Deep Purple – Made In Japan (1972)

From progarchives.com

Review by ZowieZiggy

The mother of all live albums ! (on par with “Live” from Uriah Heep, “Slade Alive!”, “Rock’n’Roll Animal” from Lou Reed, “Genesis Live” and “YesSongs” IMO). I saw the Purple performed this tour in Brussels (March 20, 1973 – I was forteen) in a packed Forest National and it is quite a souvenir. At that time, I was listening to MIJ again and again. I had even taped it so that I could go out and walk carrying my cassette recorder to be able to listen to MIJ away from home (kind a precursory version for a walkman). I knew already by heart the seven songs of this incredible live effort.

“Highway Star” was their classic opener in those days (they will re-use it later on again as such). If I would be critical and honest, I would say that two songs are better in their studio versions “Child” and “Space”. Two are on par “Highway” and “The Mule”. What is incredible here is the way the band copes together. The extreme complicity between Gillan and Blackmore at the time is enormous on stage (only to be equalled / surpassed with the Page / Plant one). The way Ian responds to Ritchie in “Strange Kind of Woman” is superb and will be a Purple standard. This version is superior to the studio one. “Smoke on the Water” is another song that surpasses the studio work. It will make this average song (it had never been one of my fave on “Machine Head”) an anthem for millions of fans and for more than three decades to come (it is still played during their live sets in 2006). This version of “The Mule” is gorgeous. It has little to do with the original and brings Ian Paice on the front end. He supplies a fantastic drum solo which definitely belongs to the era. It is said that during some live renditions of “Fireball” (the track) he was the fastest drummer in the world. He should also be considered as one of the top ten drummer of all time.

Each member of the band (except Roger) will produce an extensive solo part while the others will take a break. this might sound boring, but it was the trademark of live concert in those times.

I never understood why “Space Truckin” should be extended to almost 20 minutes but anyway it fits within the ensemble and closes the first release of Made In Japan. On the 25th anniversary edition, in 1998 some bonus tracks will be added. Each of them is an encore : “Lucille” from the Osaka concert on August 16th, “Black Night” and “Speed King” from the Tokyo concert on August 17th (the latter was previously unreleased).

To cash in, their record company released a triple album called “Live In Japan” which represents almost the entire three mythical Japanese concerts. I say almost because to get it truely completed, the fan will need to get the fabulous six CD set “Listen, Learn, Read On (not yet mentioned on this site) to get the sole lacking track of those great moments : The Osaka encore “Black Night” from August 16th. This makes it quite expensive to get the whole stuff, doesn’t it ? Made In Japan will reach Nr. 6 in the US and 16 in the UK charts.

Although the sound is not always great and that the Purple will release a double live album called “In Concert – BBC” in 1980 but recorded in March 1972 for its “Machine Head” part which is IMO better than MIJ I will rate this album five stars.

Review by Easy Livin

Often cited as one of the greatest live albums ever released, “Made in Japan” is indeed a worthy record of a band at its peak. Recorded in 1972, mainly in Osaka but with a couple of songs from the Tokyo gig the same week, the album fits in the Deep Purple time line just after “Machine head”. It is no surprise then that four of the seven tracks on that album are featured, including a 20 minute version of “Space truckin'”. The rest of the set list is made up of the sublime “Child in time” from “In rock”, “Strange kind of woman” (A non album single) and the “The mule” from “Fireball”.

The double LP sold for about the same price as a single album at the time, making it an attractive proposition for those looking to investigate the music of this rapidly ascending band.

It is perhaps astonishing now to think that the prime motive behind the album was the record company’s wish to fight back against the bootleggers, the band initially being reticent about the idea. In one of a number of parallels with Uriah Heep’s subsequent “Live ’73” several gigs were recorded, but fate dictated that for technical reasons by and large only one of the recordings was considered entirely fit for purpose, the Budokan tapes being overlooked altogether.

The overriding plus from this album is the incredible sound quality. The band assert that no overdubs have ever been done to the original recordings, the remastered version simply using modern technology to further enhance the original tapes.

Most of the renditions here are faithful to the studio originals, whilst featuring variations in the solos and of course an obligatory drum solo (on “The mule”). “Strange kind of woman” becomes a 10 minute affair, due in part to call and response section between Blackmore and Gillan, and the band allow themselves to indulge in a jam on “Space truckin'”.

In all, a fine live album indeed, which has over time become the yardstick by which other such releases are judged.

The remastered CD puts the four sides of the original LP on a single disc. A second disc of CD single length is added containing 3 songs played as encores during the tour. These include the single “Black night” plus “Speed king” from “In rock”. Both these performances are Tokyo recordings, while the third encore, a cover of the Little Richard (with Albert Collins) song “Lucille”, was only performed in Osaka. The sleeve of the remastered CD is different to the original European release, the front picture of the band being surrounded by a black (it couldn’t be more black!) edging.

Review by Tarcisio Moura

One of the greatest live albums ever. If you’re wondering where prog metal’s roots lay, this may be one of the starting points, and maybe the most important of them. For it showed that heavy music and prog rock were not incompatible at all. Even the most radical proghead at the time (and boy, did I know some!) could not deny those guys were absolute masters of their instruments and at least two cases (Ritchie Blackmore and Jon Lord), truly genius. They not only play their classics in great versions, but they proved they could jam, improvise and create like few others during live shows.

Of course those displays of explicid virtuosism would soon become common place (even if many of artists did not have the talent nor the technique to pull that off). But at the time it caused quite a stir, since in the minds of many heavy music was something done by below average musicians, who would try to hide their lack of musical skills under a wall of noise. Deep Purple changed all that. Yes, they were LOUD. heavy and noisy, but they were also outstanding musicians, with great creativity and had vast musical background, able to play classical and jazz. Their chemistry was something quite unique and Deep Purple MKII was more than the sum of its parts.

There was also a great singer in that, under the moniker of Ian Gillan. Wow, the man had a great voice to match the incredible instrumentation around him. He was one of the first to show he could not only scream but also sing very well (Robert Plant never got even close to him live). And they were on their peak at the time. Even the obligatory drum solo is interesting and not just a self indulgent exercise like many (even if I do not see that as a highlight here).

Made In Japan is made only of classic stuff. It was very well recorded for the time and the new CD version has 3 extra tracks (I guess it was the encore part): Black Night, Speed King and a powerhouse version of Lucille. All the new additions are on par with the original tracks. Heavy music and prog were together. Things would never be the same again. Simply essential.