Deep Purple
Deep Purple, ‘Made in Japan’, 1972. Lost a friend recently. Felt older. Found this double album lurking at the back. Gave it a whirl and enjoyed it - a reminder of simpler, happier, more innocent times when a bunch of mates ‘playing’ tennis racquets, cricket bats, bits of wood, or air guitar, in a bedroom headbanging along to loud music for hours was just heaven.
I always preferred Purple to Sabbath; better tunes and riffs. Plus, Jon Lord on keyboards fleshed the sound out. Listening to this almost 50-year-old album you can hear it’s LIVE, but also how hard, tight, and fast a unit they were. This being the famous Mark 2 version of the band with Ian Gillan on vocals. He had a great rock scream of a voice. Richie Blackmore, a guitar monster. ‘Highway Star’ is a great riff that still boogies till it blows chunks. ‘Smoke on The Water’ is, well, ‘Smoke on The Water’”, an ur-riff. It’s like ‘Stairway to Heaven’ or ‘Ace of Spades’, just part of the culture. ‘The Mule’ is Prog-tastic but still rockin’ and has a drum solo from Ian Paice. I know. Throw rocks at it! Except, it’s been years since I heard a drum solo. It’s fun, (though I still avoid Ginger Baker doing ‘Toad’). ‘Strange Kind of Woman’ a sleazy riff with dirty keyboards and breakdown where Richie noodles and gets the crowd clapping. ‘Lazy’ distorted keyboards finally bursting into fast boogie shuffle. ‘Child in Time’ all swirly keyboard, slowly building with Gillan screaming, then exploding into full pelt rock stomping, then receding and repeating the trick. Deep, man. ‘Space Truckin’’ takes up all of Side 4. A massive jam, moving from simple cymbal tapping and keyboard chords to full on attack, everything akimbo and flying.
It’s all nonsense of course, but back in the days of longhair, denim, Vietnam, Bloody Sunday, Three Day Week, three TV channels, etc etc stuff like this spoke to The Youth - when the counterculture meant something and a record collection was a simple way of expressing who you were and your values. In dreams begin responsibilities…
Deep Purple
Deep Purple, ‘Made in Japan’, 1972. Lost a friend recently. Felt older. Found this double album lurking at the back. Gave it a whirl and enjoyed it - a reminder of simpler, happier, more innocent times when a bunch of mates ‘playing’ tennis racquets, cricket bats, bits of wood, or air guitar, in a bedroom headbanging along to loud music for hours was just heaven.
I always preferred Purple to Sabbath; better tunes and riffs. Plus, Jon Lord on keyboards fleshed the sound out. Listening to this almost 50-year-old album you can hear it’s LIVE, but also how hard, tight, and fast a unit they were. This being the famous Mark 2 version of the band with Ian Gillan on vocals. He had a great rock scream of a voice. Richie Blackmore, a guitar monster. ‘Highway Star’ is a great riff that still boogies till it blows chunks. ‘Smoke on The Water’ is, well, ‘Smoke on The Water’”, an ur-riff. It’s like ‘Stairway to Heaven’ or ‘Ace of Spades’, just part of the culture. ‘The Mule’ is Prog-tastic but still rockin’ and has a drum solo from Ian Paice. I know. Throw rocks at it! Except, it’s been years since I heard a drum solo. It’s fun, (though I still avoid Ginger Baker doing ‘Toad’). ‘Strange Kind of Woman’ a sleazy riff with dirty keyboards and breakdown where Richie noodles and gets the crowd clapping. ‘Lazy’ distorted keyboards finally bursting into fast boogie shuffle. ‘Child in Time’ all swirly keyboard, slowly building with Gillan screaming, then exploding into full pelt rock stomping, then receding and repeating the trick. Deep, man. ‘Space Truckin’’ takes up all of Side 4. A massive jam, moving from simple cymbal tapping and keyboard chords to full on attack, everything akimbo and flying.
It’s all nonsense of course, but back in the days of longhair, denim, Vietnam, Bloody Sunday, Three Day Week, three TV channels, etc etc stuff like this spoke to The Youth - when the counterculture meant something and a record collection was a simple way of expressing who you were and your values. In dreams begin responsibilities…