| "Never Before" | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by Deep Purple | ||||||||||
| from the album Machine Head | ||||||||||
| B-side | "When a Blind Man Cries" | |||||||||
| Released | March 18, 1972 | |||||||||
| Format | 7" | |||||||||
| Recorded | December 6–21, 1971 Montreux, Switzerland |
|||||||||
| Genre | Hard rock, heavy metal, blues rock | |||||||||
| Length | 3:30 (single version) 4:01 (album version) |
|||||||||
| Label | EMI (UK) Warner Bros. Records (US) |
|||||||||
| Writer(s) | Ritchie Blackmore Ian Gillan Roger Glover Jon Lord Ian Paice |
|||||||||
| Producer | Deep Purple | |||||||||
| Deep Purple singles chronology | ||||||||||
|
||||||||||
|
||||||||||
"Never Before" is a song by British rock band Deep Purple, which appears on their 1972 album Machine Head.
This was originally the only single from the album besides "Smoke on the Water", with "When a Blind Man Cries" as a B-side, which surprised fans as the album contained hits such as "Lazy", "Space Truckin' " and "Highway Star".
A promo video for "Never Before" was made in 1972, Deep Purple's only one in the seventies. The single mix of the song is an edit of the album version and lasts 3:30.
"Never Before" has rarely been performed live. The only live recording of this song appears on Deep Purple In Concert, which was recorded at the time of the single release, a week or so before Machine Head was released.
Deep Purple performed "Never Before" on tour in 2004, when they played the whole Machine Head album.
Gary Barden covered the song on his 2011 cover album Rock 'n' Roll My Soul.