Deep Purple

I'm not having the time to follow it properly, but I'm really liking this thread. I've just read the In Rock, Fireball and Machine Head reviews, gave these albuns another listen and I really can't say which one is my favourite. Even Fireball, which doesn't get to much attention because it's in the middle of the two big classics, is a strong album in my opinion. With exception of "Anyone's Daughter" I like all the songs on it! I'm curious to read the "Who Do We Think We Are" review. It's been a long time since I don't listen to this one and except "Woman From Tokyo", I really can't remember any other song.
 
Glad you're digging it @Naty! :) Same here, I can't remember much from Who Do We Think We Are at all, it will be an interesting listen. Who Do We Think We Are will be the first album of 2016 but first we need to get to:

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Made In Japan (1972)

Released in 1972 and recorded on the Machine Head tour during the band's first visit to Japan. At this point in time Deep Purple was a well oiled live machine. They had been on the road pretty much since the release of the In Rock album and were famous for their improvisations, as heard on the Long Beach 1971 album. Here they've revamped the setlist a bit and focuses more on the newer tracks. Most of the setlist is made up from the Machine Head album with 4 of the 7 tracks culled from that album. Highway Star, Smoke On The Water, Lazy and Space Truckin'. One track from Fireball, The Mule and one from In Rock. Child In Time and the single Strange Kind of Woman...

It's really interesting to hear these early version of tracks like Smoke on The Water, not yet the worldwide classic rock hit that it would become and the response from the Japanese audience who claps a long. The band plays the song pretty straight without too many detours - other tracks like opener Highway star and the closer Space Truckin' shows the band, and in particular Ritchie Blackmore pushing the improvisational form with his added Stratocaster shredding! Ian Gillan hits every note on Child in Time perfectly, perhaps even bettering himself than on the studio counterpart. Lazy is just fantastic in a live setting, Gillan does his little call and response screaming with the audience before introducing the song before Lord take over with wild organ feedback and then the whole band breaks into a really wild and just blazing rendition of the song. Space Truckin' ends the set in epic fashion, 20 mins of showcasing most of the band and saying "goodbye and until next time" to the audience in proper fashion.

This album probably did as much as any studio album for Purple, if not more, to make them one of the biggest rock bands of all time. Every guitarist has played a long to Smoke on The Water from this album, every rock singer and performer has listened to Ian Gillan on this album. I remember, myself as a drummer, trying to master the ending snare fill that Paice does on Smoke On The Water when I was taking drum lessons as a teenager. It's just an essential musicians album. And remember, this was before rock arena shows was a thing. This was back when bands had to deliver the fireworks on their own. No elaborate stage lightning or backdrops, not even a drum riser.....Just the band on stage - no frills. And boy do they deliver. A great snapshot of the intensity and the power of hard rock concerts in the early seventies. An album made to be played at 11.

In 1993 the band released the three CD-Set Live In Japan which captures the full shows Purple did in Osaka and Tokyo in 1972, and which Made In Japan is compiled from. I've not yet heard these CDs myself but I think it could be very interesting to hear these different versions and the full shows themselves. The CDs also has tracks that were played at these shows that didn't make the Made In Japan cut. Such as Speed King and Black Night which they occasionally played as encores.

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Made in Japan was produced by Martin Birch, who stated in the liner notes for Live After Death that Made in Japan was the first live album he produced.
 
Yes, and he does a fine job at it too. The album has a very "roomy" sound, with everything very audible and that extra something that you can't quite put your finger on that gives it a special aura, sorta like Live After Death has too.

Here's Jon Lord talking about the album and some great live footage. He gives props to Martin Birch too for capturing such a great sound.


And a trailer/ad for the deluxe edition released in 2014 which features Bruce Dickinson, amongst others, calling it "The greatest live album ever recorded". It's easy to see the effect that this album had on Bruce Dickinson IMO, from Gillan's screams, his banter with the audience, the stage presence etc, Dickinson obviously took a leaf out of Gillan's book. I think in retrospect, Gillan's performance on Made In Japan had a pretty big impact and fostered some of the classic rock concert traditions..such as a the screaming back and forth between him and the audience in Lazy for example.

 
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Really love Made in Japan (hard not to type this as Maiden Japan) ... great sound all around and it showed the jamming style /great musicianship of Purple. At the time (and there still are) plenty of bands that were mostly studio creations ... clearly not so in Purple's case.
 
Yeah, I saw them play earlier this year ... musically they are fantastic and Gillan's voice is nowhere near his peak, but works well with the setlist they now play .. especially the newer songs.
 
Haven't been so fortunate to catch them live yet but supposedly they'll be releasing a new album next year so hopefully I can catch em on that tour if they tour Scandinavia.

I saw their performance on the Today Show this year and I thought Gillan sounded great. Better than expected really.

 
I have seen them in the 70s (was little, wish I could remember the show), 80s, 90s, skipped the 00s and the 10s ... they still bring it. Gillan is nowhere near what he used to be .. but neither am I :) ... still worth seeing if you get a chance ... they play so well together and do some cool jams/solos.
 
Lucky you! On what tours did you see them?

Well, you'd be stupid to expect Gillan to sound like he did in the early 70s..Especially with the screaming he has done in his career ;)..if he sounds just half as good as he does in that Today Show video I'll be happy. And I'd get to see one of my favorite drummers, Ian Paice, in action too :)
 
SixesAlltheway said:
Lucky you! On what tours did you see them?

Well, you'd be stupid to expect Gillan to sound like he did in the early 70s..Especially with the screaming he has done in his career ;)..if he sounds just half as good as he does in that Today Show video I'll be happy. And I'd get to see one of my favorite drummers, Ian Paice, in action too :)
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I really did not mean it as a criticism, for his age he sounds great. On the Now What!? songs, I think he sounded pretty dead on to what is on the album and those sound great. On the older stuff, you do miss some of the signature singing he can no longer do and obviously Child in Time is gone from the setlist .. add to that, musically, the band is pretty much at peak form. He sounds good, he used to sound spectacular.

