Purple Patch

It's far too hot for any outdoorsy pursuits today, so I'm taking the opportunity to sit inside with all the windows open and listen to some classic rock instead.

Rewind to 1990 and a very spotty and somewhat thinner Tim was involved in some kind of school play thing. My role in this involved having to wear green tights and pass a basketball around with other similarly shittly-attired kids who wanted to be a part of it no more than I did, but that's not want I want to talk about. Except in a therapy session.

After the “performance” we were treated to a party. Religious studies teacher and bizarrely, Adamski's number one fan, Mr Griffiths was behind the old wheels of steel and filled the room with the sounds of Technotronic and other such cack music of the day. We had been illicitly drinking in the changing rooms and were topped up by careers teacher and sleazy, Trump-esque sports car enthusiast, Mr Valks, who kept handing around cans of Red Death for us to slurp from.

Status Quo was about as rocky as it got, but then the game changed. My mate Mike, something of a metal aficionado, requested a song which was duly played. The song was Deep Purple's seminal 1972 track, Smoke on the Water.

Holy shit!

I'd never heard anything like it. It was probably my first experience of playing air guitar and head banging and I bloody loved it.

This led to me very quickly acquiring Deepest Purple on vinyl from the sale section in Woolie's for about £2. And what a bargain. I played the album to near death and couldn't get enough. This in turn led me to explore their back catalogue which involved the purchase of a cassette version of Made in Japan and a beaten up, second hand vinyl version of the album I want to talk about, Machine Head.

Listening to it now, it's hard to believe it was as long ago as 1972 when they recorded it. Along with early Black Sabbath, early Deep Purple is still relevant and an important lesson in how it should be done for any metal fan, young or old.

Highway Star kicks it off and I've mentioned this before as it has one of the best, if not the best guitar solo in the history of metal on it. But it's so much more than that. Lyrically, it's shit, but musically, despite not being overly complicated, it's like a founding father of classic rock. Amazing guitar work and Jon Lord's Hammond organ solo is absolutely staggering. If you went to a biker party and this song wasn't played at some point I'd be very surprised.

Maybe I'm a Leo is quite bluesy and is possibly the only astronomy-themed metal song ever recorded. It's indicative of the time though and is a typical throw-away album track even though it kicks the arse of many other bands' output. Maybe it's not Purple enough?

Pictures of Home starts with some amazing drumming before a killer riff takes hold. Definitely an underrated song and a bit psychedelic at times, but remember it was the early 70s and magic mushrooms on toast for breakfast was probably de rigueur which makes it even more staggering that there's a blistering Blackmore wankfest on it.

Never Before is a rocky enough offering. Stereotypical “my woman” lyrics blight it a little, but remember that times were different and it never did Lynyrd Skynyrd any harm, did it?

And then on to track five, which of course is side two, track one for purists. Smoke on the Water. What can be said about this that hasn't already been said? It contains the most classic of classic riffs. Anyone who has ever picked up a guitar has attempted to play it. It's genius in its simplicity and the story of the Swiss fire which led to the lyrics is the stuff of legend – hell, there was even a BBC4 documentary which lasted an hour just about this song. Listen to it at 11 for maximum enjoyment. Don't listen to the remastered version though, it's got a different guitar solo on it and sounds all wrong.

They might as well have packed up and gone home at this point, but they hit us with Lazy which starts with a Lordian organ freakshow before Blackmore widdles all over the place. It's over 7 minutes long and is almost entirely instrumental. A proper showing off song from all concerned.

Space Truckin' rounds things off with another classic, simple riff-based bonanza and I defy anyone not to air drum the shit out of the start. 

Deep Purple undoubtedly had talent, but it was a constant battle for the limelight as every single member constantly tried to outdo each other. For a number of years it worked well and for that we're grateful. After a point though it's best to forget that they were still recording albums. Anyone who's ever heard Slaves and Masters will agree.

Machine Head is just over 37 minutes of pure genius and twenty years later the album gave the name to Bay Area thrash titans, err, Machine Head. You don't see any bands called Black Sabbath Vol. 4, do you?