DEEP PURPLE — Machine Head (review)

DEEP PURPLE — Machine Head album cover Album · 1972 · Hard Rock Buy this album from MMA partners
3/5 ·
SouthSideoftheSky
Never before

Machine Head is often considered to be the best of Deep Purple's many albums and while I prefer Fireball, I agree to some extent. Compared to the raw Deep Purple In Rock, Machine Head is a bit more sophisticated and elaborated. The guitar and keyboard solos are better structured and do not come across as improvisations as was often the case on In Rock. The solos on Highway Star in particular are almost Neo-Classical in nature and the interplay between Jon Lord and Ritchie Blackmore is inspiring.

With this album, the band ventured further away from their Blues and Rock 'N' Roll roots towards Heavy Metal. But this is still very far away from what Black Sabbath was doing at the time. 'Proto-Metal' is actually a pretty good genre-categorization for this music.

Highway Star, Lazy, Space Trukin' and Smoke On The Water are all eternal classics of the genre, but all the songs are often played live by the band to this very day. My personal favourites are Highway Star and Pictures Of Home.

Like In Rock, Machine Head is also an all out Rock album with hardly one subtle moment. I suppose that Deep Purple were always better live than in the studio. The production of this album is pretty rough and contemporary listeners will probably find the sound of this album dated.

Essential as historical document and quite good in its own right
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