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Triumph snatched from the flames of disaster
Well, the 2024 remix of Machine Head is upon us, and Louder Sound has a brief overview. The print edition of the Classic Rock magazine has announced issue 326, out on March 28, 2024, with the very Purple cover story.
In issue 326’s cover feature, band members and other stars talk about their favourite Deep Purple songs. Plus: how Machine Head was a triumph snatched from the flames of disaster.
Read the new release overview and Classic Rock teaser in Louder Sound. The print copy of the magazine issue can be ordered here.
PS. The release appeared on the streaming services yesterday, and we gave a listen to the Montreux 1971 show. It indeed appears to be a bootleg quality, albeit above average for that time.
Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing
Mmmhhhhhh, a picture of the band during Lordys beardy FIREBALL days
It took me decades to realise that the poster I treasured came from a photosession with loads of shots.
I think the mags that included this gem of a poster were JOEPIE and POPSHOP
While at highschool end 70 s I went to 2nd hand market during the break and found my treasure.
March 30th, 2024 at 03:21This might have originally been a photo session for BRAVO, the market-controlling German teen magazine, and they then licensed it to other media. Purple was in 1971 no 3 in the BRAVO most popular band poll – with CCR and The Bee Gees holding the no 1 and 2 spots, respectively.
https://images.bravo.de/c4a2f3d1e05c13abc061813a1df2db1c,id=432a1ca0,b=bravo,w=470,rm=sk.webp
https://images.bravo.de/af8f93e84cf4e0a464a8bee0417b59a9,id=ee8cf79c,b=bravo,w=470,rm=sk.webp
https://images.bravo.de/675d2c359c1b3e22ebaa80a879bb1632,id=b45cfeb5,b=bravo,w=470,rm=sk.webp
It was a poll that in later years would be dominated by Sweet, T. Rex, BCR and ABBA. DP was likely the “rockiest”, least singles market-oriented and most (sub-)adult band to grace that poll ever. They never qualified again, but BRAVO (and other German teen magazines such as POP) would continue to report regularly and favorably on them.
That freaky session with foodstuffs et al was for BRAVO too.
https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/k7gAAOSwW2FhoiGM/s-l400.jpg
March 30th, 2024 at 14:08That schism in perception we sometimes witness here that
(i) the Continental European members remember Deep Purple as being the bigger band in the early 70ies
Iii) while people from the US and Oceania think it’s Led Zeppelin?
The BRAVO 1971 “most popular beat (sic!) band”-poll goes a long way in explaining that:
1. Creedence Clearwater Revival
2. Bee Gees
3. Deep Purple
4. Christie (hit single ‘Yellow River’)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Q-DkK6IIeI
5. The Rattles (German group, hit single ‘The Witch’)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2LHQmp3kd8
6. The Kinks
7. The Hollies
8. Shocking Blue (hit single ‘Venus’)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPEhQugz-Ew
9. The Beatles
10. Black Sabbath
11. The Rolling Stones
12. Mungo Jerry (hit single ‘In The Summertime’)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvUQcnfwUUM
13. The Tremeloes
14. The Lords (German beat band, string of 60ies hits , e. g. ‘Poor Boy’)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZwAe6CCqwUc
15. Die Flippers (awful German Scjlager/Easy listening band)
16. Led Zeppelin (never heard of them)
17. Free
18. Simon & Garfunkel
19. Hotlegs (hit single ‘Neanderthal Man’, became 10cc later on)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0e0qYP_PTlY
20. Tee Set (Dutch pop band, hit single ‘Ma Belle Amie’)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=asneSWGKrRc
It goes to show how much Deep Purple had penetrated the European pop market in the early 70ies – though not really a singles band (and SOTW hadn’t even been written yet!) nor a teen idol one. But they were a household name and ranked higher than one-hit-wonders, reliable continuous hit single providers (CCR, Bee Gees, Simon & Garfunkel, Hollies, Tremeloes), teen bands, bluesy heavy rock contemporaries (Sabbath, Free, Led Zep) or UK bands of the British Invasion that had already established themselves in the 60ies (Beatles, Stones, Kinks, Hollies).
