the Deep Purple's strong 1970-1972 output.

Fireball is a bit of a letdown when you think it came just after the powerful In Rock and before their magnum opus Machine Head. It simply was not up to Deep Purple´s high standard, much less when you think how talented was this line up. Ok, Fireball is still stronger than their final studio album Who Do You Think We Are, but I found not too many bright spots here. Let´s see.

The album kicks off with the powerful title track: a truly fantastic song that shows everything DP is capable of: an inspired number with outstanding performances by all band members. A classic tune, no less. I always thought it as a bit short but a classic anyway. Oh, how I wish the whole album would come out the same way! But then followed by No No No, a mediocre song that is only partially saved (well, sort of) by the elegant Jon Lord organ solo and the band´s competence. It is also too long. Demon´s Eye sounds half baked, could be a lot better (again there is a good Lord solo). The very unusual Anyone´s Daughter is an improvement albeit quite uncharacteristic: a nice piano and slide guitar featured on this blues/folk/jazz number that shows how versatile DP can be.

The mule is just a filler, a good excuse on live shows for a drum solo. Fools is a little on the more experimental side of the band and it works quite well as that. No One Came is a good, inspired, hard rock number. Overall one can see the band was not really sure what direction to take and they admitted that on later interviews.

A little trivia for DP fanatics: when released in Brazil in the early 70´s Fireball had Demon´s Eye substituted by Strange Kind Of Woman (although the former was credit on the LP´s sleeve, which led to much confusion). I wish the band had done that too, since that song is much better than Demon´s Eye.

I don´t have the new remastered version with bonus tracks so I cannot say anything about them.

Conclusion: an uneven album. It has some quite good tracks among lesser ones. Good CD? Yes, definitely. But this same line up had done much better before and after this one. Rating: somewhere between 3 and 3,5 stars.

Up until only recently, when I did some reading up on Deep Purple's discography, I considered Fireball to be the band's fourth studio release and the first one with the MKII lineup. I guess that it was a fairly reasonable assumption considering that this release sounds nothing like its predecessor In Rock, instead the band sounds very uncomfortable in their direction and tries to do a little bit of everything with this album.

The only thing that could make anyone assume that this is actually the band's fifth release is that Ritchie Blackmore's guitar has now taken even more attention from Jon Lord's keyboards which, in this case, isn't really much of an improvement. I tend to prefer a balance in music and there isn't any indication of that here. The album opening title track does intrigue me but I would be lying if I said that it's better then either Speed King or Highway Star. The track doesn't really try to go in the same direction as those two mighty openers but instead pushes the Deep Purple sound into a much heavier direction thanks to Blackmore's dominance. Once the track finally settles down we come to the album's low point with No No No. This is just a ridiculous performance due to the terrible lyrics and the 7 minute length makes it almost unbearable to sit through. Fortunately Demon's Eye (or Strange Kind Of Woman) is just around the corner to comfort me from the previous ordeal. This track (can be applied to both) is easily the album's highlight for me and it's a pity that things won't get much better from here on.

I was completely shocked when I heard Anyone's Daughter for the first time. Deep Purple playing country isn't something one can imagine without cringing but I actually started to appreciate this track more with time. Ritchie Blackmore plays some pretty ingenious guitar fills that smooth the ordeal significantly and once again proved to me that any genre can sound interesting if put in to the hands of a great master. The Mule works just as well here as it does on Made In Japan but I personally prefer the live version because I'm much more used to it. I was surprised to read that Fools was considered a strive into progressive rock territory since I never really considered it as such. It doesn't achieve anything spectacular over the course of 8+ minutes but on an album as flawed as Fireball even the minor improvements can be considered great. No One Came is another another pretty uninspired blues rock performance from anyone but Ian Gillan who seems to be under the impression that he's a great blues star and it actually works!

As my track by track walk through might suggest Fireball lacks the punch of the albums that came before and after it. The biggest problem for me is the very subtle performance from Jon Lord and lack of any really noteworthy material, which is probably interconnected with one another.

