They insisted on supervising the live production, including using Martin Birch, who had previously collaborated with the band, as engineer, and were not particularly interested in the album's release, even after recording.

Deep Purple "Mk II" formed in July 1969 when founding members, guitarist Ritchie Blackmore, organist Jon Lord and drummer Ian Paice, recruited singer Ian Gillan and bassist Roger Glover to progress from their earlier pop and psychedelic rock sound towards hard rock.

[4] They began touring extensively, becoming a well received live band,[5] and had recorded several shows either to broadcast on the radio or listen to privately.

[6] However, they had rejected the idea of releasing a live album commercially as they believed it would be impossible to reproduce the quality and experience of their stage act on an LP.

"[11] By 1972, Deep Purple had achieved considerable commercial success in Japan, including several hit singles, so it made sense to tour there.

Although the setlist remained the same for most of the year, opening with "Highway Star" and closing with "Lazy" and "Space Truckin'", the band's musical skill and structure meant there was sufficient improvisation within the songs to keep things fresh.

[19] The band arrived in Japan on 9 August, a week before the tour started, to a strong reception, and were greeted with gifts and flowers.

Subsequently, Lord noted that he felt this attitude meant the spontaneity of the performances and interplay between the band members was captured well.

Glover remembered "twelve or thirteen thousand Japanese kids were singing along to 'Child in Time'" and considered it a career highlight,[21] as did Gillan.

[15] Lord claimed once in a magazine interview that a line from "Strange Kind of Woman" had to be redubbed from a different show after Gillan had tripped over his microphone cable, but no direct evidence of this was found when the multitrack tapes were examined.

They were motivated into releasing it due to a steady flow of UK imports being purchased,[21] and it was an immediate commercial success, reaching number 6 in the charts.

[25] Warner Brothers also released "Smoke on the Water" as a single, coupling the live recording on Made in Japan with the studio version on Machine Head, and it reached number 4 in the Billboard charts.

[24] The sleeve notes claimed that the recording only contained the Tokyo gig, though in fact it was musically identical to the version released in the rest of the world.

Gillan was critical of his own performance, yet impressed with the quality of the recording,[30] while Lord listed it as his favourite Deep Purple album, saying, "The band was at the height of its powers.

[16] "And that's putting everything Led Zeppelin have done, anything Black Sabbath may have done, Bad Company, Free... As a tour de force of innovation and living on the edge and great playing with a fantastic sound, nothing comes close.

Rolling Stone's Jon Tiven wrote that "Made in Japan is Purple's definitive metal monster, a spark-filled execution ...

For the album's 21st anniversary in 1993, Deep Purple author and archivist Simon Robinson decided to enquire via the band's management if the tapes could be located.

[17] In July, Robinson and Darron Goodwin remixed the tapes at Abbey Road Studios for an expanded edition, that was then mastered by Peter Mew in September.

[38] At the same time, a limited edition of 4,000 double LPs was released on purple vinyl,[39] while in Spain, EMI added the studio versions of the tracks making up the original album to the second CD.

[41] On 13 January 2006, progressive metal band Dream Theater played the original album in its entirety at Kokusai Forum in Tokyo, and also on the 15th at NHK Hall in Osaka.