Wiki
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Release Date
25 March 1972
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Length
7 tracks
Machine Head is the sixth Deep Purple studio album. It was recorded at the Grand Hotel Montreux, Switzerland in December 1971 with the Rolling Stones Mobile Studio, and released in March 1972.
The album is often cited as being very influential in the development of the heavy metal music genre. It is Deep Purple's most successful recording, topping the charts in several countries following its release. In 2001 Q magazine named it as one of the 50 Heaviest Albums of All Time.
Machine Head is the subject of one of the Classic Albums series of documentaries about the making of famous albums. Machine Head was released on the multichannel formats Super Audio CD (2003) and DVD-Audio (2001).
The conditions in which the original recordings were made are quite outstanding. Hiring the Rolling Stones Mobile One equipment and studios, the band recorded the entirety of the tracks in a Montreaux hotel facility, with no overdubs. The "Smoke on the Water" lyrics' citation "Frank Zappa and the Mothers" refers to Zappa's show at a nearby casino. The casino burned down a few days before the start of scheduled Machine Head recording sessions.
A song entitled "When a Blind Man Cries" was recorded during these sessions, but not included on the album. Instead, it was used as a the B-side on the "Never Before" single. The song appears as a bonus track on the album's 25th anniversary edition.
The supporting tour for Machine Head included a trip to Japan that would later become the classic double-live Made in Japan album.
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