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Made In Japan remix: your review?
The much hyped Steve Wilson remix of Made in Japan is out — along with the box set of all three concerts fully remixed.
But how good is it? Does the Wilson remix add anything new worth our time? Do the remixed full three concerts reveal any new aspects to rival the 2014 box set?
Put your review in the comments. No discussions, just your review. Go!
Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing
And I’ll offer my thoughts as a seed.
I only have a stereo setup, so I’m not judging anything to do with Atmos.
In the stereo mix, right off the bat, I started noticing things that I’ve never noticed before in an album that I pretty much know by heart. I’ve discovered in the 2014 remix that Gillan’s congas were actually recorded, but never properly mixed in the original. This time around, I’ve discovered that Roger’s bass lines are a lot more interesting than I might have supposed. In the original, the bass guitar is there, but I can’t really tell what he is doing. The new mix turns it up and in your face. I find that wonderful.
August 20th, 2025 at 21:35I love it!
Every single piece of it 💜
I was listening through my earphones the first 10 times, and woah the details are amazing and incredible 😍
I cannot give an in depth analysis as the rest of you in here, but the colours in my head was beautiful 😊☺️
August 21st, 2025 at 05:52I didn’t expect to particularly like or need it.
August 21st, 2025 at 11:29But I got it and I love it. I’ve rediscovered one of the greatest live albums of all time again. Good job.
They certainly did a great job with both sides of the new remixes. The Steven Wilson remix on Disc 1 of the original album is truly incredible, and Richard Digby Smith remixes of nights 1, 2 and 3 in full length are improved especially, it sounds like the shows were just recorded yesterday and even though i’ve listened to Made In Japan like a bazillion times in the past, I am still picking up a few new things, or things I may have missed on the new remixes that I didn’t pick up on the old sets.
It’s annoying slightly that the encores are still only on the 1 disc instead of separated over 3 more, but I guess for production reasons that’s the way it works so it’s not a big deal.
I even had fun looking through the “Booklet”, although it’s smaller in comparison to the 2014 Super Deluxe boxset it still had a couple of pictures I have never seen before, and I enjoyed reading through the Steven Wilson interview as well, which was newly compiled for the boxset.
I also love the tuning up throughout each night on different tracks, which have more of a “Surround” feel than before.
The new editions of the bonus edits at the end of the Encores disc are also fun, I haven’t heard the Mexican edit of Space Truckin’ before, but I do remember the German edit of Black Night, which was previously available on the 1993 “Singles A’s and B’s ” compilation.
To me it’s great that MIJ has resurfaced again. I hope we get more Deep Purple live remixes like this again in the future.
August 21st, 2025 at 11:51Greetings from Alberta.
August 21st, 2025 at 12:54This is jaw dropping. Modern gear allowing room for Rogers incredible playing and articulate picking through the Rickenbaker.
Give it a chance if you are remix averse.
Different than the Paice remix’s ….more balance
Made in Japan is really not my thing when it comes to Purple. But it is history and the sound is absolutely incredible. I doubt it sounded this good in the front row.
August 21st, 2025 at 21:52Well after buying the 40th anniversary edition with a Japanese version of the single Smoke on the Water, as it’s one of the best live albums of all time. Once again i could not help myself, why not get another copy remastered & reissued.In the end i decided to buy the massive 10disc vinyl edition.And silly me inadvertently bought an extra copy! So i will be giving that one away for nothing. Even better each disc has a plastic inner sleeve to go with each one. It sounds awesome well worth it.
August 22nd, 2025 at 23:32Received the box today and just listened to the Wilson remix, I’d say this: nothing drastic has changed, it’s still the greatest live album of all times, and DP on stage in august 1972 are still untouchable. The winner here for me is Roger Glover: his work is finally very defined and discernible and, if you’re a fan of the Rickenbacker sound, this mix is glorious; his interaction with Paice is also a joy to the ears. Blackmore soloing is the other star of the show, pristine killer sound; his rhythm guitar work less so. Similarly, Lordy shines especially during the solo sections and his intro to Lazy is mind blowing. Big Ian is, relatively speaking, the one the benefits the less from this new version and in certain moments, like the verses in Child in time, he’s a bit low in the mix. In the booklet notes, nothing new apart from two things by Malcolm Dome: that Made in Japan is, without a doubt the first title starting the trend for live albums in the 70’s…really? Allman Brothers at Fillmore East? The Who live at Leeds? MC5 Kick out the jams? Grand Funk Live album? Secondly, he states that Baby Face (Blackmore/Paice/Lynott) worked on a song that eventually became “Lay down, stay down” in 1974. This is the first time I hear about this. And I got the chance to talk about this with Paicey himself. I knew about them demoing a cover of Johnny Winter and some riffs but nothing more. Could be true or not.
