Is "Burn" Deep Purple's Best Album???

[Interstellar]

One thing about the Morse era Purple is that Gillan kind of took the same course vocally as Robert Plant: doing more with less. That extraordinary range was diminished but instead he became a better singer with the voice he had, really singing with more feeling and nuance than his younger days, albeit with a voice that still has some oomph to it.

Indeed.
And what differenciates him from other Purple singers is not only his timbre, but also the unique personality that his voice reflects - with an inclination toward nonsense, storytelling, irony. The other Purple singers have a great voice and a great technique, but they all have a slightly generic quality IMHO, that I don't hear much in Gillan's work, however irritating he may be to some people, including Blackmore. Losing his range doesn't make him lose that personality, it even reinforces the nuances in his singing.

[progmatist]

^^ Ronnie James Dio was one vocalist whose style demanded a particular writing style. Rainbow and Sabbath/Heaven and Hell while he was a member, the 2 songs he sang on Kerry Livgren's first solo album, and Ronnie's eponymous band all have very similar styles. The only real difference is the heaviness, or lack thereof of the guitars.

[Supersonic Scientist]

I don't know what streaming radio service my gym had going yesterday but while I was there, I heard "My Woman from Tokyo"...AND...ELP's Tank...!!!!!!!

[Fracktured]

I remember when Burn came out and I heard the title track in the radio and thought this is great. Went out and bought the album and to me it was the only stand out track. Not a bad album but I wish it all was as good the the title track.


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[Progdreamer]

I remember when Burn came out and I heard the title track in the radio and thought this is great. Went out and bought the album and to me it was the only stand out track. Not a bad album but I wish it all was as good the the title track.


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I kinda felt that way too. Burn the song I think was one of the greatest Deep Purple tracks, and when they released the next album I was hoping for more of that kind of thing, but it was never really the same after that. I remember being thrilled that Blackmore started Rainbow. Those first few albums were great with Dio before he sold out in the 80's for the pop stuff.

[Halmyre]

I remember when Burn came out and I heard the title track in the radio and thought this is great. Went out and bought the album and to me it was the only stand out track. Not a bad album but I wish it all was as good the the title track.


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Besides Burn, there's Might Just Take Your Life, You Fool No-One, Sail Away, Mistreated and the rest is filler. The 'lost' track Coronarias Redig is worth a listen, a better instrumental than A200 IMO. Coverdale was supposed to have written lyrics for Coronarias but was tired out with too much shagging when it came to recording.

[JJ88]

'Coronarias Redig' was a non-album B side...I think the only one from that Coverdale/Hughes era.

[Jerjo]

It's a decent track, unmarred by Cloverdale's "lyrics"

[Trane]

Besides Burn, there's Might Just Take Your Life, You Fool No-One, Sail Away, Mistreated and the rest is filler. The 'lost' track Coronarias Redig is worth a listen, a better instrumental than A200 IMO. Coverdale was supposed to have written lyrics for Coronarias but was tired out with too much shagging when it came to recording.

Yup, Burn was one of their stronger albums, IMHO, because there were not many fillers, something their previous album was filled with.

Even A200 was ok... It wasn't really "Purplish", but it was rather good

It's a decent track, unmarred by Cloverdale's "lyrics"

is this available on Burn remaster version (I may actually feel the need to acquire the CD

[JJ88]

It was on the 2004-ish remaster. Also on their singles collections. For me their best B side is 'When A Blind Man Cries'.

I should play Burn again. I forgot 'What's Goin' On Here' existed until I looked what was on Burn! I do remember the hook now.

[Progatron]

For me their best B side is 'When A Blind Man Cries'.

There's a killer version of that on the new Ian Gillan with the Don Airey band live album.

[JJ88]

^It's a really good blues track, it works so well as the last track on the Machine Head reissue they should have had it there in the first place.

Funny how their hopes for a hit were pinned on the A side 'Never Before', which I've always thought was the album's weakest track. Not as hooky as 'Black Night' or 'Strange Kind Of Woman', to my ears- I really don't hear what they heard in it. Luckily the actual album had various other rock standards on it.

[Progatron]

^It's a really good blues track, it works so well as the last track on the Machine Head reissue they should have had it there in the first place.

I saw an interview with Gillan where they were discussing how much the band liked that song, but "unfortunately, Ritchie no likey".

[Jerjo]

I wonder how much time and energy the others in the band spent placating or calming down Ritchie?

[Progatron]

I wonder how much time and energy the others in the band spent placating or calming down Ritchie?

I don't think Ian Gillan was too easy to deal with at times either.

[Halmyre]

I don't think Ian Gillan was too easy to deal with at times either.

I think it was Jon Lord who said things were better when they fired Ritchie instead of Ian.

[GuitarGeek]

Funny how their hopes for a hit were pinned on the A side 'Never Before', which I've always thought was the album's weakest track. Not as hooky as 'Black Night' or 'Strange Kind Of Woman', to my ears-.

I can't remember which band member it was who said, "Shows you what we know!". I'm not sure if it was the band or the record company. It's funny how Smoke On The Water became the iconic song not just of the album, or even the band's entire career, but kind of heavy rock in general. Everyone knows that intro.

