Album of the Day

Deep Purple's Ian Gillan once noted of FIREBALL that "... I thought, from a writing point of view, it was really the beginning of tremendous possibilities of expression. And some of the tracks on that album are really, really inventive.” We're hard-pressed to argue with the singer; the second studio album by the British band's classic “Mark II” lineup of Gillan, guitarist Ritchie Blackmore, keyboardist Jon Lord, bassist Roger Glover and drummer Ian Paice was an outstanding hard rocker like its predecessor, IN ROCK. Along with the title track, the set includes the single “Strange Kind Of Woman” and the storming instrumental “The Mule.” The self-produced collection topped the U.K. album chart on this day in 1971 – it was the first of three consecutive No.1s for the quintet. Strutting their stuff and stretching their sound on seven blazing originals, FIREBALL shows Deep Purple at its very best.