Deep Purple- Made in Japan

As I've mentioned in "In the Beginning" section, this is the album that introduced me to both Deep Purple and the world of live recordings. A pivotal recording that became one of the  benchmarks for  future live recording of rock music, it is a near perfect live album by Deep Purple. Simon Robinson has already told the story behind the three gigs  (Osaka and Tokyo, August 1972) that made the original record and many behind the scenes events so many times and in great detail. So, it would be best for prospective buyers to go and find Deep Purple-Live in Japan, a three disc special edition and read the booklet which is very informative and has all the information you'd possibly need:



This album has almost all the music played in those three nights but there are some missing tracks that turned up in a newly remastered version of the album as a bonus disc. Another thing to be considered before buying this version is that, due to space restrictions of maximum three cds and in order to include never before released performances, some of the material that readily available on the original album have been ommited.




One of the "missing" tracks has also surfaced in a massive 6 CD compilation box set called Listen, Learn, Read On... This also a very nice set that would give you a perfect opportunity to have almost everything you'd need to become acquinted with Deep Purple and its (book)let by Simon Robinson is also something to behold.


Another interesting aspect is that, since the album was originally intended only for the Japanese market, there was another 'original' version of the double album, titled Live in Japan, with a different sleeve and it came with some 35mm negative film cuts-which you could print your own copy of the image- that showed the group on stage at Budokan, Tokyo. The music and the song order on this album are identical to that on Made in Japan.


The music itself is a superb documentation of Deep Purple on their natural habitat that is on stage and also caught them at their musical peak. Three very talented soloists, Ritchie Blackmore, Jon Lord and Ian Paice, powered and supported by Roger Glover and Ian Gillan gave some memorable concerts on that tour and even Ian Paice once said that this is his favorite album in Purple catalogue and that all those songs on the album played to almost perfection.  Gillan was critical of his vocal performance but he has always been against live records, so it is understandable. Long guitar, organ and drum solos have been criticised to the death by the critics but let's not forget that that was the form during the seventies and, in my humble opinion, if you're good at something, and this is especially true for live music environment, why not show/give it to the (willing) masses? Stand out tracks for me is the opener Highway Star, Child in Time for its incredible guitar solo and Paice's inhuman drumming, Lazy for the tempo and opening section and Smoke on the Water for that intro. It would be also interesting to know that this version was the only one that Blackmore managed to play correctly during those three concerts and that was the only reason for its inclusion to the album.

Buy it or steal it. It is that essential. But until that  time please watch this only-for now-available and recently discovered footage of the original Made in Japan clip (in black & white) that was recorded by a member of the audience at Budokan, Tokyo. It starts around 1:20 mark right after Jon Lord's (R.I.P) interview.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=py_BfTJA2Iw

And for all things Deep Purple, please refer two these two magnificent web sites:

http://www.thehighwaystar.com/
and
http://www.deep-purple.net/


Till we meet again, stay Purple...