Deep Purple (1974) What's Goins On Here - LOST 70s GEMS

An incredible little track from the mighty Burn album of 74, it was the debut and zenith of Deep Purple' Mark 3 lineup; a blues and funk version of the classic metal band. It is built around an epic Ritchie Blackmore riff, a heart stopping little guitar figure that rings back and forth before a tangle intricate line of jazzy guitar notes are played in an incredible fire run into a honky tonk piano verse.

The verses feature new vocalists David Coverdale and Glenn Hughes trading couplets of getting home drunk and confused with no shame questioning 'Whats Going On Here?' over Blackmore's defiant riff.

On this album, the riffs were more bluesy/hard rock and therefore more melodic than the early metal they pioneered with the prior lineup. While Coverdale and Hughes take their distinct styles as perfect tradeoff partners; Coverdale with the guttural, deep blues voice usually starting us off before Hughes's falsetto soul drips in some sensual funkiness to proceedings. Coverdale's low range and Hughes Gillianesque highs match together for wonderfully rich harmonies on the choruses a la the Sam and Dave or Derek and The Dominoes ideas of dual front-men. It was an underrated partnership and a thoroughly unappreciated lineup of the band that I consider to be DP's best mix of talents and where their best songs lie; check out the songs on Stormbringer, the 1975 followup to Burn, they are the best they ever wrote.