March 30th, 2024 at 16:49#2
March 30th, 2024 at 18:08The cover photo comes from the first photo session with Deep Purple with Didi Zill for BRAVO, which was in Munich in 1970 in the BRAVO studio.
@ 3 – “Iii) while people from the US and Oceania think it’s Led Zeppelin?” Well possibly as that photo of the Purps with flowers etc could entail that, he he he. Anyway Zeppelin had 4 members & Purple 5. We are NOT that backward out here Uwe ha ha ha. We can tell the difference between certain musical acts, sometimes. Cheers.
March 30th, 2024 at 21:40@3 Here in the USA, the only Purple song I ever heard on the radio from 1968-1971 was “Hush.” “In Rock” was a great album, but for some reason the disc jockeys didn’t seem to be aware of it, so we didn’t hear it. Led Zeppelin was getting a ton of air play and was thought to be the king for the rest of the ’70s, at least among rock fans. Purple did have a big moment from 1972-’74, where it was right up there with Zep on the radio but after that the only songs I ever heard on American radio were: Smoke, Highway, Space, Woman and later in the 1980s, Perfect, Knockin’ and just a bit of ‘Any Fule Know That’ and ‘Ted the Mechanic’ from the 1990s. Of course, there was a large undercurrent of hard-core fans like myself that bought the albums and felt that songs like “Fools,” “Pictures of Home,” and “Sail Away” were classics. Somewhere in the late 1980s, the money-grubbing corporations in radio and music industries took over and rock died. American tastes in everything went down the toilet about that time – TV, movies, music. The “older” generations know what’s what, though. I suspect the same is true in Europe? I’ve never been to Europe.
March 30th, 2024 at 21:46I tried to place an order for the DEEP PURPLE edition 326 by Classic Rock but everytime I throw it my basket I end up with the one that shows QUEEN.
Very annoying.
Btw, I recall they did a similair magazine for IN ROCK, did they skip FIREBALL?
And again, why use a FIREBALL period photo shoot for MH?!
Getting cranky here.
Awaiting your polite answers.
Meanwhile I m gonna fry myself some veilcroquettes by my favourite brand.
I recently found out that the Airfryer(Which I tried and disliked)version gives 2 croquettes less but for more money!
So into the frying pan it is. 🙂
March 30th, 2024 at 22:17My son in law calls them bitterballen, right?
Have you tried this link here?
https://www.magazinesdirect.com/az-magazines/6936399/classic-rock-magazine-subscription.thtml
March 31st, 2024 at 04:08It has nothing to do with backwardness or ignorance, but only with exposure. Led Zep was very much an American and other English-speaking (well, sort of) countries phenomenon while Purple was initially very much a Continental European one. Nearly every household I knew with, say, 20 or more rock/pop albums would call In Rock its own in the early 70ies. It was prominently displayed in music and radio shops for years (the cover being an eye-catching piece of Pop Art). Black Night was more successful in Germany than SOTW, it stayed in the charts for 27 weeks and reached No 2.
In contrast, the ONLY Led Zep album that reached No 1 in Germany in the 70ies was Led Zep II which stayed at the pole position for four weeks and in the charts for 43 weeks. Compare that to Deep Purple In Rock which remained at No 1 for 12 weeks and in the charts for 83 weeks, one and half years! And it gets better: Every subsequent DP album up to and including Burn (with the exception of WDWTWA – it reached No 3 -, but including Made In Japan which probably cannibalized WDWTWA sales as they were released at pretty much the same time) hit No 1 in Germany and they all stayed in the charts for roughly 9 to 12 months or more.
Since then, Purple have held the No 1 spot in Germany four more times: With The House of Blue Light (Perfect Strangers was No 2), Now What?!, Infinite and Whoosh!
After the initial No 1 success of their second album in 1970, Led Zep would have to wait another 42 years for the next one: Celebration Day charted at No 1 in 2012. That puts things into perspective.
March 31st, 2024 at 04:56Don‘t miss the wonderful Gillan-Interview on http://www.superdeluxeedition.com.