**** star songs: Demon's Eye (5:21) Fireball (3:25) The Mule (5:21) Fools (8:19)

*** star songs: Anyone's Daughter (4:43) No One Came (6:26)

** star songs: No No No (6:54)

A letdown after In Rock, but nowhere near as much as I thought it was after first listen. If I had to make any major complaints at this juncture, it would be about this album's production; the in-your-face crank-it-as-one sound of In Rock is largely lost here, with Ian's voice largely buried and the other instruments often sounding like they were tracked 20 feet from the microphones. Another, less serious issue is that the band decided to diversify a bit - on the one hand, this eliminated any chance of the album being an inferior In Rock 'clone,' but on the other it means the band isn't doing what it knows best, which means the finished product can't help but suffer a whee bit.

It starts out on a high note, of course, and a fairly expected one at that. "Fireball" would fit in perfectly well on In Rock, propelled by an awesome drum groove (kicking off the song), Ritchie's typically speedy riffage, Ian's typically great singing and some more goofily fast organ and guitar solos. Of course, I can barely hear Ian's great singing, but again, that's just a general flaw to be accepted about the album. That is, except on track three (of the US version, which I have), a single that was obviously recorded in a completely different session from everything else on here. "Strange Kind of Woman" is just about the perfect pop-blues-rock piece, one that packages the crrrrunch that Ritchie and the rhythm players could deliver into a melody that is just about impossible to stop singing for hours after the track is over. And, naturally, it also has the best guitar solo on the album. This track would get better live, but believe me, this version deserves all the credit it can get.

The other five tracks, though, are a bit puzzling to hear on a Mk. 2 Deep Purple album. "No No No" is the worst of these, acting almost as a parody of the band's successes on In Rock. It starts off as an ok mid-tempo stomping rocker, kinda like "Into the Fire," but not only does it not have as much crunchy power as its predecessor, it makes the mistake of going almost seven minutes without the various solos doing much interesting. Ritchie more or less succeeds in creating some trippy, "moody" guitar sounds in his part before moving into some rather mundane soloing, but Jon is largely intolerable as he plays a slooooow, boooooooring part using "Tarkus" noises but forgetting to make them fast or interesting. Meh. If you can make it through seven minutes of this, you're a better man than I.

Beyond this, we come to a country number ("Anyone's Daughter"), with an introduction featuring some beautiful slide work in places, before settling into the actual song. It isn't bad, but it won't knock "Dead Flowers" off its pedestal as my favorite country song anytime soon. The piano work is a nice touch, though. Then we come to a more-or-less psychedelic (!) number in "The Mule," which features a fantastic percussion groove combined with Easterny guitar lines. In theory, it should probably get boring, but it really doesn't - Ritchie gets an awesome solo in the middle, and the bulk of the rest manages to be so hypnotic, and the ending so percussion intense, that I can't honestly say that I don't enjoy the heck out of it.

The last two tracks are each quite long, and my feelings are mixed for them. I kinda like the quiet Gillan vocals over the quiet organ introduction to "Fools," but I'm not sure I'd stretch it out quite so long if it were up to me. The song itself ends up rocking pretty well in places, but danged if I don't notice the weak production here more than elsewhere on this album. And needless to say, making it more than eight minutes, where many stretches are slow guitar noodling over a (nice nevertheless) percussion pattern, is a bit excessive. Finally, the album ends with another well-written, well-arranged, badly produced rocker in "No One Came." On the one hand, the vocals are mixed hideously on this track; on the other, Gillan's delivery is hilarious (I love the way he says "And said man your music is really funky"), Lord's solos are interesting, and the "meat" of the track is plenty tight and crunchy for my tastes.

It may seem from reading that a **** is a bit high for the description I've given. Maybe. Then again, there's only one track that I actively dislike, a couple I really enjoy, and the rest is intriguing at the worst. In other words, I may not be thrilled by this the way I am by In Rock, but I definitely don't dislike the album enough to give it less than a very good grade. A low **** it is.

PS: As mentioned before, I have the US version of the album. The UK version has a track called "Demon Eyes" in place of "Strange Kind of Woman."

PPS: The liner notes for the US version make reference to "bassist Ian Gillan and vocalist Roger Glover." Amazing.

Fizzle

Stuck in the middle of two hard rock monsters, FIREBALL doesn't get the glory or recognition as older brother IN ROCK or little sister MACHINE HEAD. The archetypical Deep Purple rock sound is still here, but I've never found much that have ties to progressive rock.

