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Put a spring reverb on it
Stereophile has a review of the Machine Head 50-ish anniversary reissue with comments from remix producer Dweezil Zappa:
Zappa’s changes to “Lazy” are more subtle. He discovered a noise issue that had to be dealt with. “If you really listen to what’s happening with the rhythm track, it’s a blues progression very much in the same world as the song ‘Green Onions’ (the 1962 instrumental hit by Booker T. & the MGs). It’s a faster ‘Green Onions.’ When you listen to the new version, where Ritchie is playing rhythm guitar under the keyboard solo, I put a spring reverb on it to give it more of a ‘Green Onions’ feel, which isn’t on the original. You’ll also hear that the vocals in ‘Lazy’ are much more up front. And the harmonica solo is louder.
“The other thing about ‘Lazy’ is that on the master recording, the guitar tone, his main lead tone for his solos, is very different than what ended up on the record. It was much brighter, closer to what you hear in the beginning of the song. The problem was that while it was being recorded, they had some kind of technical issue where noise was introduced into the recording. You hear a lot of crackling. They had to muffle and mute the guitar tone in terms of the EQ to get rid of that. When I first got the track, I thought with modern tools I could get rid of that noise. But when I did that, it didn’t have the vibe. It was brighter, but it didn’t sound like the original vinyl anymore.”
Read more in Stereophile.
Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing
Irrespective whether you like the end results or not, Dweezil sure gave the remixing process some thought and care.
May 22nd, 2024 at 03:21I have the 1st version of MH and the RG’s version. I don’t need the 3rd.
May 22nd, 2024 at 05:00Very interesting that this review also mentions the USA Quad mix as being the best.
I found this other review below a few weeks ago & he also says the USA Quad mix is by far the best of this new set. Hmmmmmmmmmm, good to hear that for my ‘old fashioned’ ears & expectations. Cheers.
https://www.hiresedition.com/review/classic-rock/deep-purple-machine-head-50.html
May 22nd, 2024 at 06:15Yo,
Good review with lots of insight…Those tubes, leads, volume dials & / or speakers can play-up at the worst times lol ! ( We must remember that RB had his amp boosted to over a claimed 400-Watts with an extra out-put stage built in…( Poor tubes, but what a great sound ))…
That’s show-biz…Though it’s a wonder the part wasn’t re-recorded imo.
Peace !
May 22nd, 2024 at 06:53I’d rather listen to the original version since 1971.There’s nothing wrong with it.I don’t know what’s the point in remastering. ???
May 22nd, 2024 at 08:03Lazy track is an altered version of Cream’s Stepping Stone. RB says in an interview I stole it from Clapton!
May 22nd, 2024 at 08:15I did consider skipping this realease, but remember having the DVD Audio version of MH 20 yars ago (lent it to a guy who never returned it…) that was much better than the original release. It sounded more “Airy” (like it was recorded in a proper studio, not a hotel hall). Suppose that might bed the “USA Quad mix” version. So, maybe I will buy it. It was that much better….
May 22nd, 2024 at 09:32They probably noticed too late in the original mixing process and had left Switzerland already.
May 22nd, 2024 at 11:56Add this, take away that.
Is it Machine Head anymore?
May 22nd, 2024 at 15:35I thought Ritchie stole it from the Blues Breakers, Manos?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hh1Mh-ywHZs&list=PLzEG2f9QAl8MXFkg9FMmhFn4jTqV4vwZz&index=11
But Cream played it too, I didn’t know that up to now. Thanks for making me aware. You live and learn.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBBbfhmWku8
May 22nd, 2024 at 16:00After hearing some of the re-mixes, I’m certainly not buying it!!
May 22nd, 2024 at 17:17“Add this, take away that.
Is it Machine Head anymore?”
No worries, Rascal, it is as long as the mighty Gorgan roareth!
May 23rd, 2024 at 15:10“Is it Machine Head anymore?”
So what if it isn’t? No one is taking away the original! Listen to the original if you want the original. If you are like me and actually grow tired of listening to the exact same thing for 40 years, enjoy the fresh take on it.
May 24th, 2024 at 06:14The good news here is that the 40th box, which I missed during its limited run, has come down from the highs of £100 to what I paid yesterday – £35 for a mint edition… I wont be buying the ’50th’ – I don’t like what Zappa jnr has done with it, although he’s sold it well as a project, it sounds like I’ve been mucking about on pro-tools to my ears… let it rest… let it be for pities sake.
That said, I prefer Burn and Stormbringer, even CTTB to Machine Head anyway – always have. Machine Head always felt contrived to me, a deliberate attempt to write a classic album, and at times it feels less spontaneous, less raw, less energised as a result… yeah, it’s a classic album, it has that mass appeal… I like it, I’ve just never loved it… I love Fireball, I love In Rock, I love the final MK1 S/T album… I guess beauty is in the eye and all that, the Demons Eye lol.