March 31st, 2024 at 09:42Cheers. Martin
Been listening to the Montreux 1971 set (did the download for £7) and it sounds great but, and it’s a big but, Speed King, Child In Time, Paint in Black and Wring That Neck are all incomplete. I haven’t got to Black Night or Lucille yet. Which is such a shame as it’s a great performance. I think the fact that there are bits missing should have been advertised.
March 31st, 2024 at 11:44Just joking Uwe in regards to the ‘backwaters’ out here in Oz. Seriously though DP were rather big in that respect out here, their 1971 tour was very successful in regards to concert attendances. Sure it was with Free & Manfred Mann as a ‘festival’ package but MK2 were the headline act. Zeppelin toured here a year later & played one or two more outdoor shows & of course were very popular also. Much more exposure there & look at their manager Peter Grant for that. LZ never returned here, probably due to lack of larger venues. I haven’t looked at record sales or anything like that. In my neck of the woods I always heard more Purple & Sabbath back then than Zeppelin. We know of the the Japanese stories. So Oceania were rather into DP in the early 70’s. Zeppelin not ever touring here again left a door open for DP in many ways. But apart from the one off Sunbury Festival headline in early 1975 & the MK 4 tour in late 1975, Purple didn’t play here again until 1984. At least when Zeppelin played in Perth Western Australia they didn’t have to perform at a pool side. Oh the ignominy of it all for the Purps. Cheers.
March 31st, 2024 at 21:39Martin at 10: That is a lovely interview – with Big Ian even letting his guard down a little and not in his usual interview mode. Danke sehr for posting.
March 31st, 2024 at 23:11@ Uwe
Bitterballen are pretty much the same as croquettes but are ballshaped, owwwww did I say that, while croquettes are longer, straight etc
Ouch.
My choice is Van Dobbe
I wanted to scroll during reading the interview with Gillan but my pc went berserk on me so I have to get back there.
I had not made a big stroll…..I was reading he now thinks digital releases are better than in 82. I agree but still….
Read an interview last week with Eddie Kramer somewhere , he suggests guitarists to turn back to digital.
Appearantly he still prefers that over the “coldness” of the digital bitch. “It lacks soul and warmth.”
That having said…
I recall a girl from my school talking about her father working(@ Philips perhaps?)on a new musicplayer, including lasers.
It sounded off the wall but hey, That was circa 78/79.
In 85 I visited a friend who had bought a cd player. In that era we were, well I was, brainwashed in thinking it was superior, unscratchable, blablabla
1987.
Finished my 3rd highschool diploma and my father wanted to buy me a small tv set , I was going to live on my own , to study at Leiden University, but I asked him to exchange it for a cd player.
I think Gary Moore s Wild Frontier and Hearts Private Audition were the first cds I bought.
I wish I had known, though a friend warned me already, but it was lost on me, to sit it out, have patience.
Dont know why I did not listen.
On the other hand, years later he collected MP3 files and we debated why. I preferred flac/wav.
He said he couldnt hear the difference.
I wasnt as bad as many ditching their vinylcollection for peanuts,
but yes, I should ve waited.
Its water under the bridge but it took the fun out it halfway when I became aware of how we were fooled and really overpaid, espescially for the old releases.
Gary sounded great to me but many other titles I had to push myself into believing it was good.
Then better re releases started, downloading phenomenon……And I had to fix my financial health, having spend way too much on concerts and cds for years.
I really cut down many years ago and kinda never returned as a buyer. I dont think that was my own fault. the buisness had been greedy and selling for too high prices….
I got restless, paranoid……
I more and more thought……I m not going to buy each new edition, though in the 90 s I selectively did.
Yeah, the link goes to the same site and gives me the same shit again.
Not sure what to do.
It is dubious anyway, collected loads of things but………..It never ends.
And the chance that it ll end in good appreciating hands after I m gone is zero.
Its just….. I dont know…..A reflex?
April 1st, 2024 at 01:19@9
You Germans need to get full credit for having a good taste in music both in terms of making it (from the Bach family, Telemann, Pachelbel to Scorpions etc.) and appreciating it, as proven by multiple DP albums topping the German charts.
Even when German music was not that classy like the 80s’ synth-pop), it was still catchy enough to introduce teenagers to being music fans in general, which was my case. Hell, I even got my first taste of Gary Moore from watching the Peters Pop Show.