My rule of thumb is that if ''No'' appears in the title, I won't care for the song; ''No No No'' and ''No One Came'' never really start or go anywhere. ''The Mule'' falls into the same category of rocking but not really doing anything interesting. Deep Purple know how to write rock riffs (listen to MACHINE HEAD for proof), but this must've been an off album for them. ''Fireball'' manages to sound decent here, but ''Highway Star'' blows that track out of the water.

There's one boogie song that is the album highlight, ''Demon's Eye'' or ''Strange Kind of Woman'' (depends on which side of the Atlantic you live on). I prefer ''Strange Kind of Woman'' since I'm more used to it. ''Fools'' has somewhat of a prog rock structure, but aside from the beautiful guitar solo in the middle, it's just another Deep Purple rock song (even if one of their better ones). This leaves ''Anyone's Daughter''. All I do is ask ''Why?'' whenever I hear the song. It is essentially Deep Purple doing a country jig, but this is absolutely out of place and not needed (and annoying on top of it).

Much of FIREBALL never made a good impression with me and didn't convince me there is much progging going on here. One only for the prog fan that obsesses over Deep Purple.

Fireball simply isn't as good as In Rock - the majority of the band admit this is the case, fan consensus is likewise. That said, there's plenty of saving graces to the album. The second half is actually, by my reckoning, a bit stronger than the first half, featuring as it does powerful numbers like The Mule, Fools, and No One Came.

It's on the first side that most of the problems lie. No No No and Demon's Eye rely on slow, plodding rhythms that, to my ears at least, lack verve and energy, rendering the songs in question dull and repetitive. The instrumental soloing this time around is generally weaker and more forgettable than, for example, the incredible guitar solos on Speed King or Child In Time on the last album.

And then there's the elephant in the room, Farmer's Daughter, which even Ian Gillian admits was a mistake to release as part of the album. Coming right in the middle, this is a weak and unimaginative folk-rock number that comes across as a novelty song, sabotaging any momentum the album had built up to that point. The disc is pretty much saved by the last few tracks clawing things back, but it's still a blot on the running order which would be better off removed from the album entirely.

Deep Purple's "Fireball" is a very good followup to their masterpiece "In Rock". It features some proto metal classics such as the hard rocking title with breakneck rhythms and excellent guitar riffs of Blackmore. Ian Paice is an incredible drummer and he really lets rip on this album.

'No, No, No' is memorable for the high pitched vocals of Ian Gillan, and killer guitar riffing. 'Demon's Eye' is one of my favourite with pulsating rhythm and unforgettable riffs. It has a funkadelic beat and amazing keyboard from Jon Lord. 'Anyone's Daughter' is a throwaway but is surprisingly jazzy.

'The Mule' has oriental influences and crazy drumming from Paice. 'Fools' is next and really is a grower. At 8 minutes or so the track is the longest and features Blackmore fiddling about and too much organ, but its okay. The album ends with No One Came' with heavy rock elements and huge keyboard runs. Overall a decent album from legends of classic rock.

Not as heavy as "In Rock" but with more variety in musical styles, "Fireball" is another very good album from DEEP PURPLE. Maybe sounding a bit like a "transitional album" between the full Heavy Metal of "In Rock" and the much varied music that they included in "Machine Head". It includes some Blues music influences, like "Machine Head", and some heavy tracks, too.

-"Fireball": it starts with a very good drums pattern by Ian Paice. It is a heavy song.

-"No no No": a song with a combination of fast and heavy parts with a slow Blues influenced part.

-"Demon`s Eye": One of the best songs in the album with very good riffs. Also influenced a bit by Blues music.

-"Anyone`s Daughter": a slow song inlfuenced by Blues and Country music.

- "The Mule": one of the best songs in this album, lt is also heavy, with a very good drums part by Ian Paice. But I prefer the live version of the "Made In Japan" album because it has Ian Paice playing a very good drums solo.

-"Fools": a slow song, not very interesting for me. It sounds to me like some parts of this song were improvised while they recorded it. This song sometimes sounds to me without real direction and a bit forced.

-"No One Came": a heavy song. One of the best from this album.

