Liner Notes: Inside the Rolling Stones Mobile Studio is part storytelling tour, part listening session, exploring the legendary albums recorded in the “Sistine Chapel of rock ‘n’ roll.” Step back in time and experience Machine Head as it was recorded through the RSM.
Conceived by Rolling Stones tour manager Ian Stewart and built in 1968, the Rolling Stones Mobile Studio (RSM) helped redefine how—and where—albums could be made. For this session, we turn to Machine Head by Deep Purple, a landmark album born out of disruption, famously recorded in Montreux after a fire at the casino forced the band to improvise its recording setup. That moment of chaos became legend in “Smoke on the Water,” which directly references the Mobile Studio parked outside the burning venue and the band capturing ideas in real time as the scene unfolded. Across the record, that intensity does not let up, from the unstoppable momentum of “Highway Star” through to the explosive, sprawling charge of “Space Truckin’.” It is a band completely dialed in, pushing volume, precision, and urgency right to the edge.