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Rating:
Many of our Latin ancestors used to say: «repetitae juvant».
It is always useful, then, to remember that between the '60s and '70s, a new musical genre emerged, known as «Hard Rock», thanks to true manifestos like Led Zeppelin II (1969), Black Sabbath (1970), and Deep Purple In Rock (1970).
Why is it always useful? Because it's history.
We also know that there are various versions of DEEP PURPLE, but the most famous remains MARK II (although the following one, with Coverdale and Hughes instead of Gillan and Glover, was not displeasing to me at all). After the rock opera 'Concerto for Group And Orchestra', the Blackmore-Gillan-Glover-Lord-Paice breakthrough came with the aforementioned 'In Rock'. An album that caused a stir in the rock scene, just as it opens with the noise of instruments in the opening of "Speed King": a track that would become an axiom of the newborn genre. Also, "Living Wreck", "Bloodsucker" and "Child In Time" are authentic gems of the new genre and greatly confused critics, who often made the historical mistake of initially cataloging them in the emerging progressive genre, helped by the subsequent work, 'Fireball' (1971), at times truly baffling (in its transitions from "Fools" to "The Mule" through "No One Came"). The audience did not appreciate it, despite what would become a classic titled "Strange Kind Of Woman".
The misstep alerts the five who reconsider, returning to tread the hard rock path, unaware that they are about to enter the legend. 'MACHINE HEAD' (1971) marks the great, almost unexpected consecration, despite the boom with 'In Rock'.
The Mark II posters entered the rooms of millions of fans ready to hold anything their imagination could transform into a guitar and imitate Blackmore and his Stratocaster in "Smoke On The Water": probably, a track on which the five did not count much in their forecasts (the first single was "Never Before"), but that instead boasts what would become the most famous riff of the century. Magazines would call it Purple-mania, and they would not be wrong.
But Machine Head is not just Smoke On The Water, far from it. There is, first and foremost, what I consider the best piece of the entire repertoire (not just Mark II): "Picture Of Home". Just listen: 5 minutes at the top between lyrics, rhythm, Blackmore's solo, Lord's solo, and the gem of Glover's solo. There is the stunning progressive-boogie in "Lazy", over 7 minutes where the usual solo game between Lord's organ and Blackmore's Fender, also sees Gillan's harmonica come in, with a final closure in a coy rhythm'n'blues style. A brilliant, evergreen sound, not at all predictable, even in minor tracks like "Maybe I'm A Leo" (where Paice's touch is almost sophisticated) and "Never Before" (an impeccable performance by Gillan). There is then the well-known "Highway Star" with which Deep Purple defines the outlines of hard rock after having declared its birth the year before (with "Speed King"). Finally, there is a track that live will become a true workhorse as it lends itself very well to various spontaneous interpretations, succeeded over the years by the Lord-Blackmore duo: the legendary "Space Trucking".
In the remastered version "Anniversary 2 Cd Edition" (1997), the splendid blues ballad titled "When A Blind Man Cries" (originally released as a single) was also recovered, where the Blackmore-Gillan duo expressed themselves at the highest levels: truly a shame that the harmony between the two was, to put it mildly, overwhelmed by discord.
In short, this is THE album par excellence of Deep Purple, although 'In Rock' has been the most historically important one, and, excuse the boldness of my thesis, although the real masterpiece was the subsequent Live 'Made In Japan'. Above all, don't mind those well-thinking and learned individuals who enjoy writing about music (because this is not about literature, but about music), according to whom Hard Rock is a genre destined only for an ignorant audience: this album (like others) unavoidably discredits them, and besides, I myself am not ashamed to confess to you that I did not miss a couple of its tracks even on my graduation day. Generalizing (a late legacy of past centuries), if anything, lends itself to being an exercise far too easy, even for a third-millennium ignoramus.
