To look at the line-up of Santa Barbara Machine Head, one would think that it was a super-group, but for the fact that its members hadn't yet done the things that made them famous, much less "super." It's also no accident that Santa Barbara Machine Head incorporates a name that was to become important in the history of Deep Purple-apart from future Faces-Rolling Stone member Ron Wood, Twink (aka John Alder), who later joined Tomorrow and the Pretty Things, and the Creation's Kim Gardener, the band's line-up included Jon Lord, somewhere between the St. Valentine's Day Massacre and a brief touring stint with The Flowerpot Men, enroute to Roundabout, the group whence he would meet Ritchie Blackmore and company.

Santa Barbara Machine Head, organized in 1967, played electric blues rather than proto heavy-metal, and only ever recorded three tracks, "Porcupine Juice, " "Albert, " and "Rubber Monkey, " all under the auspices of Andrew "Loog" Oldham's newly-formed Immediate Records. They might've lasted longer but for the fact that each of them-but especially Jon Lord-had bigger fish to fry in other genres and musical settings. ~ Bruce Eder, Rovi