Burn

Background

In the early 1970s, Deep Purple was the best-selling group in the world, particularly in North America. Their 1973 album Who Do We Think We Are was commercially successful, though the tour supporting it was cut short. Tensions between then-lead singer Ian Gillan and guitarist Ritchie Blackmore escalated, resulting in Gillan leaving the group on 29 June 1973 in Osaka, Japan, after their tour had concluded. Gillan described the Who Do We Think We Are recording sessions as elusive, prompting him to announce he was leaving the band. At the time, they were able to dissuade him from quitting. However, in early December 1972, he wrote management a letter declaring that he wanted to leave on 30 June 1973; the decision was made "not impulsive[ly] but [after] at least six months of thought". Gillan also predicted in his letter that the group would eventually disband after his departure. Bassist Roger Glover had also planned to leave the band due to the band's refusal to consider his ideas for songs. Blackmore insisted that Glover go at the same time Gillan departed. Glover recalled his talk with the band's manager shortly about his departure, writing:

“My relationship with the band was changing. I was doing my work properly, playing well, yet I got this coldness, I finally confronted the manager about it and he denied everything. I wanted to know why I was unpopular. When we came offstage in those days the decision to do an encore wasn't just Ritchie's, it was everyone's. All of a sudden I wasn't involved anymore. The manager finally told me that Ritchie had said he would stay in Deep Purple if I left and I said, "What have I done?" He said it was nothing personal but Ritchie feels the band has become stagnant and he wants new blood in the band. I was really hurt by it and thought it was totally unfair. I said, "I'm not going to get pushed out. I'll leave."

Glover's departure was announced the second week of July. Later, he took over as head of A&R at Purple Records and focused mostly on production.

Lord had called the end of Mark II while the band was at their peak: "the biggest shame in rock and roll; God knows what we would have done over the next three or four years. We were writing so well." With Gillan and Glover out of the group, the rest of the members took a five-month hiatus to start searching for a new vocalist. A misleading headlining article came up into the picture about their split, which was confirmed false when Hughes replaced Glover at that time. Blackmore took the lead in instructing the personnel line-up during the search.

Hughes & Coverdale introduction and Mark III line-up

According to Paice, Glover told him and Lord a few months before his official termination that he wanted to leave the band, so they had started to drop in on Trapeze shows. During their promotional tour in April 1973, Blackmore, Lord, and Paice went on to see Trapeze at the Whisky a Go Go in Los Angeles. There, they complimented then-bassist, Glenn Hughes about his style. Hughes, mistakenly, thought the Deep Purple musicians were expressing their admiration for Trapeze but not for Hughes himself. Hughes was offered the job but declined at first. By the end of the following month, Paice was frustrated at the instability due to Glover's upcoming departure, so he approached Hughes in New York and persuaded Hughes to join the band as vocalist and bassist. He was introduced as a new bassist and vocalist at the same time Gillan and Glover departed.

It was decided that Hughes would sing on the upcoming album. However, Blackmore wanted a vocal soloist in the band with a more masculine voice, and Lord and Paice also agreed to Blackmore's proposal to add more two-part vocal elements to the band's music. Eventually, an agreement was made that Hughes would sing more on later tracks, gradually increasing on following albums (Stormbringer and Come Taste the Band).

However, despite disagreement about Hughes' exact singing role, they considered themselves working as a four-piece group but settled on the idea of having a solo lead singer. They needed a new lead vocalist with a more mature tone, to replace Gillan. Lord affirmed that they had a "golden" opportunity to have two singers in the band. However, as time continued, there was no official word on the replacement, except Paul Rodgers, from Free, who was the only person approached for the job. Although having good relations with the band, Paice affirmed that Rodgers would sometimes turn down offers from "people he respects and admires". At that same time, Rodgers had just formed Bad Company, so he declined the offer. "They did ask", Rodgers recalled, "and I spoke to all of them at length about the possibility. Purple had toured Australia with Free's final lineup. I didn't do it because I was very much into the idea of forming Bad Company." Blackmore was disappointed as he wanted to take the band's music in a blues direction. John Lawton (who would later become the singer of Uriah Heep) was also a candidate but refused, due to a press leak that talked about getting the job offer from the band.

With no upcoming candidates for a lead singer role, the band was desperate to find Gillan's successor. Promotional audition posters for a replacement singer were produced and the band found themselves buried in demo tapes from aspiring singers at the band's management offices in London. Some singers who auditioned included Jess Roden, Graham Bell, Gary Pickford-Hopkins, and Steve Parsons (Snips).

