A Super Deluxe Edition of Deep Purple’s “Machine Head” is released
In 1972 “Machine Head” the most successful album of Deep Purplecontaining “Smoke On The Water”, famous for its deadly riff, a song even defined as “Beethoven’s fifth symphony in the Hard Rock world”.
It’s coming out now.”Machine Head: Super Deluxe Edition”, a limited edition box set with 3 CDs, 1 LP and 1 Blu-ray that will be available on March 29, 2024.
The new collection contains several versions of the album, including new stereo and Dolby Atmos mixes made by Dweezil Zappa. Also featured are the 1974 quadraphonic mix and a newly remastered version of the original album, adding greater depth to the stunning set (see track list below).
The presence at the mixes of Dweezil Zappa, son of Frank, it’s a sort of closing of the circle, a desire to retrace the story backwards on a journey that reaches the roots of “Smoke On The Water”, to the moment in which it was created.
In fact, the story goes that this song draws inspiration from a real event, a fire broke out at the Montreux Casinoin Switzerland, on 4 December 1971.
The band was in the town, also famous for its lake and the festival that takes place there, and intended to record the album Machine Headright in the fire room.
In that place, during a concert of Frank Zappasomeone fired a flare gun at the ceiling during the show, starting a fire that caused serious damage to the structure but fortunately not to people.
THE Deep Purple they watched the fire from a nearby restaurant and, when the fire went out, a layer of smoke had covered Lake Geneva, which the casino overlooked (“Smoke on the water/fire in the sky” reads the text). This image he gave to the bassist Roger Glover the idea for a song title: “Smoke On The Water“, of which Ian Gillan wrote the words.
No longer having the Casino available, Deep Purple moved to the Grand Hotel in Montreux, which was closed at the time due to the winter season. At that facility they recorded the album using the Rolling Stones’ mobile studio.
At the end of the studio sessions they needed another song, so they put together “Smoke On The Water” using Gillan’s lyrics and the riff created by the guitarist Ritchie Blackmore. The result was a song that told the story of these strange events a few days after they happened: the recording sessions took place from December 6th to 21st.
In an old interview Gillan explained about the recordings: “We set up the equipment in the corridors of the hotel, and the Rolling Stones’ mobile truck was in the back with very long cables coming out of the windows. We tried to recreate an atmosphere in a technical sense in the best possible way. And when we went to write the lyrics, because we were short of material, we thought it was an ‘additional track’.”
“The riff and the other tracks of the song – continues the singer of the English band – were recorded as a sort of soundcheck. There were no lyrics. So, we took out what I had written and came up with a biographical account of the making of the album, as the first words of that song tell us: ‘We all came to Montreux…'”
Frank Zappa, who is mentioned in the text, lost all his equipment in the fire.
“Machine Head: Super Deluxe Edition” in addition to the studio versions and the new mixes, it also contains two live releases. The first was recorded on 9 March 1972 at the Paris Theater in London, during the “Machine Head Tour”. The second, unreleased, was recorded in April 1971 in the renovated Montreux Casino in Switzerland. The live recording includes songs recorded by the band before Machine Headincluding “Child In Time” and “Speed King” (from 1970’s Deep Purple in Rock) and “Strange Kind Of Woman” (from 1971’s Fireball).
The new Stereo and Dolby Atmos mixes created using the original tapes by Dweezil Zappa for this edition offer new and engaging perspectives on this classic album. In the liner notes, Zappa states:
It’s one of those records where I think, ‘How did they get to this?’ There are classical music influences in the use of guitar and keyboard, but then there is blues and also hints of funk. And there’s also this singer with his killer voice. All these ingredients come together in a unique way where nothing sounds like commercial music, yet it excites people beyond measure. It’s a fascinating recipe.
MACHINE HEAD: SUPER DELUXE EDITION
LP:
Dweezil Zappa 2024 Remix
Side One
“Highway Star”
“Maybe I’m A Leo”
“Pictures Of Home”
“Never Before”
Side Two
“Smoke On The Water”
“Lazy”
“When A Blind Man Cries” – B-side
“Space Truckin’”
CD 1:
Dweezil Zappa 2024 Remix
“Highway Star”
“Maybe I’m A Leo”
“Pictures Of Home”
“Never Before”
“Smoke On The Water”
“Lazy”
“Space Truckin’”
“When A Blind Man Cries” – B-side
2024 Remaster
“Highway Star”
“Maybe I’m A Leo”
“Pictures Of Home”
“Never Before”
“Smoke On The Water”
“Lazy”
“Space Truckin’”
CD 2:
In Concert ’72
Introduction
“Highway Star”
“Strange Kind Of Woman”
“Maybe I’m A Leo”
“Smoke On The Water”
“Never Before”
“Lazy”
“Space Truckin’”
“Lucille”
“Maybe I’m A Leo” – soundcheck
CD 3:
Montreux ’71
“Swiss Yodel” *
“Speed King” *
“Strange Kind Of Woman” *
“Into The Fire” *
“Child In Time” *
“Paint It Black” *
“Wring That Neck (Hard Road)” *
“Black Night” *
“Lucille” *
Blu-ray (Audio Only)
Dweezil Zappa 2024 Atmos Remix
“Highway Star” *
“Maybe I’m A Leo” *
“Pictures Of Home” *
“Never Before” *
“Smoke On The Water” *
“Lazy” *
“Space Truckin’” *
“When A Blind Man Cries” – B-side *
1974 US Quad Mix
“Highway Star”
“Maybe I’m A Leo”
“Pictures Of Home”
“Never Before”
“Smoke On The Water”
“Lazy”
“Space Truckin’”
Dolby 5.1 Surround Sound Mixes
“When A Blind Man Cries” – B-side
“Maybe I’m A Leo”
“Lazy”
* previously unreleased
