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Rating: “There are moments in this album that I have never heard in the history of rock music”; and how can we disagree with this statement from a journalist of the music magazine Kerrang? Made In Japan: one of the best live albums in history, if not the very best.
The songs from this double masterpiece are taken from three explosive nights recorded in August 1972 in Japan, more precisely two in Tokyo and one in Osaka. Starting in 1970, Deep Purple had recorded three of the best works in the rock field (In Rock, Fireball, and Machine Head) and used the songs from these three albums to create the future Made In Japan.
The tracks are almost always rearranged and reworked, filled with astonishing improvisations, in which Deep Purple were masters: Paice's counter-times, Lord and Glover's exceptional coverage work, and especially, the legendary duels between Blackmore's guitar and Gillan's vocals are now part of the annals of hard rock music.
Practically, Made In Japan is a continuous succession of pearls of absolute beauty and aggressiveness: from the very fast and furious “Highway Star” with two fantastic Hammond and guitar solos, it transitions to the timeless classic “Child In Time,” graced by Ian Gillan's expressive voice. The live continues with the immortal “Smoke On The Water,” here in its best version, “The Mule” characterized by the earth-shaking drum solo of the great Paice, and “Strange Kind Of Woman” with the aforementioned guitar-vocal duel: Gillan reproduces Blackmore's riffs almost identically in a kind of artistic challenge that ends in absolute parity. Made In Japan concludes with two other pearls: “Lazy” and “Space Truckin’,” 19 minutes of energy, power, and insane improvisations executed by the hallucinatory effects of Jon Lord's Hammond organ.
It's worth noting that the remastered edition features a second CD containing three encores that only confirm a success already established from the start of the listening: an excellent “Black Night” (single from In Rock), a vicious and very fast “Speed King” (complete with guitar smashing), and the classic by Little Richard, “Lucille”.
What else can be said? Absolutely nothing; to say that Made In Japan is a great rock album is absolutely restrictive: Made In Japan is rock, nothing more. Period.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 Black Night (06:19)
Black night is not right
I don't feel so bright
I don't care to sit tight
Maybe I'll find on the way down the line
That I'm free, free to be me
Black night is a long way from home
I don't need a dark tree
I don't want a rough sea
I can't feel, I can't see
Maybe I'll find on the way down the line
That I'm free, free to be me
Black night is a long way from home
Black night, black night
I don't need black night
I can't see dark night
Maybe I'll find on the way down the line
That I'm free, free to be me
Black night is a long way from home
02 Speed King (04:34)
Good Golly, said little Miss Molly
When she was rockin' in the house of blue light
Tutti Frutti was oh so rooty
When she was rockin' to the east and west
Lucille was oh so real
When she didn't do her daddies will
Come on baby, drive me crazy--do it, do it
I'm a speed king you go to hear me sing
I'm a speed king see me fly
Saturday night and I just got paid
Gonna fool about ain't gonna save
Some people gonna rock some people gonna roll
Gonna have a party to save my soul
Hard headed woman and a soft hearted man
They been causing trouble since it all began
Take a little rice take a little beans
Gonna rock and roll down to New Orleans
Good Golly, said little Miss Molly
When she was rockin' in the house of blue light
Tutti Frutti was oh so rooty
When she was rockin' to the east and west
Hard headed woman and a soft hearted man
They been causing trouble since it all began
Take a little rice take a little beans
Gonna rock and roll down to New Orleans
I'm a speed king you go to hear me sing
I'm a speed king see me fly
03 Lucille (07:27)
Lucille, please come back where you belong,
Lucille, please come back where you belong,
I've been good to you baby, please don't lead me along.
I woke up this mornin', Lucille was not in sight,
I asked my friends about her but all their lips was tight,
Lucille, please come back where you belong,
I've been good to you baby, please don't lead me along.
Lucille, baby, satisfy my heart,
Lucille, baby, satisfy my heart,
I played love with you baby,
And gave you such a wonderful start.
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Other reviews
By Mandrocker
"'Made In Japan' portrays the mark II at the peak of its creativity, form, and synergy among the members."
"Ian reaches those high notes with terrifying power. History!"
By Sket
This album represents a milestone in live hard-rock, and it’s probably the best live recording ever made.
Gillan’s voice is aggressive and rocking, and Blackmore’s chord progressions give a sense of swagger, very rock-like.
By pierluiggi
It is even said that at the moment of the highest high note, the decibels he generated... were compared to those generated by a departing airplane.
They want to make lots lots of money and they are just noise. Listen to Deep Purple.
By hellraiser
This live album is a sonic monster still unmatched today, shining for over forty years.
It is common opinion that the live recorded tracks took on a new and more powerful fascination compared to those from studio albums.
By R13569920
The masterpiece of the Purple sound, especially live, is indeed Blackmore’s instrument, and it’s not even the sound engineers’ skill; it’s Ritchie himself working superbly.
The main merit belongs to the band itself, playing at their peak while carefully separating parts and distinguishing roles, no one goes above the others.
