MADE IN JAPAN

Come on! This is the Deep Purple peak! The highlights from In Rock and Machine Head are here, so it serves as an extended best of jam. Each of the songs rip so much harder than their studio counterparts.

Highway star starts things off with a muscular thrust. Everyone sounds so impassioned and fiery. That electric blasting solo is amazing. Blackmore hasn't ever done much better than what he does on this album. Everything shrieks where it only purred in studio. This is ridiculous! In the best way. Child in Time follows, and the organ introduction is as nice as it was in studio. Ian seems so wild and fierce. the guitars dance all over the middle section.

The Smoke on the Water jam is forcefully Punching. I have said it before, but the studio albums lose so much momentum and strength compared to the wild live album. The extended additions to the songs are solid, and everything is as it should be, in a composition stand point.

If I must call out one flaw on here, it is The Mule. Serves only as a drum solo. A great drum solo, but 10 minutes of drumming is just too much. At least black Sabbath kept it down to only a couple minutes. The ending kicks it up, though. Strange Kind of Women starts off violently, and in a good way. The best flaring groove rocking Deep Purple ever prescribed to. Classic. Again, I enjoy all the live counterparts to their studio brethren. Lazy is the same here as it was on Machine Head, in spirit. That is, A big show-off session.

At least they have something to show off, I say! It works so well in this environment. If even that weird little funky vibe near the beginning is a bit pedestrian. Then it just absolutely rips. Solo after solo after eye melting solo. The organ trade offs are great, and they get almost as much time as the guitar, here. It is a bit shallow, but it is fascinating to hear them go at it so skillfully. And it just explodes at the end.

The 20 minute long Space Truckin' jam is a testament to the excess and extravagance of a Deep Purple show. The guitar dances and wails. It sings and screams. Very interesting. Although the song tends to meander quite a bit. There are several sections that make me wish it was cut in half, because a lot of it is rhythm section droning over a few guitar "shavings" that aren't much. Progressive? maybe. Boring? You bet. The rest of the song is grade A rocking in the highest caliber, and that drumming is great. The organ gets some spotlight here, as well. Still feels like it goes on for far too long. But, the ending is absolutely smashing.

Best song - Everything but half of The Mule and half of Space Truckin'

Worst song - The Mule and half of Space Truckin'

Pros - Everything gets turned to 11, full of passion, brilliant playing from everyone

cons - A bit bloated, a bit too excessive for my tastes, and some boring parts.

**** very strong stars. The greatest Deep Purple album.

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