Deep Purple - Made In Japan

(1972)

It's no breaking news that the Purple's Made In Japan is probably the best live album ever recorded, and the best mastering of any concert.The only others on par with this one would be, to me, Jerry Lee Lewis' Live at The Star Club, Rainbow's On Stage and Nirvana's MTV Unplugged. Do yourself a favor, and buy those discs : recent CD masterings  still haven't managed to butcher their sound, so don't wait any longer. Some might argue (I'm looking at you, Steve Hoffman forums) that it's not the case for Made In Japan, attacking Peter Mew's remaster for both the Anniversary Edition and the -cleverly named- Remastered Edition. I can't tell, because I discovered this album thanks to my father, who happens to own the Anniversary Edition CD, and not the -golden- original one. I recently bought the Remastered Edition, which first confirmed that now newer mastering or mixing was done, and confirmed to me that this album still rocks and manages to impress even 40 years after it was recorded.

I chose this album to start this site, because as far as I can remember, it was at the age of six that I first heard it. And I genuenly think that it saved my now twenty-year-old-ass from the dangers of crappy music. I read somewhere in the internet that this album is basically "Deep Purple For Martians" : just by listening to it, even non-humans could understand why Purple were on a league on their own. And I think this expression says it all : it's pretty hard no to love this album, no thinking about disliking it. I was not a rock fan at six; music wasn't a passion, not even a hobby. To me, it was just "junk sound", only a few tunes could catch my attention, but I was rarely fond of anything. Things have really changed nowadays. But one hasn't : Made In Japan is the best live album ever of the history of music. And it blew me away at the first listen.

Its musicians are not the best, on any side; the songs on it aren't either : but the chemistry bewteen the 1972's Ritchie Blackmore, Ian Paice, Roger Glover, Jon Lord and Ian Gillian is striking. For lots of people, myself included, the Made In Japan versions of the songs became the definitive ones. I absolutely dislike Highway Star's awfully slow-paced studio version ; it becomes the best concert opener ever with this version, right here. "This is a song called Highway Star. Ah!" No bullshit, no pompuous introduction, movie excerpt or video animation. They get on stage, and start to play. And damn they play great.

The absence of any overdub is also a very good point, considering its standardization nowadays (think about GN'R's Live Era or Judas Priest's Unleashed in the East). I never understood why people thought, and still think that Blackmore messed up the famous Smoke On The Water intro riff, and that it should have been studio-dubbed. Come on, he's playing with the audience ! Moreover, I can't see a guitarist as talented as Blackmore (who wrote the song by the way) messing up such a basic melody, on the three nights the album was recorded.

Other highlights are the presented version of Child In Time and Strange Kind of Woman. And yes, The Mule's drum solo is awfully long and will make you cry for the studio version of Moby Dick. Bu hey, it was fashionable in the 70s and fans would have screamed with anger and hold threatening knives if the poor Peter Mew had cut it, even by a few seconds.

This album is not a fans-oriented one, with only deep cuts from the albums. Nor is it a Kiss Live Album casuals-oriented one with only major hits. It's rock n' roll for dummies. It's accessible, rocking and impressive. This album is the archetype of live recordings.