Made In Japan is the seventh and first live album by Deep Purple, recorded during their first tour of Japan in August 1972. It was initially released in December 1972 in Europe and in April 1973 in the United States, and was a great commercial and critical success.

The band was known for their strong stage presence, having recorded several of their concerts in person and having made several broadcasts through radio shows, but they had always been excited about the idea of recording a live album, until their record company decided that doing so would do them good publicity.

The band insisted on having overall control of the live production, including the involvement of Martin Birch, who had previously worked with the band, as an engineer, but showed little interest in releasing the album, even after its recording was completed. Their tour was nevertheless a success, with strong media interest and positive fan response.

By 1972, Deep Purple had achieved significant commercial success in Japan, including several hit singles, so it was logical that they would want to tour there.

The dates were booked for 11 and 12 May at the Festival Hall in Osaka and 15, 16 and 17 August at the Budokan Theater in Tokyo, with the band’s favourite concert being the one at Budokan on 17 August 1972.

The group’s line-up, with Ritchie Blackmore on guitar, Ian Gillan on vocals, Roger Glover on bass, Jon Lord on keyboards and Ian Paice on drums, remained the same for most of the year, opening the album with “Highway Star” and closing it with “Lazy” and “Space Truckin”, with the band’s musical skill and structure allowing for sufficient improvisation within the songs to keep things lively.

The album quickly became a commercial success, particularly in the US, which was accompanied by the top five hit “Smoke On The Water”, which was a steady seller throughout the 1970s.

A 3-CD box set of various concerts from their tour was released in 1993, while a revised edition of the album with a CD of additional tracks was released in 1998. Finally, in 2014, a deluxe edition with additional bonus material was released. The album received strong critical reception and continues to attract praise to this day, with a 2012 Rolling Stone readers’ poll ranking Made In Japan as the sixth greatest live album of all time.

From this historic live album I select, of course, “Smoke On The Water”.

Tracklist

A1. Highway Star 6:47
A2. Child In Time 12:19

B1. Smoke On The Water 7:27
B2. The Mule 9:43

C1. Strange Kind Of Woman 9:30
C2. Lazy 10:39

D. Space Truckin’ 19:50