There is a reason why you should buy an original record rather than a compilation (a greatest hits or best of sort of vibe). I'll illustrate why:
When you buy a CD containing the pink floyd classic Another Brick In The Wall... you get a great song to listen to! What you lose out is the FLOW... continuity... the steady unbroken stream of music. The Wall is a classic end to end with each song acting as a bead that is bound together with an invisible thread of Roger Waters genius.
Also, an album echoes the emotions that a band is experiencing at a particular point in time. When you listen to a compilation... you experience a series of emotions that lack continuity.
Lets move on to this great record...
Machine Head
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Fact Sheet
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Album......................: Machine Head
Band.......................: Deep Purple
Genre......................: Rock / Classic Rock / Hard Rock
Band Lineup............: Deep Purple (Mark 2)
................................: Ian Gillan (vocals)
................................: Richie Blackmore (guitars)
................................: Jon Lord (Hammond Organ/Keys)
................................: Roger Glover (Bass)
................................: Ian Paice (Drums)
Released in 1972, Machine Head is a masterpiece from this Legendary Band. Deep Purple is a band close to my heart as I had that rare opportunity of meeting them. I was so impressed and influenced by Jon Lord that I took to playing keys.
Deep Purple hit the high note on their classic record - Deep Purple In rock that gave us Child In Time a song that has to be heard to be believed. They followed it up with another successful album called Fireball. Machine Head, the record that followed, doesnt have the brute force that formed the foundation of In Rock. Instead it has some great riff based rock tracks that ensures repeated listening.
The album is also memorable because it spawned their greatest hit - Smoke On The Water
On to the song list.
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Tracks
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Highway Star
The album kicks off with this classic hard rock song that became Deep Purple's show opener for many a concert. The tempo laid down by the rhythm section comprising of Paice (drums) and Glover (bass) provides enough foundation for that legendary guitar wielder, Richie Blackmore and the Lord of the Hammond, Jon Lord, to let it rip. Throw in the voice of the silver throated screamer, Ian Gillan, and you have a song that will make your head bob up and down like one of those bobble neck dolls.
The highlight of this song is a blitzkrieg solo by Jon Lord on the hammond and another solo towards the end by Blackmore...
no body's gonna take my car I got speed inside my brainnnn...
Maybe I'm A Leo
Pretty good song with some nice hooks. The only thing is it gets overshadowed by the rest of the songs in the album. Just a testimonial to the power of the tracks on this record.
Pictures Of Home
Features some cool guitar playing by Blackmore. Ian Gillan's voice is incredible.
Never Before
Comparatively slower but not lacking in quality. This song is a nice listen and it has shades of songs by The Who.
Smoke On The Water
So much has been written about this song that happened by chance. The band was playing in Montreaux when they witnessed a fire and the rest is history... anyway... this is one of the most known riffs on the planet that every guitar player learns how to play. (Paranoid by Black Sabbath and Whole Lotta Love by Led Zeppelin are some of the other riffs of this calibre).
Like Hotel California, this has suffered from OVERPLAY but like Hotel California, this is a song that will remain with you for the rest of your existence.
Lazy
Sometimes musicians tend to forget that they play to entertain people. They then end up playing to showcase their skills and Lazy is one such track. In short, Jon Lord rocks.
Space Truckin
My pick of the album. Take a great riff, throw in some innovative lyrics, a pulsating beat and some wicked screaming at the end... and you have the perfect riff based hard rock song. Even if you are no fan of rock, this song can make you tap your feet on the strength of that riff alone.
take a peek at a bit of the lyrics:
We had a lot of luck on Venus
We always had a ball on Mars
Meeting all the groovy people
We've rocked the Milky Way so far
We danced around with Borealis
We're space truckin' round the the stars
Come on... Come on... Come on... let's go Space Truckin'
Space Travel, anyone?
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Last Note
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Buy it. Treasure it. Pass it on to your kids. Live to a ripe old age and die happy.
~finis~
PS: To the uninitiated... a riff is a small musical passage that is played repeatedly through parts of a song.