Finally, you had your own version of a good-looking hard-drinking fast-shredding EVH in the Michael Schenker’s person!
April 1st, 2024 at 12:09Just a question. Can anyone shed any light on why this latest rehash of Machine Head is being marketed as the “50th anniversary”, when it was released in 1972?
Unless I’ve been in a time warp, that makes it 52 years ago?
I would have thought a big, all singing, all dancing 50th anniversary of the Burn album would have been on the cards instead.
I remember an interview with either David Coverdale or Glenn Hughes sometime early last year saying something like there’s something exciting to be announced later in 2023 to commemorate MK3.
But, nothing apart from the Glenn Hughes shows, which were brilliant.
Right now, I can just imagine a box set featuring-
The often rumoured Clearwell Castle rehearsal tapes
Any demos/ alternate lyric versions from sessions
A very early MK3 pre-Burn album show from late ‘73 shows (unreleased soundboard)
Unreleased soundboard of the 1974 Dundee Caird Hall show
Oh, and the California Jam released on DVD with completely different, recently discovered Camera footage. Remixed in Dobly
We can only dream……………….!
April 1st, 2024 at 19:13My first CDs were the Gillan re-releases with the extra-tracks by Virgin in the late 80ies and the Be-Bop Deluxe re-releases that came on the market pretty much the same time and also offered bonus tracks – I didn’t even have a CD player back then (but I knew it would only be a question of time as it dawned on me that the greater storage capacity of CDs would gradually make more and more music available that had never and would never see the light of day on vinyl). I only got one on my 30th birthday, shortly after the release of Slaves & Master which I have to say sounded great on my Philips CD player back then, I played it much more often than the vinyl version. While I had a sizable vinyl collection, I made the change to the CD world quickly and never looked back. I can’t imagine myself going back to vinyl ever – its a technological artifact to me like propeller airplanes (which still have their special usages I’m fully aware).
I have an excellent record player, but haven’t used it in 20 years or so, my vinyl is in my (dry and ventilated) cellar, I never go there. All that vinyl nostalgia is humbug to me – a CD is able to transport bass frequencies more accurately and at a louder volume than vinyl ever did and ever will (the needle would jump out of the groove with the bass frequencies a CD can provide), I like to listen to my music bass-heavy so that aspect is crucial to me.
My moment of revelation and enlightenment was when I heard DP’s version of Lalena on CD (not even a good transfer one at that) and could make out Paicey’s bass drum pattern for the first time in a song that I had heard hundreds of times before on vinyl. When I bought a new Volvo a few years ago, the hybrid V 90 was ruled out immediately when they told me that it doesn’t offer room for a CD player due to the battery, I didn’t even test-drive it and stuck with a fossil fuel one that kept the integrated CD player.
I don’t even have a Spotify or Apple iTunes account. Amazon Prime sends me notices all the time asking why I don’t use their streaming services for music even though I am entitled to them via the many CDs I buy there – I don’t know why I should, in the absence of a physical medium, streaming is like radio listening to me. I hate the sound of mp3 with a passion, flac/wav are both fine though.
Of course, CDs are a dying medium by now too, but hopefully I will with my remaining life span not see the day of the last CD plant on earth closing (aren’t most European CDs these days produced in the Czech Republic?).
As regards the dreaded CD rot, not one of the CDs I bought almost 40 years ago has given up on me yet, some have become discolored over time, but the CD rot syndrome is perhaps not a real pressing issue in a European climate. In any case, since I buy remasters, great parts of my CD collection are under constant rejuvenation. I just ordered the 2015 remasters of 15 (!) Iron Maiden studio albums because I thought it was time to update my (so far not wholly complete) Iron Maiden studio collection – and Iron Maiden is not even a band I particularly like (they are kind of samey to me and even Steve Harris’ busy bass playing all over the place can’t save the day for me), but I respect their longevity, people’s band image and influence on Heavy Metal as a genre. To this day, I haven’t heard the two albums they did with Blaze Bayley – that will be interesting (the two studio albums Judas Priest did with Ripper Owens during Halford’s extended lunch break were awful to me, but I’m not as emotionally invested with Mr Harris’ football team of a band)! Will probably spend the next two weeks or so listening to more Iron Maiden than in my whole life before – I will be a real expert at the end of it 🧐 and my wife will probably beg me to “please put on even Judas Priest again for a change”! 🤣 (She recently surprised me with saying that Halford’s voice was “immediately recognizable” and “definitely not as stressful to me a Glenn Hughes’ or Graham Bonnet’s singing”, so I’m definitely beginning to wear her down …)
April 1st, 2024 at 19:39@ 15 – while I agree with most of your sentiments regarding the Krauts the only problem is they undid all that with one single entity. Wagner. Ouch! Cheers.
