Machine Head
Even though the members of the ‘Mach-2’ version of Deep Purple had only been together for two years when Machine Head was recorded, the album sounds like a mature release from a band who knew exactly how to capture the volcanic energy of their live shows on tape in the studio environment.

Ian Paice was an astounding drummer who had the musical maturity to never overwhelm, or overplay, songs with bombastic, lunatic, or unnecessary drum solos; and/or superfluous percussion.
Jon Lord played keyboards with such authority, dexterity, and confidence, that he single-handedly made the Hammond organ a force to be reckoned with in hard rock music. Although formally trained as a classical pianist, Lord’s attitude was that of a thoroughbred rock musician who could play technically intricate (read: near impossible) neo-classical keyboard lines, but also had the creative skill and imagination to, seemingly at will, add staggering amounts of atmosphere or utterly bizarre sounding staccato bursts from his keyboards.

And, just as on the In Rock album, Ian Gillan brings a commanding swagger, unstoppable fun, and screaming gusto to every track on Machine Head.

The song ‘Highway Star’ begins with a galloping energy that infuses all listeners with a demented smile. It’s one of those ‘I just went temporarily insane Officer’ types of songs that’ll have you nervously searching for the right words to try to explain why you were driving 180KpH on a posted 100KpH freeway.

If you use the ‘Highway Star’ legal defense in a traffic court in the British Isles, the presiding judge will (probably) dismiss your case, grant you leniency, and allow you to leave on your own recognisance. After paying a fine for breaking the speed limit, all will be forgiven. Yes… the song ‘Highway Star’ is that good.

While the tracks ‘Maybe I’m a Leo’, ‘Pictures of Home’, and ‘Never Before’ are all superb radio-friendly rock songs, the epic track ‘Smoke on the Water’ is the most memorable. Based on the surreal events witnessed at a live Frank Zappa show at the Montreux Casino in Switzerland in December 1971, ‘Smoke’ neatly describes, and documents, the chaos of what happened.

Unless you’re new to Deep Purple or have been living on another planet for the last 43 years, you’ve probably heard the famous chords from this track a few times. And while ‘Smoke on the Water’ has been over-played to such an extent that 7 out of 10 Latvians think it’s the Swiss national anthem, it’s still a classic hard rock song.

‘Lazy’ is a bluesy jam with, of all things, a harmonica solo in the middle of it. The final song Space Truckin’ is built around a monster riff, orchestral organ chords, and simple—but awesome—lyrics.

In short, in order to understand the roots of modern hard rock and metal, Machine Head is another ‘must own’ disc.

Led Zeppelin – Mothership
The eight original studio albums released by Led Zeppelin are all worth owning. There are no “filler” tracks on any of them. The music contained on those eight records so dramatically influenced the next 45+ years of rock’n’roll, that ignoring or disregarding any of Zeppelin’s work while all four original members were still alive would be historically irresponsible; to say the least.
But where does the audiophile or newbie on a constrained budget even begin when attempting to get some sort of understanding of what Zeppelin’s extensive back catalogue sounds like? There is a simple, cost-effective answer to this question: and that answer is their Mothership (Atlantic R2 313148) compilation.

Mothership is a 2-CD collection of 24 of Led Zeppelin’s songs. These two-dozen tracks were chosen in 2007 by the remaining members (Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, and Jon Paul Jones) of Zeppelin. The remastered tracks sound phenomenal.

The songs were selected from every one of Zeppelin’s original studio albums dating from 1969 to 1978. All of their hits are here, including: ‘Good Times, Bad Times’; ‘Communication Breakdown’; ‘Dazed and Confused’; ‘Whole Lotta Love’; ‘Ramble On’; ‘Heartbreaker’; ‘Immigrant Song’; ‘Rock & Roll’; ‘Black Dog’; ‘Stairway to Heaven’; ‘D’yer Maker’; ‘No Quarter’; ‘Houses of the Holy’; ‘Kashmir’; ‘Achilles Last Stand’; ‘In the Evening’; and ‘All of my Love’.

If you weren’t born until the 1990s or were raised in a part of the world where no classic rock radio stations ever existed, this compilation is an excellent starting point. For anyone curious about discovering one of the bands most directly responsible for founding hard rock, the NWoBHM (New Wave of British Heavy Metal), and metal music, this is the Led Zeppelin compilation to invest in.

Black Sabbath
The last time ‘El Niño’ reared its ugly head, a tenured geo-physicist at UCLA started an on-line campaign to have El Niño’s name changed to ‘The 1st  four Black Sabbath albums’.

Why…? He felt that naming a weather front that’s causing billions of dollars worth of geophysical damage shouldn’t be called ‘The Child’. In fact, he insisted that it should be referred to as something so heavy, so doom-laden, and so destructive that the first thing to pop into his mind to adequately describe its awesome power, indeed, was ‘The 1st four Black Sabbath albums’.

Despite innumerable personnel changes over the course of the last 45 plus years, Black Sabbath is still touring and releasing albums. As of June 2015, the sheer number of studio albums, live albums, concert DVDs and Blu-ray discs which the band has released is difficult to even comprehend.

So where does a curious listener who’s either new to Sabbath or who just wants to hear the highlights of their 1970s records even start? The 2-CD compilation Symptom of the Universe: The Original Black Sabbath 1970-1978 [Warner Brothers R2 73772] offers a superb 29 track cross-section of remastered songs from all eight of their 1970s era studio albums which feature Ozzy Osbourne on lead vocals.

The importance of Black Sabbath’s doom’n’gloom sound to the history of harder rock music cannot be underestimated. Hundreds of rock bands and entire genres of metal music can trace the roots of their sound directly to Sabbath’s influence.

In trying to explain how special—and that’s “special” as in unique… not as in ‘Olympian’—Sabbath’s 1970s back catalogue of eight albums with Ozzy truly is, I can confidently say that Black Sabbath changed the way modern hard rock music sounds. Their influence on generations of rock musicians is undeniable.

Fortunately for music fans, the compilation Symptom captures the pioneering spirit of Black Sabbath’s music in all of its glory. Awe inspiring Sabbath songs like ‘Black Sabbath’, ‘The Wizard’, ‘Paranoid’, ‘Iron Man’, ‘War Pigs’, ‘Sweet Leaf’, ‘Children of the Grave’, ‘Snowblind’, ‘Sabbath Bloody Sabbath’, ‘Sabbra Cadabra’, ‘Symptom of the Universe’, ‘Rock’n’Roll Doctor’, ‘Dirty Women’, and ‘Never Say Die’ are all included in this collection.

The remastered versions sound phenomenal and, if you haven’t already bought all of their discs on heavy-weight 180 gram or 200 gram vinyl, this 2-CD compilation is a joy to own.

If you missed part 1 of this rock journey… you can read it here.

About the Author: Douglas Brown

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