Ritchie Blackmore remembered: ‘We had the Rolling Stones’ mobile recording unit sitting outside in the snow, but to get there we had to run cable through two doors in the corridor into a room, through a bathroom and into another room, from which it went across a bed and out the veranda window, then ran along the balcony for about 100 feet and came back in through another bedroom window. While Machine Head might have been born out of spontaneity, it was also structured impeccably. As it says on the album sleeve: ‘This album was written and recorded in Montreux, Switzerland, between December 6 and 21, 1971.’ But the necessity to deliver the goods launched Purple on to a creative high. Machine Head was conceived at a lightning pace. Ian Gillan’s shrill, tape-looped howls herald some of his all-time great lyrics: ‘Nobody gonna take my car / I’m gonna race it to the ground / Nobody gonna beat my car / It’s gonna break the speed of sound / O-o-o-h it’s a killing machine / It’s got everything…’
Ritchie Blackmore doesn’t just play his guitar, he slashes at it, and the galloping, chundering beat just grows and grows. Highway Star sets a blistering, breathtaking, homicidal pace. What’s more, does Machine Head have just about the greatest opening track on any rock album, ever? There’s a strong case to be made for it. But look beyond Smoke… and you’ll discover Machine Head is the most consummate and well-rounded album recorded by any Purple line-up.
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