The album by which all heavy metal music should be judged and quite simply the most perfect record of its genre ever released. This album has virtually everything - guitar riffs to kill for from Ritchie Blackmore, exceptional vocals from Ian Gillan and wonderful keyboards from Jon Lord. The album still sounds fresh almost 40 years after it was released and in Child in Time, Purple hit heights that they were rarely to achieve again. Child in Time is one of those blistering pieces of rock music that builds and builds and is in the same league as the brilliant Emerson, Lake and Palmer track "Take a Pebble" and King Crimson's "In the Court of the Crimson King" as arguably the finest trio of prog rock tracks ever written. The great thing about this album is the way the band manages to capture the highs and lows, the quiet almost soulful sections written alongside the banshee type vocals. It's almost as if the band have stepped outside themselves to write such classics as "Speed King" et al. This is the bands incomparable legacy to its genre.