Machine Head

Heavy metal is not really my thing but I was hopping to be surprised here but I got what I expected, disappointment. There was nothing new or interesting on this album except maybe for the distorted organs on Lazy. Don't even start with it was ahead of it's time. Music from the late 60s / early 70s was a golden age of experimentation and all I got was this blasé, generic, uninspired album. Somehow this album was borderline on being so laid back and meandering it might as well be a Grateful Dead album. It just needed more direction, vision, organization, something, anything to be on par with even with it’s contemporaries. There are hits of great things in this album like the layering and the occasional bass line. That and Lazy are the only saving grace on this whole album 2/5.

This came out in the spring of my junior year in high school. Smoke on the Water was a Top 5 hit on AM radio, so when this came up today it made me wonder why it wasn’t in our rotation for when we played cards. After listening to it I know why. Pretty lame playing, horrible lyrics, and beyond the riffs the songs weren’t great. Even SOTW, while it has the iconic guitar riff, is a fairly plodding song for a rock anthem. Sadly, this is the first of three albums by this group we will have. Three albums????

Pas mal. Smoke on the water c'est surcôté. Par contre lazy est très sympa.

Other than smoke on the water I felt kind of meh about this one

Love early metal like this.

¿Y si dijera que Smoke On The Water está un poco sobrevalorada y que aun asi es la mejor canción del disco? No está mal, muy rockerito muy de su epoca, pero tampoco me ha dicho nada.

This is like a mix between Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd. Super dad rock vibe

Classic album. Influential on metal but I’d call it a “heavy rock” album, but would rate it among best of genre. Highway Star is still a banger and one of my favorite driving songs. Smoke on the Water is a great song even if it doesn’t have the lasting power of others. The deep tracks are what really makes this album great. I’m always happy when Lazy comes on random play.

While Smoke on the Water is a genuinely fun song, with a very cool use of storytelling to put forth a sick, legendary riff, (that's been so played that it's genuinely morphed into a guitar meme at this point...) the rest of the album feels very cut and dry 70s heavy-ish, faster tempo'd rock. Heavy Metal? I mean it's part of the foundation of it, but you can look at Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin as more realistic influences for heavy metal's earliest beginnings. With that in mind, I think this is fine to have on here. I have no complaints, as it comes in at around 30 minutes and never really lets off the gas pedal. It starts great, it has a great hit on it and it wraps up really well. A good album...not something I would rush to have people listen to before they die, though...somewhere around 6-7/10...not quite that 4 star mark

not a fan of the style but respect it nonetheless

Meh, another rock album.

I haven't listened to much Deep Purple outside their big hits. This was a pretty good album, very enjoyable. I'll say 3.5 rounding down to 3 because I won't likely come back to this

I enjoyed myself, but I'm not sure how much. I knew Smoke on the Water, obviously, and the rest of the songs were alright.

Solid seventies rock

Some good songs but mostly just classic rock

Actually fucking awesome

Such a head banger. The rock musicianship is second to none throughout and the energy the band create is amazing. I do think it's an album of huge standouts - Highway Star & Smoke On The Water are the obvious standouts, and whilst there's not a bad track on the record a few of them don’t have the same lasting impact as others. 8/10.

Fun to hear again and some iconic tunes.

c'était moins pire que ce que j'attendais

Heavy Rock at its finest. Great organ work. Phnar Phnar.

smoke in the water banger! c

I always liked the driving rhythm and organ crunches of Deep Purple, they stand out above a number of their peers from this era. Cool band, good albums.

1972 - 6th studio album - British hard rock/heavy metal - contemporaries zep, floyd, and sabbath - most commercially successful album and charted for over 2 yrs; band felt their studio albums didn't sound as good as their live performances & wanted to record on a stage. I did NOT want to listen to this, ugh. "Smoke on the Water," I get it, I don't need any more Deep Purple. One song is enough. But "Highway Star" was SO good? Like, SO good? And then I was just on my little journey. I get it. Ritchie Blackmore is insane, the riffs are so captivating. And the buzzy, distorted tone of the guitar is singular. Drumming also caught my ear, Ian Paice is DOING THINGS. There wasn't a track I didn't actively enjoy. I cannot believe I can easily rate this a 5.