April 2nd, 2024 at 10:26Forgetting any Blackadder ‘humour’ regarding the Germans, I do have a fondness for their attitude to certain things. Precision being one of them. Even Lemmy admired their uniforms for all things of high quality. The Wagner ‘joke’ is a repeated one for many & even he did have some nice musical moments here & there. Thank God for Bach & others & their castles look grand indeed. Ian Anderson had a penchant in the 1970’s for a certain Ale, ‘Beer’ or Cider from Germany. Just thought I had better post this in case anyone thought my past reference was a tad negative, which I didn’t intend it to be. Cheers.
April 2nd, 2024 at 10:41I have to add to the cd comments & agree wholeheartedly. Convenience was the first reason I moved from vinyl to disc. Plus to avoid all that crackling & popping noise that was rather irritating to say the least, on quieter music especially. Recording new albums instantly onto cassette to save the vinyl from repeated degradation, no matter how well I looked after them. Storage & constantly relocating house over the decades. Not to mention that myself or someone else didn’t have to change the record from side one to side two. What a relief that was especially when prostrate on the floor in a ‘meditative’ state. Dragging myself up off the floor just to turn a vinyl album over, it rather spoils the experience somewhat at times. Sure I lost money selling my complete vinyl collection for peanuts. If someone had told me years ago that I would do that decades after buying most of my vinyl new, I wouldn’t have believed them. Still it is not something I regret & at least I had that experience of opening a new album cover & gazing in wonderment at the images & or lyrics etc. The only slight regret I have is letting go of a few collectables. The Green Bullfrog album is one. Try getting that on cd these days. I do have a internet version of it & as I don’t play it very often that is good enough these days. I do own a few originals cd’s from the late 1980’s that have become faulty. They will not play on any player I have. I have been able to copy them at least so I still have them to listen to. The originals have developed a major glitch that wasn’t there for the first 10 years or so. Looking at them in the light at a certain angle & there appears to be a breakdown of sorts in the layering, hundreds of tiny cracks etc. Cheers.
April 2nd, 2024 at 11:11@3 the record label went bust so no support for In Rock in the Stated.
April 2nd, 2024 at 13:02I will do it in Hungarian, so no one gets upset, not that it is insulting in any way.
Hogy van az, hogy nem tudunk várni egy baratunkra, aki semmi mást nem kér csak hogy ő legyen az utolsó gitárosa annak a közösségnek aminek negyed évszázadik a tagja és a megmentoje volt?
April 2nd, 2024 at 15:53I know, Henrik! Bad timing. But at the same time it forced them to generate a sustainable basis in Europe by touring endlessly there. Had In Rock taken off in the US like a rocket, we would have seen a lot less of them here.
@18 & 19: You’re welcome to call me Kraut any day, you arid little bush squirrel, it won’t offend me and turn me into a sour … Kraut! 🤗 “Jerry” and “Hun” have somehow both gone out of style over the decades, but “Kraut” is a keeper! Let’s just hope that raging PC will not one day deem the name of a whole genre, namely “Krautrock”,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvoVb0tmfe0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfC4nOTb6RA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPjF4ZHuIko
a pejorative term too. And incidentally, I prefer Bach, Brahms and Beethoven to Wagner as well. Even Mozart in all his over-embellished playfulness. But I do like the taste of Sauerkraut, so there!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MkgXd3zN_GU
By the way: It is not even a German invention. The Greeks, Romans, ancient Chinese and Koreans all knew fermented cabbage via lactic acid bacteria already while my ancestors were still munching nuts and berries in dark woods or pieces of mammoth carrion on the plains. It’s also very much a part of Eastern European Jewish cuisine.
