MACHINE HEAD

There were several albums that came out in the late 60s/early 70s that finally got it right for those of us who wanted our rock and roll to throw us up against the wall. "Are You Experienced," "The Yes Album" and "Led Zeppelin II" come to mind. For we Deep Purple fans this was the one that we had been waiting for since getting hints of their potential balls to the walls power on "In Rock" and "Fireball." This one, to paraphrase the immortal "Spinal Tap," turned the volume up to 11. From the screaming hellride that is "Highway Star" to the gleeful speed demon on acid song "Space Trucking" this album satisfied our greedy yearning for tunes that we could sink our teeth into and blow a few speakers with. "Smoke on the Water" is one of those songs that only comes along every decade or so that taps into some primal subconscious yen of a young person and makes them involuntarily bang their head to the beat. It defies explanation to the uninitiated. It may have become somewhat of a joke from being overplayed for so long but, at the time, it was no joke at all. It was an anthem. And "Lazy" is just Richie showing the world that he belonged in the same paragraph with Clapton and Page at the time. Deep Purple had long since shed any pretentions to being prog-minded and had jumped into the hard rock fray with both feet. Now they were leading the way. While I still think they were to reach their apex with the stunning "Burn" album a few years later, this was without a doubt the peak of creativity for this particular band lineup. "Machine Head." It even sounds cool.