Deep Purple, Machine Head

You can go elsewhere on the net to find a long and self-important review of how Deep Purple went about making the Machine Head album, so I will shy away from mentioning Zappa, Inferno, Casino, dusty hotel corridors or Nobs (the bloke).

What I will focus on is the sheer class of musicianship, creativity and engineering that went into this classic album. While In Rock might be seen as the definitive DP rock album (it is indeed much more 'in yer face'). Machine Head added much more because of the extra space it seemed to have, with much more tone, intonation and structure. The songs themselves are widely celebrated, and combine an apparently effortless level of craft from Blackmore, Gillan, Glover, Lord and Paice, with a very dynamic feel.

I'd urge you to get the remastered version where you can hear what really happened on the original takes (including Blackmore's hilariously vapid draft lead line on Smoke on the Water), plus you get When a Blind Man Cries thrown in; a song which was inconceivably rejected as not good enough to include. OK it's a ballad, but it's wonderful.

Extolling the virtues of Smoke on the Water, Highway Star and Space Truckin' is also almost pointless - anyone who knows these songs knows just how good they are. A quick mention for the other fillers then - Maybe I'm a Leo is a slick blues riff (by Glover), and while a 12 bar in C (no rocket science there), it develops into a great platform for a couple of fine Blackmore and Lord solo's, as well as some of the finest subtle-yet-enthralling drum work by Paice. The more relaxed nature of this song embodies the album to the extent that the 'space' I previously mentioned allowed a lot more color and creativity to be added to each number [keep in mind that most songs are the result of a couple of takes, recorded live].

Pictures of Home is a more hurried affair, aided by Blackmore's 'gallop' guitaring; but the structure is very nice, and has a raw edge.

Never Before was earmarked as the single, which was probably a mistake, but it's good enough, and certainly the riff is fun and a trademark triplet effort widely used by DP.

Lazy is the last of the 7 and is more self-indulgent, but has a blue swing to it (it's another 12 bar) that for me really shows what early rock is all about. Shamelessly stealing blues structure, with extra oomph, it develops beautifully, has fine solo work, and has time to include tongue-in-cheek key changes, harmonica "solo" (well, sort of) and a protracted finish. The closest rock/blues 'loose jam' you can get to this is 'Place in Line' of Who do we think we are (their follow-up album), which itself is great, but is not a patch on Lazy, which is to me a legendary track.

Add to that the already-over-reviewed S.O.T.W., the superlative driving song Highway Star and the furious Space Truckin', you have high quality rock throughout, and really nothing either DP did, or anyone else for that matter ever got close.

A couple more words... Another reviewer mentioned producer Martin Birch. He definitely made this album what it was, and I fancy keeping a lid on the ego floating around that mixing desk wasn't easy.

Finally... Yes buy the album, but also get the making-of DVD. It brings the whole thing to light very nicely, and all 5 DP members get their say: and modestly they clearly convey that at the time they were simply enjoying doing the work and certainly had no idea just how good what they were doing would turn out to be.

If you haven't heard any DP before, and if you want to start a rock collection, if you are fed up with over-produced metal, or (trust me on this) if you want a decent album you can use to jam along to, this is for you.