One of the albums which became a major influence for the birth of Heavy Metal music is this one. (Together with Black Sabbath's and Led Zeppelın's first albums).
'Machine Head' was released on March 1972. It was the 6th studio album of Deep Purple, and by far the most successful.
Upon its release it went straight to No.1 on the album charts very fast in many countries, including UK, Australia,Germany and Canada.
In the UK charts it reached No.1 on the first week of its release, and stayed at the top 40 for 20 weeks. In the USA Billboard charts it reached No.7, and stayed at the top 200 for 118 weeks.
'Machine Head' was recorded in Switzerland during the winter of 1971 while the band was staying at the Casino hotel there. One night a big fire burst and a part of the hotel was destroyed. Without this incident, probably one of the most and famous songs of Rock music wouldn't have been recorded. And that's no other than 'Smoke on the Water'.
Another interesting information about this record (confirmed by R.Blackmore) is that a part of the guitar solo in 'Highway Star' is inpired by the 18th century composer J.S Bach.
This record contains 7 songs and almost all of them will become a 'must' in most Deep Purple concerts, and secure a place in almost every Deep Purple's 'Best of' in the years to come...
Take a look: Smoke on the Water, Highway Star, Lazy, Never Before, Space Truckin'...
I have to admit that I was never a fan of Deep Purple, and specially in the period with Ian Gillan as the singer. (I always liked David Coverdale's voice more). But this record is a cornerstone for every rock discography!
If someone would ask me to suggest the 10 first records to buy in order to start a decent Rock collection, for sure 'Machine Head' would be one of them.
Other albums I recommed: (Feat. Ian Gillan): In Rock, Fireball
(Feat. D. Coverdale): Burn, Stormbringer
Here you can see the song 'Lazy' performed live from the 1972 tour...
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