Filippo Guzzardi
Tracklist Lyrics and Samples
01 Highway Star (06:08)
Yeah---
Nobody gonna take my car, I'm gonna race it to the ground
Nobody gonna beat my car, it's gonna break the speed of sound
Ooh it's a killing machine
It's got everything
Like a driving power, big fat tires and everything
I love it, and I need it, I feed it
Yeah it's a wild hurricane
Alright, hold tight, I'm a highway star
Nobody gonna take my girl, I'm gonna keep her to the end
Nobody gonna have my girl, she stays close on every bend
Ooh she's a killing machine
She's got everything
Like a moving mouth, body control and everything
I love her, I need her, I seed her
Yeah she turns me on
Alright, hold tight, I'm a highway star
Nobody gonna take my head, I got speed inside my brain
Nobody gonna steal my head now that I'm on the road again
Ooh I'm in heaven again
I've got everything
Like a moving ground, an open road and everything
I love it, I need it, I feed it
Eight cylinders all mine
Alright, hold tight, I'm a highway star
Nobody gonna take my car, I'm gonna race it to the ground
Nobody gonna beat my car, it's gonna break the speed of sound
Ooh it's a killing machine
It's got everything
Like a driving power, big fat tires and everything
I love it, and I need it, I feed it
Yeah it's a wild hurricane
Alright, hold tight, I'm a highway star
I'm a highway star
I'm a highway star
02 Maybe I'm a Leo (04:52)
Peeping round the door I got a big surprise
Couldn't see a thing but open skies
They've taken her away where is she now
Wish that she was here wish she'd hold my hand
Maybe she could laugh maybe understand
Why was I so cruel where is she now
Acting like a fool I had to make her cry
Maybe I'm a Leo but I ain't a lion
I'm hurting oh so bad, I want her now
03 Pictures of Home (05:07)
Somebody's shouting
Up at a mountain
Only my own words return
Nobody's up there
It's a deception
I'm alone here
With emptiness eagles and snow
Unfriendliness chilling my body
And whispering pictures of home
Wondering blindly
How can they find me
Maybe they don't even know
My body is shaking
Anticipating
The call of the black footed crow
I'm alone here
With emptiness eagles and snow
Unfriendliness chilling my body
And whispering pictures of home
Here in this prison
Of my own making
Year after day I have grown
Into a hero
But there's no worship
Where have they hidden my thrown
I'm alone here
With emptiness eagles and snow
Unfriendliness chilling my body
And whispering pictures of home
05 Smoke on the Water (05:42)
We all came out to Montreux
On the Lake Geneva shoreline
To make records with a mobile
We didn't have much time
Frank Zappa and the Mothers
Were at the best place in town
When some stupid with a flare gun
Burned the place to the ground
Smoke on the water
A fire in the sky
Smoke on the water
They burned down the gambling house
It died with an awful sound
Funky Claude was running in and out
Dragging kids out the ground
When it all was over
We had to find another place
Swiss time was running out
It seemed that we would lose the race
Smoke on the water
A fire in the sky
Smoke on the water
We ended up at the grand hotel
It was empty, cold and bare
And with the rolling truck stones thing just outside
We made our music there
With a few red lights and a few old beds
We made a place to sweat
No matter what we get out of this
I know I know we'll never forget
Smoke on the water
A fire in the sky
Smoke on the water
06 Lazy (07:22)
You're lazy Just stay in bed
You're lazy Just stay in bed
You don't want no money
You don't want no bread
If you're drowning you don't clutch no straw
If you're drowning you don't clutch no straw
You don't want to live you don't want to cry no more
Well my trying ain't done no good
I said my trying ain't done no good
You don't make no effort no not like you should
Lazy you just stay in bed
Lazy you just stay in bed
You don't want no money
You don't want no bread
07 Space Truckin' (04:34)
Well we had a lot of luck on Venus
We always had a ball on Mars
Meeting all the groovy people
We've rocked the Milky Way so far
We danced around with Borealis
We're space truckin' 'round the the stars
Come on let's go Space Truckin'
Come on
Space Truckin'
Remember when we did the moonshot
And Pony Trekker led the way
We'd move to the Canaveral moonstop
And every 'naut would dance and sway
We got music in our solar system
We're space truckin' round the stars
Come on let's go Space Truckin'
The fireball that we rode was moving
But now we've got a new machine
Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah the freaks said
Man those cats can really swing
They got music in their solar system
They've rocked around the Milky Way
They've danced around the Borealis
They're Space Truckin' everyday
Yeah yeah yeah yeah
Space truckin'
Yeah yeah yeah yeah
Space truckin'
Yeah yeah yeah yeah
Space truckin'
Yeah yeah yeah yeah
Space truckin'
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Other reviews
By AR (Anonima Recensori)
Smoke On The Water boasts one of the best riffs on the face of the earth even if it is very simple.
Highway Star is one of the most beautiful songs, with a very fast rhythm mainly thanks to Blackmore who produces a Machine Gun effect.
By blackmore 72
The song immediately stands out with its terrifying energy, featuring solos by Lord first and then by Blackmore, almost as if they were challenging each other.
SMOKE ON THE WATER immortalizes the difficulties the Purple encountered during the recording of the album.