August 23rd, 2025 at 21:30Steven Wilson is a bloody genius.His remix on cd1 and the blu ray disc are jaw dropping.
August 26th, 2025 at 17:16Pete @ 7. If you honestly need to give away your extra copy, please consider me, I will obviously pay for postage. Kind regards, Ronnie 👍
August 26th, 2025 at 22:30Personally, I wouldn’t be able to buy it because it’s too expensive… I honestly think the price could have been lower… but wanting to make money off the backs of amateurs, no!
August 27th, 2025 at 06:12Dear Brethren, this my third (and last!) attempt to contribute a post to this thread, attempts #1 and #2 were apparently intercepted by Nick in his infinite wisdom as not passing the grade. That said, three’s the charm, fingers crossed …
I’m now in receipt of the 50th Anniversary CD Box and, no, you don’t need a magnifying glass to read the booklets even as a senior citizen like me. The format is the same as the assorted WS boxed sets of recent years, which seems to have become an industry standard – finally. I hate it when boxed sets come in all kinds of different sizes. You know how us Krauts like things tidy …
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/54/Bundesarchiv_Bild_183-1982-1130-502%2C_N%C3%BCrnberg%2C_Reichsparteitag%2C_Lichtdom.jpg/500px-Bundesarchiv_Bild_183-1982-1130-502%2C_N%C3%BCrnberg%2C_Reichsparteitag%2C_Lichtdom.jpg
Yesterday, I took onto myself to listen to Highway Star consecutively about 15 times in my Volvo in the follwing versions:
– Martin Pullan’s 40th Anniv. MiJ remix from 2014 (hereinafter “MP40”)
– Kevin Shirley’s 40th Anniv. MiJ remix also from 2014 – I have no idea why they went with two alternative remixes back then (hereinafter “KS40”) and finally
– Steven Wilson’s 50th Anniv. MiJ remix (hereinafter “SW50”).
(I could have of course gone farther back to previous mixes – I’ve kept them all, but didn’t want to get lost in too many details.)
For our more impatient readers: Not a single one of those remixes is unworthy, they all have something. If you want MiJ pretty much like it was, only better, then MP40 is your logical choice, if you want to hear Purple wild and relentless with a lot of live grittiness you’re best served with KS40, and if detail is your thing then you can’t go wrong with SW50.
In detail:
MP40: Steven Wilson doesn’t like wide stereo panning, he thinks it’s 60s/70s gimmicky and takes away oomph from the music (as a child of the 60s and 70s, I myself love wide panning). Hence his mixes (and KS40 too) are always more ‘centered’. Not so Martin Pullan’s remix here, that is
r e a l l y
w i d e,
CinemaScope Purple so to say. Most of us will identify that extremely wide panning (Ritchie confusingly left, Jon right, i.e. not the way you saw them on stage) with MiJ. Likewise drums and guitar are by objective standards too loud, but that is very much part of that legendary album’s immediately identifiable sound. So if all that is something you don’t want to miss in your listening experience, then by all means stick to MP40!
KS40: Kevin Shirley gets a lot of stick for allegedly brickwalling/over-compressing his mixes, he counters it with the argument that the right amount of compression is key for making heavy music sound good. Based on this mix, I’m inclined to believe him. It sounds incredibly dense and rumbles along like a thundering freight train on the point of becoming derailed with lots of live noise and even a little overdrive, it’s kind of how I imagine it sounded back then in Osaka. There is patent excitement in this mix. Ritchie and Paicey still dominate proceedings, but Roger and Jon have been audibly brought up. KS40 is the ultimate mix if you want to immerse yourself in the live experience.
SW50: Subtitled: The bass player’s Samurai revenge half a century after the deed! 🤣 Yes, this mix is pure bass porn, Herr Wilson has even excavated the trebly sound of Roger’s pick slapping against his Rickenbacker 4001’s roundwound strings, giving his bass playing a clicky-de-clack percussive note. Iron Maiden fans, used to their hero Steve H making all kinds of eq-enhanced noises while playing bass, will surely appreciate this. 🤘 For lesser mortals, however, it might be a bit much sometimes (What is that darn clicking sound going on here?! 😂).
What else is there to note? Paicey and Blackers are no longer as overbearing in the mix as we have grown to love it over the decades. No worries, you still hear them well, they’re just no longer as OUTRAGEOUSLY LOUD and domineering, and Little Ian’s bass drum is even beefed up, making the rhythm section sound like Judas Priest’s in places. (Anybody denying that Purple were also pivotal for modern day heavy metal should give this mix a good listen and rethink.)
