# Currently Listening to Deep Purple's Highway Star



## dcole (Oct 8, 2008)

Dad always had a copy of Machine Head at home when I was a child but I never listened to anything but Smoke on the Water. I never did like the rest of their music and still find it hard to get into a song of their's but once I do it's like "Why don't I listen to these guys more?". The solo's sound like shred guitar (neoclassical?) and this is back in 1972!


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## LydianGuitars (Apr 18, 2013)

Ritchie is the original shredder.


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## Scotty (Jan 30, 2013)

If you want the best Purple, you MUST listen to the Made in Japan album. It's amazing...makes the studio version sounds like half the band walked off stage. It's also amazing how many albums they produced over the years.

Here's some excellent clips of some Purple songs, here's Lazy featuring Joe Bonamassa 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5gBiTaYOZs

Highway Star with Phil X
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJm_6AblrM0


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## leftysg (Mar 29, 2008)

Oh gosh don't get me started. Lazy, Space Truckin', and beyond Machinehead...Woman from Tokyo, Mary Long, Flight of the Rat, Child in Time, such great tunes and beyond the Blackmore era!


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## Milkman (Feb 2, 2006)

Stand out albums for me include Machine Head, Who Do We Think We Are?, Made in Japan, and Burn.

There are songs on all of the above that I never get tired of hearing.

One of the legendary bands for my generation.

If you start to break the band down, there were some brilliant instrumentalists.

The late great Jon Lord was one of the reasons I was drawn to DP.

And Ian Paice?

Unbelievable drummer IMO.

Yes, I'm a long time fan, but to me it's obvious why.


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## Guest (Mar 10, 2014)

looking for a good vid to post when I came across this.


*Deep Purple's Made In Japan - Documentary Teaser 2014*

Due 19th May 2014, this little snippet is the first in a number of official promo 
trailers for the long awaited Deep Purple Made In Japan 40th anniversary set 
to be released by Universal Music Group. The documentary features never 
before video from the bands 1972 performances.

[video=youtube;HyNXxWi7MbE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HyNXxWi7MbE[/video]


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## Lincoln (Jun 2, 2008)

pretty sure Machine Head was the very first LP record I bought with my own money. 

I think "Smoke on the Water" is my least favorite song from that album :smile-new:


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## guitarman2 (Aug 25, 2006)

dcole said:


> Dad always had a copy of Machine Head at home when I was a child but I never listened to anything but Smoke on the Water. I never did like the rest of their music and still find it hard to get into a song of their's but once I do it's like "Why don't I listen to these guys more?". The solo's sound like shred guitar (neoclassical?) and this is back in 1972!


Coincidentally I had this album on today. I still listen to machine head once every couple of months after all these years. I think Lazy is my favorite on the album


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## Bubb (Jan 16, 2008)

One of my favourite bands,particularly the Mark II version .


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## zontar (Oct 25, 2007)

Deep Purple, overall, was a big influence on me musically.
I don't sound anything like Ritchie Blackmore, but he did influence my playing--especially the way he used the 5th and octave without the root.

But Jon Lord was probably a bigger influence--partly in phrasing and rhythmic ideas.
Roger Glover's feel & groove also impacted me as well.

I never had a chance to see them live, but I did see Rainbow live.


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## Mr Yerp (Feb 24, 2006)

After all these years, I'm still in awe of that band. I'll speak up for In Rock as my fave album, though for some reason it get's less love than MH. I had a white Major Marshall head for a few years, but it was insanely loud. I used it on the road for a while, but it kept blowing up, so I always ended up using my Bf bassman. 
Good thing I sold the Major cheap! :confusion:


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## cheezyridr (Jun 8, 2009)

Milkman said:


> Stand out albums for me include Machine Head, Who Do We Think We Are?, Made in Japan, and Burn.
> 
> There are songs on all of the above that I never get tired of hearing.
> 
> ...


agreed, although there are others you didn't mention even, so yeah. and hiway star is possibly the coolest solo ever written, ever, imo


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## GuitarsCanada (Dec 30, 2005)

Just seen somewhere that they are going to be at Rama this summer


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## Milkman (Feb 2, 2006)

cheezyridr said:


> agreed, although there are others you didn't mention even, so yeah. and hiway star is possibly the coolest solo ever written, ever, imo



LOL, that's for sure. I have more, but the albums I mentioned are the ones I listened to at those key points in my life where they left a strong lasting impression.

I'm almost OCD when it comes to certain things. I listened to those albums....no, studied would be a more accurate term.

Albums replaced books and the library as I transitioned from childhood to teen. DP, Pink Floyd, Rush, Supertramp and gentle Giant were my closest buddies at that time.

- - - Updated - - -



GuitarsCanada said:


> Just seen somewhere that they are going to be at Rama this summer



I may go, however as fantastic as their replacements are (long time Steve morse fan here), I will really miss Jon lord and Ritchie Blackmore.


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## Bubb (Jan 16, 2008)

Milkman said:


> I may go, however as fantastic as their replacements are (long time Steve morse fan here), I will really miss Jon lord and Ritchie Blackmore.


This,in spades .

I don't know if I'll go that far to see them,(although my cousin works there and could probably score some good tickets).
Without Ritchie and Jon I think I'd be left wanting.


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## Scotty (Jan 30, 2013)

Bubb said:


> This,in spades .
> 
> I don't know if I'll go that far to see them,(although my cousin works there and could probably score some good tickets).
> Without Ritchie and Jon I think I'd be left wanting.


