10 Live Albums That Are Better Than Studio Albums

One of the hallmarks of any Deep Purple show is that you were never going to see the same gig twice. Purple had always had their eyes set on something more than just the pop singles, and some of their best live moments were when they would stretch their traditional songs into jams and play with the audience's expectations. So when you listen to something like Made in Japan, you're basically listening to one of the countless amazing gigs they would be playing at the time.

Right after releasing their mammoth album Machine Head, Made in Japan is practically a crash course of every one of Purple's strengths, from the extended keyboard solos from Jon Lord to Ritchie Blackmore going into overdrive on the back half of Highway Star. The power of a good band is your ability to listen to your players though, and you really get the sense of Ritchie and Jon almost talking through their instruments, including a few moments where they practically try to complete each other's phrases during some of their lead breaks.

Even though Ian Gillan normally doesn't have that much to do during these long extended breaks, he more than makes up for it on this version of Child In Time, which might eclipse the studio version in terms of raw aggression by screaming like a banshee during the back half. Purple may not have adopted the title of heavy metal for most of their career, but it's not that hard to see where most early metalheads got their ideas from.