When I purchased this double LP in 1973 it was, by far, the hardest rock I had experienced at the time. “Made in Japan” by Deep Purple only has 7 songs including the 20-minute side 4, Space Truckin’. The album was recorded live on the 1972 Japan tour. This was my first Deep Purple purchase, and I was not disappointed.
I noticed how polite the audience was when there was a false ending, the crowd clapped, then the song continued. When the song actually ended, not one person clapped until one of the band members said “Thank you”. The band was Richie Blackmore (guitarist), Jon Lord (keyboards), Roger Glover (bass), Ian Paice (drums), and Ian Gillian (vocals). This remains my favorite lineup for the band and I have always especially loved the Jon Lord keyboards! The songs they chose were from the albums In Rock, Fireball, and Machine Head.[2]
They insisted on supervising the live production, including using Martin Birch[1], who had previously collaborated with the band, as their engineer.
Side One
Highway Star 6:52
Child In Time 12:25
Side Two
Smoke On The Water 7:32
The Mule 9:50
Side Three
Strange Kind Of Woman 9:36
Lazy 10:51
Side Four
Space Truckin’ 19:42
The band had never been keen on a live recording but there were so many bootlegs of their shows they thought an official recording might slow down the bootlegger sales. According to Lord, the total budget for the recording was only $3,000
The album was released on Purple Records[3] and in the US (my copy) Warner Bros. The recording was made at the Festival Hall, Osaka, 15 and 16 of August 1972, and the Nippon Budokan, Tokyo, August 17, 1972.
Ian Paice and Roger Glover mixed the album. Fin Costello[4] was the photographer and Roger Glover designed the cover. Deep Purple as a group produced the LP. All the songs were written by Ritchie Blackmore, Ian Gillan, Roger Glover, Jon Lord, and Ian Paice
Some CD releases include bonus tracks that were recorded at the same time as the original album but left off due to time. They are "Black Night" (an edited version that had previously appeared on single B-sides) recorded in Tokyo on August 17 (6:18), "Speed King" (previously unreleased) recorded in Tokyo on August 17 (7:24), and "Lucille" (Albert Collins, Richard Penniman) (previously unreleased), recorded in Osaka on August 16 (8:03).
Footnotes
- Martin Birch was a British music producer and sound engineer. He became renowned for engineering and producing albums recorded predominantly by British rock bands, including Deep Purple, Rainbow, Fleetwood Mac, Whitesnake, Black Sabbath, Blue Öyster Cult, and Iron Maiden.
- Deep Purple In Rock is the fourth studio album by Deep Purple, released on 5 June 1970. It was the first studio album recorded by the Mark II line-up of Ritchie Blackmore, Ian Gillan, Roger Glover, Jon Lord, and Ian Paice. Fireball is the fifth album, released in 1971, and the second with the Mk II line-up. It was recorded at various times between September 1970 and June 1971. It became the first of the band’s three UK No. 1 albums. Machine Head is the sixth studio album and was recorded in December 1971 at Montreux, Switzerland, and released on 25 March 1972 on Purple Records.
- Purple Records was a record label established in 1971 by Deep Purple’s management. Their releases were distributed by EMI and now by Universal Music Group after the EMI acquisition. The label was run until 1979. Until 1974 the label was used for Deep Purple releases, band members’ solo work, and releases by other artists signed to the label.
- Fin Costello Fin was born in Glenamaddy in Galway (Ireland) and grew up in Cork by St Lukes’s. He emigrated to London (UK) when he was 19 years old, and took up a trade as a sailmaker. In 1966 he began photography as a hobby and discovered he had an aptitude for it, initially beginning working for magazines as a sports photographer, but soon moved on to working with bands. In a career spanning 40 years, he has worked with some of the most influential names in the music business, including Aerosmith, Ozzy Osbourne, The Police, Thin Lizzy, Deep Purple, Kiss, The Rolling Stones, and Jimi Hendrix. In 1981 Fin’s photograph of Duran Duran featured on the front cover of the band’s debut album Duran Duran.
Sources