I don't want to miss that show. I regret missing them in TO/Hamilton recently...and while the lineup can never be the same, I may not get the chance again. Lets face it, they arent getting younger. They were great on the Perfect Strangers tour. 

The magic Purple had in the 70s was magic. Repeated by only a few others IMO. Their live recordings were outstanding.


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## Bubb (Jan 16, 2008)

Scotty said:


> . They were great on the Perfect Strangers tour.


yes they were,I caught the Ottawa show

btw they just released a dvd of the Perfect Strangers tour,a show from Australia


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## zontar (Oct 25, 2007)

Mr Yerp said:


> I'll speak up for In Rock as my fave album, though for some reason it get's less love than MH.


It's my favorite studio album of theirs, but one reason Machine Head gets more love because it has more songs that people know from the radio-Like Smoke on the Water, Space Truckin', Highway Star and Lazy--especially on classic rock stations
But In Rock has Child in Time, Speed King, and Flight of the Rat (Mostly Speed King on the radio)

But both are rock classics, so there's no need to have a competition--you can enjoy both of them.


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## buzzy (May 28, 2011)

My first Deep Purple album was _Come Taste the Band _(with Tommy Bolin). A lot of people don't consider that to be a Deep Purple album but in my opinion the songs are pretty good and Tommy's playing is insane.

_Burn_ and _In Rock_ are my favourites.

Drums don't normally have a big impact on me but Ian Paice is amazing.

It must have been fun for those guys to have been able to write songs and know that there was no doubt whatsoever that each band member would be able to keep up. Monster musicians.


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## zontar (Oct 25, 2007)

buzzy said:


> My first Deep Purple album was _Come Taste the Band _(with Tommy Bolin). A lot of people don't consider that to be a Deep Purple album but in my opinion the songs are pretty good and Tommy's playing is insane.


I like Comin' Home.

Cool playing on that one.


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## buzzy (May 28, 2011)

zontar said:


> I like Comin' Home.
> 
> Cool playing on that one.


Yes, it's a good intro song for the album.

It occurred to me that I have the sheet music for that album in a box in storage. I bought it about 20 years ago when I was in a shop to buy a Korg DT-3 tuner (which I still have and use). While the book was fun to look at, I don't think I ever really used it. There were some small parts of songs that I picked out by ear at the time but that's about it.


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## Guest (Mar 14, 2014)

I like playing anyone's daughter on acoustic around a campfire.


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## nonreverb (Sep 19, 2006)

Blackmore was and probably still is my primary influence. So much so, that much of his style is still expressed in my own technique. I spent far more time studying him than anyone else in my formative years. There are many others that now interest me however, I'm still a fan....... although I'm not really interested in what he's doing these days.


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## torndownunit (May 14, 2006)

Deep Purple were one of those bands that I only knew the 'hits' by forever. When I started digging into their catalog more I was completely blown away. I now consider them massively under-rated amongst the 60's-70's bands. I recently got the BBC set which contains mostly really early stuff by them rom 68-70 and it's mind blowing. Especially this:

[video=youtube;tad1M50E9IM]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tad1M50E9IM&amp;feature=kp[/video]

I never knew stuff like this from them existed.


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## NGroeneveld (Jan 23, 2011)

What about Ian Gillan? One of the very best rock and roll singers of all time IMO. Highway Star would not have happened without his vocals


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## nonreverb (Sep 19, 2006)

Sadly, they've not been inducted into the Rock and Roll hall of fame yet which IMO is completely ridiculous...


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## Guest (Apr 6, 2014)

Gillan and Jon Anderson are my fav vocalists.
Love Gillan on JC Superstar (studio). 

[video=youtube;Azawb907Bjg]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Azawb907Bjg[/video]


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## proxy (Dec 9, 2013)

Oh Highway star.That guitar solo.What to say?Highway star also shows how drums has to be played for aspiring drummer
Regarding California Jam that is the fattest sounding strat i have ever heard in my life


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## Tycho (Jan 3, 2007)

Just listened to this today at the gym after downloading from iTunes it a few weeks ago. I was snobby about DP when I was a teen in the '70s, so I mostly only knew the hits. I'm having fun exploring the catalogue now. It's interesting to hear how clean Blackmore's tone is. Highway Star is such a brilliant opener; I had to listen to it three or four times. as for Lazy, I like it a lot (and I love Lord's tone), but Lord must have put in a lot of time absorbing Garth Hudson's intro to "Chest Fever".


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## zontar (Oct 25, 2007)

Tycho said:


> as for Lazy, I like it a lot (and I love Lord's tone), but Lord must have put in a lot of time absorbing Garth Hudson's intro to "Chest Fever".


Perhaps--but more likely they had some overlap in their influences.
Lord is a bit younger--but they both started recording around the same time.
Lord's style was in place and so was Hudson's early on--so they likely developed separately.


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## cheezyridr (Jun 8, 2009)

NGroeneveld said:


> What about Ian Gillan? One of the very best rock and roll singers of all time IMO. Highway Star would not have happened without his vocals


he's bad-ass for sure. he did an album with sabbath way back in the 80's. the music wasn't great, and the mix was awful. but even then, hearing his voice, it makes it not sound like a sabbath album.




nonreverb said:


> Sadly, they've not been inducted into the Rock and Roll hall of fame yet which IMO is completely ridiculous...


look up who the rrhof actually are. a bunch of self appointed wankers with rather dubious claims to any true credibility. aside from that, it routinely inducts acts who are not rock. what we need are some folks to step up and do it properly, so the rrhof can fade into the obscurity it truly deserves.


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## zontar (Oct 25, 2007)

Ritchie Blackmore talks about recording the album and the solo.


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