Rock on.
May 24th, 2024 at 10:35“Machine Head always felt contrived to me, a deliberate attempt to write a classic album, and at times it feels less spontaneous, less raw, less energised as a result … yeah, it’s a classic album, it has that mass appeal… I like it, I’ve just never loved it …”
That’s an interesting take, Kosh, not mine, but I totally understand where you’re coming from. Machine Head sounds indeed focused, even concentrated, “we-now-only-have-only-a-short-time-left-to-get-this-album-done, let’s-knuckle-down-to-it-and-it-better-turn-out-good!”. Maybe it is exactly that type of commitment which makes me like that album above all other Mk II output. In Rock was Mk II being virgins, Fireball saw them explore new avenues, Machine Head was recorded by five guys who already knew that no one could stop them and that they were on the verge of becoming this mega-band and WDWTWA had them lean back, look around and say: “Hey, we’re superstars now, we’re allowed to do anything!” Each album was a product of the particular phase the band were in at the time.
Very perceptive of you!
May 24th, 2024 at 18:47“Superstars”? I seriously doubt they were thinking like that Uwe. Cheers.
May 24th, 2024 at 22:12I think they were. They had a plan. They knew that the next album had to break them in the US – and it did. Machine Head was a strategic album. In Rock hadn’t even charted in the US (due to mainly distribution issues), Fireball reached a respectable #32, Machine Head a walloping #7, they were finally Top Ten.
May 24th, 2024 at 23:58‘So what if it isnt the original’
So what if it isnt Deep Purple!
May 25th, 2024 at 05:15@18: Exactly. Even if Lady Gaga re-records MH, the original will still be there and everyone is free to listen to the version they prefer. Dream Theater covered MiJ note for note but there is still 150 different releases of the original to listen to.
May 25th, 2024 at 08:00It takes three seconds hearing anything Dweezil has remixed on MH and you know who’s playing. We’re all trainspotters here, casual listeners wouldn’t even notice a relevant difference.
And Lady Gaga is a Judas Priest, not a Deep Purple fan, so she’ll do a remix of Turbo first. She invited Halford to one of her gigs and he was of course overawed with her performance and she name—-checked him on stage. Like many gay men, he has a real soft spot for divas.
I like her btw, both as a singer and an actress. And her reply to a journalist bringing up the rumor as to whether she was a hermaphrodite was priceless: “And would it be so terrible?”
May 25th, 2024 at 09:06Lady Gaga wasn’t mentioned as to doing a remix Uwe, it was a re recording of the MH album. “Like many gay men, he (Rob Halford) has a real soft spot for divas”. Is that a double entendre or a Freudian slip Uwe? And if there are not any Swifties in here anywhere, someone has to ask. What if Taylor Swift re recorded the entire MH album. Cheers.
May 25th, 2024 at 11:42The Original Deep Purple Web Pages.
Even if it isnt Deep Purple
What a Joke!
May 25th, 2024 at 16:35@15…
Thanks Uwe… and yes, I agree with your summary of those classic MKII albums, and the development of the band and those egos too!
Ultimately MH & MIJ are the albums most people outside of the Purps true fan base have heard of… that’s hugely significant, the fact that they’re absolute belters (in isolation) means the bands legacy as a brilliant entity is secure… ultimately the focus and smoother, perhaps classier, edges of MH have ensured it’s stood the test of time… but I love grit, the angular edginess and the varied sonics of In Rock – it’s dangerous… Fireball too… even Who do… feels less focussed and I love that part of the band, even if the protagonists don’t/didn’t … lol.
That’s why i adore Stormbringer, perhaps its closet cousin – Fireball, with that funk – hang on … groove ?!? Yeah, I remember being blown away by it, it’s brave – different… it’s not a logical progression, and even if Blackers can’t hear it… it’s a brilliant album.
Not sure where I’m going with this … lol – yeah, I get MH is the one, but we could live without remixing a fine sounding original to death.. you know, to make things louder, to alter the dynamics … it’s a classic, leave it be… I wouldn’t want to read LOTR with everything IN BLOCK CAPITALS… it deserves peace, it deserves to be heard as it was, because that’s what made it ‘file under popular’ in the first place.
Keep on rocking
May 25th, 2024 at 18:53If Lady Gaga and/or Taylor Swift would re-record Deep Purple songs for themselves I’d be chuffed and sure as hell buy the product out of sheer curiosity. Hell, I bought Lou Reed’s Metal Machine Music knowing full well I was in for. I welcome it if artists from another genre and era cherish what Purple do.
