You fool no one (Deep Purple) (LP 2336 - 2340)

Deep Purple  Burn (Vinyl and CD, Purple Records, 1974) *** 

Deep Purple  Stormbringer (CD, Purple Records, 1974) ****  

Deep Purple  Made In Europe (Vinyl and CD, EMI Records, 1976) **** 

Deep Purple  California Jamming Live 1974 (CD, EMI Records, 1996) **** 

Deep Purple  Live In London 1974 (CD, EMI Records, 2007) ***  

Genre: Pop rock 

Places I remember: Fives (Leigh-on-sea); Fopp; Virgin Megastore (Dubai)

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Burn (Live version)

Gear costume: Stormbringer

Active compensatory factors: The two studio albums by the Mark 3 version of Deep Purple produced a great set list and these albums hold up. Especially Stormbringer!

Burn was all the rage when I was doing my second year trying to pass School Cert at Mt Albert Grammar. It's not the greatest Deep Purple album by a long stretch, it's weirdly mixed and won't go super loud without creaking but...I think it's a fine album (apart, obviously from "A" 200 which is clearly filler and real crap).

The rest though shows the band bouncing back from the departure of Gillan/ Glover with the hiring of Glen Hughes and David Coverdale and some exciting new sounds.

A funkier Purple and more confident Coverdale/Hughes have their peak on Stormbringer (the album). It still sounds fresh - which is amazing! All this in 1974!

Sadly, I think Stormbringer has been undervalued and almost forgotten in their vast catalogue. It's an excellent album and ripe for rediscovery.

The three live albums by the Mark 3 Purple are also worth investigating. I love the chaotic mess that is Made In Europe. Only 5 tracks so it's definitely a case of less is more, with definitive versions of Burn and Stormbringer songs. 

Ritchie is at his frenzied best on You Fool No One and then segues into a tender slow blues. What a guy! Or couple of guys!!

The California Jamming 1974 live album includes some Mark 2 numbers (Mule, Smoke On The Water and Space Truckin' which is interesting).

This was the show where Ritchie was pissed off at the promoter and took it out on a television camera filming the show. The performances are stirring (Mistreated, Might Just Take Your Life are especially good). The negative is the extended (boring) version of Space Truckin'.

The most thorough live document is Live In London which is a show at Gaumont State Theatre Kilburn, also in 1974, recorded 'for the old radio'. A busy year for the Mark 3 lads!

This is a double CD because they stretch out outrageously on some songs: 15 plus minutes for Mistreated; 20 plus for You Fool No One and a crazy 30 plus for Space Truckin'.

This is insane. No one can hold attention for that long.

Where do they all belong? The very short lived Mark 4 and 5 DPs coming soon.