This record is largely overlooked in the vast Deep Purple catalogue and it's a bit hard to understand why. Deep Purple NEVER in their 40+ years got as funky as they did on this record, and that owes mostly to bassist/lead vocalist Glenn Hughes. Along with lead vocalist David Coverdale, this Purple lineup featured an outstanding vocal duo and mindblowing harmonies. The tunes where the funk/soul really flows and Hughes' imprint runs deep are Love Don't Mean A Thing, Holy Man, Hold On and You Can't Do It Right. There's also a couple of great bluesy ballads, again somewhat out of character for Purple: The Gypsy and Soldier Of Fortune. A very unique, a very strong, and an extremely soulful, heartfelt Deep Purple record.

This is the last Purple LP with Blackmore on guitars, and it is also one of the finest metal/rock/ soul ever recorded. David Coverdale and Glenn Hughs both sing their fricken hearts out, Dave has the tough guy bluesy rock voice, Glenn Hughs has the soulful and melodic voice of an Angel. Anyone who is a fan of really good music will love this album. When i first heard this Lp, it took time to grow on me because it was so bluesy and soulish. But over time i grew to love this album as much as "Burn" and all the mk 1 and 2 albums. This album showed purple changing their sound a tad bit, you can still find your Blackmore/Purple classic buesy rock/metal staples like "StormBringer", "High ball shooter","You can't do it right" and "Gypsy". We get the very soulful Glenn Hughs ballad "Holy man" and coverdales sad epic "Soldier of Fortune"(Coverdale made sure you could really feel the pain on this song) Fans of older metal and rock like Judas priest, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Rainbow, Dio, will fall in LOVE with this CD.

With Stormbringer, the 2nd album by MK3 Deep Purple, the band expanded on the soul and funk sound that had been present in part on their previous album Burn.

In some ways Stormbringer is a departure for the band, however it still retains the musicianship and virtuosity associated with Deep Purple; Ian Paice's own special brand of drum fills are still there and Ritchie Blackmore lays down plenty of great guitar solos to keep you excited. Interestingly Jon Lord has incorporated many new key and synth sounds into his repertoire and the album, especially on the title track is really interesting hearing the trademark Lord virtuosity with completely different tones and style.

Also the dual singer system is put to great use, and if you enjoyed how Coverdale and Hughes worked on the previous album, you really ought to check out Stormbringer, on which the two gel even more and are now more comfortable within the band.

Some people don't care for Stormbringer, perhaps because at first glance, there aren't many straight up rock songs and nothing that still sounds very like the MK2 era. Burn treaded the line between both styles, but Stormbringer finds itself jumping feet first into the new style. Judged on its own merits however, Stormbringer is a very good album of fun and interesting songs and you shouldn't let the general style put you off, because the individual songs are all worth your time.

The song `You Can't Do It Right,' is amazing, it is one of the most energetic and successful combinations of funk and rock that the band ever made, `Lady Double Dealer,' and `High Ball Shooter,' are another two fast and energetic numbers and the album ends with two really good ballad tracks, `The Gypsy,' and `Soldier Of Fortune' - a track which Opeth fans may recognize!

Overall, Stormbringer may not be your typical Deep Purple album, funkier and more soulful, but don't let that stop you from enjoying it, because it is a solid collection of genuinely enjoyable songs. I definitely recommend it.

Don't ask me why it took me so long to complete my Purple collection (well, the records I like most). I decided to buy it mainly because of the guys in the band (hey, I love Glenn Hughes and everything he does, including "BCC") and also because I think it's one of the best records from the "Coverdale/Hughes" era. Really funky, influenced by GH, and Coverdale's voice is in great shape. For Purple fans, it is a must buy! Let me add that, when I received my copy, I felt somehow afraid of what I saw. The booklet colour reminded of some xerox copies (even with good quality) and I prepared myself for the worse (maybe a "burned" CD inside, who knows...). I was completely wrong! When it started playing, I was so surprised by the sound quality, listening to some details long forgotten after so many years I first heard this title. Very good job, Joe!

