Having made a promising studio comeback with 1994’s From Now On… the newly-sober Glenn Hughes then set out to prove his reliability and viability as a live performer. Burning Japan Live, recorded in 1994 over two nights in Kawasaki, captures Hughes and his band (now including three members of Europe) in spectacular form. The album kicks off with a red-hot version of the Deep Purple classic Burn and continues with a revelatory run of non-Purple tracks. There’s a swaggering take on the Hughes/Thrall classic Muscle And Blood and the new solo tracks like From Now On… and The Liar sound magnificent. A cluster of mellow tunes causes a mid-set lull but the versions of Coast To Coast and This Time Around are classy examples of Hughes’ versatility. The chilled interlude also provides a nice breather before the show switches gears for a hard rocking climax that’s loaded with Purple anthems from Glenn’s MkIII and IV days. Burning Japan Live proved Hughes was back at the peak of his powers and also celebrated his long and storied career. It’s a vibrant, dynamic and sophisticated live album that cemented his reputation as the “Voice Of Rock”.
HEAVY METAL OVERLOAD 
Well snagging three dudes from Europe was smart as those fellas can play.
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Yeah it was a great band this one. Saw footage from the tour… weird to see him perform without a bass.
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I guess so! Rockin
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Full marks to Glenn on this one.
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Glenn is the man! This is one I need for my collection. He is The Voice for a reason.
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One for your Europe collection too! 3/5 of them here. Great versions of the Purple stuff on this. Burn is phenomenal on this.
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Now I have twice the reason to grab this. I actually haven’t started the Glenn Hughes collection because it is such a massive undertaking, but I will get there as I do love a lot of his stuff. How could you not.
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I haven’t heard this one. I checked and it’s on Spotify so I’m on it
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Cool. I’m sure you’ll enjoy it.
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The last couple concerts I went to before the pandemic also featured a bit of a mid-set lull – which I suppose, if there has to be a lull, that’s the optimal place. Got to at least start & finish strong!
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Yeah I think they do stuff like that to give themselves a break too. They can all have a cup of tea during the drum solo.
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I wonder if Glenn will ever play anything from his Sabbath days. Probably not, but I can still hope.
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He does occasionally and they’ve been released officially too. I’ve got recordings of him doing Seventh Star and No Stranger To Love.
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He did Seventh Star when I saw him live.
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Oooooh. I must find a way to get those.
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Seventh Star was on a live recording called Freak Flag Flyin’ which I’ve got as a bonus on the Songs In The Key Of Rock album.
No Stranger To Love came as a bonus on the Return Of Crystal Karma album
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Many thanks
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I have never heard this one. I had a later Hughes live album but I stupidly ditched it. It had the Europe guys. I had a couple Hughes albums I ditched because I thought I’d never play them.
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I think you’d really like this one. I’m quite surprised how much I still get out of his solo stuff to be honest. I thought it would be the kind of stuff I’d play when it was new and then move on. But I still go back to some of those albums a lot.
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Thanks for reminding me about the main reason I love “BURN” so much.
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No problemo! And nice to hear from you. Its been a while… hope you’re doing good!
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“I’m still alive and well
I’m still alive and well
every now and then its kind of hard
To tell, but I’m I’m still alive and well”
Hope you are good too
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Haha glad to hear it. I’m the same!
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