Wilson’s separation of the instruments is flawless (Gillan’s voice is also a lot more distinct), but it comes at the price of losing some of the live abandon and franticness of MiJ. Edith commented on the mix: “It sounds like they’re playing in our living room!” So yes, you have an immersion in detail (and how all the cogwheels in DP’s sound integrate with another), but it’s less of a sonic onslaught – horses for courses.
There is honestly no better or worse between MP40, KS40 and SW50, they are all three instructive to listen to. If you’re in a nostalgic mood slip MP40 in the CD player, if the boys from the local DP Chapter are coming over for a BBQ and you’ve already popped a couple of cans of beer, then turn up KS40 LOUD, and to convince that pesky PROG-lovin’ cousin of yours who misguidedly thinks that DP are “just another hamfisted Metal outfit“, SW50 will make him repudiate his heathenish beliefs pronto!
Now, will der liebe Nick allow this post or revert to Soviet style suppression? 🤣
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August 29th, 2025 at 15:32I am a massive fan of both Deep Purple and Steven Wilson, so i was really looking forward to this and it didn’t disappoint. I agree with all of the comments about the new details that come out. I am constantly grinning while listening to an old friend come back to me re-energised. I don’t think that anyone has posted about the atmos version which is what the Genius Wilson is best known for. I’m lucky enough to have a half decent Atmos set up and listening to it there is a whole other level. You can hear the resonances on the bass drum, the cymbals around you, the reflections off the back wall during the epic Paicey solo and every rhythm and solo is exactly in place, including the congas. And all of that with the crowd behind you, as if your front and centre. It is jaw dropping not just in technically how well it works, but in how you can hear everything that was played live at the time and realise just how phenomenally good that band was at the time. The emotional connection to the music is enhanced. I’m getting as many people round as I can to listen because this just feels like everyone should hear this. Mr. Wilson shall forever be part of the Purple Family and for that I am extremely happy.
August 29th, 2025 at 18:39@12
“this my third (and last!) attempt to contribute a post to this thread…”
I too have had the same experience lately; nothing that I have posted lately has made it through.
I don’t think any of the remixes are better. Just different. I still prefer the MIJ that I bought at Tower Records in Dublin, IE back in 2001.
August 29th, 2025 at 21:53A remix of an album is a bit like changing the lighting for a classic art painting in a museum – whenever you do that, the same painting is gonna look a little different.
The quest for an “ultimate mix” is nonsense, but so is the “never change anything!”-stance, our perceptions are always of momentary nature and differ over time.
BTW, that MiJ version you bought in Dublin in 2001 was likely the 25th Anniversary Remaster by Peter Mew from 1998 with the colors reversed, gold lettering on a black background, right Russ? While retaining the original mix, that remaster was influenced by then prevailing remaster preferences and technical possibilities already too.
I’ll buy the 60th Anniversary and – the powers that be allowing -the 70th Anniversary remixes of MiJ too. They will reveal or emphasize other aspects of a beloved aural painting, but not make Steven Wilson’s work worthless just as the Martin Pullman and Kevin Shirley remixes retain relevance too. If slight changes/readjustments of perspectives intrigue you like me, then you’ll likely do the same. If not, then stick with whatever mix you find most to your liking.
When I did my in-car-comparison of the various remixes a few days ago, I really had to smile to myself how hilariously loud, even uneven Ritchie’s entry during Highway Star is mixed on the Martin Pullan mix, thereby echoing how the original vinyl release sounded on our record players all these decades ago. I wouldn’t want to miss that because that raucous entry has all kinds of memories attached to it, but at the same time I can enjoy Steven Wilson’s more dissecting and balanced approach to MiJ. (A younger Ritchie would have likely slipped Steven a few extra bills to ensure he is again turned up loudest! 🤣)
And that’s all there is to it.
August 30th, 2025 at 14:25If you are wondering about the moderation of the comments to this article, read the last sentence above: “No discussions, just your review.”
August 30th, 2025 at 15:59And where do they end up then, Svante, do you guys have a purgatory of sorts? THE DUNGEON OF UNDESIRABLE POSTS – A LEPER COLONY OF IMPROPER MESSAGES!!!
https://youtu.be/E8zxuldi9Yk
August 30th, 2025 at 21:15I think SW’s remix of the original album has improved it and perhaps it’s going to be my go-to version from now on.
As for the rest: after listening to Digby-Smith’s remix of the first and second nights, my 2c is that it’s marginally better than Pullan’s 2014 remix. Roger’s bass is beefed up (as was the case on SW’s mix), albeit at the expense of Paice’s kick drum. Listen for example the beginning of Highway Star, at the intro when the kick drum starts it’s much more punchy in 2014 than 2025.
A little whining now.
The cut in first night’s Black Night is inexcusable though, they left so much applause in all three nights, they could surely squeeze 1-2 minutes of noodling.
