Come Taste the Band

Come Taste the Band
Studio album by Deep Purple
Released 10 October 1975
Recorded 3 August – 1 September 1975
Studio Musicland Studios, Munich, Germany
Genre Hard rock, funk rock
Length 37:16
Label Purple (Europe, Oceania, South America)
Warner Bros. (North America & Japan)
Producer Martin Birch & Deep Purple
Deep Purple chronology
Stormbringer
(1974)		 Come Taste the Band
(1975)		 Perfect Strangers
(1984)
Singles from Come Taste the Band
  1. "You Keep On Moving"
    Released: 1975 (Europe only)
  2. "Gettin' Tighter" / "Love Child"
    Released: 1976 (US only)

Come Taste The Band is the tenth studio album by the English rock band Deep Purple, originally released in October 1975. It was co-produced and engineered by the band and longtime associate Martin Birch. It was the final Deep Purple studio record prior to the band's initial disbandment in 1976, therefore making it the only album to feature Tommy Bolin, who replaced Ritchie Blackmore on guitar, and the final of three albums to feature David Coverdale on lead vocals and Glenn Hughes on bass, as none of the three would be involved with the reactivated Deep Purple in 1984.

History

When Ritchie Blackmore left Deep Purple in 1975, there was uncertainty over whether the band would continue, as they did when Ian Gillan and Roger Glover left in 1973. It was David Coverdale who asked Jon Lord to keep the band together, and Coverdale was also a major factor in recruiting Tommy Bolin to take the guitar slot after hearing Bolin's work on the Billy Cobham solo album Spectrum.[1]

Development and Recording

Rehearsals for the album were recorded by Robert Simon, who was originally engineering the album. But after a dispute with the band over scheduling, the band left Simon's Pirate Sound Studios in favour of Martin Birch.

According to Glenn Hughes and Lord, at least two songs were written well in advance of the album's recording. "You Keep on Moving" had been written in 1973 by Hughes and Coverdale, but was rejected for inclusion on the Burn album by Blackmore. "Lady Luck" was written by Bolin's friend and songwriting partner Jeff Cook around the same time, but Bolin couldn't remember all the lyrics when the band hit the studio and the group couldn't get hold of Cook. So Coverdale rewrote much of the lyrics, and the song was included with Cook's blessing.

The remainder of the album was mostly written in Los Angeles, then recorded in Munich, with the exception of "Comin' Home" which was written in the studio. Hughes went back to England before the completion of the record so he could deal with his then-rampant cocaine addiction, and he cites this as the reason for Bolin playing the bass and singing the lower-register backing vocals on "Comin' Home". The album shows the strong funk influence from Hughes at this point, now working with the equally funk and jazz influenced Bolin, but the direction tended to be more like 1974's Burn, with a heavier focus on rock guitar. The recording with Bolin also allowed the band to take many creative liberties, as Blackmore had been somewhat difficult to work with on the band's two previous albums due to creative differences with Hughes and Coverdale.

Release and reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[2]
BBC Music(mixed)[3]
Blogcritics(average)[4]
Rolling Stone(favourable)[5]
Sputnikmusic[6]

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,[7] and #43 in the US[8]) and received a rave review in the leading British music paper New Musical Express. The album was certified Silver on 1 November 1975 by the BPI, selling 60,000 copies in the UK.[9]

In recent years the album has received some critical reassessment "on its own merits", in part due to Bolin's contributions to the album.[10][11] Gillan (who left the band just over two years prior), on the other hand, has stated that he does not view the album as a real Deep Purple album.[12] Lord praised the quality of the album years later in interviews, stating that "listening to it now, it's a surprisingly good album," while acknowledging, "the worst thing you can say about it is that, in most people's opinion, it's not a Deep Purple album."[13]

Reissues

In 1990, the album was remastered and re-released in the US by Metal Blade Records and distributed by Warner Bros. It was re-released again on the Friday Music label on 31 July 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, but it is unlikely the original master tapes were used, as EMI had repeatedly claimed over the years that the master tapes of this album were missing.

35th Anniversary Edition

In December 2009, the Deep Purple Appreciation Society (DPAS) reported the original multi-track masters had recently surfaced and that an official remastered version with bonus tracks (including remixes by Glenn Hughes and Kevin Shirley) would see a release in 2010.