Roger Glover once stated that Deep Purple's recordings would go in cycles: Easy-Difficult-Easy-Difficult. While Glover was well out of the band by this point, its the same pattern that follows here. Burn was an absolute triumph in re-establishing Purple as masters of their craft. And bringing in the new blood of David Coverdale and Glenn Hughes was certainly testimony to this. But, like everything else, when new members arrive in a band situation, you're bound to start getting some input from the newer members and on Stormbringer, it's definitely here, but not for the better. Hughes' background leaned heavily on R&B boogie rock from his previous band Trapeze and his influence is quite paramount on Stormbringer. Tunes like Hold On, You Can't Do It Right and Love Don't Mean a Thing clearly begin to turn Purple onto the road of funk and soul. Blackmore was seething over this quietly and his performance on the album is evident that he could possibly be the next one to go. There are some redeeming songs that appear however; the title track has the classic Purple sound and David Coverdale's vocals are absoulutely perfect on this. Soldier of Fortune foreshadowed what Ritchie would work up in Rainbow and is a quiet somber number. Lady Double Dealer offers up some hard rock and has a great classic rave-up quality about it. Holy Man is actually one of Hughes' better contributions and features him solely on vocals backed by a performance that is strong and solidfies the power of this great song. All in all, Stormbringer fails with far too much of a transition within the material presented and its no wonder the future of the band would unravel within the next 18-20 months thereafter...

As only the second album featuring David Coverdale and Glenn Hughes, I actually found this to be superior to Burn. This one has more addictive melodies and creative lyrics. I know that the sound is different from In Rock and Machine Head, but I don't care. I can acknowledge that Ian Gillan and Roger Glover are not present on this album, but I think it's a pretty refreshing approach to here a more funk/rock style (even though I still prefer the hard rock sound of the older albums). "Stormbringer" is a magnificent opener, and it's followed by the wonderful "Love Don't Mean a Thing." "Holy Man," "Hold On," "You Can't Do it Right," and "Lady Double Dealer" hit the right notes. "High Ball Shooter" is my personal favorite from the album, particularly due to the chorus and to Jon Lord's first-rate keyboard solo. "The Gypsy" and "Soldier of Fortune" are typically good. The bonus tracks (four remixes and an instrumental of "High Ball Shooter") can be seen as essentials. I would rank this third on my top favorite DP list (first being In Rock, and second being Machine Head). But then again, this list might change as I'm moving on to the next albums (Come Taste the Band, Perfect Strangers, The House of Blue Light, etc.).

Grade: 9.8/10

Also from Deep Purple
In Rock (10/10) In Rock: 25th Anniversary (UK)
Fireball (9.1/10) Fireball
Machine Head (10/10) Machine Head
Who Do We Think We Are (9.4/10) Who Do We Think We Are
Burn (8.1/10) Burn

I loved this cd when it first came out on vinyl. I was happy to purchase the cd, after all these years. if you like rock and some blues, buy this one. you shouldn't be disappointed.

This was my 2nd ever Deep Purple album, my first was Burn. So, my first experience of Deep Purple, besides "Smoke on the Water" on the radio, was Mark III. To this day, Burn remains a favorite of mine, and a massive inspiration on my own compositions. Stormbringer I don't play as often, but I still see it as an excellent album. I am grateful that I first started listening to Stormbringer at only 9 years old, because a kid can have a much more forgiving attitude toward a band he or she really likes, than an even slightly older listener. Perhaps in large part due TO my youthful exposure to Stormbringer, I've always been one heck of alot more amenable to its diversity than other Rock/Metal fans.

Stormbringer, the album, showcases ALOT more of the influence of former Trapeze bassist/songwriter Glenn Hughes than Burn. There are Stevie Wonder-isms, Funkadelic flirtations, classic Soul vocals (from both Coverdale and Hughes, though it's obvious that Hughes was the main instigator). You Can't Do It Right, Love Don't Mean a Thing, and Hold On are the most obviously influenced. What's a pity is that people often won't allow themselves to get past their "it's not Deep Purple" preconception and hear the music for what it is. "Hold On" features one of Ritchie Blackmore's best guitar solos: a masterpiece of restrained distortion and mega-tasty playing. And it's really hard not to tap one's foot when listening to the other two. And by the way, it's hard to fault the performances of the musicians separately or wholly. They are consistently interesting through practically all of this album

