machine head – CHRIS PHILPOTT

Machine Head (the band) yesterday, Machine Head (the album) today – and you might think the band was named after the album but you’d be wrong: Machine Head singer Robb Flynn just thought the name ‘Machine Head’ sounded cool. It’s probably why Deep Purple chose the name as well.

Machine Head (the album) turns fifty this week. It’s actually got an interesting story behind it: the band had planned to record the album at the Montreux Casino in Switzerland (home of the famed Montreux Jazz Festival) using a mobile recording studio after a final show by Frank Zappa. However, the casino burnt to the ground after a Zappa fan fired a flare into the ceiling.

Deep Purple relocated to the Grand Hotel, on the edge of Montreux, and subsequently wrote arguably their most famous song, “Smoke On The Water” about the experience; it leads off Side B of this record.

Machine Head is one of those albums that any rock or metal fan has heard a dozen times. Opener “Highway Star” is a hard rock classic (and a piece of sheer genius), aforementioned “Smoke On The Water” is a rite of passage for any guitar player, and closer “Space Truckin'” – with its refrain of ‘Come on! Come on! Come on!’ – is instantly recognisable, and features a virtuoso drum performance (courtesy of Ian Paice). This is a brilliant album.

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CLTM (Chris Listens To Music) is my attempt to listen to a new album every day; you can follow my efforts on Instagram here (and send recommendations), and if you like what I’m doing, support my efforts by shouting me a cuppa at Buy Me A Coffee.

Back in the late nineties, I loved nothing more than walking into a music store and just flicking through the albums on the shelf – thousands of CDs lining every wall, covering every genre of music, and I probably knew most of what was in stock at Whangarei’s main music stores.

One of my favourites was a little shop called Tracks N Tapes; it occupied a store in the Regent, right about where the New World is now, and was next door to a custom sandwich shop that let you pick your own fillings. Tracks N Tapes didn’t have a test station to listen, but would just put the album on in the store. It was absolutely mortifying.

Anyway, one day I was in the shop and found this album – the cover art caught my eye, I knew that Machine Head was probably a reference to Deep Purple meaning it was probably rock or metal, and I was intrigued. But I didn’t want to have to play it in the store; what if it was really bad? So I just bought it. I’d never heard it before. I literally judged the book by its cover.

Fortunately it turned out to be really good; The More Things Change is one of my favourite albums of the nineties. My favourite track here is “Spine” with its distorted bass line and high speed chorus. Though I love the chunky (and lengthy) “Violate” as well.

THIS IS NOT HIM. THIS IS HIS WEBSITE.

Tag: machine head

CLTM2022 #079: Deep Purple – Machine Head (1972).

CLTM2022 #078: Machine Head – The More Things Change (1997).