Machine Head, Deep Purple’s 1972 album, is one of rock’s totemic monsters, particularly its most famous track, “Smoke on the Water,” and its guitar riff. The new Machine Head: Super Deluxe Edition box set contains the remastered original album, new mixes by Dweezil Zappa, and archive and previously unseen live recordings.
Bassist Roger Glover spoke with Vintage Guitar about recording Machine Head (on which he used a Rickenbacker 4001) with the legendary lineup of vocalist Ian Gillan, guitarist Ritchie Blackmore, keyboardist Jon Lord, and drummer Ian Paice.
After the fire, the band briefly performed at the Pavilion, a Montreux theater, correct?
Yeah. Claude Nobs, the originator of the Montreux Jazz Festival, focused on helping us despite the fact that his entire life was going up in smoke. He got us into the Pavilion, a modest venue. We set up on stage, connected all of the wires and mics, took a food break in the evening, and began jamming. Around midnight, we had this rough riff. If a jam sounds well, we’d work on the arrangement. We only had time for one take before the cops stopped us for disturbing the peace. So, that was it. It took another five days to find another apartment – a challenging task in a small, peaceful town on the shores of Lake Geneva.
That’s why you were obliged to finish the record in the Grand Hotel, a vacation resort that was closed for the season.
Right, and we just went there for one song. Our response was: “Let’s listen to that thing we did at the Pavilion.” It was really barebones. Nothing was added to it. It was just the four of us, with all of the instruments playing, and we thought, “Well, that’s near enough. Let us just use that.” Then Ian and I decided to write about our exploits in Montreux, including the fire. We wrote “Smoke on the Water” in about ten minutes since it’s really conversational. It is correct, even if a little poetic license was taken. We didn’t give it any thought; it was just another album track. Obviously, the song that came to define us. We didn’t realize that at the time.
The band produced Machine Head, and you went on to produce other acts and had production credits on several later Purple albums. What do you remember about that aspect, and recording engineer Martin Birch, who eventually became a well-known producer?
We knew what we wanted, but I had no idea what production was. Martin taught me a lot. I simply enjoyed making music. Production, as well as being the engineer and composing lyrics, are all part of the performance experience for me. It’s all one giant pile of stuff. If you want to hear something, make it happen.
The recording circumstances are part of the Machine Head mystique; would it have lost any of its enchantment if it had been recorded in a sterile studio setting?
Absolutely. But that’s what the studios did. They took away the sound. They exerted excessive control. Our concerts were quite rowdy. Crazy-sounding, loud, ferocious, aggressive, and exciting. We wanted to incorporate that into the studio somehow. The goal was to record an album at a venue rather than a studio.
If we didn’t quite get there, it was because the album seemed a little muddy to me, despite the fact that we were going for this enormous, echoey sound. Whatever it was, it worked. It would have been very different if we had done it in a professional studio.
The fire altered everything. It took some time away, but it brought the band together in ways we wouldn’t have if we were all living at home and traveling to the studio at night.
You virtually completed Machine Head in two weeks.
In a way, that was fantastic because it was all instinct. Many people, especially musicians, tend to overestimate their abilities and fail to heed to their intuition. The impulse of the first shot, your initial aim, puts you on target.
I recall telling Jon on the train to a show after we finished Deep Purple in Rock, “The album could have been better.” He looked at me and answered, “No, it couldn’t. It could have been better. It’s what it is. Leave it alone, become accustomed to it, and move on.” And that was sound counsel. There is no such thing as perfection, fortunately.