{"product_id":"deeppmachi_2607-1","title":"Deep Purple - Machine Head - White Hot Stamper","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e*NOTE:\u003c\/strong\u003e There is a superficial scuff on the edge \/ start of track 1 that does not play and cannot be heard.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhen you get a Hot Stamper pressing like this one, Machine Head is a true Rock and Roll Demo Disc. Since our stereo is all about playing these kinds of records, and playing them at \u003ca href=\"\/search?q=tag:%22turn-up-your-volume%22\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003egood loud levels\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e as nature -- and the artists -- intended, we had a helluva time with Machine Head.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt had the kind of presence and energy that puts most copies of this album to shame. It's also amazingly spacious, the result no doubt of it being recorded practically live in the studio. On the best copies, you can really hear the sound bouncing off the studio walls, just as you can on the best Zep, AC\/DC and Bad Co. albums. You can just tell they are all playing this one live: it's so relaxed and natural and \u003cu\u003ereal\u003c\/u\u003e sounding.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe vocalist is surely in a booth, but everyone else seems to be in a lively studio. With lovely extension up top, this was a very sweet copy that cried out to be turned up good and loud. The louder we played it, the better it sounded.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe best pressings give you exactly what you want from this brand of straight-ahead rock and roll: presence in the vocals; solid, note-like bass; big punchy drums, and the kind of live-in-the-studio energetic, clean and clear sound. (AC\/DC is another band with that kind of live studio sound. With big speakers and the power to drive them, \u003cu\u003eyou\u003c\/u\u003e \u003cu\u003eare\u003c\/u\u003e \u003cu\u003ethere\u003c\/u\u003e.)\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eWhat The Best Sides Of Deep Purple's Masterpiece From 1972 Have To Offer Is Not Hard To Hear\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe biggest, most immediate staging in the largest acoustic space\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe most Tubey Magic, without which you have \u003ci\u003ealmost\u003c\/i\u003e nothing. CDs give you clean and clear. Only the best vintage vinyl pressings offer the kind of Tubey Magic that was on the tapes in \u003ca href=\"\/search?q=tag:%221972%22\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e1972\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eTight, note-like, rich, full-bodied bass, with the correct amount of weight down low\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eNatural tonality in the midrange -- with all the instruments having the correct timbre\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eTransparency and resolution, critical to hearing into the three-dimensional studio space\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNo doubt there's more but we hope that should do for now. \u003ci\u003ePlaying the record is the only way to hear all of the qualities we discuss above,\u003c\/i\u003e and playing the best pressings against a pile of other copies under rigorously controlled conditions is the only way to find a pressing that sounds as good as this one does.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eDomestic or Heavy Vinyl? Get Real!\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI'm guessing that very few people have ever heard this record sound this good. The average copy is really a piece of trash, as is the awful Rhino 180 gram version that was remastered a while back.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"\/search?q=tag:%22import-only%22\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eForget the domestic pressings\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e, they're clearly made from dub tapes. Some are better than others, but none can compete with the best British pressings such as this one. This is the way to go.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eWhat We're Listening For On Machine Head\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eEnergy\u003c\/strong\u003e for starters. What could be more important than the life of the music?\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThen: \u003cstrong\u003epresence and immediacy\u003c\/strong\u003e. The vocals aren't \"back there\" somewhere, lost in the mix. They're front and center where any recording engineer worth his salt -- Martin Birch in this case -- would have put them.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eThe Big Sound\u003c\/strong\u003e comes next -- wall to wall, lots of depth, huge space, three-dimensionality, all that sort of thing.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThen \u003cstrong\u003etransient information\u003c\/strong\u003e -- fast, clear, sharp attacks, not the smear and thickness so common to these LPs.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eTight punchy bass\u003c\/strong\u003e -- which ties in with good transient information, also the issue of frequency extension further down.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eNext: \u003cstrong\u003etransparency\u003c\/strong\u003e -- the quality that allows you to hear deep into the soundfield, showing you the space and air around all the instruments.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eExtend the top and bottom\u003c\/strong\u003e and \u003ci\u003evoila\u003c\/i\u003e, you have The Real Thing -- an honest to goodness Hot Stamper.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eVinyl Condition\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMint Minus Minus is about as quiet as any vintage pressing will play, and since only the right vintage pressings have any hope of sounding good on this album, that will most often be the playing condition of the copies we sell. (The copies that are even a bit noisier get listed on the site are seriously reduced prices or traded back in to the local record stores we shop at.)\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThose of you looking for quiet vinyl will have to settle for the sound of other pressings and Heavy Vinyl reissues, purchased elsewhere of course as we have no interest in selling records that don't have the vintage analog magic of these wonderful recordings.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIf you want to make the trade-off between bad sound and quiet surfaces with whatever Heavy Vinyl pressing might be available, well, that's certainly your prerogative, but we can't imagine losing what's good about this music -- the size, the energy, the presence, the clarity, the weight -- just to hear it with less background noise.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eA Rock Masterpiece\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe consider this Deep Purple album their Masterpiece. Others that belong in that category can be found \u003ca href=\"\/search?q=tag:%22rock-masterpiece%22\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ehere\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Deep Purple","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":52090806108456,"sku":"deeppmachi","price":799.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0257\/3415\/2295\/products\/deeppmachi.jpg?v=1784045694","url":"https:\/\/better-records.com\/products\/deeppmachi_2607-1","provider":"Better Records","version":"1.0","type":"link"}