Production and composition

At the beginning of 9 September 1973, the yet-incomplete 'Mark III' line-up commenced two weeks of writing material and rehearsal in Clearwell Castle at Gloucestershire. Blackmore was very satisfied with the rehearsals and found most of the songs playable live. "Smoke On The Water" was also rehearsed as the band's "national anthem", which Lord recalled, found "a new way of doing it". At the end of the two-week period, around half an hour's worth of new music was ready to be recorded. At that same time, Coverdale's introduction was made to the press.

Blackmore and Paice flew to Europe to search for a new recording location for the upcoming album but were unsuccessful. Ultimately, they settled on recording entirely at the Rolling Stones Mobile Studio in Montreux, Switzerland, where the group previously recorded Machine Head.

On 3 November 1973, the Mark III line-up flew to Montreux to commence the official recording. The band worked with producer and engineer Martin Birch, who had worked with the group since the recording of Deep Purple in Rock four years earlier. Burn features performances from Blackmore, Coverdale, Hughes, Paice and Lord. However, this time they were recording on the top floor of the new Convention Centre, giving them the advantage of recording in a soundproof room. Recordings began on 8 November. Despite Coverdale's limited experience in the studio, the recording went on smoothly, laying down the tracks at about one song per day. Five of the multi-track versions of the song "Lay Down, Stay Down", "Sail Away", "Might Just Take Your Life", and "'A' 200" (collectively titled "Racing Cloth") were dated 8 November, then proceeded with two multi-tracks, "Mistreated" and "What's Going On Here", recorded on 12 November, and the final two tracks, "You Fool No One" and "Burn", recorded on 14 November.

The band members agreed that Coverdale was very confident despite the lack of experience in the studio. "We had a good time recording that album," Lord claimed, "David had always been a very self-confident man and if he was overawed to be working with us, it only showed when we were talking between ourselves over a beer later, never during the actual recording." Birch agreed, saying "It was a much happier recording session than Who Do We Think We Are, everybody wanted to get down and work together. David was very nervous because he'd never recorded before."

Music and lyrics

Purple's hard-rock sound incorporated elements of soul and funk, which would become much more prominent on the follow-up album, Stormbringer. There was a huge influence of boogie-oriented rock sound which is made in the same way it follows suit with soul and funk. For the first time, it features a more mainstream blues tone approach to their albums since Coverdale's introduction, although Blackmore wanted to give a new sound with different methods of genres. Lord said that the biggest difference between Burn and the previous albums is in the vocal parts, which the band did "in a completely different way". According to Lord, the song sounds much more liberated on the album than before:

”It had been rehearsed and thought about in advance, unlike those albums where we just jammed in the studio until the song was born. Now the only song like that was the instrumental ("'A' 200"), and that was only because I wanted to use a synthesiser.”

In previous albums, all members of the band were automatically entered in the composer information of the songs, but now the practice was changed under Blackmore's initiative. He was tired of dividing the royalties into five parts, even if the others had little involvement in the composition. "Everyone should get what they do," Blackmore stated. However, the new practice was followed only in the songs "Sail Away", "Mistreated" (credited to Blackmore and Coverdale) and "'A' 200" (credited to Blackmore, Lord, and Paice). Hughes participated in songwriting but was cheated out of his credits due to unexpired contractual obligations from Blackmore. However, the 30th-anniversary edition of the album included Hughes in the credits for all the tracks except "Sail Away", "Mistreated", "'A' 200" and bonus track "Coronarias Redig".

The opening "Burn" is one of the highlights of the album. Allmusic's Eduardo Rivadavia cites it as one of the band's best opening tracks, along with “Highway Star” from Machine Head. Paice's drumming is strongly featured. The riff is borrowed from George Gershwin's "Fascinating Rhythm", and there are influences from classical music. Lord took the solos on the Hammond organ, closing in with more classical-influenced synthesisers. David Coverdale wrote four different lyrics for the song, as he sometimes had trouble writing lyrics that pleased Blackmore. Blackmore wanted the songs to deal with things like demonology and mythology, and to avoid rock clichés such as bands, hotels, and touring life. He equated his opinion to the fact that no one is interested in listening to plumbers' stories about installation work or bankers talking about the financial world. According to Coverdale, during recording in Montreux, he spent all night writing four to six different lyrics, and Blackmore chose which ended up on the recording. Coverdale viewed them as "science fiction" poems.