Released on 25 October 2010, the 2-CD Deluxe 35th Anniversary edition includes the original album in remastered form plus a rare US single edit of "You Keep On Moving" on the first disc, and a full album remix and two unissued tracks on the second disc: "Same in LA" a three-minute out-take from the final release in 1975, and "Bolin/Paice Jam" a five-minute instrumental jam with Bolin and Ian Paice.[14][15]

Tour

The tour to support this album started strong, according to Lord in the documentary video Deep Purple – Getting Tighter, The Story of MK-IV (2011), in Hawaii, Australia and New Zealand. However, according to Lord and Hughes on the same documentary, in Jakarta, Indonesia, the band was 'set up' for murder. Specifically the two affirmed that Hughes and two others were "framed" for the death of the band's highly trained security worker, Patsy Collins, who died under 'suspicious circumstances'. Hughes and the two others were placed in jail. The promoter also sold a second night's show, and forced the band to play for only the original fee for one night. Hughes was taken from jail at gunpoint to the second show, and returned to jail promptly afterwards. During this time, Bolin was given morphine by the promoter, which caused problems on the band's next stop in Japan. In order for the band to be allowed out of the country with the "charges", Deep Purple's management had to forfeit their entire fee as well as pay thousands more out of their pocket to the Army and Airport Security to fly out of the airport in Jakarta.

Their next stop was Japan, immediately afterwards. Bolin had taken the drugs given to him and fell asleep for an excess of 8 hours on his arm, causing a pinched nerve that rendered his left (fretting) hand virtually useless. According to Hughes, many of Bolin's guitar parts were covered by Lord on his organ and other keyboards. Lord (and in other interviews, Ian Paice) stated that to carry on with the concert, Bolin had several guitars tuned to open keys, minor and major, depending upon the song being played. He would make "a bar position" with his fingers, and play a basic rhythm while Lord played the melodies. Unfortunately, the show was filmed. In the opening song, "Burn", it's Lord's organ playing the opening riff that should have been played on Bolin's guitar (as was done by Blackmore in the original recording). The later dates on the Japan tour, with Bolin having recovered, and some of the American shows were much better received.

On touring with Bolin, Paice stated: "Tommy could be an absolute genius, but that happened one show in twenty. If Tommy got his hit and it was good, and he slept well, and the sound was right, and his equipment didn't break, and the audience was nice, and the sun shone between 1 pm and 2 pm, then yeah, he could be great. But chances of that happening on a regular basis were very remote. It could go from the sublime to the absolute worst end of ridiculous."[16]

After tours for this album concluded in March 1976, Deep Purple broke up for eight years. Tommy Bolin formed his own band that toured in support of Peter Frampton and Jeff Beck, but it was short-lived as he died of multiple drug intoxication in December, 1976. Morphine, cocaine, lidocaine and alcohol were all found in his system.[17]

Track listings

Side one
No.TitleWriter(s)Lead VocalsLength
1."Comin' Home"Tommy Bolin, David Coverdale, Ian PaiceCoverdale3:55
2."Lady Luck"Jeff Cook, CoverdaleCoverdale2:48
3."Gettin' Tighter"Bolin, Glenn HughesHughes3:37
4."Dealer"Bolin, CoverdaleCoverdale, Bolin3:50
5."I Need Love"Bolin, CoverdaleCoverdale4:23
Side two
No.TitleWriter(s)Lead VocalsLength
6."Drifter"Bolin, CoverdaleCoverdale4:02
7."Love Child"Bolin, CoverdaleCoverdale3:08
8."This Time Around / Owed to 'G'"Hughes, Jon Lord / BolinHughes / Instrumental6:10
9."You Keep On Moving"Coverdale, HughesCoverdale, Hughes5:19

35th Anniversary Edition

Personnel

Deep Purple
Production
  • Produced by Martin "The Wasp" Birch and Deep Purple
  • Engineered by Martin Birch
  • Final mix by Martin Birch and Ian Paice
  • Cover photography by Peter Williams
  • Remastered by Dave Schultz and Bill Inglot at Digiprep, Los Angeles
  • 2010 remix by Kevin Shirley at The Cave, Malibu, California
  • Mastered by Bob Ludwig

