It’s sometimes easy to forget America when it comes to Deep Purple facts’n figures, but as a couple of people pointed out last week, Machine Head did sneak out there a few days ahead of Britain. Today of course that would be the cue for hundreds of sad buggers to rip copies and throw them up on the web. Back then we didn’t even know. But it was a big deal for Warner Brothers, though just how big a deal I doubt even they could have guessed.
So Machine Head came out on March 25. 1972 in USA. And it charted, albeit at a rather lowly 166 the first week. And as this other interesting cutting (both sent in by Tonny Steenhagen) shows, the album was subject to a proper promotional shove from Warners, alongside those rock stalwarts Mothers Of Invention, Jethro Tull and er Goldie Hawn (sad sod that I am I actually have all three of those – blame late night UK runs of the Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In show for the last one!). What will interest people in this cutting are the mentions of ‘dimensional display’ material. Whatever that was. We do have one of the window streamers though.
It really was another world for the record industry back then.
Tags: 1972, deep purple, machine head, smoke on the water
darker than blue 
April 6, 2012 at 11:22 am |
Interesting to see it above both Bobby Whitlock and Eric Clapton who were then still technically part of Derek and the Dominoes. The record industry was a totally different world back then and I for one definitely mourn the passing of it or maybe I am mourning the passing of my youth when I was less cynical!
April 15, 2012 at 3:26 pm |
You just miss getting all the vinyl freebies Jon!