MADE IN JAPAN

Made in Japan is THE archetypal metal live album. Though the band is not heavy metal, this album is a blueprint for metal live documents. The band is in top form on the Machine Head tour as they jam through Purple standards with style. Each member shines on tracks: Paice on The Mule and Space Truckin; Blackmore on every track; Lord on Highway Star and Child in Time; Glover on Smoke and Space Truckin; and Gillan on Child in Time and Strange Kind of Woman.

Some of the jams are a bit long, but they're still superb. Gillan's and Blackmore's duel in Strange Kind of Woman, Paice's extended break on The Mule, and Lord's duel with Blackmore on Highway Star are all incredible. The reissue contains the encore performances of Speed King, Black Night, and Lucille, all of which are rocking.

This album stands with The Who's Live at Leeds and the Allman Brother's At Fillmore East as a defining live document that no one should be without. The insanely technical improvs give this prog credentials, and they also helped to lay foundations for prog metal.