Charts

Album
Year Chart Position
1975 Norwegian Albums Chart[18] 6
New Zealand Albums Chart[19] 6
Italian Albums Chart[20] 7
Japanese Albums Chart[21] 14
Swedish Albums Chart[22] 16
Danish Albums Chart[23] 18
UK Albums Chart[7] 19
German Albums Chart[24] 29
1976 Dutch MegaCharts[25] 12
The Billboard 200 (USA)[8] 43

Certifications

Country Organization Year Sales
UK BPI 1975 Silver (+ 60,000)[9]
Argentina CAPIF 1975 Gold (+ 30,000)

References

  1. ↑ Lalaina, Joe (January 1989). "Jon Lord's Purple Reign". Modern Keyboard. Retrieved 21 February 2017.
  2. ↑ Henderson, Alex. "Deep Purple - Come Taste the Band review". AllMusic. All Media Network. Retrieved 21 February 2017.
  3. ↑ Moffitt, Greg (2010). "Deep Purple Come Taste the Band: 35th Anniversary Edition Review". BBC Music. Retrieved 21 February 2017.
  4. ↑ Bowling, David (6 December 2011). "Music Review: Deep Purple - Come Taste the Band". Blogcritics. Retrieved 21 February 2017.
  5. ↑ Nicholson, Kris (12 February 1976). "Deep Purple - Come Taste the Band". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 21 February 2017.
  6. ↑ Twort, Jamie (13 May 2010). "Deep Purple - Come Taste the Band". Sputnikmusic. Retrieved 21 February 2017.
  7. 1 2 "Deep Purple Official Charts". Official Chart Company. Retrieved 5 February 2017.
  8. 1 2 "Deep Purple Chart History: Billboard 200". Billboard. Retrieved 5 February 2017.
  9. 1 2 "BPI Certified Awards Database: search for Artist Deep Purple". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 21 February 2017.
  10. ↑ "Album Of The Week Club Review: Deep Purple - Come Taste The Band". loudersound.com. 14 May 2018. Retrieved 16 August 2018.
  11. ↑ "Deep Purple Come Taste the Band: 35th Anniversary Edition Review". BBC. Retrieved 16 August 2018.
  12. ↑ "Gillan Has 'No Interest' In Deep Purple Mk III, Says Glenn Hughes Is 'Copying Stevie Wonder'". Blabbermouth.net. 15 January 2009. Retrieved 22 February 2017.
  13. ↑ "Deep Purple "Come Taste the Band" Documentary". YouTube. Retrieved 20 October 2014.
  14. ↑ Deep Purple Appreciation Society. "Deep Purple, Come Taste The Band". Deep-purple.net. Retrieved 10 February 2012.
  15. ↑ "Deep Purple – Come Taste The Band 35th Anniversary Due in October; Details Available". Bravewords.com. Brave Words & Bloody Knuckles. 6 September 2010. Retrieved 10 February 2012.
  16. ↑ Mike Jefferson (1 April 2009). "Deep Purple – Stormbringer". Coffeerooms on Music.
  17. ↑ Nick Talevski (2006). Knocking on Heaven's Door: Rock Obituaries p.42-43. Omnibus Press, 2006
  18. ↑ "Deep Purple - Come Taste the Band (album)". Norwegiancharts.com. Media Control Charts. Retrieved 21 February 2017.
  19. ↑ "Deep Purple - Come Taste the Band (album)". Charts.org.nz. Media Control Charts. Retrieved 21 February 2017.
  20. ↑ "Gli album più venduti del 1976" (in Italian). Hit Parade Italia.it. Retrieved 21 February 2017.
  21. ↑ AA.VV. (1990). Oricon Chart Book 1970-1989 (オリコンチャートブック〈LP編) (1 ed.). Tokyo, Japan: Oricon. p. 205. ISBN 978-4871310253.
  22. ↑ "Deep Purple - Come Taste the Band (album)". Swedishcharts.com. Media Control Charts. Retrieved 21 February 2017.
  23. ↑ "Danske Hitliter: Come Taste the Band - Deep Purple" (in Danish). Royal Library, Denmark. Retrieved 26 February 2017.
  24. ↑ "Album – Deep Purple, Come Taste the Band". Charts.de (in German). Media Control Charts. Retrieved 21 February 2017.
  25. ↑ "Deep Purple - Come Taste the Band". Dutchcharts.nl (in Dutch). Media Control Charts. Retrieved 21 February 2017.
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