Deep Purple - 1973 [1988] "Made In Japan"

Made in Japan is a double live album by English rock band Deep Purple, recorded during their first tour of Japan in August 1972. It was originally released in December 1972, with a US release in April 1973, and became a commercial and critical success.

The band were well known for their strong stage act, and had privately recorded several shows, or broadcast them on radio, but were unenthusiastic about recording a live album until their Japanese record company decided it would be good for publicity. They insisted on supervising the live production, including using Martin Birch, who had previously collaborated with the band, as engineer, and were not particularly interested in the album's release, even after recording. The tour was successful, with strong media interest and a positive response from fans.

The album was an immediate commercial success, particularly in the US, where it was accompanied by the top five hit "Smoke on the Water", and became a steady seller throughout the 1970s. A three-CD set of most of the tour's performances was released in 1993, while a remastered edition of the album with a CD of extra tracks was released in 1998. In 2014, a deluxe edition was announced with further bonus material. The album had a strong critical reception and continues to attract praise. A Rolling Stone readers' poll in 2012 ranked Made in Japan the sixth best live album of all time.

One of the most celebrated live rock albums in history was making its big entrance on 6 January 1973. Made In Japan, the double live album recorded in the summer of 1972 during the first tour of Japan by Deep Purple, debuted on the UK chart.

The album featured only seven tracks across the four sides of the original vinyl release, four of them taped at their show at the Festival Hall in Osaka on 16 August; one at the same venue the night before; and the other two at probably the best-known venue in those early days of Western bands exploring that market, the Budokan.

This was already Purple’s second live album, but a very different animal to their first, the 1969 recording of Jon Lord’s Concerto For Group and Orchestra. This time, chiefly at the request of their Japanese label, the idea was to create a record of the band’s powerful live show. It was also a chance to present an in concert version of the band’s anthem-in-the-making from the Machine Head album of only a few months earlier, ‘Smoke On The Water.’

Included on Made in Japan in live form are three more songs from Machine Head, which had been on the UK charts for 24 weeks after its April 1972 debut. The live set’s opening ‘Highway Star’ was another new Purple favourite, while ‘Lazy,’ a seven-minute track on Machine Head, extended to nearly 11 on the live record. The closer, taking up the whole of side four of the vinyl release, was ‘Space Truckin,’’ which expanded from a four-minute original to an epic of nearly 20 minutes on Made In Japan.

Purple were on a hot streak in which both Machine Head and its predecessor Fireball had topped the British chart, but as often with live albums, there was less chart glory to be had this time. The album debuted in the UK that first week of 1973 at No. 16, as a various artists compilation called Twenty All Time Hits of the ‘50s continued at No. 1. In fact, the top four on that chart were all compilations, with only Slade giving the top ten a rock flavour with Slayed?

“Made in Japan is Purple’s definitive metal monster, a spark-filled execution…Deep Purple can still cut the mustard in concert” – Rolling Stone magazine

No. 16 proved to be the peak position for the Purple album, which nevertheless topped the charts in Germany, Austria and Canada. Its more modest UK performance was also in great contrast to its American fortunes, where it entered the album survey in April and climbed to No. 6, going gold within two months and platinum in 1986. Purple had never been that high on the US album chart, and never have again.

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Track listing:

1 Highway Star (Osaka - 16th August 1972)
2 Child In Time (Osaka - 16th August 1972)
3 Smoke On The Water (Osaka - 15th August 1972)
4 The Mule (Tokyo - 17th August 1972)
5 Strange Kind Of Woman (Osaka - 16th August 1972)
6 Lazy (Tokyo - 17th August 1972)
7 Space Truckin' (Osaka - 16th August 1972)

Personnel:

- Ritchie Blackmore / guitars
- Ian Paice / drums
- Ian Gillan / vocals
- Roger Glover / bass
- Jon Lord / organ, piano