There was even a great Hewlett-Packard ad about 12 years ago, showing kids learning to play the guitar, and they're all learning Smoke On The Water. They cut from one kid to the next, each one playing one note or chord or whatever you want to call it (Blackmore's playing parallel fourths, which I suppose technically aren't actually chords, because there's only two notes). Each one is out of tune, and sounds like he/she is literally playing the instrument for the very first time, and it takes a few seconds before you realize what the director of the ad is doing. Then it's finally explained that Fender Musical Instruments using HP technology to put guitars into the hands of young musicians. What makes it so brilliant, is they brilliantly capture what it's like learning to play the guitar, you're out of tune, you can only play one chord at a time, and you're not even sure if you're playing the right notes, etc.

Anyway, my point is, Smoke On The Water turned into such an iconic song, yet at first, it was kind of overlooked by the band and the label, as "just another song on the album". In fact, I think in one documentary, Jon Lord said it was the record company who decided to put out the live version, to promote Made In Japan, and as he put it "It dragged Machine Head up the charts with it".

BTW, I love the bit on the remixed version of the track that Roger Glover did for the anniversary edition of Machine Head, where you hear Gillan say "Break a leg, Frank!", apparently having just received word of what happened in London (i.e. Zappa being pushed off the stage at the Rainbow Theater, a week after the night "They burned down the gambling house").

[GuitarGeek]

I wonder how much time and energy the others in the band spent placating or calming down Ritchie?

I don't think Ian Gillan was too easy to deal with at times either.

I think it was Jon Lord who said things were better when they fired Ritchie instead of Ian.

I have the impression it was mainly Ritchie who was impossible to deal with. I think I mentioned earlier in this thread that Lord actually said that the entire time Ritchie was in the band, there were only about two weeks worth of "fun", contrasting against Steve Morse, who had been fun to be around for the entire time he had been in the band.

I think it's the liner notes on the anniversary edition of Fireball where it's mentioned that was around the time Ritchie really started to become a pain in the ass. I gather that he was the one who wanted the band to move in the direction they did starting with In Rock, i.e. less of the pseudo-classical stuff and more of the heavy rock thing. And as they almost immediately started being more successful, Ritchie apparently got a swollen head over it.

I've never heard much talk about Gillan being difficult to work with, but then I've never read any of the books on the band, I just know what's mentioned in the documentaries and interviews I've seen.

I remember talking to someone who saw Deep Purple on one of those first tours with Morse on guitar, I guess it was just after Abandon came out. Anyway, I mentioned a quote I had read from Blackmore, where he said he "expects the singer to remember the words to the songs" (this apparently being why he left Deep Purple during the Battle Rages On tour), and he said that the show he saw, Gillan had to keep referencing a note book he had sitting on the drum riser, and suggested that perhaps Gillan had a drinking problem.

But Blackmore's a notorious class A asshole. There's the famous footage of him attacking the TV camera at the Cal Jam (to say nothing of him refusing to go onstage until dusk, even though the stage was ready to go something like an hour beforehand), but there's a few other stories I remember hearing. Things like him sabotaging opening bands, I heard one story that I wanna say it was UK, but I"m not sure, anyway, Ritchie didn't want to go after UK, so Rainbow went on first, and UK played afterward. Another story I recall hearing had it that Hendrix impersonator Randy Hansen was opening another Rainbow show, and Ritchie basically sabotaged the guy's set, arranging for the PA to cut out repeatedly during the performance and such.

And I also know someone who saw Rainbow in the early 80's, around the time of Difficult To Cure or Straight Between The Eyes. Apparently, Ritchie had an argument with Joe Lynn Turner backstage, so in retaliation, he played the entire show from behind his Marshall stacks!

[Progatron]

I think it was Jon Lord who said things were better when they fired Ritchie instead of Ian.

Oh, no doubt. And as difficult as Gillan could be at times, he certainly wouldn't do anything like leave the band in the middle of a tour!

[JJ88]

^Some indication of how awful things were in the dog days of Mark II can be seen in the footage of that Birmingham NEC show.



Jaw-dropping.

[Progatron]

Ahh yes, Ritchie soaking the cameraman. Well, it was a juvenile thing to do, but the story goes that he insisted on no cameras on stage...

But yeah, not a happy looking band. This was about the fourth or fifth last show before Ritchie bailed. Gillan has called this tour "one of the lowest points of my life".

[JJ88]

^It's sad watching such a great line-up going down the tubes like that. Blackmore MIA for the first three minutes of the show and then throwing a strop when he is on stage.

There was one bizarre altercation involving Blackmore throwing a plate of spaghetti (!) at Gillan on that tour.

Anyone see them with Joe Satriani?

[Progatron]

There was one bizarre altercation involving Blackmore throwing a plate of spaghetti (!) at Gillan on that tour.

Anyone see them with Joe Satriani?

...after Gillan purposely drowned it in sauce, allegedly. Backstage antics that one might expect from a teenage group.

Gillan still brings up Satriani in interviews (and at the HOF induction). I don't think it can be underestimated how important that temporary replacement really was.

[ronmac]

^It's sad watching such a great line-up going down the tubes like that.

When I saw the Perfect Strangers tour in Philly, they were absolutely incredible, Ritchie was on fire.

Anyone see them with Joe Satriani?

I have one of the recordings and it's pretty great. Very cool to hear the band to "Satch Boogie," too.

[MudShark22]

I saw them with Morse on the Abandon tour amd it was fun and awesome.