While "In Rock" was maybe one of the heaviest albums they recorded with this line-up, "Fireball" is still a very good album from this band. It has a better recording and mixing than "In Rock", which was more "noisy", in my opinion.

"Fireball" is occasionally the neglected child of the first three Mk. II albums because it sits between the sensational rocker "In Rock" and the classic "Machine Head". Additionally, some members do not regard it highly. Particularly Ritchie Blackmore has stated his dislike for the album because it was a rush job done between tours and not always with everyone present during a recording session. Still, the album holds some excellent material and represents the halfway mark between the band's aggressive heavy rock approach and the smoother, more mature style of "Machine Head".

The title track has Ian Paice on the drums in furious form and includes his rare use of a double bass drum. It's an unusual song in the Deep Purple catalogue also because there is no guitar solo and instead a bass solo. The song a is charger with Ian Gillan delivering gruff vocals and some of his trademark screams.

"No No No" is a longer piece with a very cool bluesy guitar intro and a slick and easy guitar solo by Blackmore and laid back organ solo by Jon Lord that gradually builds in intensity until Blackmore lets loose with a volley of hard rock guitar arpeggios. Gillan again applies his forceful vocals.

I've never been too keen on "Demon's Eye" but it remains a classic song of the band. I almost feel like it could have been a long slow blues number which the band decided to speed up a bit and add more muscle to it.

To be sure, the oddball of the album is "Anyone's Daughter", a mock country western song that sounds like the band is seriously trying to do a Mike Nesmith (of the Monkees) song, tongue in cheek. I've always enjoyed this one in part because Blackmore's clean guitar playing sounds so smooth and nice, and Lord's piano solo is so sincerely executed. Gillan provides some wonderful humour in his lyrics with lines like, "I won't get no more eggs and water / cos I've laid the farmer's daughter" and "I you hear telling tales and lies, you say I'm dumb and scraggy / But man, this dumb and scraggy is your daughter's baby's daddy". Both Blackmore and Gillan have stated that they regret having the song on the album but I'm glad for it.

Side two opens with a step back to Deep Purple's more experimental days with "The Mule", a song featuring a repeated drum pattern by Paice, a snare burst followed by a roll over the tomtoms, and a long organ and guitar instrumental sequence that let's Lord create more of a psychedelic soundscape with his instrument than an actual solo.

"Fools" has always been one of my favourite tracks, not least because of the heavy rock guitar and Roger Glover's bass which has a really thick and chunky sound. Blackmore plays with the volume knob of his guitar to create a solo that sounds like a cello. Just past the seven minute mark the music reaches a thundering conclusion with guitar, organ, bass, and drums crashing and thundering together.

"No One Came" is less complex than most of the other songs but keeps the heavy rock theme of the album. Gillan delivers lyrics of cynicism about the music business, making references to a "Robin Hood outfit" and the "glitter and shine" of the business. A great album closer.

The reissue with bonus tracks has some good material such as the single "Strange Kind of Woman" which appeared on the North American versions of the original album as well as three songs that didn't make the album. I like "Freedom" the best for its rock and roll sound with a great piano solo and Gillan really screaming out the lyrics at the end. "Slow Train" is interesting because the music of the "ahh-ah-ah-ahh" part was resurrected by Blackmore on the Rainbow album "Bent Out of Shape". There are also some tracks of just fooling around in the studio which are kind of fun to listen to once or twice.

Overall I feel Deep Purple Mk. II were still hot with fresh ideas on this album. Gillan has stated that from a song writing perspective he felt there were new possibilities explored. It fills the spot between "In Rock" and "Machine Head" with some great music, in my opinion. The band really shows off its talent here. I'd give it four stars personally, but three for this site. Perhaps "very good, but not essential".

This review takes the 25th Anniversary Expanded Edition (nine additional tracks) into consideration as to whether it adds to or takes away from the original album.

