Over twenty years ago, Big Beat reissued garage rock legends the Music Machine’s classic 1966 debut TURN ON on vinyl. We now present that same groundbreaking album in a gloriously expanded, remastered 2-CD format as THE ULTIMATE TURN ON. Loaded with a full bonus disc of unissued material, including rehearsal tapes, demos and two eye-popping vintage TV performances, “The Ultimate Turn On” collects together the complete recordings of the original, definitive line-up of the band, famed for their heart-stopping avant-rock hit Talk Talk.

Here’s what the charismatic, erudite leader of the Machine, SEAN BONNIWELL, has to say about “The Ultimate Turn On”

When Alec Palao’s all-pro white-collar “ULTIMATE” unfolded from his laptop, a long-awaited treasured aspiration was realized; the definitive works of the original Music Machine had at last, arrived.

The continuity of the total presentation is stunning, embodied with a fresh and commanding timelessness that urges the eye, mind (and ear) into the inner mechanism of the Machine’s collective soul. It’s as if a layer of MM mystique has been meticulously unearthed and artfully reassembled by a gifted - technically advanced - music paleontologist [Palao-ontologist]: The once buried ultimate understanding of garage rock, MM style, is, as of this release, brought to light as if shining on a newly arisen plateau.

The tracks, which are nothing short of magical, confound and confront each member’s personal retrospectives, most of which are at odds with the sum total of the whole, deepening the mystery of the Music Machine’s unity as the group pursued - and ultimately captured - what rock historians acknowledge was the vanguard of a genera. For this reason, I would have preferred the omission of certain outtakes, but these conceptual embryos provide the listener with a progressive evolution - a musical gestalt - heretofore unattainable without the two or three ‘takes’ on hand (gloved, of course); ie, rehearsal tapes, first mix, final mix - and even then, the listener may have to cross reference all versions of each song’s development many times over, to garner fully informed enlightenment.

This is but one aspect of “The Ultimate Turn On”’s artful intentions: the re-mastered mono Music Machine classics are nothing short of brilliant -- a painfully overdue resurrection of the band’s dedicated and hard fought-for standard of excellence, not to mention maintenance thereof. No “Ultimate” would be so without mono and stereo renditions, but on hearing the mono re-mastered MM classics, the issue of preference is delivered moot; truth be told, the Machine’s complex musical arrangements were - and are - intentionally tooled to be heard and appreciated specifically by the collaborated sonic impact only mono can, and does, provide.

The deal is, the Music Machine’s modus operandi is now an open hand of cards. The consummate MM fan, the purist - disciples of the era and critics alike - are now able to hear the Machine’s inner gears refine, polish, and re-cut its diamonds in the rough; the rehearsal garage tapes reveal this in spades, being most evident in Discrepancy, Masculine Intuition, and The Eagle Never Hunts The Fly (to name just three). As for the aforementioned classic re-mastered mono MM tracks -- and the “Ultimate Turn On” package as a whole, it is sonically glorious.

A final, ultimate suggestion; with the possible exception of Big Beat’s early re-issue, you now have our official permission to throw away all previously released “Turn On” compilations; those products are deformed bastard children of blue-collar wanna-be deaf-mutes.

His Will, at last, be done,

Sean Bonniwell