nixskits Another indispensable LP from the last forty years, "Machine Head" introduced several must learn riffs for young guitarists to start their education with and so much more. There isn't a weak track out of the seven on the disc and "When A Blind Man Cries", which was left off the album, gets some prominent attention here. My only complaint is not having a chapter for the ferocious "Lazy", which lets Jon Lord's Hammond organ get very beastly indeed (plugged into a Marshall stack), as he goes from the playful to the terrifying in this intense workout of a song.The circumstances of this recording are quite infamous now and all the facts are clarified for posterity's sake. Deep Purple eventually lost their singer Ian Gillan due to the non stop touring which wore them all out. The emphasis from outside the band for singles to promote was met with more than a little suspicion on the five musicians' parts. "Smoke On The Water" is the most easily identified track for even those whose grandchildren owned "Machine Head". But "Highway Star", both here and on the phenomenal "Made In Japan" live record, stands as a high octane trailblazer for hard edged music with a healthy respect for the classics. Some of Purple's greatest shows ever were in Japan and to this day, they're revered as musical gods in that country (as seen in the recent "Global Metal").Several bonus features, totalling over half an hour, are all worth checking out. This is one of the very best in the "Classic Albums" series.