We all came down to Montreaux

Deep Purple - Machine Head - 1972

This is the first DP album I ever heard, one of the first hard rock albums I ever heard. And, I'm pretty sure it was the album that made me fall in love with the genre. While it took me a bit of time to get into Led Zeppelin, with Deep Purple it was love at first listen.
And after a long time, this one still stands as strong now as it did back then, and it's always such a pleasure to listen to it.
Less "symphonic" than In Rock, and much better than Fireball, this album has gained its place as an absolute classic not just because of the huge "Smoke on the Water", but because I think here they found the most perfect balance between the elements each individual musician brought to the band.
Gillan's vocals are pretty much perfect, and while he shows off less than, say, in "Child in Time", he still shows why he is considered one of the best hard rock vocalists ever. And while, as I said, this one has fewer symphonic elements, Jon Lord still shines here, and I like him more in this album than in any other the band released before.
I think that's the genius of this album: they somehow managed to take all their brilliant musicianship and created an album that showcases it perfectly while, at the same time, sounds as far removed from any pretentiousness as you can possibly get. And that's why it's become such a blueprint for hard rock bands to follow for decades.
Deep Purple would probably never again make such a brilliant album. But even if this had been the last album they ever released, it would have been more than enough.

• The opening track "Highway Star" is one of DP's furious, energetic rock classics. It would be the third time in a row they chose to open their album with a song in that style. And, well, it damn works. It's a brilliant driving song, of course. 
• In an album where it's very difficult to pick a favourite, "Pictures of Home" is probably the one I like the most. At the time, the band never played it live, because Blackmore always refused to. No idea why.
• It seems weird to me that the first single released here was "Never Before". I always found it to be the least interesting of the lot.
• There's not much I could say about "Smoke on the Water". That riff must be one of the most famous and immediately identifiable in the history of music. 
• I'm picking "Lazy" to share with you today. I love every single second of it, and I always thought it has a jazzy vibe to it that makes it quite unique. 

I have to make it sooner or later

Gary Glitter - Glitter - 1972

Apart from hard rock, heavy metal and progressive, one of the hallmark genres of the 1970s was, of course, glam rock. And while David Bowie is usually associated with it, especially since Ziggy Stardust, it was a style that included a lot of different artists, like Marc Bolan, Roxy Music, Slade, and it would even be an influence for bands like Kiss, and many bands of what a decade later would be known as glam metal. 

But that's jumping ahead a lot. There was this guy too, the campiest of them all, which is saying a lot in a genre that was basically pure camp. 

I have no idea how I came to have this album. Someone must have inherited it to me and, to be honest, I never listened to it too much. 

It's not fully into the whole glam thing, and for a lot of time it sounds quite a bit 1950s classic rock, but there's already the clapping and the double drumbeats in many tracks.
It's silly as hell, and it ends up being a bit repetitive, but it's still a lot of fun to listen to from time to time. 

• "Rock and Roll" is truly a glam rock song, it actually reminds me a bit of Marc Bolan's tracks. Look at the video! It's utterly ridiculous. I actually can't believe the audience would go that crazy!! 

Bonus tracks

• Just listen to these Chilean guys playing "Highway Star" in the streets of Santiago. I think they're absolutely amazing!!

Random thoughts

• In Argentina, "Pictures of Home" was translated as "Cuadros de casa", which would be "Paintings of Home". It screwed with my mental image of the song forever. I think the person in charge of translating their songs had issues.