01. Deep Purple Machine Head 1972 (Purple Records)
Hard Rock
A relentless high-octane mother of an album!
Overview
Often cited as one of the most important albums that influenced the ‘heavy metal genre’
Machine Head would prove to be the crowning glory of Deep Purple and one of the greatest albums surely of the decade. Like any great album, it has the band with their definitive line-up of Ian Gillan, Ritchie Blackmore, Roger Glover, Jon Lord and Ian Paice, a line-up that would be the envy of any band. Since the bands gradual shift in direction from their proggy roots on their third album, to the more high octane powered sound on
In Rock, Deep Purple were surely destined to release a monster of an album, to match the very best that either Led Zeppelin or Black Sabbath had put out.
In Rock nearly got them there and
Fireball should’ve been the album that launched them into the stratosphere, but in the end
Fireball proved to be too light-hearted and too self-indulgent to make that leap and so it would be down to
Machine Head to concrete the band in the annals of heavy music awesomeness!
Machine Head usually figures in most greatest albums lists and is easily one of the best features on the “Classic Albums” television series that was featured here in the UK and the album like a lot of classic albums, was recorded under rather troublesome conditions. The album was recorded in Montreaux Switzerland, but not in the original location that had been planned for the band in the Montreaux Casino. As the Casino had been involved in a fire during a Frank Zappa concert prompting the band to choose a different location, which would turn out to be the abandoned nearby Pavilion Theatre. The fire that took place at the Montreaux Casino would be famously documented on “Smoke on the Water”. Once in the Pavilion Theatre, the band quickly set-up there and started to cut the album, but they soon fell foul of the local police, who had dozens of nearby residents complaining of the noise! This forced the band to then then move onto the Grand Hotel now their third venue and after an arduous and problematic recording sessions they finally cut the complete album. Now this review just wouldn’t be complete without mentioning the album cover at some stage and its deceptively basic blurred image of the band, really leaves things open to the viewer's own interpretation.
Ian Gillan- Vocals
Ritchie Blackmore- Guitar
Roger Glover- Bass
Jon Lord- Keyboards
Ian Paice- Drums
Production- Deep Purple
Album
Highway Star- A bona-fide classic which sees Ian Gillan’s revved up crooning blazing away, with the super-fast sound of the song and contains the legendary soloing duet between Ritchie Blackmore and Jon Lord, which just doesn’t let up for a second.
Maybe I’m a Leo- A plodding heavy number that remains one of the albums most solid entries and a great second track after the frantic opener.
Pictures of Home- The band at their most melodic and this a real band effort throughout, is often quoted as being Jon Lord’s favourite song from the album and further engages us with some extended jamming towards the end of the song.
Never Before- Another song that starts off with a plodding intro, which continues throughout the song and is then accompanied throughout the song by Ian Gillan’s melodic vocals, and later enhanced by Jon Lord’s keyboards towards the end.
Smoke on the Water- Need I really say anything about this song? So unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last 40 years you should know this riff! If you don’t then please do so, as it’s vital that you do!
Lazy- 7 minutes of progressive style jamming and the longest track on the album and then finally emerges into another heavy bluesy effort.
Space Truckin’- Of all the tracks on this album this has to be my very favourite. It starts off as a pacey light hearted number, before moving into one of Ritchie Blackmore’s top-of-the-class driving riffs and probably Ian Gillan’s most revved up screaming vocals to date and let’s not forget Ian Paice’s brilliant drumming on the track as well. Later versions of the album have the vital
“When I Blind Man Cries” This is a beautiful song that closes the album, as an album like this should close.
Verdict
Machine Head might well be the most complete hard rock album ever recorded and despite being essentially just a hard rock album, there are so many varied elements on this album. From the speed of “Highway Star” to the progressiveness of “Lazy” to the heavy bluesy feel of “Maybe I’m a Leo” and onto the dinosaur heaviness and riffing of “Smoke on the Water”. All these aspects would later prove to be vital in the development of heavy metal as the decade went on, thus making it not just another hard rock release. If we break the album down, we can see that
Machine Head captures the high speed and intensity of
In Rock, with its classic album opener “Highway Star” which proves this point to perfection. Then there is the bluesy plodding of “Maybe I’m a Leo” and “Never Before” two tracks which provide the heavy backbone of the album, and then there is the melodic approach of “Pictures of Home” and again “Never Before” which now mixes both melody and heaviness to a real level of excellence. Also the progressive elements of the band are satisfied as well, not just on individual tracks, because here they help to form and shape certain tracks like “Pictures of Home” and “Lazy”. There is of course “Smoke on the Water” which is based around the Frank Zappa concert, which saw the burning down the Montreaux Casino and the song probably has one of the most famous riffs in all Metaldom! Also this review would not be complete without mentioning the sheer madness and heaviness of “Space Truckin'” a song which still makes me go weak at the knees! Finally there is “When a Blind Man Cries” which for many a year I thought was actually officially part of the album, as it was always on my copy of the album, but I later realized that it was just an extra song and actually a b-side. Personally
Machine Head in its original form is the perfect album, but “When A Blind Man Cries” is added to the album, it seems to enhance proceedings even more and serves I think as the perfect album closer, as it’s the only ballad style track on the album and also resonates a real beauty to highlight the franticness and heaviness that the rest of the album has.
Machine Head is quite simply a monster of an album and suitable for both a beginner or an experienced ear, to hear the finer delights of such a fabled hard rock recording!