"Machine Head" - Deep Purple

Is there any rock dude who hasn't heard of the immortal "Smoke On The Water"? For some it's the most overplayed piece of crap in the history of music. For some, the intro is the ultimate guitar riff.

Luckily for Deep Purple, the album that included this classic isn't just good for that one song. "Machine Head", released in 1972 by this supergroup, is worthy of being called one of the most prominent rock albums in the development of the heavy metal and speed metal genre. For all guitar-inclined musicians all over like myself, it is a treasure chest of kick-ass riffs and a combination of classical-music-meets-blues inspired licks.

The album kicks off with the fast-paced "Highway Star". One of their most recognizable songs, it boasts of complicated guitar and organ solos by Ritchie Blackmore and Jon Lord, respectively. It was so popular that Nintendo presented a version of the tune in their video game, Rock N' Roll Racing. "Highway Star" is definitely one of my favorites. We used to jam this song in our cover band and everytime the solo part comes, I get goosebumps all over.

"Maybe I'm Leo" is a somewhat slower piece with a bit of groove going on while "Pictures of Home" begins with an emphatic display of mastery of the drums by Ian Paice. Like most of the songs in this release, both tracks have more that its share of fretboard brilliance by Blackmore and keyboard fireworks by Lord. But the latter has a little something that others don't have - a rare bass solo by Roger Glover!

The next track, "Never Before", is the shortest in the list. Aside from that, I felt that this is their weakest track. However, that would be a result of comparing it with the overall might of the other songs in this partuicular album. Compared to any lesser rock songs, this is defintely topnotch.

The last three songs closes the "Machine Head" experience with a loud bang. "Smoke on the Water" doesn't need any introduction anymore. The next song "Lazy" sounds like a jam to me. It starts out with a Lord organ intro, then followed by an exchange of solos between him and Blackmore. We all know that Blackmore has been declared numerous times a guitar god, but Jon Lord wasn't gonna make Ritchie walk all over him in this instance, or any other instance for that matter. Jon Lord is unquestionably one of the most talented organ player I've ever heard.

Finally the last song "Space Truckin'" has probably the most kick-ass intro riff in the whole set for me. This is the song that I really want to play with our group but unfortunately for me I'm the only in our band who likes it. I wonder why this never reached the same status as "Smoke on the Water". On the other hand, I think it's better that way. With this scenario, there is a healthy balance between overly popular songs and tunes with less exposure that won't undermine the legacy of this brilliantly-crafted tour de force.

Release: 1972

Tracks listing: 1. Highway Star; 2. Maybe I'm A Leo; 3. Pictures Of Home; 4. Never Before; 5. Smoke On The Water; 6. Lazy; 7. Space Truckin'

Band members: Ian Gillan - vocals, harmonica; Ritchie Blackmore - lead guitar; Jon Lord - piano, organ, keyboards; Roger Glove - bass guitar; Ian Paice - drums

Enrico Monsanto is a freelance writer. He writes mainly about guitars, music and sports-related topics. Most of his work can be seen at his blog,

http://monsaint.blogspot.com

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System Of A Down Steal This Album Rock Music CD Review

System Of A Down, the richly talented Rock group have released their latest CD titled Steal This Album and Wow! It's really a good one.

This CD grabs your attention right from the outset with Chic 'N' Stu and won't let go until the very last note of the very last song Streamline, which by the way is another great track.

Steal This Album is a pleasantly varied, mix of 16 tracks that are very well written and brilliantly performed songs by these clearly talented musicians. Most of the songs display a lot of the kind emotion that makes for a really great listen. Clearly drawing from what I can only imagine are their own real life experiences. At different points touching on the most real emotions of love, and the pain of failed relationships can certainly be heard.

One of the refreshingly nice things about this CD is the way all of the participating artists seem to be really enjoying themselves. Combine that with the overall presentation and you've got one of System Of A Down most impressive releases ever.

If you're a System Of A Down fan this is a CD your collection flat cannot be without. In fact, this is one of those CDs that you don't even have to be a fan of lname, or even Rock to know is good. It's just good music. Period.

While the entire CD is really very good the truly standout tunes are track 11 - Highway Song, track 13 - Ego Brain, and track 16 - Streamline.

My Bonus Pick, and the one that got Sore [...as in "Stuck On REpeat"] is track 1 - Chic 'N' Stu. It's a great track!

Steal This Album Release Notes:

System Of A Down originally released Steal This Album on November 26, 2002 on the Epic label.

CD Track List Follows:

1. Chic 'N' Stu

2. Innervision

3. Bubbles

4. Boom!

5. Nuguns

6. A.D.D.

7. Mr. Jack

8. I-E-A-I-A-I-O

9. 36

10. Pictures

11. Highway Song

12. F**K The System

13. Ego Brain

14. Thetawaves

15. Roulette

16. Streamline

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The Origins of Metal From the Beatles to Black Sabbath

It is widely known that the origins of metal music can be traced all the way back to the mid 1960s, maybe even before than that, but metal bands did not come into existence until the formation of Black Sabbath and Deep Purple. However, many bands had touched upon the sounds that they focused on (i.e. heavily distorted guitars and power chords) before they started to hone in on the potential of the driven sounds.

In 1964, for example, The Kinks released You really got me, which was centred around distorted over-drive guitar riffs. However, a lot has got to be said for the guitar playing on The Velvet Underground's debut album, The Velvet Underground and Nico. The influence of the distortion on I'm waiting for my man (1967) and the feedback on Heroin are clearly early forms of metal music. Lou Reed later released a solo album called Metal Machine Music (1975), which was a collection of distorted feedback loops. On the album's notes, Reed claimed to have invented metal music.

The late sixties would see the heavy metal sound gain more even drive in the mainstream release of Helter Skelter on the Beatles' White Album (1968). The heaviest sounding guitar song to that date, Helter Skelter is clearly an important step in the evolution of metal music and the reality is that is was written by Paul McCartney. Helter Skelter is definitely high up the ranks of proto-metal.

It's no surprise then that in the same year as the White Albums was released that both Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath formed, although in all fairness Jimmy Page had already started to develop his own interpretation of distortion, feedback and fuzz tone in his earlier band, The Yardbirds, along with Jeff Beck and Eric Clapton.

Led Zeppelin, exploded onto the music scene out of the break up of The Yardbirds with their debut album, Led Zeppelin. It featured heavy distortion, but the band's varying influences meant that their music wasn't solely rooted in metal sounds.

However, it was the formation of Black Sabbath and Deep Purple that created the concept of the metal band. Black Sabbath, Paranoid and In Rock all surged on the heavy metal bands' stake on musical history. Originating in Birmingham, Ozzy Osborne and the rest of Black Sabbath ploughed into the metal music scene, giving it a focal point along with Deep Purple. This focal point expanded with the start of Judas Priest in 1969. Also originating in Birmingham, Judas Priest's first album, Rocka Rolla, was the beginning of a massive musical legacy that has let to 35 million album sales worldwide.

Lots of other bands and artists contributed to a greater or lesser extent to the beginnings of metal music. Jimi Hendrix's fuzzed up riffs, for example, are a major source of inspiration for metal music even to this day. Iron Butterly's In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida is another good example of proto-metal music.

However, if Lou Reed says he's the inventor of metal music, who am I to argue.

Tuppence magazine is an online magazine for entertainment news UK & reviews, including music news.

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