Bassist was not surprising in his choice, although he made interesting comments about the album and his biggest hit
O Deep Purple consolidated itself, even at the beginning of the 1970s, as one of the most important bands in the heavy branches of rock. Often credited as one of the pioneers of heavy metal, the English group released a series of relevant works, not only in its initial period of existence, but also in later phases.
Still, there is one album that stands out from the rest in the opinion ofRoger Glover. Without any major surprises, the bassist pointed out Machine Head (1972) as the most important album in the band’s history.
Could. The work, released on March 25, 1972, contains some of the most popular songs in the world. purplefor example “Smoke on the Water”, “Highway Star”, “Lazy” and “Space Truckin’”. Many of them are played live to this day. In an interview with Consequence, Glover reflected:
“You can’t hide the fact that it basically became ‘the album’ that defined Purple. It didn’t seem that way at the time, but it was just as time, decades and reissues, etc. went by. It is still the model of what the Deep Purple.”
Interestingly, the success achieved with Machine Head began to undermine Deep’s internal relationships purple. The differences between the vocalistIan Gillanand the guitarist Ritchie Blackmore became huge as the tour in support of the album took place. When making the next record, Who Do We Think We Are (1973)the two were no longer in tune. Blackmore won the arm wrestling, making Gillan and Glover leave training — which would be redone with David Coverdale on vocals and Glenn Hughes on vocals and bass.
This configuration lasted until 1976, with Blackmore leaving a year earlier and being replaced by Tommy Bolin. The “classical” formation of purplewith Gillan, Blackmore, Gloverthe keyboardist Jon Lord and the drummer Ian Paicewould meet in 1984, with new dissent in the 1990s.
Deep Purple and “Smoke on the Water”
Much of the success of Machine Head comes from the hit “Smoke on the Water”, a song with one of the most iconic riffs in rock history. In the same interview with Consequencealthough, Roger Glover says that the song was treated like any other song when it was made.
“It was just another rifflike that of ‘Into the Fire’. We didn’t give it much importance and it wasn’t even being considered as a track for the album. It sounded messy at the first rehearsal. We didn’t work on the arrangement, it was just an improvisation. ‘Smoke‘ only made it onto the album, to fill time, because we had few songs. On vinyl, the ideal time for good sound quality was 38 minutes — 19 on each side of the LP. There were about seven minutes left and we only had one day to shoot.”
Interestingly, in an interview recovered by the website Igor Mirandathe bassist declared that he saw the song as special right away.
“Always record everything we do, especially when we play in rehearsals. This practice started when I heard Ritchie play that killer riff, and when we stopped, I asked him to play it again and he asked ‘What riff?’ – he hadn’t even realized what he had touched! A lot of our songs come from jams, and that riff could be the basis for a good song.”
Source: Rollingstone
Earl Johnson is a music writer at Gossipify, known for his in-depth analysis and unique perspective on the industry. A graduate of USC with a degree in Music, he brings years of experience and passion to his writing. He covers the latest releases and trends, always on the lookout for the next big thing in music.