As for tours .. saw them on

70s Machine Head Tour (my Dad is a huge fan, I was a little kid, do not really remember it .. probably had a massive contact high from the crowd :) )
80s Perfect Strangers and House of the Blue Light Tours .. remember those well, both really good
90s Purpendicular Tour .. maybe I caught them on a bad night, but they seemed a bit flat
10s Now What!? Tour ... 2x ... really good show, they play a lot of Now What!?, which is an album I really enjoy quite a bit.
 
I think I've posted bits of this before in this thread. But here's the complete Denmark 1972 show recorded the 1st of March 1972 for Danish TV before the album Machine Head was actually released (25th March 1972) The Made In Japan shows were recorded in August of that same year.

The closest concert to Made in Japan you will see, it has almost the exact same set list but also has Fireball, Lucille and Black Night as encores!!

 
What a joy it is to watch and listen to this...A band at the apex of their game. So much energy it's incredible. Just watching Paice hit his cymbals is great..drummers take note :)

And then there's Blackmore....
 
Made in Japan is truly amazing - a live record made right. Rarely I encounter such an example where one live album stands for pretty much the band as a whole, so you practically don't need anything else (Springsteen's Live 75/85, Kiss' Alive, The Who's Live at Leeds and Zep's How the West Was Won come close, though I might reconsider the latter if/when I ever get my hands upon the 79 Knebworth show). The album just has it all. Yes, the drum solo wasn't really necessary, but... but.. it's great anyway. I don't even mind the setlist's so heavy on Machine Head - the album really comes alive in this setting.

I even have the Live in Japan triple... and yes, it's definitely overkill, but it's an expansion to one of the best live albums I know, so I don't complain.
 
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Who Do We Think We Are (1973)

I must admit I didn't have too many expectations going into this one. This is by far my least heard album from the original Mk II 1969-73 lineup and from what I can gather that seems to be the case for most people. Released in 1973 and topping the charts of the same year, riding the wave of success Purple had at the time with the Machine Head and Made In Japan albums.

The album title Who Do We Think We comes from some of the negative press Deep Purple received at the time with critics exclaiming"Who do Deep Purple think they are..." Purple had enough self-irony and humor to use that as the title, complete with showing each member of the band floating in their own little ego bubble on the album cover. This was perhaps very true at the time.Musically the album is more blues based and somewhat of a return to simpler riffs and a style like the self titled and the other Rod Evans albums. That's not to say that the blazing interplay between the instruments isn't there anymore. Songs like Rat Bat Blue and the middle section of Smooth Dancer proves otherwise. Yet it's more controlled and used more sparse. Surprise track for me on this album was Our Lady which unexpectedly sounds like something from the Mk I era...Very mellow track with some cool vocal melodies and some nice touches from Lord. Of course the most known track from this album, Woman From Tokyo is here too, as the opener on the album. I like the riff of this song and it's a good hard rock song but it's just too toothless, not enough bite and the slow tempo makes the song drag...The lyrics, written about their first Japan tour is nothing to write home about either.

All in all not the blazing ear assault that the previous couple of album had been. Yet, this album is definitely not as bad as people make it out to be. The songs doesn't eat you up and spit you out like previously but there's some very fine and competent playing here for those willing to give it time....

When the album came out the Deep Purple Mk II lineup had effectively fallen apart. Gillan and Blackmore had never gotten a long but apparently tensions had reached a new height...and coupled with burnout from the rigorous touring schedule Gillan decided to up and leave when the 1973 album tour was completed. Blackmore too was unhappy but stayed on the condition that he was given free reign to implement his vision for Deep Purple resulting in Glover effectively being squeezed out. Gillan had a couple of years away from music altogether before returning in 1975 with the Ian Gillan Band and his first solo album, Child In Time, named after the Purple song. Same album also containing a very uhm....interesting version of the song with smooth jazz instrumentation and a Pink Floyd Dark Side of The Moon-ish solo...

 
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http://classicrock.teamrock.com/news/2016-01-08/simper-won-t-lose-sleep-over-rock-hall-snub

Original Deep Purple bassist and co-founder Nick Simper says he finds it strange that he wasn’t included in the band’s lineup to be inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame.

The group were finally selected for inclusion in the Rock Hall last month, with the nod given to Roger Glover, Ian Paice, Ritchie Blackmore, David Coverdale, Rod Evans, Ian Gillan, Glenn Hughes and Jon Lord.

Simper tells TeamRock’s Malcolm Dome: “The first I knew about the Hall Of Fame induction was when I read about it and fans were complaining that I wasn't being inducted.

“Maybe I am being naive, but I always thought that if a band gets into the Hall Of Fame then all members, past and present, are part of it. Obviously not.

"Yes, it is a little strange that I am only only one from Marks I, II and III being left out, but I shan't lose any sleep over this. It's not as if I need to be given this award to know what we did in Deep Purple made an impact. And I'm sure it wasn't a decision that came from the band.”

Simper says there’s no bad blood between him and the other members, and adds: “I was in regular contact with Jon Lord before he died, and Ian Paice is always sending his best wishes through mutual friends like Bernie Marsden. And I have also toured with Don Airey, with whom I get on well."

In 2014, Simper told TeamRock being replaced in the band was a "body blow" and that lineup changes had "diluted" Deep Purple's sound.

Last month, Deep Purple frontman Gillan slammed the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame’s decision for not including current members Airey and Steve Morse. They’ll hit the studio this month to record the follow-up to Now What.
 
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