DISC ONE: Introduction, Burn, Might Just Take Your Life, Lay Down Stay Down, Mistreated, Smoke on the Water

DISC TWO: You Fool No One, Space Truckin’

The 1974 Burn album marked the departure of vocalist Ian Gillan and bassist Roger Glover and the arrival of David Coverdale and ex-Trapeze bassist Glenn Hughes. The lineup changes clearly revived the sagging Purp, as the previous album, Who Do We Think We Are was without a doubt the band’s worst (it remains a low point to this day). Within a couple of years the live album Made In Europe would be recorded and that’s probably where you want to start for live looks at the Mk. III Deep Purple because this audience recording is sorely lacking in the sonics department. It’s marred by hissy, distant sound – the recorded from the back of the hall syndrome – and doesn’t have much to offer other than a key archival peek at this version of the band when it was still just getting its feet wet. It is an outstanding performance, particularly on disc two with the 31-minute “Space Truckin’” jam (and the 22-minute “You Fool No One” includes guitar and drum solos for that crucial “dude, this was the ‘70s!” vibe).

Labelwise, I don’t think EOI is the actual label name but none is listed so I simply opted to go with what appeared on the sleeve – more likely EOI is the stock number prefix. From the layout and fonts, however, I suspect this is one of the Bondage family of releases. For Purp completists only.  -- OSWALD