Release and promotion

Burn was released on 15 February 1974 by EMIPurple in Europe and Warner Bros. in North America. It debuted at number seventeen on 2 March, then peaked at number three the following week on their UK native, holding its spot for twenty-three weeks, and by July 1974, it had been certified gold by the BPI for sales of over 100,000 copies in the UK. In the US, the album reached number three on the Billboard 200, marking its appearance for 30 weeks, and was eventually certified gold by the RIAA in 20 March for sales of 500,000 units in the country, later would be certified platinum. Overall, the album charted in 13 countries, cracking the top spot in Austria, Denmark, Germany, and Norway, while receiving gold certification levels in France, Germany, and Sweden.

Some record pressings have the translated album title in some countries; in Argentina, it was named "Quemar", while in Uruguay, it was named "Arde".

Two singles were released, all of which charted. "Might Just Take Your Life" charted at number 95 on the US Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, number 84 in Canada, and number 55 in the UK. "Burn" did not reach the US singles chart but charted at number five on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 chart, and in 1978, charted at number 45 in the UK. In many interviews, the band wanted to put out the appropriate tracks as singles, but in this case, took word from the record label's advice. Coverdale explained that "Sail Away" was originally envisioned to be a single but Warner Bros. said that "Might Just Take Your Life" was more commercial.

Touring

Mark III embarked on a US spring tour that started in Detroit on 3 March 1974. Although the tour was sold out in record time, due to the new line-up and playing style, the band at the first concerts received mixed reactions from the audience. Hughes' cocaine usage started to affect his performance throughout the tour. The group later continue on to include shows at Madison Square Garden, New York, on 13 March, and Nassau Coliseum four days later. The band co-headlined (with Emerson, Lake & Palmer) the California Jam festival at Ontario Motor Speedway in Ontario, Southern California, on 6 April 1974. Attracting over 300,000 fans, the festival also included 1970s rock giants Black Sabbath, Eagles and Earth, Wind & Fire. Portions of the show were telecast on ABC Television in the US, exposing the band to a wider audience. During the show, Blackmore struck one of the cameras five times with a guitar and set off a pyrotechnic device in one of his amplifiers, creating a large fireball that was quickly extinguished. The band quickly exited the venue by helicopter, avoiding fire marshals, police officers, and ABC executives. In the end, Deep Purple only had to replace a $5,000 camera ($32,763.49 in 2025). California Jam has even been considered the highlight of Deep Purple's career, as the band has not performed for such a large audience since then. A month later, the band's 22 May performance at the Gaumont State Cinema in Kilburn, London, was recorded and later released in 1982 as Live in London. The tour ended at Coventry on 29 May 1974.

Cover art

The album cover features burning candles that resemble the faces of the band members photographed by Fin Costello. He took the photo quickly, as it was just to give the band an idea of his idea, but unbeknownst to him, it ended up being the album cover. Years later, Costello reshot the cover for Kerrang! for an article in the magazine.

On the back cover, the same candles are extinguished and partially melted, and the band members' faces are in the background. The tracklist and technical data of the disc are also marked on the cover.

The original candles have not been for sale, but another, unused set of candles has been up for auction. At the turn of the millennium, there were copies graded as low quality on the market, which were also advertised on the internet.

Reception

In 2004, Burn was remastered and released with bonus tracks. "Coronarias Redig" was recorded during the Burn recording sessions, used only as a B-side for the "Might Just Take Your Life" single in 1974. It appears as a bonus track (in remixed form) on the anniversary edition re-release. The 2004 remix version of "Burn" was later used in Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock.

In 2005, an unauthorised documentary about the album was produced as part of "The Ultimate Critical Review" series. It featured a brand new interview with Glenn Hughes.

Legacy

In a retrospective review for AllMusic, Eduardo Rivadavia said: The phenomenal title track started things off at full throttle, actually challenging the seminal "Highway Star" for the honor of best opener to any Deep Purple album, while showcasing the always impressive drumming of Ian Paice. The fantastic slow-boiling blues of "Mistreated"'s greatness qualifies it for the highest echelons of hard rock achievement, and therefore ranks as an essential item in the discography of any self-respecting music fan.

Track listings

^† All writing was officially written by Blackmore, Coverdale, Lord and Paice, except as noted. Glenn Hughes had participated in most of the songwriting, but was not credited on any tracks in the original 1974 pressing. This was largely made due to unexpired contractual obligations with Ritchie Blackmore, particularly with his publishing contract, which resulted Glenn being cheated out of his songwriting credits. Glenn was credited as a songwriter on the whole album except "Sail Away" and "Mistreated" based from a 2004 reissue. However, on some future pressings since 2004, Glenn's publishing credits were featured in some of the songs but was left out completely. This was made to change recently in a 2018 podcast interview that Hughes settled his dispute in royalties from his songwriting credits with the band.

Personnel

Credits are adapted from the album's liner notes.