Deep Purple: Machine Head

If one has ever been or still is a Deep Purple fan (I am!) then one has got to watch this terrific inside look into how "Machine Head " was created. For me personally "Machine Head" wasnt my favorite album, but I DID CARE ALOT about these Machine Head songs being played live on "Made in Japan", which for me is the ultimate Deep Purple record ever made.

All these live songs on "Made in Japan" originated from "Machine Head", with "Smoke on the Water" being the most widely recognized song of their entire reportoire. The story HOW that song ever saw the light of day is truly hilarious and humbling as well. It is great fun to hear them talk about it how the birth of this classic rock song all happened by accident in Switzerland, of all places....

All the individual Machine Head songs are being analyzed by every band member and it is such a thrill to hear them tell us and play for us viewers HOW they created these very powerful hardrock songs.

I was especially surprised and pleased to hear the story of "When a blind man cries", being THE song that never made it to the album. SUCH A SHAME it didnt. That song though was a sign of the beginning of the end of that most glorious period for Deep Purple with that particular band setting. Why was this song such a sign? Because the song was about the friction in the band, which ultimately did end it all for Deep Purple with this famous band setting. They said it could have gone on for a few years IF they had taken a pause from touring. IF... But they didnt, which is the unfortunate destructive story of may other great bands in the seventies, including the Jimi Hendrix Experience.

Goosebumps from beginning to end, while watching this movie. Guaranteed to blow your mind again. What a terrific songs! What a terrific band! What an incredible hardrock power! True classic!

Another indispensable LP from the last forty years, "Machine Head" introduced several must learn riffs for young guitarists to start their education with and so much more. There isn't a weak track out of the seven on the disc and "When A Blind Man Cries", which was left off the album, gets some prominent attention here. My only complaint is not having a chapter for the ferocious "Lazy", which lets Jon Lord's Hammond organ get very beastly indeed (plugged into a Marshall stack), as he goes from the playful to the terrifying in this intense workout of a song.

The circumstances of this recording are quite infamous now and all the facts are clarified for posterity's sake. Deep Purple eventually lost their singer Ian Gillan due to the non stop touring which wore them all out. The emphasis from outside the band for singles to promote was met with more than a little suspicion on the five musicians' parts. "Smoke On The Water" is the most easily identified track for even those whose grandchildren owned "Machine Head". But "Highway Star", both here and on the phenomenal "Made In Japan" live record, stands as a high octane trailblazer for hard edged music with a healthy respect for the classics. Some of Purple's greatest shows ever were in Japan and to this day, they're revered as musical gods in that country (as seen in the recent "Global Metal").

Several bonus features, totalling over half an hour, are all worth checking out. This is one of the very best in the "Classic Albums" series.