Deep Purple - Deep Purple in Rock (1970)

Warner Bros. Records ■ WS 1877

Released June, 1970

Produced by Deep Purple

Engineered by Andy Knight, Martin Birch, Philip McDonald

Side One:	Side Two:
Speed King Bloodsucker Child in Time	Flight of the Rat Into the Fire Living Wreck Hard Lovin' Man

Ah, Deep Purple "Mk. II".

Why, out of all the bands that have gone through such monumental lineup changes (Pink Floyd, Fleetwood Mac, etc) they are the only ones that seem to have become firmly labeled with "version" numbers is beyond me. Perhaps it's because the lineup change has such a drastic overall effect on songwriters--we can say "Barrett-era Floyd"¹ and "Peter Green" and "Bob Welch" and so on, to notate the controlling voice's change. I don't know--anything would be just a guess, and it's likely just an indicator of the varying mentalities of fans that Deep Purple's chose that approach.

Still, "Mark II" has its place highest in the echelons of music, particularly for being so thoroughly entrenched in hard rock when it was rapidly morphing into heavy metal (though most of the albums at the time given that have largely sloughed off that title as it has gained higher and higher minimums of power/volume/aggression/speed/etc over the years). Indeed, if the average person can assign anything to the name "Deep Purple", it is probably "Smoke on the Water", their monstrous hit from two albums (and years) farther on, Machine Head. Now, of course, "Highway Star" has gained a measure of fame from its inclusion in Rock Band, so there might be that further connection, but it, too, comes from '72's Machine Head anyway.

Day Forty-Eight: The Cult - Love

Beggars Banquet ■ BEG A 65

Released October 19, 1985

Produced by Steve Brown

Engineered by Steve Brown and Mark Stent

Side One:	Side Two:
Nirvana Big Neon Glitter Love Brother Wolf; Sister Moon Rain	Phoenix Hollow Man Revolution She Sells Sanctuary Black Angel

Despite being a band I remain cursorily familiar with (at best), I actually wrote about The Cult twice on the last blog, once in bite-sized form regarding their fourth album, Sonic Temple, and very early on regarding the Beggars Banquet "Omnibus Edition" releases, which included this very album. I still have no idea what to make of them in more "global" terms than my own personal one, but I've found myself gravitating more and more regularly to their work, as proven by my eventual acquisition of this record (another of my more excited purchases from Hunky Dory. It is, so far as I can tell, actually a UK original from '85, but I've never been too fussed about such things (even if I do find the thought neat and vaguely exciting).

Day Three: AC/DC - Highway to Hell

Atlantic Records ■ SD 19244

Released August 3, 1979

Produced by Robert John Lange

Engineered by Kevin Dallimore [Assistant], Tony Platt [Mixing], Mark Dearn[l]ey [Recording]

Side One:	Side Two:
Highway to Hell Girl's Got Rhythm Walk All Over You Touch Too Much Beating Around the Bush	Shot Down in Flames Get It Hot If You Want Blood (You've Got It) Love Hungry Man Night Prowler

Already I find myself forced to eat my own words. I chose not to pull out an item like the 1,001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die one, not because I couldn't do it, nor because it would force me through music I don't know or maybe don't like, but because I didn't want to be too stuck into writing about an album everyone and their mother has written about already. Instead, I decided to go through my own collection alphabetically.

Well, here I've stuck my foot in it.