Come Taste the Band

Come Taste the Band
Studio album by Deep Purple
Released	October, 1975
Recorded	August 3rd, 1975 - September 1st, 1975 at Musicland Studios, Munich
Genre	Hard rock, funk rock, heavy metal
Length	36:55
Label	EMI/Purple (UK) Warner Bros. (US)
Producer	Martin Birch & Deep Purple
Professional reviews
Allmusic link Rolling Stone (favourable) link
Deep Purple chronology
Stormbringer (1974) Come Taste the Band (1975) Perfect Strangers (1984)

Come Taste the Band is the tenth studio album by the English rock band Deep Purple originally released in October 1975. The album was co-produced and engineered by the band and longtime associate Martin Birch. It is the only Deep Purple studio record featuring Tommy Bolin, who replaced Ritchie Blackmore on lead guitar. When Blackmore left the band, many observers and critics^[who?] assumed that Deep Purple would not continue. It was David Coverdale who asked Jon Lord to keep the band together, and Tommy Bolin was asked to take the guitar slot.

Musically, the album is more commercial than previous Deep Purple releases, leaning toward a conventional hard rock focus with overtones of soul and funk. The album shows the strong funk influence from Glenn Hughes at this point, who had formed a bond with the equally funk and jazz influenced Bolin. Generally the record is considered one of Deep Purple's lesser efforts, although it did sell reasonably well on release (#19 in the UK charts, and #43 in the US). The album was certified Silver on November 1, 1975 by the BPI, selling 60,000 copies in the UK.^[1]

After tours for this album, Deep Purple broke up for eight years. Tommy Bolin died of an accidental heroin overdose in 1976. In recent years the album has received some critical reassessment, primarily due to Bolin's contributions to the album.

In 1990, the album was remastered and re-released in the US by Metal Blade Records with distribution by Warner Bros. It was then re-released again by the Friday Music label on July 31, 2007 (along with Made in Europe and Stormbringer). While the label's website claims that the album has been digitally remastered, it is unclear which tapes were used as a source for this remastering. This is especially significant since EMI has claimed that the master tapes of this album are missing. However in December 2009, the Deep Purple Appreciation Society announced that the original multi-track masters have recently surfaced and that an official remastered version with bonus tracks (including remixes) will see a possible 2010 release in time for the album's 35th anniversary.

Track listing

Side one

1. "Comin' Home" (David Coverdale, Tommy Bolin, Ian Paice) – 3:55
2. "Lady Luck" (Coverdale, Jeff Cook) – 2:48
3. "Gettin' Tighter" (Bolin, Glenn Hughes) – 3:37
4. "Dealer" (Coverdale, Bolin) – 3:50
5. "I Need Love" (Coverdale, Bolin) – 4:23

Side two

1. "Drifter" (Coverdale, Bolin) – 4:02
2. "Love Child" (Coverdale, Bolin) – 3:08
3. "This Time Around" (Jon Lord, Hughes)/ "Owed to 'G'" (instrumental) (Bolin) – 6:10
4. "You Keep on Moving" (Coverdale, Hughes) – 5:19

Personnel

• David Coverdale: lead vocals
• Tommy Bolin: guitars, vocals, bass guitar on "Comin' Home"
• Glenn Hughes: bass, vocals (lead vocals on "Gettin' Tighter" and "This Time Around")
• Jon Lord: keyboards, piano, synthesizer, bass on "This Time Around"
• Ian Paice: drums, percussion

Additional personnel

• Produced by Martin "The Wasp" Birch and Deep Purple
• Final mix by Martin Birch and Ian Paice
• Engineered by Martin Birch
• Cover photography by Peter Williams

References