Classic Albums: Deep Purple –
Machine Head
Picture: B-
Sound: B- Extras: B- Main Program: B
Deep Purple lives for many fans, even older ones, as Bette
Midler proved by wearing a T-Shirt of theirs from the 1980s in the Stepford
Wives remake (reviewed elsewhere on this site), which was one of many
things to indicate the real version of her character and her connection to the
counterculture before she gets subsumed by the evil plot of the story. Unlike many of their counterparts in Rock,
the band’s music still holds up very well and the 2002 Classic Albums
installment on the band’s critical and commercial hit Machine Head from
1972.
The album has many classic songs, in part because of the
entire album getting high playback on FM Rock radio of the time. Smoke On The Water was even a
million-selling Top 5 U.S. Pop hit, still their signature song to many. The tracks offered in order as they appear
in the documentary are:
1) Highway
Star
2) Smoke On
The Water
3) Pictures
Of Home
4) Space
Truckin’
5) Never
Before
6) When A
Blind Man Cries
Maybe I’m A Leo is in the bonus section. The stories, including how a Frank Zappa
concert and a building burned to the ground inspired Smoke On The Water,
are all engaging and interesting. After
some classical project and a mixed previous studio album, it was more than a
comeback. Many ideas had been held
back, while others were on the spot.
After touring and al the experimenting they had been doing, they were in
exceptional shape to cut this album and it has actually become better with
age. This was the second configuration
of the band, including engineer Martin Birch, all interviewed here. The members include Ritchie Blackmore, Ian
Gillan, Roger Glover, Jon Lord and Ian Paice.
This is one of the best installments of Classic Albums to date
from a band still ahead of their time and uncompromised.
The anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image looks good with
its recent video-shot footage and all the archival stills and clips
included. The Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo
has good Pro Logic surrounds and fares as well sonically as any installment in
the series to date. Extras include
additional interview footage ending with a promo clip for Never Before
form 1972. The album is so popular and
sonics so remarkable, that it continues to be pressed in vinyl record
copies. It also has been issued in both
higher-fidelity audio formats. Warner
Bros./Rhino made it one of their primary DVD-Audio releases with new multi-channel surround
mixes. That disc adds a European B-side
version of When A Blind Man Cries, rare concert footage of Deep Purple performing Highway
Star and Lazy, in Copenhagen, 1972, before the album's release, new
essay by Glover with band chroniclers Simon Robinson and Tony Edwards and its
own exclusive interview segment. The EMI
Super Audio CD has the original 4-track Quadraphonic mixes from the time and
the DSD sound would make a more interesting comparison than usual to the MLP
from Warner’s disc. We hope to cover
both soon, but that shows how much of a rich history and catalog the band
really has.
Either release can top this disc sonically, of course, but
this should be seen as a solid companion that should be shelved along side any
copy of the album in any serious collection.
It could even gain the band more fans!
- Nicholas Sheffo
