It is the silly season after all. Since 2000, Machine Head (which is on my mind as I am working hard to wrap up the new book!) has been reissued on vinyl by Rhino, EMI, Back to Black, Universal and Warners, in a choice of clear, black or purple vinyl. And those are just the ones I know about. So please forgive me if I can’t get too excited by this and the accompanying set of similarly coloured vinyl reissues of that part of the Deep Purple catalogue which Universal now control. And I own 25 copies of Machine Head, so must be their target market! What saner heads must think I can only guess.
Anyhow, if you missed them before, here’s your chance again. Of course they’re remastered, although one suspects this just means a new master has been cut rather than anything more substantial (and I’m not certain remastering technology has developed that much in the three years since the last one!). And sure this work will have been done at Abbey Road, but only because that’s where the tapes are stored and copied. And yes they’re in a nice shade of purple, but then again so was the Machine Head reissue six years ago. It is also limited, not really a big surprise as most reissue vinyl is these days. The sales people calculate the likely market and profit, an appropriate number are pressed, and then the run is closed. It does seem to me major labels are quickly killing off this market; does the world need a reissue on vinyl of the first Now That’s What I Call Music LP? Because there is one. I spotted it in Sainsbury’s last week.
Of course the set looks nice in the pack shot (let’s hope the sleeve scanner has remembered to remove the Record & Tape Exchange price stickers this time too!), but sadly they would just get squeezed onto our shelf, spine out. Maybe my £126 would be better spent on some more shelving.
Any variations here? Well they’ve added the Mk 4 label to Last Concert, which also seems to have been pressed in black and purple vinyl (check the inner bag below where someone has forgotten the Photoshop mask)! But you can pick up a nice original import press for only a few dollars more. Or there is a very spiffing original first press minty looking copy of In Rock down at my local second hand shop. At least there is some history behind that.
Tags: 2018, Burn, deep purple, reissues, smoke on the water, Universal, vinyl
darker than blue 
July 3, 2021 at 12:28 pm |
Answer to all above. Don’t buy them. Shimple! As
a meerkat would say.🙏💞✌
February 20, 2020 at 7:15 pm |
Is there any difference between the Universal and Warner/Rhino releases as far as sound.I thought I read somewhere that Universal owns the rights up to Fireball and Warner’s hold the rights starting with Machine Head and do these come from the same master tapes?
March 18, 2020 at 2:15 pm |
In the UK the rights to the 68 – 76 catalogue are pretty much split as you describe. In America however the rights belong to Warners. So it depends where it was sourced.
February 25, 2019 at 5:40 pm |
Are the booklets any good?
December 28, 2018 at 12:42 am |
I started buying the Anniversary series and at the same time expected it to stay loyal to the initial format.
But soon it was lost, Fireball for instance.
But I really felt bad when WDWTWA was not getting a gatefold and purple vinyl. Logic did not prevail because most criticised album of the 70´s Stormbringer did get a gatefold
Miss those days. Again thanx for your work of love, Simon
August 5, 2018 at 9:08 pm |
I think they should have done MIJ in a yellow/gold vinyl. MIE they could have done in clear vinyl to match silver sleeve. The thing that angers me & should thousands of other fans; WHY has Fireball not gotten coloured vinyl treatment? Hello !! Am I the only one feeling this ? Fireball is no doubt one of the MK2 crown jewels & deserves red & clear vinyl editions. Certainly before issuing WDWTWA , MIE, CTTB, LCIJ! These people at Warners/EMI need to correct this big time. FOOLS indeed.
October 4, 2018 at 11:50 am |
EMI don’t exist any more George, our Governments having made it easier to rip companies up than support them. This batch was all Universal, doubtless Warners will follow suit soon.
August 3, 2018 at 9:59 pm |
Totally agree with the sentiment Simon… we’re now drowning in fourth or fith generation ‘re-masters’… not just in DP world either… the Bronze era Uriah Heep lps/cds are probably the most reissued albums in the history of the world… well them and Odgens’ Nut Gone Flake!
It’s getting ridiculous, barrel scraping of the worst kind. What next? Jon Lord caught on tape sipping on an Earl Grey during the In Rock sessions, on Purple (the lighter side of pink) 400g vinyl which is too heavy to even play.
Please, someone, make them stop!
October 4, 2018 at 11:53 am |
Yep, the Heep catalogue has really been hammered to death. They’ve even gone so far as to fake up “rare” instrumental versions by stripping the vox off, and doing “unissued edits” which never existed. Better shut up in case the new Purple archivist is reading!
August 3, 2018 at 7:10 pm |
Brings back (fond) memories of that hit album from ’78 or ’79 – The Mk2 Purple Singles, in purple plastic. The first chance for many to hear When a Blind Man Cries (note the similarity of the first two lines of No Quarter, which followed the DP b-side…) The album review in Sounds just consisted of an irate letter referring to the Singles A’s & B’s lp review, and was hilarious!
October 4, 2018 at 11:55 am |
It was a 100% marketing effort from EMI to generate sales, rather than something for hard core fans, and a design director’s pervy idea of a sleeve!
August 3, 2018 at 9:46 am |
Now 1 you say?! That had Limahl and Men At Work! *runs off to nearest Sainsbos*
October 4, 2018 at 11:57 am |
I see what you’re saying. I must dig out my original first press and give it a spin!
August 3, 2018 at 9:42 am |
Yes, I agree totally. Too many re-releases of the same albums are being re-released and the cover art is far from spectacular. Oh, have bought at least the Rhino, 40th Anniversary and BtB versions of MH recently…
October 4, 2018 at 11:58 am |
The Back To Black edition is still in the HMV racks alongside the new one!
August 3, 2018 at 9:42 am |
I guess this is the reissue number 1000 of records like MACHINE HEAD or MADE IN JAPAN. What the fans really want is a reissue of ABANDON, the only studio album never printed on vinyl.
Also COME HELL OR HIGH WATER (japanese version with bonus tracks), LIVE AT THE OLYMPIA ’96 and LIVE AT THE ROTTERDAM AHOY, the live albums never printed on vinyl (not counting the Archives or the Soundboard Series).
Any chance?
Paolo Chiorino
August 3, 2018 at 9:00 am |
I’ve always loved the LCIJ sleeve pic. That cynical look on Tommy’s face… The camera angle is good too.