"Fireball" is the sort of disappointing middle child of the power trio of DP MKII albums. However, even so, it still has some great moments, but loses a bit of steam being place in between two huge DP albums "In Rock" and "Machine Head". The record company pushed the band into rushing the album and the band pretty much felt like they didn't get to develop the album quite as well. One thing for certain, the band had found its sound by now (1971) and was feeling pretty confident about it. They might have been a little too confident on this album, but it works for them a few times (like on the mystical/oriental flavor of "The Mule", and the more straight ahead blues-rockers "No, No, No" and "Demon's Eye"), but there are times when it seems they are looking for something a little different and not quite nailing it down ("Anyone's Daughter" and "Fools"). In the end, the album comes across feeling a bit mediocre, lacking the fire of the albums that came before and after it. Somehow, the excitement isn't quite there. But most of you have already heard or read the reviews about the original version of the album. Does the expanded edition make it any better?

The 25th anniversary edition expands the album by 9 tracks. The original release in the US substituted "Strange Kind of Woman" for "Demon's Eye" both of which are highlights on either version. This re-issue brings them both together with the first bonus track being "Strange Kind of Woman" (originally titled "Prostitute") which was released only as a single in the UK. This is followed by the non-album b-side from that UK single "I'm Alone" (fast moving rocker similar to "Fireball"), and then two non-album outtakes "Freedom" (nice boogie-inspired riff, honky-tonk style piano solo and Ian finally gets to let loose on the vocals during the 3rd verse) and "Slow Train" (a more original sounding track but one that holds it's own quite well and would have substituted nicely for one of the weaker tracks on the original album) . These 3 tracks alone would make any DP fan drool with delight. The expanded section of this edition already elevates the overall sound of the album from 3.5 to 4 stars. Will the other tracks maintain that status?

The rest of the bonus tracks are more curiosities than anything else. Next is the familiar sound of "Demon's Eye" but in a remixed version done in 1996. The sound seems a bit more pristine and cleaned up, but it doesn't detract from the original at all, and since it's one of the album's better tracks, it's reappearance is quite welcome. A "sort of" medley follows under the name "The Noise Abatement Society Tapes" which takes themes from "Midnight in Moscow" (a Russian march tune), "Robin Hood" and "William Tell" and melds them together in a instrumental "practice" session. Mostly just the band goofing around. There is an alternate, instrumental take on "Fireball (Take 1)", something that I could take or leave, nothing special. "Backwards Piano" is a short snippet from the piano solo at the end of "No One Came" played in reverse. It all ends with another 1996 remix, this time of "No One Came".

So, the good news is that the expanded edition does actually add to the overall album because of the first four bonus tracks and the two remixes are nice. For me, it makes the album that much better and is worth it even if only for the outtakes, which are stronger than a few of the original album tracks. So, this elevates the album to a 4 star affair, from just good to great. I actually enjoy the album more because of these tracks.

'Fireball' is one of the albums that sometimes get neglected because of the year they were released in or because of the albums that come before and/or after. I think the latter is the case of this unbelievable release. Bracketed by what could be considered the two most iconic Deep Purple albums, 'Fireball' might have been slightly overlooked throughout the years and this has helped me love it even more.

This is just the second album with newcomers Gillan and Glover on vocals and bass respectively, and stylistically it does not differ too much from its hard-rocking predecessor 'In Rock'. The band is obviously having a lot of fun on this LP, yet they are still trying new sounds and techniques, which surely makes this a milestone of 70s hard rock (and proto-heavy metal).

But does this album prog? I'd say to an extent. If it does, this definitely happens on side two. And let me reverse the order in which I mention the album's contents. With just three bombastic experimental hard rock epics, this is one of the strongest album sides that can be found in all of the band's history. Because when you have the almost psych-rock tune 'The Mule', the memorable and solid 'Fools', and the funky and hard-hitting 'No One Came' with its enduring chorus, you can do no wrong.

Respectively, side one is not a tint worse - the title track is one of the most recognizable DP songs ever, 'No No No' is interesting and a bit unexpected but another great song in the band's catalogue, 'Demon's Eye' is iconic, and 'Anyone's Daughter' is... just fun. (Although some of the band members consider it a mistake, and it really sounds a bit off, it is not a terrible song by any means)

Probably not a masterpiece in the context of the site but an absolute crowning achievement of hard rock, and I will stick with this feeling I have for 'Fireball'. There is not a single weak track here and moreover, this album captures perfectly everything that Deep Purple stand for - big, heavy, memorable riffs and melodies, masterful playing from every instrumentalist, uncommon and intriguing songwriting, and above all, a grandiose enjoyment that comes along with experiencing these guys' music.