Burn

Burn followed the departure of Ian Gillan and Roger Glover in 1973. Hughes, from Trapeze, whom Blackmore, Lord and Paice had seen at the Whisky a Go Go in Los Angeles in April 1973, joined as bassist and vocalist. Paul Rodgers of Free was approached for the lead vocal but declined, having just formed Bad Company. The band advertised for a singer, and a 21-year-old David Coverdale, who answered a Melody Maker advert, sent a demo with a photograph of himself as a Boy Scout. Paice called the tape bloody awful, but one octave jump made him think there was something there. Coverdale auditioned in mid-August 1973 and the new line-up was announced on 23 September.

They rehearsed from 9 September at Clearwell Castle in Gloucestershire, and recorded from 8 November 1973 on the top floor of the Convention Centre in Montreux, with the Rolling Stones Mobile Studio and Martin Birch as producer and engineer. Work went at about a song a day. Lay Down, Stay Down, Sail Away, Might Just Take Your Life and A 200 were dated 8 November, Mistreated and What's Goin' On Here 12 November, and You Fool No One and Burn 14 November. Birch mixed it at Kingsway Recorders in London. Blackmore ended the practice of crediting all five members. Sail Away and Mistreated went to Blackmore and Coverdale, A 200 to Blackmore, Lord and Paice, and the rest to Blackmore, Coverdale, Lord and Paice. Hughes was not credited on the original pressing, and appears as a writer on most tracks from the 2004 reissue.

Blackmore said the Burn riff came to him on the spur of the moment, and that Lord's wife noticed its likeness to Gershwin's Fascinating Rhythm. Mistreated, sung by Coverdale alone, was a Blackmore piece written years earlier and shelved from Who Do We Think We Are. During the mix, the backing vocals were muted so that Blackmore's solo could be heard. The first Mark III concert was at K.B. Hallen in Copenhagen on 9 December 1973, and the instrumental B-side Coronarias Redig was recorded the next day at Rosenborg Studios there.

Burn came out on 15 February 1974 on Purple Records in Europe and Warner Bros in North America. It charted in 13 countries, reaching number three in Britain and the top ten in the United States, and was number one in Austria, Denmark, Germany and Norway. The BPI certified it gold by July 1974. Might Just Take Your Life reached number 55 in Britain and 95 in the United States. The cover shows burning candles resembling the band, photographed by Fin Costello.

In Rolling Stone on 25 April 1974 Ken Barnes called it a passable but disappointing effort and said the Gillan and Glover spark was absent, though he liked the title track and Sail Away. AllMusic's Eduardo Rivadavia later wrote that the title track challenges Highway Star as the best opener of any Deep Purple album, and ranked Mistreated among the highest achievements of hard rock. The band toured the United States from 3 March 1974, played Madison Square Garden on 13 March, and played California Jam on 6 April 1974. A 2004 remaster added a remix of Coronarias Redig, and its remix of Burn was used in Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock.