Deep Purple Made in Japan, 50 years

"Made in Japan" is only one of the best albums ever, even 50 years after. The band was totally relaxed and did not consider their Japanese tour and its recording as important. That behavior turned the live recordings into the most perfect back then, even if they were supposedly produced cheaply. The band did not believe it would be a great album. So the title "Made in Japan" originally intended to be a reference to the cheap products made in the East. Back in 1972, Japan was only starting to spread its very good products into Europe, the Japanese industry would conquer and save some of the British labels only 8 years after, like it happened to Austin Rover Group and its cars designed by Honda. This double live album was intended to be produced only for the Japanese market but, somehow, it ended up being sold in the UK but very cheap, the same price as one LP. However, it became a big success and it was released worldwide.
This amazing and historical album was recorded on 15, 16 and 17 of August 1972 and it starts with these two songs: "Highway Star" and "Child in Time".


Unfortunately, only the sound is related to Japan. There are no good video recordings from these concerts in Japan and this footage came from the Danish tour five months before. Though Ian Gillan wears the same shirt with triangles he would use in Japan sometimes :)

50 years of Smoke on the Water

"Smoke on the Water" is a monumental song. It opens pure, strong and it grows like a Beethoven symphony. Jon Lord gives it a Baroque touch, Blackmore sings with his guitar, and baritone Gillan sings Rock 'n' Roll. And Glover and Paice join everything in a bluesy-jazzy jam mostly strong, but delicate when needed. What a fantastic band, what a fantastic song. Nowadays, it's hard to believe that these guys were pioneers of what would be classified as Hard-Rock and Heavy Metal.
Below, a videoclip joining several live footage from 1972 to 1973 and very well sound mixed:

Jon Lord says at the minute 8 of this documentary below, "we were not a singles band" and @ 8:30 "we send it (the album Machine Head) to Warner Brothers ... with the indication that "Never Before" would be the single ... we honestly didn't think that "Smoke on the Water" was a hit material ... how wrong can you be?"
As told in this documentary, this song tells a well known story about a disaster happened on December 1971. The song was included in the albums "Machine Head" and "Made in Japan" both released on 1972. "Smoke on The Water" was released as a single only on the year after with both versions, the studio and the live in Japan.

Finally, here's the band performing at Nippon Budokan, Tokyo, Japan, on August 17th, 1972. It is a great performance but not the sublime version recorded (but not filmed) at Osaka on 15 August 1972 and included in the album "Made in Japan", one of the greatest live albums of all time, where live versions are better than the studio recordings. It was the first live and double album I bought :)

let's warm this place

have a devilish weekend :D

applause for Jon