I’ve had this record on vinyl for years but apart from the odd outing for Child in Time I’d not really given it the respect that others clearly think it deserves. Truth be known apart from Hawkwind my classic rock collection was pretty much confined to the shelves of the music room…this was until about a year ago when I had been chatting to Tony from NuNu Distribution who was saying how much he loved the album. I duly dug the record out, dusted it off (gave it a bath actually) and since then it’s had regular airings. Made In Japan often gets cited as being one of the very best live albums ever created and I can now appreciate why!

Made In Japan was recorded onto 8 track tape during Deep Purple’s first tour of Japan in August 1972 and was subsequently released in the UK in December of the same year. Engineer for the job was Martin Birch and it is recorded at Osaka’s Festival Hall and Tokyo’s Nippon Budokan. It includes a classic Purple line up of Ritchie Blackmore on guitar, Jon Lord on the organ, Ian Paice on the drums, bassist Roger Glover and Ian Gillan on vocals. The budget for the recording is reported as being just $3000!!

With this deluxe version from HIGHRESAUDIO you get two versions of the 7 songs  – the original and a specially remastered version. Personally i prefer the rawness of the original mix, though I’d say the remaster is cleaner.

The performance on Made In Japan and the way the recoding captures the energy, vitality and feel of the live show is superb and you can’t help but play it loud! the bass guitar on arguably the bands defining tune (Smoke On The Water) is absolutely stunning and on a good system, played loud, gut wrenching.

If you know only a little about Deep Purple you’re sure to recognise a number of the tunes on Made In Japan: Highway Star, Child In Time, Smoke On The Water, The Mule, Strange Kind of Woman, Lazy and Space Trucking.

Made In Japan is a must for any collection whether you are a die hard rock fan or not and the deluxe edition download is an interesting version!