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Machine Head (album)

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Machine Head is the sixth studio album released by the English rock band Deep Purple. It was recorded through December 1971 in Montreux, Switzerland, and released in March 1972.

Machine Head is often cited as influential in the development of the heavy metal music genre. It is Deep Purple's most successful recording, topping the charts in several countries following its release. The album reached number 1 in the United Kingdom and stayed in the top 40 for 20 weeks. It reached number 7 in the United States, remaining on the Billboard 200 for 118 weeks.

Background

Deep Purple initially planned to record Machine Head in December 1971, at Montreux Casino in Switzerland. A mobile recording studio owned by the Rolling Stones had been booked and hotel reservations made, but lead singer Ian Gillan contracted hepatitis. Cancelling a forthcoming tour of America, the band placed all their plans on hold, and Gillan was advised by his doctor to spend the next few months recuperating. Nevertheless, enthused by the new project, the band travelled to Switzerland to begin recording.[2] The Casino was a large arena built in a complex of casinos, restaurants and other entertainment facilities. The band had performed there in May 1971 and enjoyed both the location and its owner, Claude Nobs. Amongst others, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd and Black Sabbath had all performed there. The Casino closed for refurbishments each winter, and so the band arrived there on 3 December. One last concert date remained, following which they were to have the location to themselves.[3]

Recording

Frank Zappa's 4 December concert at the Casino was made infamous when a member of the audience fired a flare into the building's roof. Although there were no fatalities, the resultant fire ruined Deep Purple's plans.[4] Nobs relocated the band to a nearby theatre called the Pavilion, where they recorded a riff by Ritchie Blackmore provisionally titled "Title No. 1." Bass player Roger Glover named it "Smoke on the Water", initially as a good name for a drug song, but several days later he and Gillan decided instead to use it to describe the band's experience watching the burning down of Montreux Casino.[5] A photograph of the burning Montreux Casino would ultimately be included in the gatefold of Machine Head's album cover.

We had the Rolling Stones' mobile recording unit sitting outside in the snow, but to get there we had to run cable through two doors in the corridor into a room, through a bathroom and into another room, from which it went across a bed and out the veranda window, then ran along the balcony for about 100 feet and came back in through another bedroom window. It then went through that room's bathroom and into another corridor, then all the way down a marble staircase to the foyer reception area of the hotel, out the front door, across the courtyard and up the steps into the back of the mobile unit. I think that setup led to capturing some spontaneity, because once we got to the truck for a playback, even if we didn’t think it was a perfect take, we’d go, 'Yeah, that’s good enough.' Because we just couldn’t stand going back again.

Ritchie Blackmore[6]

Although the police were prevented from entering the building by the band's roadies, who held the venue's doors shut, the band were quickly evicted. They searched for other locations in which to record and settled on the Grand Hotel, on the edge of Montreux. With the mobile recording unit parked at the main entrance, they set up at the end of one of the building's corridors, off the main lobby.[7] An assortment of equipment and sound-insulating mattresses meant that to get to the recording van the band were forced to walk through bedrooms and across balconies. This proved so arduous that they stopped listening to playbacks of their recordings, instead performing until they were satisfied with what they had.[8]

A song entitled "When a Blind Man Cries" was recorded during these sessions, but not included on the album. Instead, it was used as the B-side on the "Never Before" single. The song appears as a bonus track on the album's 25th anniversary edition.

The supporting tour for Machine Head included a trip to Japan that would later become the double-live Made in Japan album.

Release and reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[9]
BBC Musicfavourable[10]
Robert ChristgauB[11]
Rolling Stonefavourable[12]

Machine Head hit the number one spot on the British charts within seven days of its release, remaining there for two weeks before returning in May for a further week. In the US, the album reached number seven, remaining in the charts for two years.[13]

Rolling Stone's Lester Bangs praised "Highway Star" and "Space Truckin'"'s lyrics, although he was less complementary about the remaining songs: "In between those two Deep Purple classics lies nothing but good, hard-socking music, although some of the lyrics may leave a bit to be desired."[12] Robert Christgau rated the album a B, writing "I approve of their speeding, and Ritchie Blackmore has copped some self-discipline as well as a few suspicious-sounding licks from his buddies in London."[11] Allmusic critic Eduardo Rivadavia called Machine Head "one of the essential hard rock albums of all time."[9]

Machine Head contains classical and blues influences. Blackmore confirmed that the chord progression for the solos in "Highway Star" was inspired by the work of 18th-century composer Johann Sebastian Bach.[14] The song was actually composed by Blackmore and Gillan at the start of the Fireball gigs on a bus travelling to Portsmouth Guild Hall, in response to a question from a member of the press as to how the band created their material.[7]

Kerrang! magazine listed the album at No. 35 among the "100 Greatest Heavy Metal Albums of All Time" in 1989.[15]

Machine Head is the subject of one of the Classic Albums series of documentaries about the making of famous albums. Machine Head was released on the multichannel formats DVD-Audio (2001) and SACD (2003), and more recently, also on SACD on 17 August 2011, by Warner Japan in their Warner Premium Sound series (Which is the same as the 2001 DVD-Audio version).[16]

40th anniversary releases

The 40th anniversary edition of Machine Head will be released on October 8, 2012 by EMI. This will be a 5-disc set accompanied with fully illustrated 60 page hardback booklet. Contents include: Original album 2012 remaster (CD1), Roger Glover's 1997 mixes (CD2), Original album quad SQ stereo (2012 remaster) (CD3), In Concert '72 from Paris Theatre, London, March 9, 1972 - 2012 mix (CD4), 2012 high resolution remaster & sourround mixes (DVD, audio only).