This is really not for me. Just feels like really basic rock music with a cool solo every now and then. All the songs sound the same so it just drags on for ages. At least it’s a short album so it’s bearable. This album would fit the mood of cracking some beers with the boys which I’m sure was its main purpose when it released, so it has some value there. Pictures of Home was the best one, I quite like the solos. None of the other songs really stuck out to me. Quite a shame because these guys are quite highly regarded in terms of rock music.

They did that one thing (Smoke on the Water) and that’s not enough to make up for how boring this is.

It was good but I don't feel strongly about it

peak boomer rock

Those are some pretty sick solo's ngl

Metal was at its best when it still had one leg in the psychedelic blues that had spawned it. There's a sense of grandeur without one instrument to taking up all the space. A true jam was never far off. It's got smoke on the water, highway star and space trucking, excellent guitar legend material. Not everything is as inspired but all of it will make your car ride much more fun.

Deep purple is not a band that really wows me in any way. Like I get that they're influential, but to me, this is just a drop in the ocean of dad rock. Obviously I know smoke on the water. But everything else sounds exactly like how I expect. I suppose, in a technical sense. This is a good album. I mean, it was obviously very influential for its time. But for me, listening in the modern day, I just don't have any sort of connection with this at all. Fav Track: Smoke On The Water

Está "Smoke on the water" y es un álbum seminal del heavy metal y el rock duro. Hoy en día no suena tan impactante, pero el mérito no se le puede quitar.

Glorious metallic blues. DP set out to capture the sound and energy of their live set with Machine Head and I would say they did so in spades. Lord's loud Hammond organ and Paice's tight drums compliment Blackmore's powerful, competent guitar; Gillan's vocal work is excellent, ranging from sultry growls to powerful rock shouts. A brilliant effort. Key tracks: "Smoke on the Water," "Lazy," "Space Truckin'"

Just a perfect rock album. It’s amazing that Smoke on the Water, being their biggest hit is not even close to the best song on here. These guys and Blue Oyster Cult had the heavy rock formula down on the seventies.

Amazing album the hits are cherry on top even without the known songs this would be a work of art

6+ / 10

Great High energy start to this album with Highway Star! Smoke on the Water is ok, simple but memorable. Space Truckin was fun as well. Overall an interesting album.

"If you're leaving, close the door..." - When a Blind Man Cries is an absolute masterpiece, not to mention Smoke on the Water, as one of the most recognisible tunes of the hard-rock genre ❣️

Masterpiece

gut zu hören, mehr nicht

One Hit Wonder

I have realized that I am a Deep Purple fan. Thanks!

Classic album, a mainstay of 1970's classic rock. Smoke on the Water, etc. I'm not a huge Deep Purple fan, but appreciate them for what they are.

I get it, I respect it, and I also dislike basically every song.

Something I've been realizing about my taste in hard rock is that the sillier it is, the higher chance I'll like it. Deep Purple aren't exactly silly, but they don't take themselves super seriously, and that makes me like them a lot more. It's hard for me to dislike an album where one of the songs is about driving a truck through the solar system. Combine that with the fact that the band combines this with some genuinely excellent guitar work, particularly in the solos, and you're in for a great time. If there's one minor nitpick I have, it's that I think the production wasn't as heavy as it could have been, which ended up really limiting this album's sound. Still, the songs at the core were fun enough that I can't complain.

Some pretty insane guitar work throughout the album; the impact of SMOTW probably pushes it just close enough to 4 that I'll round up.

Great guitar riffs and memorable lyrics, earworms throughout the majority of this album. Almost got a 5.

Overall decent album, very motown (if that’s the correct terminology) and classic 70s rock. Not that into it, but enjoyable.

*Great fuzzy guitars and solid 80's rock sound

Not a fan of this genre, so it was a miss for me.

