BURN

A magnificent work by Deep Purple MK III. It was the first time I ever heard about the band and I remember as a teenager how much I loved the cover! At the time this album was despised by a lot of Purple fans since they could not bear the thought of losing singer Ian Gillan and bassist Roger Glover. I didn't agree at all. Burn was a fantastic CD in my opinion and it was always a favorite. Besides, after the very weak Who Do We Think We Are, what those radicals should expect? Decisions had to be made. And they were for the better.

A lot of the flak came for the fact the chosen singer, David Coverdale, was a complete unknown and did not have a voice as powerful as Gillan. True. Coverdale was still a bit green then but had a fine voice and, besides, with Glenn Hughes sharing the leads with him, they covered the vocals issue way better than anyone expected. Those two together could outdo Gillan anytime. The voices are maybe the most distinguishing aspect of the whole album. Awesome!

The older this album becomes the more I get the feeling Burn is very close to a masterpiece. At least three tracks are absolute classics: the title track, Sail Away and Mistreated. The remaining songs are also very good, although not really par to those three. I was amazed to see how much Jon Lord had grown since those early years with Deep Purple: the man is simply a genius! Burn also marked the first time he used synthesizers in a DP record. He also does a great honk tonk piano solo on What's Goin' On Here. But he still remains one of the masters of the Hammond Organ. His solo o the title track is Bach meets metal, one of the most influential of rock's history.

Ritchie Blackmore is in top form, although it is also clear he was not really satisfied with the new funk and soul influences Coverdale and - mainly - Hughes brought with them, but that's another story. Just hear the opening riff of Mistreated! A band with two iconic figures as Blackmore and Lord should be heard with care. Everything works incredibly well for a record done in such a hurry. Martin Birch's production is outstanding as ever: no wonder he became such a legend over the years. Even for today's standards the sound is crisp, clean, powerful.

If PA was a hard rock or Heavy Metal site I would give this album a 5 star rating. In many ways this is a groundbreaking and unique CD. It does have strong prog leanings that would influence most of the prog metal bands in the future generation. But since the band had already done such masterpieces as Machine Head and Made In Japan, this is a tad inferior to those. 4 stars would be more fitting. 4,5 for personal reasons. Highly recommended.