BURN

In mid 1973, Ian Gillan and Roger Glover left DEEP PURPLE apparently due to some personal problems with some members of the band and with the management. Gillan has said in interviews that it was mainly due to a lot of work: "We were burned up. We needed a break, but the management wanted more work from us" (more or less as I remember). So, they finally left the band after one more tour.

They were replaced by David Coverdale and Glenn Hughes, respectively, with both musicians having powerful vocals. So the band for the first and only time had two members who could sing lead vocals, but the role of the main lead singer was assigned to David Coverdale. Anyway, Hughes sang powerful backing vocals and also sometimes he had the chance to sing lead vocals in some songs. Their vocals sung together worked very well in the band. But, at the same time with this approach on vocals the band sounded different. Still good but different. But also due to their musical influences (with Hughes having a more Blues, Funky and Soul influenced musical style) the band gradually became more inlfuenced by them and gradually started sounding very different and far from the original musical style that the band had since they started in 1968. This led to Ritchie Blackmore`s departure in 1975.

This "Burn" album from 1974 shows the first signs of that musical transition of the band from Hard Rock / Heavy Metal to a more Blues, Funky and Soul musical style which was more clear in their "Stormbringer" album, and later with their "Come Taste the Band" (an album which was recorded with Tommy Bolin replacing Blackmore). But most of the songs in this "Burn" album still show the original style of the band being very present. The title track is maybe the best from this album, with some good guitar riffs and some Classical Music influences in the arrangements from Blackmore and Jon Lord in their respective instruments., sounding very influenced by Progressive Rock music. Other strong songs in this album are "Might Just Take Your Life ", "Mistreated" and the instrumental "A 200" (with this last song being somewhat similar to "Coronaria`s Redig", another instrumental song from the same recording sessions of this album but which was released as the "B" side of a single from the same period).

As a whole, this album still sounds more in the original musical style of the band, and it still is a good album from them.