Deep Purple's first album since last year's
departure of vocalist Ian Gillan and bassist/composer Roger Glover is a
passable but disappointing effort. On Burn, new lead singer
David Coverdale sounds suitably histrionic, like Free's brilliant Paul
Rodgers (rumored to have been Purple's first replacement choice). But
the new material is largely drab and ordinary, without the runaway
locomotive power of the group's best work. The title track is a
notable exception, attractively energetic, with appropriately speedy
instrumental breaks. And "Sail Away" is a Free-like mesmerizer.
"Mistreated" again sounds like that lamentedly extinct group, but is
flaccidly lengthy (7:25). They fill out the LP with the
relentlessly mediocre single "Might Just Take Your Life," the stodgy
blues-rocker "What's Goin' On Here," the commonplace Cream-like funk
riffs and harmonies of "You Fool No One," and with a tedious
Moog/bolero instrumental retread applying the coup de grace. Much of
the LP is skillfully wrought and likable, and the new line-up has
potential. But the Gillan/Glover spark that created "Highway Star" and
other memorable Purple smokers is regrettably absent.
KEN BARNES - Rollig Stone (RS 159)
