{"id":7507,"date":"2025-01-15T13:28:57","date_gmt":"2025-01-15T13:28:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newssoccer.uk\/?p=7507"},"modified":"2025-01-15T13:28:57","modified_gmt":"2025-01-15T13:28:57","slug":"the-sound-of-power-deep-purples-machine-head-a-must-listen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newssoccer.uk\/?p=7507","title":{"rendered":"The Sound of Power: Deep Purple’s Machine Head (A Must-Listen)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/h4>\n

Now regarded as the \u201cBeethoven\u2019s 5th\u201d of rock and roll, \u201cSmoke on the Water\u201d became a surprise hit in the summer of \u201973 thanks to its simple, massive guitar riff. Despite being a hard-rock track, the first single from\u00a0Machine Head<\/em>\u00a0reached #4 on the\u00a0Billboard<\/em>\u00a0pop charts. That bulldozer riff, however, belied the album\u2019s genesis.<\/h4>\n

The quintet, working with engineer Martin Birch (in the Rolling Stones Mobile Studio van), planned to record in the empty Montreux Casino, hoping to conjure a live, ambient vibe. But those hopes were dashed on December 4, 1971, when \u201csome stupid with a flare gun burned the place to the ground\u201d during a show by Frank Zappa & the Mothers. Miraculously, no concert goers were hurt in the inferno.<\/p>\n

The band decamped to another venue, Le Pavilion, which imparted the huge tones of \u201cSmoke on the Water.\u201d But, neighbors complained about the volume and, after one quick session, Deep Purple was evicted. They ended up at the (closed for the season) Grand Hotel, where they set up mics, improvised baffles, then ran cables into hallways and guest rooms off the main lobby. Aside from the giant riff of \u201cSmoke\u2026\u201d the sonic signature of\u00a0Machine Head<\/em>\u00a0originated there.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a ramshackle scene, as the musicians made do with what they had,\u201d singer Ian Gillan told writer Kory Grow for the liner notes of a new four-CD reissue. \u201cWe put the amps in separate bedrooms, and we were in a first-floor corridor. We had blankets and mattresses for sound baffles, and I sang at a microphone in the corridor, but I could hear everyone coming out of the separate rooms.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"\u201cIt was very cold, and snowing every day,\u201d Purple\u2019s axe wizard, Ritchie Blackmore, told Grow. \u201cTo hear a playback in the Rolling Stones Mobile Studio, we would have to travel through about five bedrooms out onto a reception area, across a courtyard then up in the truck to listen to a playback. Needless to say, we didn\u2019t hear too many playbacks, as it was such an ordeal\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

When trying to figure out Blackmore\u2019s legendary Stratocaster tone on the album, a common error is to confuse his live rig with the studio setup. On tour, he usually plugged into a factory-modified 200-watt Marshall Major head and two cabinets. Yet we also know that Blackmore was fond of Vox AC30 amps for their warm, natural, dirty tone. In some interviews, he alludes to hiding Vox guts inside a Marshall housing then slaving it to the big Marshall head \u2013 in effect, using an AC30 preamp to fuel the Major\u2019s power amp and cabinets. But again, this was his\u00a0stage<\/em>\u00a0rig.<\/p>\n

Listening to the album now, you hear the difference between the power chords of \u201cSmoke on the Water\u201d versus almost everything else.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe remember those riffs from\u00a0Machine Head<\/em>\u00a0as being huge, and convince ourselves that they were recorded via some massive Marshall stack,\u201d said VG amp profiler Dave Hunter. \u201cLargely, though, it\u2019s just that they sounded so big compared to much of what else was being recorded at the time, and because of the attitude put into them. Listening back today, they really don\u2019t sound stack-like at all.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"
Roger Glover: Gladstone\/Wikimedia Commons.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

To further clear the mystery, for a 2017 feature marking the album\u2019s 45th anniversary, Blackmore told VG, \u201cI was using a 100-watt Marshall amp with four 12\u2033 speakers in the cabinet. I probably would\u2019ve also been using the Vox at that time.\u201d<\/p>\n

There was another piece of his sonic recipe that isn\u2019t often discussed \u2013 a germanium-transistor treble booster. \u201cYes, I used the Hornby Skewes treble booster,\u201d Blackmore slips in. \u201cIt was a [tabletop] box, not a floor pedal.\u201d<\/p>\n

The essential \u201cSmoke on the Water\u201d riff \u2013 suspiciously reminiscent of a bossa-nova piano vamp from 1966\u2019s \u201cMaria Quiet\u201d (hear it on YouTube) \u2013 features him plucking double-stop fourths with his fingers, not a pick. His Marshall\u2019s tone is quite ambient, suggesting the cabinet was distance-miked, not up close. That gave this riff its huge girth, but his guitar solo is from the Grand Hotel sessions and likely deployed the secretive Strat\/treble booster\/Vox amp combination.<\/p>\n

Rising guitarists were also in awe of the opening track, \u201cHighway Star,\u201d for its tempo, Bach-inspired arpeggios, and Blackmore\u2019s proto-shred runs. This was high-speed metal and sported the double knockout of Jon Lord\u2019s virtuoso organ solo. For his break, Blackmore composed his parts in advance, overdubbing the Baroque arpeggios for brilliant technical effect.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Roger Glover onstage with a Precision Bass in 1971.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201c\u2018Highway Star\u2019 is a crazy song for a guitar player,\u201d said guitar hero and lifelong Purp fan Joe Satriani in the documentary,\u00a0The Ritchie Blackmore Story<\/em>. \u201cIt makes everyone who thinks he\u2019s a guitar player need to pick up the guitar and say, \u2018If I\u2019m that good \u2013 can I really do\u00a0that<\/em>?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

More than a half-century later, we can listen to\u00a0Machine Head<\/em>\u00a0and still revel in those seismic riffs from the dawn of hard rock and metal.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe thing about Purple is we\u2019ve always had great musicians,\u201d said Deep Purple bass master Roger Glover. \u201cWhen I first met Ritchie Blackmore, Jon Lord, and Ian Paice, I was absolutely stunned by their ability. And that typifies what Purple is. We\u2019re not looking to be glorified \u2013 we\u2019re just looking to make good music.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMachine Head<\/em>\u00a0crystalized what to me back then was heavy rock and metal,\u201d Satriani added. \u201cThere\u2019s something cultured about it. It\u2019s gutsy, it\u2019s bluesy, it\u2019s soulful, but it\u2019s polished at the same time.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Now regarded as the \u201cBeethoven\u2019s 5th\u201d of rock and roll, \u201cSmoke on the Water\u201d became a surprise hit in the summer of \u201973 thanks to its simple, massive guitar riff. Despite being a hard-rock track, the first single from\u00a0Machine Head\u00a0reached #4 on the\u00a0Billboard\u00a0pop charts. That bulldozer riff, however, belied the album\u2019s genesis. The quintet, working 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