BURN

Deep Purple has always been a part of my life. Sometimes distant; sometimes close. I am a huge admirer of In Rock and Made In Japan. I also tries to get as many of their other live albums as possible. Their studio albums, with the exception of In Rock, has never tempted me before now. But I have now purchased their albums.

The title track needs no introduction. A massive anthem with a very interesting solo by John Lord in the middle part. This song also launched the careers of David Coverdale and Glenn Hughes. Both Ian Gillan and Roger Glover had departed before this album and those two, soon-to-be-greats filled their shoes. And they changed Deep Purple more in the direction of more soul and blues. This album is a mixture of everything. US arena rock in the vein of Bad Company, blues, hard rock, soul and even some jazz. John Lord makes this album pretty proggy. But it is the title track and the bluesy Sail Away and Mistreated which makes this album a good album. The rest of the songs are pretty OK, but nothing more. Mistreated is a superb song and I can understand why both Coverdale and Hughes still includes it in their respective live sets. This is a good album, but nothing more than that.

3 stars