But Taylor is a Def Leppard, not a Deep Purple fan last I heard!
https://youtu.be/i7ACnBRZ8v4
The criticism lodged against “messing with DP’s work”, may it be via remixes, sampling or (in our case here: imagined) re-recordings by other, more contemporary artists, misses IMHO the important aspect that these measures all contribute to DP’s music being kept alive. I for one don’t want my favorite band to end as a museum piece on an off-limits altar of adoration. That wouldn’t be in line with Purple Philosophy either because in its lifespan the band has always done the unexpected: the Concerto, the radical switch to the hard-edged In Rock, albums that stretched the format like Fireball, WDWTWA, Stormbringer, Slaves & Masters and Purpendicular, radical sound changes from WDWTWA to Bun or from Stormbringer to Come Taste The Band or from TBRO to Purpendicular, replacing someone like Gillan with DC & Glenn or Ritchie with Tommy Bolin or Steve Morse, recording an album of covers late in their career etc. Not all of this has pleased everyone of us all the time, but wasn’t it interesting to witness?
May 26th, 2024 at 01:30Yo,
From the ongoing replies, it appears that the business-end of the record company made the right decision.
Q. How do you flog a 52-year-old classic album to the public ???
Ans. You have it remixed by an equally successful musicians son, & let the good-times-roll.
Peace !
May 26th, 2024 at 02:06Still don’t understand how come, that a 52 years old album why is promoted as 50? Why don’t they did it in 2022?
May 26th, 2024 at 12:36@26…
DP have so much material out-on-the-market, that you want to evenly distribute the music over-time to the general public…
“Turning to Crime” was released just before Christmas 2021…And this may have sparked the idea for a Machine Head 50th anniversary idea…Especially since Made in Japan has ran-out-of-milk, & its resources exhausted.
Peace !
May 26th, 2024 at 23:09Money talks as we all know. It would depend on the sales figures of the MH 2024 release to enable Rhino Records to call it a ‘success’ or not. Having said that they may have done it out of respect & along with Dweezil did it for love & not money. Cheers.
May 26th, 2024 at 23:46I thought Dweezil doing it was a nice commemorative idea and he did it well. Roger’s reaction is a bit miffed/sourpuss, as if Dweezil’s remix invalidates his own. He could have said something diplomatic along the lines of: “Not the way I’d have imagined Machine Head ever hearing, but an interesting new take.”
But Roger has always been a little touchy re his production work, he declined at the time the offer to remaster and/or remix the Mk III albums for EMI, saying he had nothing to do with them. Which is understandable on one hand, on the other hand he had his own producer career working for other artists. For many artists he actually produced some of their strongest work, think of Nazareth’s Razamanaz, Rory Gallagher’s Calling Card, Judas Priest’s Sin After Sin or the Michael Schenker Group’s debut.
May 27th, 2024 at 17:32Roger Glover had NO connection with those artists you mentioned Uwe. A fair bit of a difference there & also the attitude as to how MK3 eventuated would not sit too well, even after all these years.That is a natural feeling, why do something that you do not feel at ease with or like. Regarding people not liking the Atmos mix & I can see why, why should they? Because it is the latest whizz bang toy available makes it good or something. Not likely, it is a gimmick in many ways to drag rock music into that abyss. Certain movie soundtracks yes, some atmospheric ‘rock’ music maybe, but not standard in your face rock music. A lot of people are commenting along those lines these days regarding everything & anything being given the Atmos treatment. It is a new toy for some to play with & they will continue to do so, unfortunately. Cheers.
May 27th, 2024 at 23:13Yo,
The recording process can be simplified into a few important stages…
1. Recording all parts at highest levels possible, with minimum distortion, & minimum compression. This offers each recorded part an equal opportunity to shine, or balance out the sound, without the need for enhancements, whilst providing as natural-a-sound possible.
2. After discussions with the band &/or producers wants & needs, the pulling-into-focus of desired part to create the desired mood / effect. eg, It’s like a photograph, where your point-of-focus may be on a house per-se, but the mountains, sky, clouds, forest & river all play a part too, & have to be addressed as best as possible, without shifting the point-of-focus too much, or until it’s time for another part to shine, such as a solo etc etc.
3. Mastering is the ability to address all the tunes needs as a whole, so that there’s not too much over-all difference between an albums softest & loudest tunes. Tune sequence helps this process, but the idea remains that you don’t want a listener turning down the volume on the powerful tunes, or turning up the volume on the softer tunes. Proper use of subtle compression enables the one setting on the volume-dial for an albums duration, or at least that’s what’s desired.
So, as you can see from above, the discussion with the producers & Dweezil is what would be nice to hear, along with the Wasp. RG has provided his POV adequately with his intentions on mixing the Mk-II material previously.
Peace !
