Listening Post: Purple Sabbath – Deep Purple – Machine Head

Deep Purple – Machine Head – 1972

Hey, what’s that sound? That driving metal with the rock n roll wail? It sounds so familiar. It’s…the theme to Rock Band 2! And it’s 40 years old.
“Highway Star” is the track, Machine Head is the album, Deep Purple is the band. This is the one that we think about when we think about the architects of metal. Zeppelin 4, Paranoid by Sabbath and Machine Head.
Having listened to all these albums in a row I can finally really hear the connection between 70s metal and 60s prog rock. They have more in common than I would have ever thought, having been weaned on the blues based meta of AC/DC or the glam metal of Crue and Poison and GnR.
But, this is where the Motorheads of the world find their genesis. Metallica, Megadeth, the great shredders of the 80s owe a lot to Richie Blackmore, Jon Lord and the rest of Deep Purple. There’s no doubt in my mind that all the great metal bands of the next decade had this in their collection.
Next up is “Maybe, I’m a Leo”. And like the previous album, it’s a let down after that opening attack. It’s not bad, it’s just more of a back beat, later in the record sort of track.
After that the album really rights itself and doesn’t let up. “Pictures of Home” and the ubiquitous classic radio staple, “Smoke on the Water” cement the record’s heavyweight status. Listening to it again it sounds indelibly like what I would expect from DP, and yet, like nothing else in their catalog really. it’s as though it crawled out of a southern rock swamp. A truly remarkable song.
Not to be undone, the mostly instrumental blues rocker with harmonica, “Lazy”, is one of the grooviest tracks the band’s ever produced.
Rounding out the album is the almost glammy rocker, “Space Truckin'”.

This might be one of the greatest rock albums of all time. At least in its genre. No doubt about that.

Grade: A+
ASide: Highway Star, Smoke on the Water
BlindSide: Pictures of Home, Lazy, Space Truckin’