Also as part of the celebrations of the 40th anniversary celebrations Re-Machined – A Tribute To Deep Purple's Machine Head will be released on October 1, 2012 (September 21, 2012 in Europe) by Eagle Records.

Track listing

All songs written by Ritchie Blackmore, Ian Gillan, Roger Glover, Jon Lord and Ian Paice.

Original vinyl release

Side one
No.TitleLength
1."Highway Star"6:05
2."Maybe I'm a Leo"4:51
3."Pictures of Home"5:03
4."Never Before"3:56
Side two
No.TitleLength
5."Smoke on the Water"5:40
6."Lazy"7:19
7."Space Truckin'"4:31
  • The 2001 DVD-Audio version contains "When a Blind Man Cries", a B-side of "Never Before".
  • The 2003 SACD version also contains "When a Blind Man Cries" plus alternate mixes of "Maybe I'm a Leo" and "Lazy" from the DVD Audio version.

25th anniversary edition (2CD)

Disc One
The 1997 Remixes
No.TitleLength
1."Highway Star"6:39
2."Maybe I'm a Leo"5:25
3."Pictures of Home"5:21
4."Never Before"3:59
5."Smoke on the Water" (has an alternate guitar solo)6:18
6."Lazy"7:33
7."Space Truckin'"4:52
8."When a Blind Man Cries"3:33
Disc Two
The Remasters
No.TitleLength
1."Highway Star"6:08
2."Maybe I'm a Leo"4:52
3."Pictures of Home"5:08
4."Never Before"4:00
5."Smoke on the Water"5:42
6."Lazy"7:24
7."Space Truckin'"4:35
Bonus tracks
No.TitleLength
8."When a Blind Man Cries" (original B-side)3:32
9."Maybe I'm a Leo" (Quadrophonic mix)5:00
10."Lazy" (Quadrophonic mix)6:57

Personnel

Deep Purple
Additional personnel
  • Martin Birch – engineering, mixing (with Deep Purple)
  • Jeremy (Bear) Gee - assistant
  • Nick Watterton – technician
  • Ian Hansford, Rob Cooksey, Colin Hart – equipment
  • Shephard Sherbell – photography
  • Roger Glover, John Coletta – cover design
  • Peter Denenberg, Roger Glover – remixing (1997)
  • Peter Mew – remastering (1997)

Charts

Chart procession and succession

Preceded by
Fog on the Tyne by Lindisfarne
Tyrannosaurus Rex: A Beginning by T. Rex
 UK Albums Chart number-one album
22 April 1972 - 6 May 1972
13 May 1972 – 20 May 1972 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Australian Kent Music Report number-one album
26 June 1972 (two weeks) 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Canadian RPM number-one album
18 August - 22 August 1973
22 September - 5 October 1973 		Succeeded by

References

  1. ^ http://www.discogs.com/Deep-Purple-Machine-Head/master/1843
  2. ^ Thompson 2004, pp. 123–126
  3. ^ Thompson 2004, pp. 125–126
  4. ^ Thompson 2004, p. 126
  5. ^ Thompson 2004, p. 127
  6. ^ 100 Greatest Guitar Solos: 15) "Highway Star" (Ritchie Blackmore), guitarworld.com, 21 October 2008, retrieved 9 January 2011 {{citation}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help)
  7. ^ a b Classic Albums - Deep Purple - Machine Head, Eagle Rock Entertainment, 2002 {{citation}}: |format= requires |url= (help)
  8. ^ Thompson 2004, pp. 126–129
  9. ^ a b Rivadavia, Eduardo. "Review Machine Head". Allmusic. Retrieved 26 August 2009. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  10. ^ Smith, Sid (18 April 2007). "Review of Deep Purple - Machine Head". BBC Online. Retrieved 9 January 2011.
  11. ^ a b Christgau, Robert (1972). "Deep Purple". robertchristgau.com. Retrieved 9 January 2011. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  12. ^ a b Bangs, Lester (25 May 1972). "Album review Machine Head". Rolling Stone. Jann S. Wenner. Retrieved 26 August 2009.
  13. ^ Thompson 2004, p. 131
  14. ^ Campbell & Brody 2008, p. 217
  15. ^ Oliver, Derek (21 January 1989). "Deep Purple 'Machine Head'". Kerrang!. Vol. 222. London, UK: Spotlight Publications Ltd. {{cite book}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  16. ^ Warner Premium Sound 17 August 2011 releases (in Japanese). Retrieved 3 November 2011.
  17. ^ "Number 1 Albums – 1970s". The Official Charts Company. Archived from the original on 9 February 2008. Retrieved 10 June 2011.
  18. ^ German Album Charts 1972
  19. ^ Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved 2012-02-24
  20. ^ a b "French album certifications – Deep Purple – Machine Head" (in French). Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique.
  21. ^ "British album certifications – Deep Purple – Machine Head". British Phonographic Industry. Select albums in the Format field. Select Gold in the Certification field. Type Machine Head in the "Search BPI Awards" field and then press Enter.
  22. ^ "American album certifications – Deep Purple – Machine Head". Recording Industry Association of America.
Bibliography
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