Published on Feb 3, 2001
At one time in my life, I considered
Made In Japan by Deep Purple to be the ultimate live record
ever released. It had it all to me: the music I loved in a setting
I could only dream to have been part of. (For the record, I’m
reviewing the original vinyl, not the expanded deluxe edition we’re
linking to with CDNow.)
But as time has passed, something has happened to my perception
of this disc. As I listen to it now, some 15 years after I first
bought it,
Made In Japan doesn’t seem to have the same snap to it. Now,
what I hear is Ian Gillan and crew doing the same thing that so
many bands in their time did – namely, stretch songs out far beyond
their limits in order to try and get the most out of the tunes
themselves. As my daddy told me once, there’s only so much juice
you can get out of an orange. (Of course, he was working on his tax
return when he said that, so take it as you will.)
Touring behind their classic album
Machine Head (which I still love), Deep Purple take seven
songs and convert several Japanese audiences into true believers in
their music. Of course, it’s always great to hear some of these
songs, and it is refreshing to hear that they’re not always
performed note for note compared to the studio versions.
But a few things catch my ears now that I’m older. For one
thing, Ritchie Blackmore more often than not seems to flub some key
guitar lines – though I can’t tell whether they were done on
purpose or not. Take, for example, the extended vamp on the intro
to “Smoke On The Water”. I hope that was intentional, ’cause if
Blackmore screwed that up, he’d be the laughing stock of
garage-band guitarists around the world. But, quite frankly, it
doesn’t sound natural – and Blackmore is known for being a
perfectionist (not meant to be a slap towards Blackmore). Likewise,
there are a few moments in the padded areas of songs like “Strange
Kind Of Woman” and “Space Truckin'” that fall under the same
pitfall.
The other thing that bothers me these days isn’t totally Deep
Purple’s fault. Bands at this time in rock history often could
stretch a song to twice its normal length – or more. (Sounds like
an ad for a sexual device… no, no, wait, forget I said that.)
“Space Truckin'” – a great song in and of itself – takes up about
20 minutes. I can appreciate this was the closing number and Deep
Purple wanted to go out with a bang – but this one feels like it
could have been cut in half and it would have been a tighter
number.
Even with these flaws, though,
Made In Japan has plenty of moments to celebrate. It’s
always a thrill to hear “Highway Star,” and the versions of “Lazy”
and “Child In Time” prove the studio versions of these tracks were
no flukes.
Made In Japan is still considered to be one of the
“must-own” albums in the Deep Purple discography, and I’m still
glad I made the investment in this one all those years ago. But
like many albums in its ilk, this one hasn’t aged quite as
gracefully as we’d all like to imagine.