Ritchie Blackmore's pivot to AOR slickness arrives with Joe Lynn Turner's radio-ready vocals replacing Graham Bonnet's grit, a calculated gambit that delivered I Surrender to UK number three while alienating purists. Roger Glover's polished production frames Blackmore's Beethoven fixation on the title track's Ode to Joy adaptation, hard rock meeting conservatory with typical pomp.

The formula worked commercially, cracking the UK top three, but the shift from Deep Purple's dense muscularity to something approximating Journey upset the faithful even as it filled arenas.