In the second night, during the intro by IG for Lazy, at 0m7s there’s like a tape speed up glitch or something which wasn’t on the 2014 remix, nor in any original album remix/remaster (since the Lazy intro on the original album seems to have come from the 2nd night).
I don’t think the third night will change my perception on this, so bottom line compared to the 2014 edition the 2025 is surely an upgrade (taking into consideration the original album remix and the three nights’ remixes) but not perfect.
IMO, it’s not difficult to produce something perfect given this material (three nights, their encores and the original album in remaster and/or remix). All it takes is having a coordinator that cares and knows what the fans want.
Right now, there’s no such thing in the Purple camp.
September 10th, 2025 at 08:14I finally got around to comparing the 2014 Martin Pullan single night mixes to the 2025 Richard Digby Smith (RDS) ones – everybody save for Raziel666 seems to focus on the Made in Japan album and Steven Wilson’s mix of the same – some kind of Deep Purpe fans you guys are, superficial more like! -, not the individual nights.
For a mix of a live recording I have to say I personally prefer MP’s individual nights mixes over the ones by RDS. What immediately jumps at you is that Ian’s voice is much more upfront on the 2014 remixes than on the 2025 ones. The MP mixes also sound more “there” and raunchier/wilder than RDS’ work. RDS’ aural vision of DP is somewhat docile/demure in comparison though there is nothing inherently wrong with his mixes.
RDS has mixed Roger – like Steven Wilson, but not quite as hilariously much – with more plectrum click than MP which makes him easier detectable in the melée, but MP’s mix has the upper hand as regards the subwoof elements of the bass sound, so it sounds mightier (and probably more like it did on those nights with Roger’s Rickenbacker growl crawling not so subtly out of his Martin bass bins).
Now if we take the standard DP fan – say, let’s imagine an already
maturefully developed, yet blessed with eternally youthful looks woman with high coffeine intake in a somewhat rural coastal region of Scandinavia – then she would certainly hear the MP mix as the more vibrant depiction of her Ian on those nights in Osaka and Tokyo.I think it’s fair to say that the 2014 Kevin Shirley MIJ remix & the Martin Pullan MIJ remix PLUS the remixes of the individual nights all three opted for bringing out the live excitement while the 2025 Steven Wilsom MIJ remix & the Richard Digby Smith remixes of the individual nights (unlike with MP there is no remix of the MIJ album by RDS) both went for sonic balance and greater detail inspection.
It’s a matter of taste/mood of the moment what rocks your boat better. I’d be hard-pressed to say that one is superior to the other.
It also means that you shouldn’t sell your 2014 remix boxed set just yet because you’ve now bought the 2025 one!
September 10th, 2025 at 19:39@19
“Now if we take the standard DP fan “
– don’t think there are a lot of standard fans of Purple 😊
I for sure am not any standard! But please go to Ian’s fb site and read all the lovely women’s wishes for him (not me though, I merely concentrate on his magnificent voice…)
“with high coffeine intake”
– yes thank you! How in the world of all that is pure and caffeinated would I keep awake reading all these insanely interesting posts in here 😃
“she would certainly hear the MP mix as the more vibrant depiction of her Ian on those nights in Osaka and Tokyo.”
– if you’re thinking of me here, I will confess that Ian’s voice is doing unspeakable things in my neighbourhood:
– small children lie awake all night just to listen to the music from my house (and I kindly let all windows and doors open so they get the full impact!)
– thieves, robbers and murderers are pausing their deeds just to listen and sniff the coffee I’m brewing!
– all other singers of any kind start finding new jobs because after listening to Ian they know their boat will never come in with Bananas!
– the flowers are blooming more beautifully, the trees look more vibrant, and even the birds are stum so they hopefully can pick up new tricks!
Btw: this afternoon, 11th of September, Ian will be online. UNFORTUNATELY I am working (can’t turn down people who are feeling ill) but oh please have a listen! I think it’s gonna be great 😍
September 11th, 2025 at 06:44This morning I contacted Richard Digby Smith re:the problems found in his remixes of the 3 nights (the missing minute or son in Black Night from 15th, the glitch in Lazy intro from 16th, the Mule tune-up from 16th and the “next week we will turn professional” also from 16th).
September 12th, 2025 at 11:07To my surprise, after a couple of hours I got a reply from the man himself.
His reply was that he mixed the complete shows from beginning to end and was instructed by the management company to leave everything in (all the tuning up, all the chat, etc.), so if there are sections missing, then they would have been removed prior to manufacture by someone other than him. As for the glitch, he says it must have been there in the wav files that were sent to him.
So perhaps these happened during mastering? We’ll never know. Wonder who the management company is though…