A fine mix of classic metal, hard rockin' blues and the greatest riff of all time. 4/5

It’s not bad I like space trucking probably better than smoke on the water 😂

Un mélange de les zeppelin et de black sabbath. Des solos incroyables, de clavier entre autre. Les riffs sont délicieux

Just a really good album by a really good band.

Amazing album, an all time classic. I love the blues/prog vibes this album carries.

macht Bock!

What a cool album. I had never heard of her before and this was a good listening experience! Will go back to this one

Super solid, blackmore solos are fabulous, the band has their own unique sound somewhere in the blue hard rock metal sphere. I'd heard these all before but been a while since I revisited the ones that weren't singles

7/10

liked it

One of the great classic albums of all time

Harder rock than I care for. The classic Smoke on the Water is a partial redemption.

Another one of the Godfathers of heavy metal. Dare I say I actually liked this more than most of the early Sabbath I've heard? Of course there's the iconic opening riff to "Smoke On the Water". "Space Truckin'" may be the dumbest song I've ever heard, and I loved it. Really fun album

Interesting how this was my final album as opposed to the Beatles album we had just before. Also fitting that its an album I used to hear my dad play on vinyl when I was a kid. It's classic rock, but iconic enough to be a cut above the rest. I only knew Highway Star (thanks Rock Band!) and Smoke on the Water, and truthfully its all I'm going to remember from this album moving forward. I'd still place it as an enjoyable listen, despite it venturing into psychadelic rock too much for my liking (Lazy is horrible). You get your fill of guitar solos, drum solos, and tons of meandering lyrics. Its a reflection of the times and where this kind of music was at, so its unfair to knock it too much for those reasons. If you like classic rock, you'll surely find something you enjoy here. As I sit back and ponder this list, I have to say it was overall a good experience and I'm glad I partook in the entire thing. Most of the entries were pretty moderate listens, and really if anything, it reinforces how much our individual tastes color our opinions, certainly for something like "1001 albums you must hear before you die." I think it would be impossible to keep your personal taste out of it. Honestly, you could've kept it at a lean 500 and you probably would've still had some filler. If there is one thing I am thankful for, I got to revisit a lot of memories from my youth through the varied selection of music. My dad playing classic rock albums on the basement stereo, my brother blasting 90's grunge through the bedroom wall, to my own memories discovering music as an adolescent (though the list was a bit lacking here). It really was a trip down memory lane, and I sat through so many albums I'd heard before, but never really listened to, if that makes sense. It definitely opened my eyes to a lot of genres I'd never thought to give a chance, and for that I'm grateful.

🚨Final album alert🚨 Machine Head is a groovy rock album with shredding guitar solos and iconic hits. Even most of the non singles were enjoyable. They should have toured with Boston. That combo would have been perfect. It’s also pretty fun that the last song I’ll hear as a part of this experience is “Space Truckin”. Sure why the hell not Driving home, listening to “Highway Star”, reflecting on this journey and I can say I’m glad I did it. While this list is deeply flawed it has introduced me to some incredible artists/albums I probably wouldn’t have found on my own. Still, I can’t help but feel like the initial idea sounded good on paper but was too daunting for the author once he started. British classic rock. Pick any of those 3 words and that’s the backbone of the whole damn list. Machine Head is a very good album but we also got 2 other much less good Deep Purple albums earlier on this list. With how much music exists out there did we really need 3 Deep Purple albums? The Smoke on the Water band? This list is a lot like a double album (which as I’ve learned from this list… I mostly dislike). There’s a 5 star project in there but there’s so much bloat and indulgence that it weighs the whole experience down to a 3 star. But overall… not bad and actually totally worth it! Slow walkin Walter. The fire engine guy

Yeah this is great no complaints and it had enough variety throughout.

