BURN

The first earthquake in terms of line-up in one of my preferred bands (more to come unfortunately with my beloved Yes and Genesis). I was so thrilled to listen to their new LP that I rushed out and bought "Burn" as soon as it came out. To be honest, this album is quite brilliant. I already had heard most of it two months BEFORE its release (see the PS section at the end of the review to know more).

"Burn" is a mythical song which will never reach the live glory of some of its predecessors (only due to the fact that Gillan never wanted to perform this track in concert during other Marks).

The riff is pretty similar to the one of "Flight Of A Rat" from "In Rock" (one of their greatest number IMO and so much underrated). Coverdale's work here is absolutely grandiose: with this opener he shows how great a singer he is.

It is said that he was so scared about Ritchie's reaction to his lyrics, that he came with three different ones for that song!

In terms of musical breaks, the keys are strongly linked with "Highway Star": hard but melodic. Jon is simply FABULOUS as he is most of the time. Again, the structure here is Purplesque in all its grandeur and the lenght is OK. This will be a great opener of their live sets (Mark III).

"Might Just Take Your Life" is a standard hard rock tune like Purple have produced quite a lot ("Bloodsucker", "Maybe I'm A Leo"... ). Average.

Next comes "Lay Down, Stay Down" which is quite a bloody good hard rocking tune: there is virtually no difference with the legendary line-up: bass and vocals are superb, guitar and keys are of course fabulous. Paice as great as ever. The vocal parts are gorgeous : both David and Glenn sharing the effort. Another highlight.

"Sail Away" closes side one quite beautifully. Standard hard rock song of the purest vein. Slower tempo, strong bass and great vocals. The latter one will really be a TM for Mark III. Not a highlight, but a good moment (which is sufficient to maintain the level of this album to a very high).

Let's spin B-side now.

"You Fool no One" is a clone for "The Mule", and is another great song : vocals are huge (both David / Glenn) and Ritchie, just superb.

"What's Going on Here" is another OK hard rock song. But "Mistreated" is quite different : the best (with "Burn") song of the mark III era. Bluesy, guitar mystical: it is one of their best song ever.

Unfortunately again not performed in their live sets with Gillan. It almost reaches the level of "Since I've Been Lovin' You" from Led Zep in terms of the best "white" blues song ever written/performed. Of course, there is no such guitar solo than Jimi's one but hell! Mistreated is a fabulous track. Just listen to the last part of the song to be charmed. A piece of anthology and a highlight of course.

The closing number "A 200" is a "Bolero" influenced instrumental. Not that great.

The remastered edition has five bonus tracks, of which "Coronarias Redig" is an obscure B-side for "Might Just Take Your Life" released in some countries only (Belgium, The Netherlands, Spain, Germany and France). this intrumental track is quite dispensable as you can imagine.

The other four are "remixes" but really close to the original. not essential.

With "Burn", Purple obviously wanted to reproduce "Machine Head" and almost reached it. Mark II did a similar attempt (but failed dramatically) with "Who Do We Think".

The fantastic duo Coverdale / Hughes is really incredible (and very much credible): their complementarity is simply gorgeous and brings this Purple album to a very high level.

Four stars for this marvelous and surprisingly effort (nine out of ten actually). By the way, when will this rating be switched on)? A scale of ten would be more precise, no?

PS :

I was very fortunate to see the Mark III during one of its very first live concert. Figure out: they started their European live tour in Arhus (Denmark) on the 8th of December, 1973. This show was cancelled because the equipment never arrived. The opening concert took place in Hallen (Denmark), the second in Gothenburgh and the third one in ... Brussels on December 12th, 1973.

A drama took place in the afternoon of the concert (a Wednesday). Actually, I could not find my ticket for the concert anymore. The price was 220 BEF (the equivalent of 5.5 ?)! Unlike the Mark II concert I saw at the same venue (Forest National) in March of the same year, this one was not sold out; so I had to struggle to convinced my mother that I was so desperate to see the Purple that I was willing to buy a ticket for the second time.

After a very long and difficult conversation, she finally accepted to allow me to do so. In the meantime, the clock was running and to ensure I would be on time, I had to take a taxi to the venue (sharing it with two friends) making it an even more expensive evening.

But I was there and just to water your mouth, here is the typical setlist of this tour : 1. Burn, 2. Might Just Take Your Life, 3. Lay Down, Stay Down, 4. Mistreated, 5. Smoke on the Water, 6. You Fool no One, 7. Space Truckin' (quite extended as usual in those days), 8. What's Going on Here.

If you have read my review for "In Concert" from the BBC, you will know that CD two, consists of the live rendition of most of the "Machine Head" album. It took place a few weeks BEFORE its release.

So, I have been in the same situation for "Burn". A great souvenir, my friends.

Share this DEEP PURPLE review

Social review comments () BETA

---

---

Review related links

• Send comments to ZowieZiggy
• Report this review (#106079)
• Buy DEEP PURPLE music online with PA partners
• Show all DEEP PURPLE MP3/Stream
• Go to DEEP PURPLE page for videos, full discography with ratings, reviews and much more
• Go to Burn page for more details, where to buy and ratings/reviews
• Search the Forum for DEEP PURPLE related discussions