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Exhilarating sense of controlled chaos
Louder Sound publishes online a Classic Rock feature on Fireball that appeared in print in the Deep Purple special issue of the magazine that came out in August 2026.
Fireball is often treated as the awkward middle child of the Deep Purple Mark II catalogue, sandwiched between the twin classics In Rock and Machine Head. Yet it was with Fireball, written and recorded amid relentless touring, mounting commercial expectations, personal frustrations and a determination not to repeat themselves, that Deep Purple tested just how far they could push the boundaries of hard rock. Encompassing foundational heavy metal alongside elements of progressive, jazz, psychedelic and even country rock, it was the band’s first album to top the UK chart and became another of their million-sellers.
Work on Fireball began in September 1970, barely three months after the release of In Rock. Martin Birch was again behind the recording desk, while production remained firmly in the band’s own hands. There was no stockpile of finished songs waiting to be recorded. Like its predecessor, Fireball would emerge gradually from the group’s collective writing sessions, taking shape over the following nine months at De Lane Lea and Olympic studios in London between an increasingly punishing schedule of British, European and American tour dates.
Continue reading in Louder Sound.
Said special issue of the magazine is still available for purchase via the publisher’s outlet MagazinesDirect.
Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing
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