STORMBRINGER

Unfortunately, it seems that by mid 1974 the members of DEEP PURPLE as a band were not very sure of the musical direction they were going to follow for their next album. Maybe the remaining original members of the band (Ritchie Blackmore, Jon Lord and Ian Paice) were tired of being working in the band without a break, and they let the most recent "new" members (Glenn Hughes and David Coverdale) to take the leadership for this "Stormbringer" album. The music is not bad, but in most parts it does not sound very related to the original musical style of the band (Hard Rock / Heavy Metal). It sounds very influenced by Funky, Soul and Blues music, styles of music which were more liked by Hughes (who it has been said to be the most adept to these musical styles) and Coverdale. As I have written in other reviews about this line-up, both Coverdale and Hughes have powerful vocals, but the problem is that their musical tastes were somewhat far from the original musical style of the band. Maybe the original members were somewhat bored and also wanted to try some new musical things, but in this album it seems that they gave most of the control of the musical direction of the band to Hughes and Coverdale. So,most songs ( "Love Don`t Mean a Thing", "Holy Man", "Hold On", "You Can`t Do I t Right" and "High Ball Shooter") really sound like influenced a lot by artists like STEVIE WONDER and other similar artists from the mid seventies. Even some of the keyboards arrangements sound very influenced by these artists. They don`t sound bad...but they sound very far from DEEP PURPLE`s original musical style. Only "Stormbringer", "Lady Double Dealer", "The Gypsy" and "Soldier of Fortune" sound closer to that old musical style. Maybe the best song in this album is "Soldier of Fortune", which sounds a bit more related to "Catch the Rainbow", a song which Blackmore was going to record with his new band in their first album titled "Ritchie Blackmore`s Rainbow", in 1975.

After the tour for this album Blackmore left the band, being replaced by Tommy Bolin, and the band carried on for one more album ("Come Taste the Band"). and they finally split in March 1976 after the tour for that album.