Deep Purple‘s red hot sonic piece of meteorite, the rock your socks off live album, Made In Japan, is now available on MP3 format from Amazon this month for only $5.

Originally available for purchase way back in 1973, this album crystallizes and encapsulates all the hard rocking fervor that is the British group Deep Purple. The band has gone (and continues to go) through many personnel changes throughout its 45-year-plus career. But on this live album, recorded during their Machine Head tour – which arguably stands as their most well known and successful record – with the lineup of guitar tunesmith Richie Blackmore, the neo-classical and fast-fingered posturing of the late Jon Lord on keyboards, the rhythm section cannonball through your chest of Roger Glover on bass and Ian Paice on drums, and of course the wailing, notes sometimes sung so high only a cocker spaniel can hear it warbling of lead singer Ian Gillan, the band is like a rocket ship out of control. Amped up versions of well known Purple tracks “Highway Star,” “Child in Time,” the smoldering electric bluesy “Lazy,” the pounding riff into the earth “Space Truckin’,” and of course the seminal played on radio and by cover bands coast to coast incessantly “Smoke on the Water” get the live treatment. Most of these songs are elongated and spontaneously performed, much unlike their studio versions, and the result ultimately whips the crowd up into a frenzy. This deluxe edition also includes some songs that were not on the original release, “Black Night” (which for my money, is the best track on the record) and the macho, pumped-up balls-out rocker, “Speed King.” Made In Japan is money well spent for a collection such as this, for a live record that showcases a band at their absolute peak and power and yet still remains criminally, headshakingly underrated, in the world of hard rock and roll.

Also on sale for only $5 right now is The Very Best Of Deep Purple. Browse all 1,000 albums on sale this month for only $5 each.

Great Gypsy Soul
By Tommy Bolin and Friends
429 Records
Release date: March 26, 2012
MP3* | CD Exclusive | CD

The late, great Tommy Bolin, one of the most prolific and underrated guitarists arguably of all time, is getting the royal crown tribute firmly affixed on his sonic memory with the release of Great Gypsy Soul. The eleven song album, which was released in MP3* format today, March 25 (it’s actually on sale right now for $3.99) has a stunning array of guests on it that reads like a who’s who line-up of some guitar and vocal greats of the 1970s and 80s and today, like Peter Frampton, Joe Bonamassa, and Warren Haynes.

Bolin, who was born in Sioux City, Iowa, in 1951 and died in Miami, Florida, in late 1976, was yet another guitar player in the annals of rock whose bright future was stilled, a victim of a heroin overdose while on tour with Jeff Beck.

If you enjoyed Black Country Communion‘s second album, 2 (and why wouldn’t you?), you can get the first album Black Country Communion now for only $5 in Amazon’s December $5 MP3 Album, which has 100 albums for only $5 each.

Black Country Communion is the rock supergroup made up of lead singer and bass player Glenn Hughes, guitarist Joe Bonamassa, drummer Jason Bonham and keyboard player Derek Sherinian.

The $5 price is only available until December 31, 2011 11:59 PST. If You would prefer a physical copy the CD version is available for $15.28.

Black Country Communion – Live Over Europe
U.S.: DVD | Blu-ray
U.K.: DVD | Blu-ray
Mascot Records
Release date: October 24, 2011

One of the best supergroups of the last few years has released a live DVD to prove to those who didn’t catch them over the summer that they are just as impressive live as they are on their albums. Shot over three nights at shows in Hamburg, Munich and Berlin, Germany last summer, Black Country Communion Live Over Europe is a document of a rock band at a key period in their career.

The summer festival circuit is where bands go to make their name and spread the word. To be fair to the guys, Black Country Communion‘s name was already pretty well known. After these kind of performances, their word was gospel.

Another excellent deal in Amazon’s $5 MP3 album sale is Black Country Communion‘s 2.

With a line up boasting the talents of Glenn Hughes (ex-Deep Purple), Jason Bonham (the son of late Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham), Derek Sherinian (ex-Dream Theater), and Joe Bonamassa, Black Country Communion is one of the most exciting rock bands around.