Deep Purple Stormbringer

The addition of new singer David Coverdale and bassist/vocalist Glenn Hughes for the previous Deep Purple album, Burn, eventually led to key member Ritchie Blackmore becoming disillusioned with his own band. Blackmore’s own ideas were largely ignored, and he'd soon enough form Rainbow to fulfill his own need to play. On Stormbringer, Blackmore and Coverdale worked well as a team—writing “Stormbringer,” “Lady Double Dealer," and “Soldier of Fortune” together and several other songs with other members of the group—but there's still a shift here toward funk and soul that had only been hinted at on previous releases. “Love Don’t Mean a Thing” takes things in a commercial R&B direction, while “Holy Man” (written by Coverdale, Hughes, and keyboardist Jon Lord) gives Hughes a solo shot at the mic for a folk-bluesy track that treads closer to early Rod Stewart than typical Deep Purple. “Hold On,” written by everyone but Blackmore, is an easeful shuffle. While the album is obviously a transitional piece, it features just enough hard rockers to make it essential. Blackmore wouldn’t return until 1984’s Perfect Strangers.