Deep Purple
Machine Head

THE REVIEW

So... what to say, a spectacular album, which however does not boast the experimental freshness of Fireball or the spectacular power of In Rock; nonetheless, it is a great album containing many of Purple's most famous songs like Highway Star, Lazy, Space Truckin, the single When a Blind Man Cries, not to mention Smoke On The Water... which enjoys a certain popularity even among those who listen to anything but hard rock. You won't find someone on the street humming its refrain, and this is annoying because it's not that they know it but they whistle it.
There are 7 songs in total plus the single When a Blind Man Cries... it starts with Highway Star, with a beautiful Hammond intro and Ian Gillan's screeching screams, the song is essentially about a car, and it’s one of the most beautiful, it has a very fast rhythm, mainly thanks to Blackmore who, with his technique, produces a Machine Gun effect. Not to mention the solos, quite standard for Lord but one, indeed the fastest guitar solo of those years. Then there's Maybe I'm A Leo, Pictures Of Home beautiful and very epic and then Never Before which are beautiful songs but little known because they were hardly ever performed live in those years; then it's Smoke's turn, a beautiful song with one of the best riffs on the face of the earth even if it is very simple, the song talks about their arrival in Montreux at the end of '71 and the difficulties they had recording this album due to the conditions in which they had to record it, basically running every moment from the cold Grand Hotel to the Rolling Stone Mobile Studio. The song also boasts a memorable solo!
Then there's Lazy, you could say that after Lord's haunting intro it's a rhythm'n'blues song based on solos of a Lord and a Blackmore challenging each other at their best: the song also has a small sung section that is interrupted by an accordion solo. The album closes with Space Truckin, a beautiful song that, however, has nothing special apart from the grit it contains... and another beautiful solo marked by Blackmore.
In conclusion, I would say that the album is fantastic but that it suffers in comparison to the legendary Made in Japan which enhances its best songs!