Deep Purple are such an interesting case of a band when it comes to popularity. "Smoke On The Water" is such a hugely famous track that I bet if you asked a bunch of random non-rock fans if they knew the song they would say "yes" but they wouldn't know the name of the band that wrote it. Meanwhile, Deep Purple have written some really solid tunes outside of just that one, and we are lucky to get their arguably second best song on this record as well. "Highway Star" is a classic rock staple. It's got incredibly impressive musicianship throughout, it's got great energy, it rips, and it's got a seriously strong memorable hook with. I couldn't imagine being a teenager in the 70's and hearing this song as the first track on this album. I would have called every radio station on earth and begged them to play it over and over while I sped around town. "Smoke on the Water" is famously one of the most learned riffs of all time... maybe even considered mandatory for rock guitarists, or guitarists in general. It's perfect in its simplicity, it's amazingly catchy, and it's hard rockin'. There's really not much else to add or remove from it. It's simply a perfect rock and roll riff. And amazingly, the rest of the track supports it wonderfully and doesn't hurt it in any way. It it's really a 5/5 album for me. It has the most famous rock guitar riff ever, it's got a huge classic rock staple in "Highway Star", and the rest of the album doesn't have any weak points. It's not a "good" album that has two standout tracks. It's a great album that has two of the best classic rock songs ever written.

Some good and wholesome jammy rock that doesn't overstep itself. Infinitely more bearable than the live album, and I'm gonna choose to rate this without the context of Made In Japan. Same as before, the virtuosity shines through on the individual instrumental performances, except this time without 30 minutes of added fluff. The concision is appreciated. This album is Dad Rock personified, a nice album to throw on while changing your oil or spark plugs. Still, ultimately nothing to write home about. Enjoyable nonetheless. 7/10, a high 3 for me, but I'm not quite ready to award the full 4 stars here. Favorites: - Highway Star - Maybe I'm a Leo - Smoke on the Water - Space Truckin'

I’ve heard most of this album from the awful Deep Purple live album earlier in this project. This was a better experience and still a good album but my experience was tainted due to the live album preceding this one.

Good

I liked this a lot better than their other album on here. They toned down the screeching and pumped up the jams and riffs. Solid album. Likes: Highway Star; Pictures of Home; Smoke on the Water

Smoke on the Water is such a classic track, and thankfully one I really like. The whole album is pretty decent, even if it’s not really my thing. Solid 3, but if I liked Classic Rock more I could certainly imagine this would score higher.

Deep Purple are never as heavy as I expect them to be and I always enjoy it more than I expect

Actually really like deep purple their stuff is so cool

Definitely one of Deep Purple's best albums. This is one of the albums that defined hard rock! Ritchie Blackmore is amazing! One of the greatest albums of all time!

Deep Purple have this weird effect in me. I really dig them when I listen to them. The organ particularly. And then, as the album goes on and maybe I go and listen to something else, my desire to listen to them again fades very, very quickly. I'm still in the "digging it" phase as I write this, so better log in the 4/5 before I change my mind.

Essential. 5/5.

Three rock classics ["Highway Star," "Lazy," and "Smoke"] with a stretch of obvious filler in between. The strength of the highlights makes the album worthwhile, but my rating is solely based on the record's influence, and not on its continued listenability. I am curious to listen to more of their discography because I was expecting to like this more.

I don’t usually notice/appreciate guitar work, but this was impressive!

Principal: [Deep Purple], what you've just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent [album] were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul.

muy bueno. me sirve haberlo escuchado antes de que vengan en noviembre (tendré ue ir cueste lo que cueste)

Meat and potatoes classic rock. Important, fine to listen to.

Pues me lo esperaba peor. Cuando empecé a escuchar rock esto era bastante reciente y no me pareció nada atractivo, ya sonaba un poco viejo. Pero ahora le encontré un valor más antropológico…🤷🏻‍♂️…me gustó más que el de led zeppelin

High energy and serenity. What else do you need?

C'est du rock psychedic en effet. Ils sont bien dans le thème. Ba écoute, pour travailler, ca va. Je "don't feel it" la musique mais bon je peux comprendre pourquoi les gens peuvent aimer. Bon après entre les autres groupes de rock, je ne vois pas trop comment ils se différencient. J'essaie de comprendre a quel point c'est culte mais je n'y arrive pas. Ok enfaite le smoke on the water est tres cool. En effet, cette chanson est culte. Je jouais a lapin cretin sur la wii et y avait cette musique.

