Stormbringer

This article is about the Deep Purple album. For other meanings, see Stormbringer (disambiguation) .

Stormbringer
Studio album by
Publication (s)	November 1974
admission	August 1974
Label (s)	EMI
Format (s)	CD, LP, MC
Genre (s)	Hard rock , blues rock , heavy metal , funk rock , ballads , soul
Title (number)	9
running time	36:31
occupation	Singing : David Coverdale Guitar : Ritchie Blackmore Bass : Glenn Hughes Organ , keyboard : Jon Lord Drums : Ian Paice
production	Deep Purple, Martin Birch
Studio (s)	Musicland Studios, Munich (Germany)
chronology Burn (1974) Stormbringer Come Taste the Band (1975)

Stormbringer (English for: 'Sturmmacher') is the ninth studio album by the English hard rock band Deep Purple . It was recorded with the Mark III line-up and released in November 1974 as the band's second album that year.

background

Stormbringer was recorded with producer Martin Birch at Musicland Studios in Munich in August 1974 and mixed at Record Plant Studios in Los Angeles in November 1974. In 1990 a remastered re-release appeared on the Metal Blade Records label . In 2007 another re-release appeared on Friday Music . In 2009 a 35th Anniversary Edition of the album was released, which was digitally reworked by Peter Mew in Abbey Road Studios in London . A DVD was also included, which contains a DTS 5.1 sound mix of the album.

Music genre

Even more significant than the previous album Burn is at Stormbringer the stylistic shift away from a pure hard rock band, which ensures the change in the composition is also owed.

While the theme song Stormbringer and the title Lady Double Dealer are still comparatively hard rock pieces, other songs sound more poppy, e.g. T. also funky to soulful tones. In particular, seven out of nine pieces by Coverdale and Hughes are sung together - sometimes alternately, sometimes with Coverdale as lead singer and Hughes as harmony singer in the chorus. Hughes only sings alone with Holy Man and Coverdale with Soldier of Fortune - both of which belong to the genre of "gentle ballads". Both songs also demonstrate the strengths of the respective singers. While Coverdale's conspicuously groaning vocals shine especially in lower registers, Hughes shifts large parts of his singing to the head voice, with which he reaches considerable heights. This contrast is very noticeable in the song The Gypsy , which primarily consists almost exclusively of its riff and ultimately lives mainly from the very differentiated harmony singing of the two singers.

Most of the songs on the album are typical studio recordings with e.g. Noticeably many overdubs, especially on the guitar. In addition to Stormbringer , The Gypsy and Lady Double Dealer , only Soldier of Fortune found a regular way into the band's live program, which at that time was clearly dominated by longer instrumental duels between the band members based on the band's classics.

Cover

The album cover shows a winged horse in a hurricane. It is based on a 1927 photo by Lucille Handberg that has been artistically edited. The album was released in different countries with slightly different cover images. In 1986, Siouxsie and the Banshees used the same photo as the basis for Tinderbox's album cover .

Track list

1. Stormbringer (David Coverdale, Ritchie Blackmore) - 4:03
2. Love Don't Mean a Thing (David Coverdale, Ritchie Blackmore, Glenn Hughes, Jon Lord, Ian Paice) - 4:23
3. Holy Man (David Coverdale, Glenn Hughes, Jon Lord) - 4:28
4. Hold On (David Coverdale, Glenn Hughes, Jon Lord, Ian Paice) - 5:05
5. Lady Double Dealer (David Coverdale, Ritchie Blackmore) - 3:19
6. You Can't Do It Right (With the One You Love) (David Coverdale, Ritchie Blackmore, Glenn Hughes) - 3:24
7. High Ball Shooter (David Coverdale, Ritchie Blackmore, Glenn Hughes, Jon Lord, Ian Paice) - 4:26
8. The Gypsy (David Coverdale, Ritchie Blackmore, Glenn Hughes, Jon Lord, Ian Paice) - 4:13
9. Soldier of Fortune (David Coverdale, Ritchie Blackmore) - 3:14

Bonus Title (35th Anniversary Edition)

10. Holy Man (David Coverdale, Glenn Hughes, Jon Lord) - 4:32 (Glenn Hughes Remix)
11. You Can't Do It Right (David Coverdale, Ritchie Blackmore, Glenn Hughes) - 3:27 (Glenn Hughes Remix)
12. Love Don't Mean a Thing (David Coverdale, Ritchie Blackmore, Glenn Hughes, Jon Lord, Ian Paice) - 5:07 (Glenn Hughes Remix)
13. Hold On (David Coverdale, Ritchie Blackmore, Glenn Hughes) - 5:11 (Glenn Hughes Remix)
14. High Ball Shooter (David Coverdale, Ritchie Blackmore, Glenn Hughes, Jon Lord, Ian Paice) - 4:30 (instrumental)

The Purple Album

In 2015, David Coverdale's band Whitesnake released The Purple album , which includes 15 songs from Coverdale's Deep Purple era. Stormbringer covered the tracks Stormbringer , Holy Man , Lady Double Dealer , The Gypsie and Soldier of Fortune .

reception

Commercially, Stormbringer was quite successful, but the album did not necessarily find the unconditional approval of the fans of harder albums like Deep Purple in Rock . The trade press was not very enthusiastic either. The vocal achievements of Coverdale and Hughes were recognized, but the style of the record went noticeably past the previous Deep Purple fans in large parts. Nevertheless, the album was awarded the gold record on January 9, 1975 in the USA (more than 500,000 albums sold), Great Britain and France . Stormbringer reached the highest chart position in 1974 with number 2 in Norway.

Alex Henderson of allmusic .com wrote Stormbringer not rich in the "excellence" of Machine Head and Who Do We Think We Are approach. He highlighted a few songs like the melancholy ballad Soldier of Fortune , but otherwise called the album rather interesting for the "enthusiastic fans" of Deep Purple. He awarded two out of five stars. On the occasion of the publication of the 35th Anniversary Edition, the reviewer from www.metal.de praised the “incredibly transparent” sound of this edition. With the title track Stormbringer , however, “only a real classic” is included. Nevertheless, a “narrow recommendation” was given and eight out of ten points were awarded.

Web links

• Stormbringer at Allmusic (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ www.metal-archives.com, album review by Stormbringer
2. ↑ www.deep-purple.net: Stormbringer
3. ↑ ultimateclassicrock.com, Whitesnake's New Album Focuses on David Coverdale's Deep Purple Era
4. ↑ Gold & Platinum at www.riaa.com (accessed July 24, 2009)
5. ↑ in the European Charts 1974
6. ↑ www.allmusic.com: Stormbringer review by Alex Henderson
7. ↑ www.metal.de: Review Stormbringer - 35th Anniversary Edition by Eckart