Who Do We Think We Are

The album was recorded in Rome in July 1972 and at Walldorf near Frankfurt that October, using the Rolling Stones Mobile Studio. Woman from Tokyo, about touring Japan for the first time, was the first track recorded. Members were not speaking, and songs were finished by recording the parts separately.

It came out on 12 January 1973 in the United States and in February in Britain, and reached number four in the UK and number 15 in the US. The American single sold half a million copies in three months, a gold record faster than any earlier Deep Purple album, and the band was the best-selling artist in the United States in 1973. Gillan said Mary Long was about Mary Whitehouse and Lord Longford, fused into one figure to stand for hypocrisy. The title comes from a July 1972 Melody Maker piece quoting Paice. Early back covers misprint the first track as Woman from Tokayo.

Rolling Stone's Ann Cheauvy found it tired in spots, and AllMusic's Eduardo Rivadavia praised Rat Bat Blue. A 2000 remaster added bonus tracks, ending with a jam on which Blackmore plays bass because Glover was lost in traffic. The last Mark II concert of the 1970s was in Osaka on 29 June 1973, after which Gillan and Glover left.