Made in Japan

Hot on the heels of their monster success with Machine Head, the Mk. II lineup of British hard rockers Deep Purple decamped to Japan for three sold-out dates. The label wanted a live record from them. They didn’t want to do a live record. Which means that the transcendent performances captured here come from the band not trying to impress. That doesn’t mean they didn’t care, though — they brought in expert producer Martin Birch to handle the actual recording. The insane extended guitar and organ solos — and even “The Mule”’s drum debauchery — may seem indulgent when you look at the runtime, but when these highway stars shift into fifth gear you’ll never want them to hit the brakes.