May 27th, 2024 at 23:57I know that Roger‘s feelings were understandably hurt at the time, but in the course of DP‘s lifespan, history has reaffirmed him as THE Deep Purple bass player and he has played on all of DP‘s studio output except three making him the DP member with the most constant participation with the exception of Little Ian. But Roger has played on more DP albums than either Jon or Ritchie.
May 28th, 2024 at 09:44I always wondered what Glover thought of the song Burn as he played that during the Deep Rainbow era. Cheers.
May 28th, 2024 at 12:27I know that Roger‘s feelings were understandably hurt at the time, but in the course of DP‘s lifespan, history has reaffirmed him as THE Deep Purple bass player and he has played on all of DP‘s studio output except three making him the DP member with the most constant participation with the exception of Little Ian. But Roger has played on more DP albums than either Jon or Ritchie. And on one more than Big Ian!
May 28th, 2024 at 12:31You have posted that again Uwe, the three albums should be six for Roger Glover’s participation in DP studio albums. Not to worry these things happen in life, especially as we get older, he he he. Cheers.
May 28th, 2024 at 22:42@33…
“Burn” is an awesome riff, & RG appreciates good music, so it’s like 1 + 1= 2…All he has to do is play a simplified SotW sitting on a “G” note at a faster rate & he’s done…
RB likely forgot how the rest-of-the-tune went anyway, so you only got the intro riff… Check-out any reunion MK-II renditions of “Woman from Tokyo” to confirm the same.
Peace !
May 29th, 2024 at 01:04@ 36 – I was more thinking of what Glover’s thoughts were on having to play the song Burn, in regards to him not having anything to do with that music. I am not sure if he may have had to play Mistreated at all back on the Down to Earth tour. I will have a look at some set lists. Some musicians don’t mind playing other musicians material, some have no choice & others simply do not play it at all. It depends on the situation no doubt. Cheers.
May 29th, 2024 at 21:54Aw shucks, Herr MacGregor, don’t be so hard on me, I only started counting studio albums since he joined!
May 29th, 2024 at 23:32@37…
I can’t speak for Roger, but he’s a professional, & is likely used / conditioned to RB wandering-off noodling some riff or melody, knowing it won’t last for long. And if he can contribute, he usually does, as shown in the awesome early Mk-II live material, especially with Jon…As a bassist, he can contribute at will, knowing that the strings tell-no-lies, & sing as they can…Plus RB’s memory isn’t necessarily the best, so the reflective noodling is just that, a trip down memory-lane for a moment as a small token for the crowd. Killer riff no-doubt however, even though he did steal yet another riff again from someone. Another one of his grand-mothers favourite tunes I think.
Someone like IG may have an issue for many reasons, such as not knowing the words, it’s not his song, it’s on the spur-of-the-moment, & it may well be in the wrong key for him to give it his best…Plus its lucky to go-on for more than 30-seconds, as RB’s reflective noodles are often short ‘n sweet. Flash-backs down memory-lane per-se.
Now if the band had rehearsed the tune, stand-back…IG could probably do a surprisingly good job of it imo, even today.
Peace !
May 30th, 2024 at 12:52@ 37
Which reminds me of Graham Bonnets audition which was singing Mistreated.
Still d love to hear that tape.
Btws, wasnt Love s No Friend full of references to Mistreated?
If RB wrote Mistreated 2 years before they finally used it how big are the chances the rest of the DP guys did hear it?
May 31st, 2024 at 00:36I doubt that Ritchie widely shared the Mistreated riff demo taped on his Revox. He envisaged it to be sung by someone like Paul Rodgers, he obviously had Free in mind when he wrote it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uyle6hZLxRc
So Big Ian shouldn’t sing it, Roger’s bass playing wasn’t funky enough and Jon should play a lesser role (Ritchie once said that “there was not much to do in Mistreated for Jon and that is how I wanted it”). That only leaves Paicey to listen to it (I have no idea whether he ever did).
May 31st, 2024 at 15:12This is actually the Free song Ritchie had in mind when he penned Mistreated.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfNxuSjfPbw
He wanted to catch that vibe (and he did, mission accomplished!), the parallels are obvious.
May 31st, 2024 at 15:26Thanks for that live Free clip Uwe, a nice dry punchy sound that is. Regarding the band, that blues thing had been done to death by that stage though, hindsight again. Too much like Cream & others that went well before them. Serious individual talent there in Free & Bad Company were grand in their first few albums. Better songs although Free had a couple of good songs, although fate has it that they were a little too late to the party. Paul Kossoff another wasted talented guitarist who died in 1976, hmmmmmmmmm. A shame but that is the way of things sometimes. Cheers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqdCZ0yHNa4
May 31st, 2024 at 23:00