Deep Purple

Certain Songs #299: Deep Purple – “Burn”

September 1, 2015 by Jim Connelly

Album: Burn
Year: 1974

Of course, by the time I discovered and purchased Made in Japan — probably 1974 or 1975 — Deep Purple Mark II had already broken up.

Because things happened at supersonic speed in the world of Deep Purple, Ian Gillan had already resigned, which led to the sacking of Roger Glover while Made in Japan was still riding high in the charts.

So while there was a ton of new Deep Purple for me to discover in the mid-1970s, before 1973 had even ended, Gillan and Glover had been replaced by David Coverdale & Glenn Hughes. Who combined almost made up for about a quarter of the awesomeness of the guys they replaced.

Certain Songs #298: Deep Purple – “Space Truckin’ (Osaka, Japan 08-16-1972)”

August 31, 2015 by Jim Connelly

Album: Made in Japan
Year: 1972

So of course, there’s a bit of a problem with “Space Truckin'”. The studio version on Machine Head is good, but it feels unfinished, while the version on Made in Japan is far more powerful, but goes on for over 20 minutes.

And I’ve got to be somewhere in 20 minutes!

That said, even if you have warp drive, travel in space takes a very long time, so you need a song with a lot of long guitar and organ solos to accompany you. So the live version it is!!

Certain Songs #297: Deep Purple – “Smoke on The Water (Osaka, Japan 08-15-1972)”

August 30, 2015 by Jim Connelly

Album: Made in Japan
Year: 1972

Where even to begin with this iconic piece of history? The fact that it was based upon a true story, and so wasn’t just another chick song or road song? The fact that writing a song about something that happened while you’re recording the album the song is on felt cool and fresh?

The fact that the studio version of this song was a #4 hit single right here in the U.S.A.? And this live version was a hit itself? And in fact, the single edit (of course) of the Made in Japan version the one I remember being played on KYNO-AM, not the studio version, which I’ve always felt was significantly weaker.

Nah, of course you gotta start with THE RIFF!!

Certain Songs #296: Deep Purple – “Highway Star (Osaka, Japan 08-16-1972)”

August 29, 2015 by Jim Connelly

Album: Made in Japan
Year: 1972

So, after the utter triumph of Deep Purple in Rock, Deep Purple followed with two pretty good records — Fireball and Machine Head — that didn’t even come close. The former showed them stretching out a bit while losing some of their edge, and the latter had some edge, but its best songs were all eclipsed by their live versions.

Because Made in Japan.

Certain Songs #295: Deep Purple – “Flight of The Rat”

August 28, 2015 by Jim Connelly

Album: Deep Purple in Rock
Year: 1970

One of the things that Deep Purple had that a lot of their metal contemporaries lacked was escape velocity: the ability to play their songs at a ferocious speed for an extended period of time.

Led by their multifaceted (and eternally underrated) drummer Ian Paice, they could lock into an uptempo groove and just keep going and going.

Certain Songs #294: Deep Purple – “Child in Time”

August 27, 2015 by Jim Connelly

Album: Deep Purple in Rock
Year: 1970

It’s probably just me, but I feel like these days Deep Purple doesn’t get the same love and respect that their metal-pioneer peers Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath get.

I understand why: Zeppelin is Zeppelin, and their reputation has grown to the point where they’re in the conversation as the greatest band of all time. (Or at least my conversation.)

And Black Sabbath has always benefited by the contrast between the outsized darkness of their music and the outsized outlandishness of Ozzy Osbourne. In contrast, Deep Purple really didn’t have an overarching mythology: they were just a bunch of great musicians who happened to play hard rock.

Certain Songs #293: Deep Purple – “Hush”

August 26, 2015 by Jim Connelly

Album: Shades of Deep Purple
Year: 1968

I think that over the years, I always tended to discount “Hush” as inferior Deep Purple, not so much because it was a Top Ten single (after all, so was “Smoke on The Water,” and you’re damn straight I’m gonna write about that), but because it was made by the wrong Deep Purple.

After all, everybody knows that Deep Purple Mark I was decidedly inferior to Deep Purple Mark II.