From the first time I heard Deep Purple back in 72',
I never considered them to be "heavy metal".
In fact, I probably would not have been able to discern the
difference betwixt the 2 genres back then.
That being "Heavy Metal and Hard Rock"...
I do recall hearing some Sabbath, but, for the most part, I
was not privy to the music on an even keel and in comparison,
Deep Purple seemed to rule at the time as I was given the
chance to witness "Machine Head" in it's entirety over and over
one night while I was feeling ill. My cousin slapped the headphones
on and said..."here...this will make you feel better".
Strange thing was, it did. He had the 8 track and it kept playing
for hours. I recall eventually drifting into sleep I was 12 at the time.
It was rather strange music to me then. Hell, it wasn't until
a year later that I was turned on to Sweet, and that was
"Little Willy"...hahahahaha.
About a year later, the hit's came forth and I was familiar with them...yes, Smoke On The Water being the first. Then Highway Star.
It was a few years later that I started realizing that the entire album had a lot to offer. That would have put me at about 15 or 16...and Deep Purple was on their way with Stormbringer and the likes...and of course everyone was still stuck on SOTW and HS.
It wasn't until many years later, that I realized...Deep Purple was a band formed out of a blues fusion based ensemble.
Never even occurred to me that "Lazy" was a track that simply
oozed blues.....until I heard a cover band perform the song in a dark, smoke filled room. Then it hit me.
Deep Purple in my opinion, is a group that has run the gamut...played the blues...right from the get go...and yet have had the talent, ability and foresight to pretty much knock the socks of of anyone that needs the speed...the hooks and the
talent to back up what is arguably one of the best rock albums
of all time...that being "Machine Head".
Yeah..."Hush" is a work of art...so is "My Woman From Tokyo"...
and so is a a lot of their earlier works... "Black Knight, Speed King"...(insert favourite track here...) No Heavy Metal in any
of the tracks though???
How can any group kick it up like they have?
Even the great Zep never reached the frenetic pace that
Purple was able to do in their day???...yet maintain the overall
total "hard rock" sound that they were and are famous for???
Gotta love Deep Purple on many accounts...too many to mention to be honest...and for me the culmination comes forth with the
combined efforts on "Highway Star"...Glover's bass, combined with Lord's keys and Blackmores guitar and Paice's drum line are tantamount to what I have to say is a personification of perfection
in rock history when the track hits 2 minutes into the song. When Ian chimes in with the vocals, he's hit his mark.
...then it gets even better! at the 3:46 minute mark... History is made... Blackmore delivers what is ultimately one of the best recorded guitar solos of all time.
Then you have the delight of enjoying the rest of the album...
"Pictures of Home"...a totally underrated classic!!!!!!!!!!
My good gawd...what a track........If this was a release on
another album, it would be considered #1!!!!!!!!!!
Not a "Heavy Metal" tune though in my opinion.
Deep Purple, in my humble opinion, blew their collective
load on "Machine Head"...and man...am I glad they ever did!!!!...
this is one album that will go down in the books of rock history!!!
Still......no heavy metal here???...just straight ahead rock!
Worst song on the album..."Never Before"...excuse me but is this
a really bad song?.......NO! I didn't think so... that's how bad it got though for the group on this release. Listen to this song today...tell me it's a dog!
?
No heavy metal here.
As far as "Smoke On The Water" goes.......take it for what it is.......take it for what it was..............most are tired of it.
I must say this though...if you need to go down memory lane, like some of us need to do, and in the proper fashion, and I don't mean the "mp3" way, try slapping on a good set of cans...turn it up...crank the bass...and enjoy. Call me a wack job if you will, but I never tire of this...........again...I'm an old bastard!!!!!!!!!!!
No heavy metal on this one...Wicked rock maybe!!! haha.
When you tire of that, or decide to skip to the next track...
Check out "Lazy"...now you're having fun!!!
I won't get into Lazy...because Lazy speaks for itself.
I'll leave that up to you.......and it travels toooooo on the headphones!!! yeah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
No heavy metal here!!!!!!
When all else fails...listen to "Space Truckin'".......it's a great
little track that the "other" Ian thought would end the entire ensemble off. Man...does he hit the cans on this one!!!!!!!!
Heavy Metal?.......no, sorry....not even close.
That being said...and considering the original lineup of the group...at least with Gillan, Glover, Paice, Lord and Blackmore...
to me, this is a "Hard Rock" band.
...and just for that... I'm gonna put on Machine Head and enjoy
it in it's entirety until my pizza gets here in 2 hours!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thanks
Kim
, Smoke on the Water is highly OVERRated in my rock book! 
