Deep Purple Machine Head

Music Review: Deep Purple - Shades Of Deep Purple, The Book Of Taliesyn, Deep ...

The road to Machine Head was an arduous one for Deep Purple, full of psychedelic detours and classical shenanigans. The re-release of their first three albums offers a fascinating glimpse into the obscure, self-described realm of "symphonic rock" of the group's beginnings. They also confirm just how hard these heavy metal heroes worked to get things off the ground. The British Blues Boom was in full swing in 1968, so the inclusion of "I'm So Glad" was not surprising. The song was written in the 1930's by Skip James and offered Blackmore a space to indulge his considerable guitar chops. Perhaps more significantly, it is also the first recorded example of Jon Lord's insistent attempts to meld classical music with rock. Composer Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov 's "Prelude: Happiness" (from Scheherazade ) is implausibly wedded to the blues standard as a suitably pretentious opening. Ambitious lads that they were, the group's next stop was The Beatles . Redoing Lennon/McCartney tracks was something of a cottage industry in 1968, and very often resulted in hilariously disastrous results. This was not the case with Deep Purple's take on "Help" though. The Fab Four's bright, uptempo arrangement served to mask the insecurity plainly evident in John Lennon 's lyrics. Here things are slowed down considerably, which turn the song into a naked lament. Paul is said to have given it the thumbs-up, a vote of confidence that would have unfortunate repercussions on album number two. Of the four self-penned tracks on Shades , "Mandrake Root" would prove to be the most enduring. The band included this in their live set for years to come, and it was an early example of the powerful guitar/organ riffage Blackmore and Lord were capable of. According to the liner notes, the bomb that goes off midway through came straight out of the BBC's sound effects library, as did all of the other found sounds on the album. An indication of just how hard the group was working back then is the fact that they'd returned to the studio just three months after Shades was released. Tagged with the unwieldy title The Book Of Taliesyn , Deep Purple's second effort was also released in 1968. Besides the hit single "Kentucky Woman" (written by Neil Diamond ), the group remade Ike and Tina's "River Deep, Mountain High" and "We Can Work It Out" from The Beatles.

DEEP PURPLE Machine Head metal music review by Warthur

Recorded under chaotic circumstances - as recounted in Smoke On the Water, surely the most overplayed filler number in rock history - Deep Purple's third album of their full-on proto-metal stage (as inaugurated by In Rock) is probably my favourite of theirs. Smoke On the Water, as well as being somewhat overexposed, is also just not that good a song (the opening riff tries to be plodding and foreboding but just sounds like a fumbling beginner trying and failing to do a Tony Iommi riff), and Lazy is a knock-off blues-rock number that's about as simplistic and uninteresting as its title suggest, but elsewhere the album excels. The highlight of the album is probably Highway Star. Whilst in terms of subject matter it's arguably just a reworking of Speed King from In Rock, the sheer furious speed and fury the band bring to bear during this song (and the exceptional, driving guitar solo) is surely a foundational document of speed metal. Space Truckin' might have goofy lyrics but there's no denying that it's got a hell of a riff. And on balance, the album's finer qualities more than outshine the rushed circumstances of its recording. Deep Purple aren't my favourite early-1970s proto-metal band by any measure, but this album showcases why they're considered a big influence on metal better than any other of their studio works.

"Space Truckin'" by Deep Purple on album "Machine Head"

@ Por falar em Deep Purple, estou assistindo a um show deles em DVD "Machine Head Live" de 1972 P&B

@ true, but what about Master of Puppets? Or Led Zeppelin 4? Or Deep Purple Machine Head? Those are METAL!

Rockandroll.gr music magazine - FLASH BACK - Deep Purple - ''Machine Head''

deep purple, highway star from machine head.

Machine Head

Deep Purple - Machine Head

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