Machine Head - 25th Anniversary Edition [Extra tracks, Limited Edition, Double CD]

Before we get started, a quick note for those of an audiophile persuasion;

This is a review for the 1986 CD issue of Machine Head, EMI CDP 7462422. It seems to be a nice flat transfer from the original tapes, with no extraneous compression or use of noise-reduction, although it does have pre-emphasis (which will usually only make a difference to the quality of sound if you rip it to CDR without setting the flag properly during the process, so no big deal for the majority who will listen to the actual CD). It comes with a 10 page booklet full of photos, which makes a pleasant change because often with CD's of this vintage you're lucky to get more than a basic 2 page fold-over featuring only song titles and advice on how to treat your disc.

Ok, and so to my brief review of this album

Machine Head saw something of a return to form for Deep Purple after the very good - but slightly lacking - Fireball. Despite that album's inherent funkiness and drive, it featured a lot of instrumental sections which were laid-back to the point of being almost horizontal. Very uninspired. With Machine Head the band tightened up their focus as a musical unit. They got their groove back.

But is Machine Head "the" Deep Purple album it's often cited to be? That's up for debate really. It lacks the primal ferocity and barely restrained brutality of In Rock, which is the only other Deep Purple album which can legitimately battle against Machine Head for pole position as "the" classic. Yet each are very different musical beasts.

Machine Head is the more mature of the pair and most certainly has a more professional production.

One thing that really stands out for me with this album is how surprisingly low at times the guitar is in the mix - which is very easy to overlook because Jon Lord's keyboard being pumped through a distorted Marshall stack often has the presence of a guitar. It wasn't until I saw Machine Head - Classic Albums [DVD] [2008] and heard Blackmore's guitar work isolated, and then made a point of listening closely through headphones to the CD, that I began to appreciate the effective simplicity of his rhythm guitar work on this album - because on the whole it's more implied than upfront due to the mix giving the keyboards a general rhythmic prominence. His lead and riff work is though given more of an equal footing.

Don't mistake that for meaning this album doesn't rock. It does. And very nicely so. Not in the brash, outlandish and abrasive style of In Rock, but in a solid and dependable manner. From the opener of Highway Star to the closer of Space Truckin' it's a steady paced ride, the only slump in proceedings being Lazy - a mellower number which sounds somewhat out of place due to overtones of (dare I say it!) Jazz and R&B harking back to the days of Georgie Fame.

So, Machine Head get 4 stars from me. Out of all of the Gillan-era Purple albums it's the one I find myself returning to most often.

This is now the fourth version of the album I have bought. As a 13-year-old, I originally bought it on cassette and played it to death on a mono Philips 'cassettecorder' in the summer of 1972. With such lo-fi equipment, it was impossible for my uneducated ears to tell what was guitar and what was organ.

This became a source of some embarrassment when I heard the album at my next school on stereo LP -- Garrard SP25 Mark IV turntable etc -- and discovered that I had been doing air guitar solos during some of Jon Lord's bits.

Since then, I have bought both the bog-standard Machine Head CD and the 25th anniversary remasters. With the release of the SACD, it becomes absolutely clear who plays which part, and also how dependent Jon Lord and Richie Blackmore were upon each other. No wonder, during the 'Who do we think we are' arguments when Purple were deciding who was going to have to leave to restore peace to the band, that Jon Lord realised he had to hold on to Blackmore for as long as possible.

Organists played a very different musical role in the 60s and early 70s, compared to the synth players who would soon follow them. Some, such as Hugh Banton of VdGG, could substitute for a missing bass player via his pedals. Jon Lord, on the other hand, sounds like he could substitute for a guitarist who had had an intoxicant too many. The duetting between Lord and Blackmore, and indeed the passages of note-for-note copying, are brought to the fore in this mix. The drum and bass recording is nothing special, though the mix reveals some percussion (e.g. on Space Truckin') that I hadn't been aware of before.

The inlay notes seem to be the same as for the 25th Remastered version.

I would strongly recommend buying this version if you have an SACD player, while stocks last. It seems extraordinary to me that, once again, the hi-fi bit of the rock market has come to another end, just as it did with quadrophonic in 1973. SACD is the best possible sound you can get from a piece of music, but the technology just hasn't taken off -- perhaps because its battle with DVD-audio put potential buyers off committing themselves. I suppose we can't blame the record companies for trying to do SACD on the cheap by re-releasing all the quad mixes from 1971-1973 on SACD 5.1, but it could have been so very different.

Oh well, just enjoy Purple at their very best with this album.

... was hearing this for the first time.

I grew up in the 60s/70s with 2 quite older sisters. They were very much in to The Beatles and Elvis, and hence so was I. At school in the mid 70s I was still mad keen on Elvis, and shared my passion with one of my best mates. We were always swapping records and boring other friends rigid with our love and knowledge of Elvis and his music. Then one rainy lunchtime at school, my friend dragged me in to one of the music rooms where there was a record player which a few select pupils were allowed to use so long as they were careful. When we got in there, there were a few other boys from my class, and my mate said to me, "You have just GOT TO HEAR THIS", and then gave a nod.

The needle was carefully cued up over the appropriate track and then gently lowered, and then Smoke On The Water started to wash over us all.

We all know what a stunning track this is, but the effect on me was electrifying and profound. I can still remember that day 37-ish years ago as clearly and vividly as if it were yesterday, quite literally. In my rather sheltered musical exposure up to that moment, I had never heard anything like it before, and I just fell in love with rock, instantly.

Whenever I hear it now, and I hear it a lot, I am transported back to that day that changed my taste in music, and it is no exaggeration to say my life, for ever. I can see all my mates grinning at me, I can smell the rain and my damp blazer, I can hear the gentle hiss and crackle of the vinyl as the track started to play, I can feel the shivers going up my spine. I wasted no time in buying the album for myself, and having transferred it to CD myself years ago, I still get a kick out of listening to my own burned version of this now, with all the same pops and crackles that I got so used to during the hundreds and hundreds of plays of that disc during my formative teenage years. I much prefer it to modern clinical versions. That original piece of vinyl is in my DNA.

Many people on Desert Island Discs choose music to remind them of people and places. I would do the same, but I would also choose Smoke On The Water, not only for the memories but because it is a very special piece of music. No matter how many times you hear it, you never ever tire of it. EVER. That is very rare.

Best album ever? Well, it's right up there for me.

It was certainly the first album in my "proper" music collection ;-)