The title track is, with "Burn" the most obvious indicator of where Blackmore's head was at. Both songs might as well have been on the first Rainbow album. The track "Stormbringer" is, like so much of this record, stifled by the constrictive production, but it still stands as an "authentically" heavy metal track (one of only a handful released by this Progressive Hard Rock band). "Lady Double Dealer" is similarly overproduced, the echo on the vocals in particular grounding what is otherwise an outstanding, proto-Whitesnake, track. "Gypsy" tells the same story. All three songs were wildly better when played live, and for this I highly reccomend "Deep Purple" Live in Paris '75", so the listener can hear the tracks in a far more combustive setting (translated: the way they were meant to played and heard).

Hughes' "Holy Man" is like a Classic classic Rock song with,again, not entirely unpleasant Soul vocals. Quite good, and memorable. "High Ball Shooter" ended up morphing into Whitesnake's "Sweet Talker", and was better there than here. The riff itself is an obvious hack job, Blackmore played pretty much the same thing earlier in the album, just listen.

The album closes with the phenomenal "Soldier of Fortune", and here is a track that redeems the entire album. As good as a few of the other tracks are, this song alone is worth the entire album.

So, I still feel tempted as to giving this a 4.5, but not just for the often excellent music. Stormbringer was an album that took chances. They didn't want to do Burn or Machine Head part II, and I admire them for that. They wanted to push things further, and really that's what Deep Purple was all about in the '70's: progression.

Not at all a good first Deep Purple purchase, but great after you have all the acknowledged "classics".

I bet that I am not the only music lover who spends (I used to do that in the past) a lot of time listening to various hard rock and heavy metal bands mostly to find the jewels in their music. We used to call these songs 'rock ballads' and long after I would not choose to let's say play a Rainbow album, I would still want to listen to Catch The Rainbow or The Temple Of The King. The same with Metallica. I might not be in the right space of mind to listen to The Black Album much these days, but I will gladly go back and back again to The Unforgiven or Nothing Else Matters. Black Sabbath as well has enough beautiful soft songs like Changes, She's Gone, Ozzie's Mr. Crowley or Mama I'm Coming Home, and a few incredible acoustic pieces like Fluff (one of the most beautiful pieces of music, period) to have them on your i-pod and come back to over and over. Led Zeppelin had their famous Stairway To Heaven, and some incredibly beautiful songs like Battle Of Evermore, Since I've Been Loving You, All My Love, Thank You, Tangerine or Going To California. I used to listen to Led Zeppelin a lot at the time I did to Deep Purple. The first album I ever bought at the ago of 10 in 1973 was an album by Deep Purple. I used to listen a lot to Deep Purple In Rock, Machine Head, Fireball, got to know their very early albums and loved them, and then I sort of moved on to other things, fairly quickly. However, when Strombringer came in 1975 (some of us got it at the end of 1974) I right away knew that one of the most beautiful songs of my life was born. Soldier Of Fortune is still one of the amazing songs for me, almost 35 years later. I have it on my i-pod next to other great Deep Purple songs, like Child In Time, Love Conquers All, When The Blind Man Cries, and David Coverdale's Love Is Blind, Sailing Ships, and Blindman. Another great song to have is Ian Gillan's Fighting Man which just keeps on growing and growing on you. However, if I was to pull one rock ballad and put it in front of all others, it might be Soldier Of Fortune. So...I gave Deep Purple's Stormbringer 5 stars for Soldier Of Fortune and I probably gave some of you a bit of useful information. If you do love such rock ballads, don't miss Mother Love Bone (God bless Andrew Wood's soul) and their Man Of Golden Words, Stargazer, Crown Of Thorns or Bone China.

Excellent album, everytime I listen to it I ended speechless, an album with one of the legendary Deep Purple's lineups, a very special album for it contents, the last with Ritchie Blackmore(until Perfect Strangers almost a decade later), one more thing that made this album special: is not an album you see often at record stores, like Machine Head, In Rock or Burn. Great record, I truly recommend it.