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.
The seventeenth episode of The Geeks Of Doom Round Up is here, and this week, Andy takes a look at the new trailer for Cloud Atlas, directed by Tom Tykwer, and starring Tom Hanks, based on the novel by David Mitchell. Later, Greg pays tribute to the late legendary Jon Lord, keyboardist for Deep Purple, with their classic song “Lazy.”
Later in the show, we take a look at the current Amazon music specials highlighted here at Geeks of Doom, and Greg catches up on some TARDISblend-related Doctor Who news, including the announcement of Richard E. Grant landing a role in the new season.
Jon Lord, the original and ear-boggling keyboardist from the British rock band Deep Purple, died today, July 16, 2012, after suffering from a pulmonary embolism. He was 71. Lord, who had been battling pancreatic cancer, was surrounded by his family at the London Clinic when he passed away. Lord’s official website had reported the news, with the statement, “Jon passes from Darkness to Light.”
Lord was one of the unsung titans of hard rock and roll indeed, as his keyboard and organ sounds were an integral part to the amplified bluesy swagger of Deep Purple. On songs like “Lazy,” “Highway Star,” “Bloodsucker,” “Smoke on the Water,” “Woman From Tokyo,” “Child in Time,” and so many others, Jon Lord laid down sounds in the band that made it instantly recognizable that one was listening to Deep Purple as soon as they heard his grooves. He also incorporated many baroque and classic styles in his playing, and it stretched out into the band’s sounds as well, helping make Deep Purple one of rock and roll’s all time greatest and most unique bands.
Students of the Unusual™ comic cover used with permission of 3BoysProductions
The Mercuri Bros.™ comic cover used with permission of Prodigal Son Press
