Deep Purple
Burn

THE REVIEW

After recording masterpieces like "In Rock", "Machine Head" and the stunning live "Made In Japan", Mark II (Gillan, Blackmore, Glover, Paice, Lord) finds themselves in Italy to record the album "Who Do We Think We Are". However, the recordings take place under the banner of conflicts between Gillan and Blackmore. Given the moderate flop of the album (critics never looked favorably upon it) and the continuous clashes with Ritchie, Gillan decides to leave, followed closely by Glover, his friend since the time of Episode Six.
The three Purples almost immediately find a replacement. It is bassist/singer Glenn Hughes (formerly of Trapeze), a deep admirer of black music. For Blackmore, the group could very well continue as a quartet, but the others disagreed, and Lord (after hearing recordings) hired the unknown David Coverdale as the vocalist.

In 1974, "BURN" was released, an album that sees Deep Purple moving towards more hard-blues territories. The commercial success of the album is very significant and allows Deep to make a name for themselves even in the USA.
We put the CD in the player and are immediately "attacked" by the deadly riff of the title track, BURN. This piece is a lava flow of pure hard rock, where one can notice a devastating rhythmic carpet by Paice and a series of truly unmissable guitar-keyboard duels. The story of witches sent to the stake and diabolical curses featured in the song are interpreted excellently by the two singers. At number two, we find MIGHT JUST TAKE YOUR LIFE, a song where we notice a first shift towards hard-blues. Lord's Hammond sacrifices any stylistic elegance and transforms into a brothel instrument, supported by a simple and effective riff and a very successful and intense Coverdale-Hughes vocal dualism. LAY DOWN, STAY DOWN is a song supported by excellent drumming from Paice (his very Hard-Funk drumming will be the characteristic element of the album) where there is room for an incisive riff and an anthology solo by Blackmore. Very vulgar and primal Rock N' Roll. SAIL AWAY is a very cadenced blues, excellently led by the voices of Coverdale and Hughes.
The second side opens with YOU FOOL NO ONE. Introduced by a "samba" rhythm from Paice, the song perfectly merges funk elements with some harder ones in a compact set that leaves much room for improvisation by the musicians (a song often performed live). Noteworthy is Hughes's great performance, both vocally and instrumentally. Paice's cymbals and Blackmore's guitar introduce us to the hard-blues of WHAT'S GOING ON HERE, one of the best tracks on the album. A hypnotic rhythm and Lord's honky-blues piano lead this track where Blackmore's excellent work and Coverdale's beautiful performance find space. One of Blackmore's best riffs and Paice's bass drum introduce us to MISTREATED, a very heartfelt song masterfully sung by Coverdale. Blackmore digs fiery melodic lines, diving later into a stunning solo. Blackmore has always been very attached to this song, so much so that he also proposed it in his live performances with Rainbow, with R.J. Dio on vocals.
It closes with a very particular instrumental, A 200, characterized by Lord's keyboard and a very decisive solo by Blackmore.

The first testament to Mark III, this album will have great success live on the promotional tour. Unfortunately, however, many songs from the album will be "forgotten" by other line-ups, mainly due to legal problems.