Deep Purple’s ‘Machine Head’ Turns 52: Roger Glover Looks Back

Would Deep Purple’s bassist Roger Glover ever feel that he’s all talked out about their seminal album Machine Head? After all, the album turned 52 this March and got a Super Deluxe Edition release. Glover says over a video call about if he changes how he’s felt about the album, “No, it’s all going according to plan. 50 years ago, we decided to write an iconic album with a huge hit song, and that’s the way it worked.”

He takes a moment to smile wide to indicate the joke there. He says, “The thing is, day by day, and it never ceases to amaze me that we’re still around, and we’re still going, it just defies all the odds.” Not only are Deep Purple still around, they’re very much thriving and calling the shots. “We’ve actually had two intense years of touring and recording and stuff, we’re now enjoying a couple of months off before it all starts up again,” Glover says.

Machine Head: Super Deluxe Edition features a re-mix by producer Dweezil Zappa (including an Atmos mix), two live performances from Paris and Montreux in 1972 and 1971, respectively and Blu-Ray audio. If you wanted to hear classics like “Smoke On The Water,” the B-side “When a Blind Man Cries,” “Space Truckin’” and “Highway Star” in a (slightly) new light, this new edition of the 1972 album is certainly a collectible.

In an interview with Rolling Stone India, Glover looks back at Machine Head and its half-a-century-old legacy, this new edition and their recent India visit to headline Bandland Festival in Bengaluru in December 2023. Excerpts:

Rolling Stone India: Over 50 years, you’ve talked about Machine Head probably your whole life at this point. Do things change when you think back on things and talk about the album today?

Roger Glover: Normally, when you joined a band in the Seventies, you might last a couple of years, find a hit maybe three or four [songs], and then it would peter out, you know – it’s all down to public taste. So when you stop selling records, then you disappear. Somehow, we haven’t disappeared.

I think we have an incredibly strong fan base. Even though we were apart for 11 years before the reunion in ‘84, the interest was still there. And I think even for us, we’d sort of got over that first period. And when we had the reunion, it was wonderful. Just to get back together again, it felt very natural. It felt like putting on an old pair of gloves.

How do you feel about going back to this album and giving fans something new, with modern technology aiding mixing and mastering and repackaging Machine Head?

Having been together for so long, anniversaries come thick and fast. There’s always an anniversary for something or other. By and large, we don’t actually celebrate anniversaries, because it’s like birthdays – you don’t need it. It’s just a reminder of how old you are [laughs]. But this is obviously from the record company. They’ve been working on it for a year or two or more actually. So we had very little to do with it to be honest, other than say, ‘Yeah, go ahead.’ That was easy to do.

It’s actually the third incarnation [of Machine Head]. There’s a quad mix from the Eighties. But the remix of Machine Head, I did a remix for the 25th anniversary, which I thought was pretty good.

It sounded much brighter and more together than the original recording. When they didn’t want to use that, they wanted to use Dweezil Zappa, which I understand – it’s the name connection [Dweezil is legendary avant-garde rocker Frank Zappa’s son], and that’s fine. It’s a very nice package. I have to say it’s full of lovely pictures and script and extras.

There are two live performances in this Super Deluxe Edition – one from Paris in 1972 and one from Montreux in 1971. What do you remember from those concerts?

We played in Montreux twice before we went to record there, so we know it worked quite well. We’d met [Montreux Jazz Festival founder] Claude Nobs before. We’re trying to imagine what it felt like… we were on a roll. After we’d done Concerto and Deep Purple in Rock, we’d found ourselves.

Machine Head was the combination, I guess, of two years of really heavy touring. And that’s still an experience that went into it. But the early one, that starts with a yodeling song, that’s a bootleg, that’s not very well recorded. It’s basically just evidence [laughs] – yes we were there.

I don’t remember much about the gig, to be honest. Although in those days, we were experimenting a lot. I remember we rehearsed a lot. And then we’d go on stage in rehearsals didn’t mean a thing, because it all changed. There was a lot of freedom on stage. It wasn’t a very kind of showbiz-y kind of show. It was very down to earth. And the music was very simple, really no special effects. There weren’t many special effects to have in those days, but I think there was a great deal of spontaneity.

Fast forward to one of your most recent shows, you played in India again at Bandland Festival in Bengaluru. How was that experience?

The first time we came to India, I think it was 1990 or something… I can’t remember when we’ve been there now, four or five times, and I love it there. It’s a great audience. I love everything about India anyway. Unfortunately, I never get to go there and actually be there for a while. It’s always like, in and out, you know. Although in December, we did actually spend a whole week there, for doing one concert, then we did get around. It’s a wonderful experience. My advice to anyone in this part of the world is go to India, it will change your life, because it changed mine. So yeah, love it, and I can’t wait to get back!

What did you get up to while in India?

Food! I love Indian food. The one thing about India is that there’s a, I don’t know, I’m only seeing it from my point of view, there’s a lot of disparity in and yet there’s a happiness everywhere. And that really moves me. People who are living in incredible, incredible poverty still managed to smile. And that’s a lesson to be learned, I think – be happy with what you’ve got, not what you haven’t got. I keep saying that to myself. [laughs]

One of the remarkable things about your Bandland set was that Deep Purple, this particular set of musicians, could mount such an intense concert experience. Where does that come from?

I get asked a lot, ‘Aren’t you tired of playing ‘Smoke on the Water’ every night?’ And the answer is, no, it’s impossible to get tired of a song like that, because I’m experiencing it through the people watching. Especially younger people, who, maybe it’s the first time they’ve ever seen this live. That’s exciting and I’m excited for them, and just forgetting what I’m having to do. I just enjoy the experience. And the longer that I’m touring, the more I appreciate the fact that it’s a special privilege to be on that stage and I enjoy every second of it.

‘Smoke on the Water’ is kind of a skeleton song, it changes every night. We can’t play the same thing every night. You know, it’s impossible, with musicians such as [keyboardist] Don Airey, and now Simon [McBride, guitarist] and of course before, Steve [Morse, guitarist]. And even when Richie [Blackmore, guitarist] was there. It’s got to be fresh every night.

There are bands that have come together because of Deep Purple, bands that are named after your albums, songs and lyrics. What are your thoughts on that kind of legacy?

All I can think is we’re just an incredibly lucky band. Yes. Whether we deserve it or not, is down to opinion. But I think we hit the right groove. I mean, when I joined the band, I had no idea what was ahead. Of course, no one knows. But I’d met three musicians who blew me sideways. I’d never worked with anyone so good. And I’m not as good on my instrument as they are in theirs. But I thought, ‘Do I really belong in this band?’ But I guess I did. And I think when you have brilliant musicians in a band, and they’re all brilliant, it’s gonna go over people’s heads, I think, because it’s all about technique and showing off and so on.

Ian Gillan and I joined the band from a pop band. And we were basically much more naive. [laughs] I think it’s only in looking back on it, you realize, well, maybe that was the key that there were three brilliant musicians, and two kind of naive musicians, if you like and that kind of made it more palatable. That’s my personal view, but I believe it to be true.

What’s coming up for Deep Purple in 2024?

Well, a lot of people want to know, ‘When are you going to end? When are you going to finish?’ I know some bands do this, they say, ‘Right, this is gonna be the last concert.’ I just don’t want to do that, because there’s too much emotion involved. Too much pressure, too much stress.

I think the best thing to do is just play and play and play and then stop. The stop will come obviously from health or something like that and that’s life, but it’s a natural ending. It’s not an orchestrated last hurrah. Every night should be a last hurrah. Every gig should be, you imagine, it’s the last gig you’ll ever do. That’s how we think.