To celebrate the 40th Anniversary of one of the most influential hard rock albums of all time, Deep Purple's Machine Head, we get this all-star tribute brought together by the folks at Classic Rock Magazine and Eagle Rock Records. For the most part it's a lot of fun, as most of these musicians and bands included here were raised on Purple, so these songs are near and dear to their hearts as well.
Carlos Santana and his band, along with vocalist Jacoby Shaddix, do a good job on the iconic "Smoke on the Water", with Shaddix putting in a fine vocal performance and Carlos delivering plenty of wah-wah laced guitar solos. It's a a nice touch as well hearing all the Latin flavors sprinkled in as well from the rest of the band. Hard rock supergroup Chickenfoot are up next with their version of "Highway Star", which has been a part of their live set for a few years now (and included here is a live recording), which you can tell as the band completely nail it. Sammy Hagar gives it his all, doing the original Ian Gillan vocal proud and Joe Satriani covering all the Blackmore & Lord guitar & Hammond parts on his six string. Former MkIII Purple member Glenn Hughes joins up with Chickenfoot/Red Hot Chili Pepper drummer Chad Smith for a great cover of "Maybe I'm a Leo", which has some killer groove and a superb vocal from the always impressive Hughes.
The first 'miss' here is "Pictures of Home" from Black Label Society. More of an acoustic arrangement with Zakk Wylde adding some stabbing wah-wah drenched pinch harmonics, the results just don't work, and Wylde's warbling vocals also don't do this underrated song justice either. "Never Before", from the supergroup calling themselves Kings of Chaos (Def Leppard's Joe Elliott, Billy Idol guitarist Steve Stevens, and former Guns 'n' Roses members Duff McKagan & Matt Sorum), is solid all around, complete with some sizzling guitar work from Stevens. Up next however is the one truly awful moment here, another rendition of "Smoke on the Water", this time from The Flaming Lips. The hard rock classic done up as electronica/Alternative/New Wave? It's just completely bizarre and completely awful. Not sure what anyone was thinking including this atrocity in this set.
Perhaps the highlight of this covers collection is "Lazy" from Black Country Communion guitarist Joe Bonamassa and famed vocalist Jimmy Barnes. Some sizzling leads from Joe and Aerosmith's Brad Whitford and great Hammond work from Arlan Schierbaum on this one, with Barnes nailing Gillan's style perfectly, delivering some hair raising screams. It's a true tribute of the highest degree. Iron Maiden cranks out a supercharged version of "Space Truckin' ", with Bruce Dickinson seemingly having a lot of fun trying to match Gillan's intensity level. I'm not as sold on Metallica's "When a Blind Man Cries" (not an actual Machine Head track but recorded at the same sessions and eventually became a B-side), a favorite of drummer Lars Ulrich that just kind of falls flat, mostly thanks for James Hetfield's lifeless vocal crooning. Hughes returns with Smith and the guitar god Steve Vai for a kick ass go at "Highway Star", complete with hair raising vocals and plenty of dazzling fretboard pyrotechnics.
All in all, a fun set that does a good job paying tribute to one of the landmark heavy rock albums of the 1970's. I could have done without The Flaming Lips song here, and the Metallica & Black Label Society tracks just don't quite cut it for me, but overall some pretty spirited performances on this CD. One gripe I do have is there is a lack of Hammond organ on a bunch of these songs, and you would think with the recent passing of Jon Lord they would have beefed up the Hammond here, but that was not the case other than in a few tracks. Regardless, Deep Purple fantatics will most certainly want to hear this, though for casual fans I'd suggest seeking out the originals first before hearing these cover versions. Now if only we could get something similar for In Rock...
Track Listing
1. Smoke On The Water - Carlos Santana & Jacoby Shaddix
2. Highway Star - Chickenfoot
3. Maybe I'm A Leo - Glenn Hughes & Chad Smith
4. Pictures Of Home - Black Label Society
5. Never Before - Kings Of Chaos: Joe Elliott, Steve Stevens, Duff McKagan, Matt Sorum
6. Smoke On The Water - Flaming Lips
7. Lazy - Jimmy Barnes with Joe Bonamassa
8. Space Truckin - Iron Maiden
9. When A Blind Man Cries - Metallica
10. Highway Star-Glenn Hughes, Steve Vai, Chad Smith
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