Fireball - Song By Song

[Zzzptm]

On the studio version, it's a great rocker, I'm with Charger that it's my 3rd place song on the album. Also with Charger that this was a completely transformed song live. Either way, it's a fun song with singalong type lyrics.

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

Demon's Eye

I quite like this song, but's it not among my favourites on the album. It's a solid song, everything is how it should be... nice riff, nice keyboards, good solo, nothing wrong with the vocals, but nothing stands out to raise this above the average!

[Zzzptm]

I've grown to like Demon's Eye more and more as the years go on. But, with so many *better* tracks from the album, I've got it at the top of the bottom half! And if I rate in Freedom and Slow Train, it moves lower. But it's such a great song in and of itself, I feel better giving it an overall score than a stack ranking to show its worth. Blackmore's solo is smooth stuff and Gillan does a great job with vocals.

[Charger]

Demon's Eye is again among my favourites. But since the album is pretty much filled with favourites it's hard to say for sure where this lands now...

The riff is brilliant and Ian's vocals are great. The solo section has some nice groove to it as well. Always loved the lyrics as well.

[Zzzptm]

Anyone's Daughter

... and then there's a country song on the album. This was my biggest surprise on my first listen, I was totally off-guard for the quietness of it all. It's a pleasant enough tune with a very witty Gillan lyric, but it doesn't really fit with the rest of the album. If the first half had closed out with Freedom or Slow Train instead, I wouldn't have missed Anyone's Daughter, TBH.

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

Anyone's Daughter is a pleasant surprise. A change in musical style for sure, but I think it works well. The honky tonk piano and Ian's vocals work really well, I love the little side comments he throws in "Yes I did... it was nice!".

Another highlight on the album for me.

[Charger]

Anyone's Daughter is probably the closest Purple ever came to write an actual full blown comedy song. The lyrics are hilarious and the music is totally out there in a very funny way.

This is a song that always puts a gigantic smile on my face when ever I hear it...kind of like Sabbath's Fairies Wear Boots. Both are just super funny humor songs.

This is one of my favourites I have to say.

[Zzzptm]

Time to flip over the album and play "The Mule".

If anything points back to the prog beginnings of the band, it's this track and Fools.

There's a lovely Gillan vocal line without belting things out and then... uhmmmm... I get lost in the keyboard part, which I'm sure got lifted from some classical composer somewhere at least in part. Blackmore's sudden jam then gets forced back into the strange drum rhythm... is this 6/8? 9/8? There are definite triplets in there and there ain't no syncopation in the normal way. Honestly, if Rod Evans were singing it, it would have fit right in on the 3rd DP album just fine. It's not bad, just... a departure from what they were busy doing.

Of course, played live, there's no layering or fancy stuff like that, so they rock out and let Paicey do a massive drum solo. They save all the prog for the end jam with Mandrake Root.

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

The Mule

I don't mind this one, probably confirms in my mind that there isn't a bad track on the album. It's not the best track though but there are some nice bits to it.

[Zzzptm]

The Mule

I don't mind this one, probably confirms in my mind that there isn't a bad track on the album. It's not the best track though but there are some nice bits to it.

I have to agree. It's not my favorite on the album, but I definitely don't ever avoid it.

[Charger]

The Mule is the second song on this album that I'm not too keen about. It feels bit lackluster to me actually.

Funny bit about this is that Ian once introduced this song as the Mole! And had to correct himself after the song saying it's actually called the Mule!

[Zzzptm]

Fools

When I heard this song live, I realized that Steve Morse was the perfect guitar player for it. That being said, it's another progressive track that mingles hard and soft and different textures. It's a trippy tune. I don't skip it, but I also find it outshone by the other tracks on the album.

[Charger]

And then we come to my absolute favourite track on the album, the mighty, the epical...FOOLS!

The soft intro that leads into a superheavy chord riff with Ian belting out those killer vocals...this is a song that captivates the listener. There's a lot going on, it's like a constant battle between softness and ultra heavy.

And again this is one of those songs that truly again elevated itself in the live setting. It's shame the original line-up never played this song live but honestly Morse does such an incredible job with it I can't possibly imagine Ritchie doing anything better.

This is again a true masterpiece of a song...it is rather incredible that they had one of these songs on all of their first 3 albums.

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

Fools

Maybe my favourite on the album (I need to think about it further), the soft and hard elements really works well and the way it suddenly changes from one to the other is great. One of Ian's best vocal melodies too, and the slow drum section is very simple but works really well. Very good song.

[Zzzptm]

No One Came

This one is *my* favorite. I love the lyric and quote parts of it all the time, especially, "It's only the glitter and shine that gets through / where's my Robin Hood outfit?" It's the first of a thread of songs Gillan writes in his career about the interaction of fame, press, trends, and how it relates to what really matters.