There are many rock fans from several different generations who will tell you that this is the finest live album ever recorded. The images of speed invoked by Highway Star, the astounding vocals on Strange Kind Of Woman and the patchwork of textures that is Space Truckin’ are still exciting, even though these tracks are now older than many people who go to Deep Purple gigs these days.
Made In Japan is enthralling for the interplay and competition between the musicians on stage: if Jon Lord throws in a dextrous organ trill, Ritchie Blackmore feels compelled to move to a higher echelon of skill with his guitar.
Deep Purple’s just-short-of-heavy metallic style is epitomised on Made In Japan; indeed, the versions of the band’s recognised masterworks-Child In Time and Smoke On The Water-that it contains have become more famous that the studio versions on which they are based.