Which goes to show: Even before the Volkswagen Diesel Scandal, the Krauts were a bünch of frauds!
In former times and up to the forced introduction of the potato to German farming (to combat famines), it played a vital role as the chief vitamin C provider in winter times when fresh fruit was nonexistent for a majority of the population. You have Sauerkraut, you don’t have to worry about scurvy! That classic German dish of Sauerkraut, mashed potatoes and nitrite-cured pork? It’s not only a peasant dish, but also a vitamin bomb, providing both vitamin C (via the cabbage and the potatoes) and vitamins of the B family (especially B3/niacin) as well as A and E (via the pork).
Who said reading The Highway Star doesn’t teach you things. 😂
April 2nd, 2024 at 17:42The good people from that South American water mass rowed me my copy in today, just listening to the stereo remix now for the second time – and what an organic and vibrant sonic pleasure it is, a bit like experiencing Machine Head with 3D glasses on! 😎 🌈 🧐 🔎
– Paicey acolytes need not worry, you hear his drums well – without them being overbearing or making the whole thing sound like a darn drum clinic. He pushes the band forward without ever rushing.
– Jon’s organ is snarlier and more dramatic – those trademark slides out of nowhere! 🥰 – than it has ever been on this record. Wakeman and Emerson might have been the more flamboyant soloists, but Jon’s groovy rhythm work is in a league of its own.
– Dweezil’s mix gives the whole album more energy and a sense of urgency, those of you who always thought MH ‘clinical’ in sound will be very happy. He’s also added some real subwoof oomph to the proceedings.
– On every song you’re gonna hear small details you’ve never heard before (and very rarely minor inaccuracies/sloppiness too 😏) . Double-tracking by Ritchie, Jon and Big Ian, well-dosed phasing-, echo- plus flanging-effects. Dweezil also has a real gift for making whichever instrument is soloing at any given time the center of attention with some real raunch – yet without dwarfing what’s going on around it.
– The key to the warmer, more natural and immediate sound is the mid-range Dweezil has added/made more audible. MH sounds denser, brimming with life, not as hi-fi’ish scooped, it now has sizzle, oomph AND (finally) a gut.
– For the record: Never Before and When A Blind Man Cries are little DP masterpieces.
PS: Send the Zappa kid the In Rock masters, subito!
PPS: Played to death or not, Machine Head is one hell of a album.
April 2nd, 2024 at 22:05RE: CD’s Aging Problems from the States. I have yet to have any issues with any of my CD’s from the major labels, including the ones from the mid to late 80’s (Scorps WWL, Triumph Allied Forces, Sabbath Heaven & Hell + more), so I guess I’m lucky in that respect. (Now, some off brand labels or smaller bands are a different story) Some of those early CD’s that were sold here were actually made in Europe, I guess before manufacturing was up and running domestically.
Re: 20. Not to gloat, but I am sure glad that I still have my copy of the Bullfrog on Vinyl (The Cartoonish Cover).
April 2nd, 2024 at 22:41Thanks for the MH stereo review Uwe. I have been looking online for peoples take on this new release, not much there yesterday & only Atmos if there is a review of sorts. Nice to hear Paice drums are ok. Also the sauerkraut power food comments, indeed a vitamin bomb of sorts. That Autobahn song with Kraftwerk took me back in time. My older brother had that album & I always liked it. Being a Tangerine Dream listener from that era, wonderful. Now to track down a MH stereo remix to listen to & to pass judgement & critique on. Cheers.
April 2nd, 2024 at 22:55Thank you for the review … might just change my mi-hi-nd …
April 3rd, 2024 at 09:38@17. Oddly enough the 1st CD that I ever got was a compliation album of the new ‘heavy metal’ genre that a friend gave me as a Xmas gift — along with a CD player! Two Gillan songs (‘Unchain Your Brain’, and ‘I’ll Rip Your Spine Out’) were included and that was my introduction to his solo career.
April 9th, 2024 at 05:52