Best Deep Purple album out there.

I used to own this album on CD. I would listen to it on the bus with my friends going to and from school.

This is basically the epitome of classic rock. Even outside of smoke on the water. This is just a great rock album

Been a Highwaystar ever since the Rock Band days, real ones know. Almost a 5... but I feel like some of the songs lose me too much to be perfect. Still slaps though 8/10

Great album.

Great album of old beauties

4 stars. It was really fun. Really enjoyed it. Highway star was good.

much more interesting listen than i thought it would be just the instrumentals as a whole were fantastic. absolutely flooded with great solos and shining moments for the whole band. had heard a fair bit about ritchie blackmore as a legendary guitarist, and i certainly wasn't disappointed but the rest of them did a great job keeping up with him. wasn't huge on the vocals but i wouldn't say they necessarily took away from the experience really found the tracklist significantly more versatile than i ever wouldve expected (having only heard smoke on the water prior). could be trippy or epic or (especially) bluesy whenever it wanted to be. i genuinely took a moment to question whether i was listening to the same album when lazy came on, idk wtf that entire intro was but it was sick. gotta admit i was a bit startled when it just cut straight to 0-3-5 lmao not normally the biggest into classic rock, but this album is strong enough for me that that doesn't really matter only song i wasn't really fond of was highway star, which kinda sounds like a hair metal song a decade early, so ig it's ahead of its time (too bad it seems to predict a genre i don't like lol) favourite song(s): smoke on the water, lazy, pictures of home least favourite song: highway star

Fuckin rock n roll baby

No me desagradó, no lo escucharía en el día a día, pero tiene algunos clásicos que son buenos

Sure is loud and high energy Never paid attention to the lyrics of "Smoke on the Water" before but LOL Gonna play "Lazy" to my dog in the morning when get doesn't want to go out

This album blew my expectations totally out of the water. This is the second Deep Purple album to come up on this list for me, with the first being "Made in Japan". I really didn't get along with that, mostly because it was a Live album and it was full of over-the-top solos that were beyond ridiculous. Obviously there's tracks here I already know, and some of them were on the Made in Japan album too. Turns out, this studio album is an absolute mile better than the live performance in Made in Japan, mostly because although there are still solos, they don't go on for 20 minutes and they actually sound good. I got really into this album. "Highway Star" helped set the scene because I know it and this album's version is a banger. Some of the guitar solos are still a little on the wanky side, but frankly, I think Ritchie Blackmore is iconic enough that that's justified, and none of them ever got to the point of getting on my nerves... to be honest most of them are just really good. It's not purely down to the guitar though, the riffs overall are mega catchy (and not just the obvious "Smoke on the Water" one), the layers of instrumentation are really cool, the keyboard sound is actually surprisingly interesting and different. The lyrics are pretty cheesy, and "Space Truckin'" (which I _hated_ on Made in Japan) still gets a little irritating by the end, but it's an enjoyable track here for the most part regardless. Turns out it's better as a 4 minute track than a 20 minute one. Thought this was going to be a straight 3 for me (or lower), but ... honestly just wow. High expectations now for the final Deep Purple entry on this list.

My guess is this is going to be a boring album but happy to be proved wrong. Apart from the wanky guitar solos this is easy listening. It is kinda boring and the songs don't need to be as long as they are. Pictures home might be the most irritating song I've ever listened to WE GET IT YOU CAN PLAY GUITAR AT A MEDIOCRE LEVEL. Smoke on the water is possibly the worst one hit wonder to ever exist Fine album guitar solos knock it down to 2

Classic

huhuhhuhuhhuhuhu this rules ehehehheheheheheheh

Solid heavy metal with good guitar playing. Low recording quality, loud organ, and wanky, length guitar passages all date the album. Like an inferior Led Zeppelin.