Machine Head

Deep Purple | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 25, 1990)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Warner Bros / Wea
• ASIN: B000002KHB
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  DVD Audio  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Music
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (274 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #10,504 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #98 in Music > Classic Rock > Supergroups

Track Listings

1. Highway Star

2. Maybe I'm A Leo

3. Pictures Of Home

4. Never Before

5. Smoke On The Water

6. Lazy

7. Space Truckin'

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Home of "Smoke on the Water" and "Highway Star," Machine Head blends proto-metal density with epic arrangements, resulting in a record that's far more grandiose than the sum of its parts. --Jon Wiederhorn

Product Description

No Description Available
No Track Information Available
Media Type: CD
Artist: DEEP PURPLE
Title: MACHINE HEAD
Street Release Date: 07/07/1987
Domestic
Genre: ROCK/POP

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

53 of 54 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Purple's crowning achievement August 10, 2001

By Gavin Wilson

Format:Audio CD

Deep Purple could easily have been as big as Led Zeppelin. They were certainly as talented. If only Ritchie Blackmore had got on better with Ian Gillan and Roger Glover, this classic line-up could have stayed together for a few more years, and clocked up true supergroup status. And earned an awful lot of money.

But an inability to make compromises often goes with the territory of being highly talented. Listening again to these remastered anniversary editions of 'In Rock', 'Fireball' and 'Machine Head' together with 'Rainbow Rising', I am strongly persuaded by the argument that Ritchie Blackmore has been rock's greatest post-Hendrix guitarist.

This was a re-master I had to buy. 'Machine Head' was the first album I ever bought. For several months it was the only album I owned, so I played it to death. Every piece of music brought into my boarding school had to be approved by the headmaster. At the time, only 'Bridge Over Troubled Water' had been approved. Rather than ask permission and get the album confiscated, I sneaked 'Machine Head' in to the school, intending to play it to myself on headphones. But other boys -- we were 13-year-olds -- wanted their own copies, so a number of crude speaker-to-microphone recordings were made. That summer, the sounds of 'Highway Star' and 'Pictures of Home' echoed around the subterranean cavern that was called the Model Club. Fortunately this was not the era when hard-rock bands felt obliged to insert gratuitous four-letter words into their lyrics. Despite the musical style of 'Machine Head' not nothing like the classical stuff that our teachers wanted us to aspire to, the album was not banned. Strangely, 'Smoke on the Water' was NOT one of the tracks we paid much attention to.... It was only when I moved on the next term to another school -- one where boys could learn the guitar -- that I became aware of the legendary status this track was acquiring.

This 2CD set throws up an immediate dilemma: which to listen to first -- the Remixes or the Remasters? I know every note of the original album, so the Remasters were my first port of call. The recordings are clearer, but there's no particular revelation.

What is stunning -- and this is the reason why every Purple fan has to own this version -- are Roger Glover's Remixes. Normally I am suspicious of remixes. Today remixes are usually an excuse for another producer to cut and splice, re-order chorus and verse, and put down several new layers of synth and drum machine. Glover has done none of that, but he has brought a fantastic clarity to the recordings. Most tracks last a little longer, because Glover has left in an additional bar of music at the opening or at the very end. Two tracks, including 'Smoke on the Water', have completely different solos.

In listening to the remixes, you feel very close to the stage of the Grand Hotel, Montreux. There is a tremendous live feel to the recordings. Extraordinarily for a band whose members couldn't abide each other, the level of empathy between the musicians is oustanding. The interplay between Blackmore and Lord is wonderful. (Now at last with the sonic clarity of the remixes I can just about be sure which bits are played by Lord and which by Blackmore.) Even Glover's bass solo on 'Pictures of Home' sparkles.

Ian Gillan may have been casual about the writing of the lyrics, but Purple's music has lasted because the band put so much into the development of each track. I found that it took many listens to fully appreciate all the nuances of their finest recordings. That was, after all, part of the appeal of progressive music. This anniversary set is a fitting testament to the greatest progressive hard rock band I have known. Read more ›

43 of 45 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars What a treat! August 4, 2005

By Danno VINE™ VOICE

Format:Audio CD

If you're reading this review, you probably already know what a great hard-rock classic Deep Purple's "Machine Head" was and would like to know if this deluxe edition is worth the extra cash. Yes, it is!

Disc One contains the entire original "Machine Head" LP correctly sequenced, along with a non album B-side and two slightly different remixes of different songs done for the long out-of-print Quad version of the LP. To be honest, to my ears the Quad remixes don't sound noticably different unless I have stereo headphones on, but they're nice to have.

Disc Two contains what Deep Purple bassist Roger Glover modestly refers to as "subtle" remixes. Anything but! Glover strips away the studio sheen of the original songs, leaving the original intros and endings intact. Thus, for example, we hear the band warming up to play "Highway Star" and jamming till they suddenly stop at the end of "Smoke on the Water." As you'd expect from a bass player-turned-remixer, Glover accentuates the bassier frequencies as a rule which lends these remixes a punch they didn't have in their better-known versions. Glover also substitutes previously mixed-out alternate versions of a couple of Blackmore's solos. While Ritchie Blackmore might not be delighted to hear the automobile sound effects returned to the climax of his "Highway Star" solo, lots of fans will be VERY pleased to hear bits and pieces of an alternate version of a classic album.

Some die-hard rockers might shudder at the word "remix," fearing that drum machines or synths were added. Fear not. Not one new note has been re-recorded and flown in. Everything you hear in the remix existed on the master tapes, although it may not have made it to the final version of the album as eventually released....

If you're a Purple fan, get this. And, if you aren't, I wouldn't be surprised if it turns out you like the remixes even better than the originals. Read more ›

27 of 27 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant Purple May 15, 2000

By R. Gorham VINE™ VOICE

Format:Audio CD

Deep Purple at their ultimate very best. The classic line up of Gillian, Blackmore, Lord, Glover and Paice. Too bad they only made a few albums with this grouping. Sure, we all know it's tough to get along with Ritchie Blackmore, but the esoteric types usually are. Blackmore shreds & slings like there is no tomorrow on Machine Head. All the band members click her, but most notably are Blackmore & Ian Paice. Paice is one of the most under-rated drummers ever... he cooks on this album. His drumming is smooth and almost effortless. "Highway Star" and "Smoke on the Water" are two songs that any person even slightly interested in rock & roll will remember. But, the songs that didn't make it to the radio (or got very little air play) are the ones that hold this great album together. "Pictures of Home", "Maybe I'm a Leo", "Never Before"... and "Lazy"... how can you not jump up from whatever you are doing and just run yourself silly? This classic hard rock is full of energy & heart. A 1972 essential in any rock library.

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A terrific re-issue of a very important album. August 27, 1998

By [e-mail]

Format:Audio CD

This is perhaps one of the best-sounding CDs I have ever heard. I grew up on the album, and, in fact, went through 2 copies. Thus, I thought I knew it pretty well. The first CD version of the original album was 1 of my first CDs, but it rather disappointed me as it was not much of an improvement on the original album, if at all. This re-issue, however, goes way beyond just remastering. The remixes on Disc 1 bring out the interplay of guitar and organ like you've never heard it before, in effect making the songs new again. Drums and bass are both given resounding punch, and the vocals will move you. The overall sound is cleaner and crisper than ever, yet not to the point of being sterile. You can really feel the emotion and tension in that Swiss hotel-made-studio, I swear. Disc 2 is the original album, beautifully remastered for CD. This one will always be in my Most-Played rack. It's a model for re-issues.