Come Taste the Band Come Taste the Band is the tenth studio album by the En- Home”. The album shows the strong funk influence from glish Rock band Deep Purple originally released in Oc- Hughes at this point, now working with the equally funk tober 1975. The album was co-produced and engineered and jazz influenced Bolin, but the direction tended to be by the band and longtime associate Martin Birch. It is the more like 1974’s Burn, with a heavier focus on rock gui- only Deep Purple studio record featuring Tommy Bolin, tar. The recording with Bolin also allowed the band to who replaced Ritchie Blackmore on guitar and is also the take many creative liberties, as Ritchie Blackmore had final of three albums to feature Glenn Hughes on bass been somewhat difficult to work with on the band’s two and David Coverdale on lead vocals before he later left to previous albums due to creative differences with Hughes form Whitesnake. and Coverdale. 1 History 3 Release and reception When Blackmore left the band in 1975, there was un- Generally the record is considered one of Deep Purple’s certainty over whether Deep Purple would continue, as lesser efforts, although it did sell reasonably well on re- they did when Ian Gillan left in 1973. It was David lease (#19 in the UK charts, and #43 in the US) and re- Coverdale who asked Jon Lord to keep the band to- ceived a rave review in the leading British music paper, gether, and Coverdale was also a major factor in recruit- the New Musical Express. The album was certified Silver ing Tommy Bolin to take the guitar slot.[1] on 1 November 1975 by the BPI, selling 60,000 copies in [5] Musically, the album is more commercial-sounding than the UK. the Deep Purple Mark III releases, leaning toward a con- The tour to support this album started strong, accord- ventional hard rock focus with overtones of soul and funk. ing to Jon Lord in the documentary video “Deep Pur- ple – Getting Tighter, the story of MK-IV” (2011), in Hawaii, Australia and New Zealand. However, in Jakarta, 2 Development and Recording Indonesia, the band was (according to Lord and Glenn Hughes on the same documentary) 'set up' for murder. Specifically, Hughes and two others were (according to Rehearsals for the album were recorded by Robert Simon, Lord and Hughes) “framed” for the death of the band’s who was originally engineering the album. But after a dis- highly trained security worker, Patsy Collins, who died pute with the band over scheduling, the band left Simon’s under 'suspicious circumstances’. Hughes and the two Pirate Sound Studios in favour of Birch. others were placed in jail. The promoter also sold a sec- According to Glenn Hughes and Jon Lord, at least two ond night’s show, and forced the band to play for only songs were written well in advance of the album’s record- the original fee for one night. Hughes was taken from ing. “You Keep on Moving” had been written in 1973 jail at gunpoint to the second show, and returned to jail by Hughes and Coverdale, but was rejected for inclusion promptly afterwards. During this time, Tommy Bolin on the Burn album by Ritchie Blackmore. “Lady Luck” was given morphine by the promoter, which caused prob- was written by Bolin’s friend and songwriting partner Jeff lems on the band’s next stop in Japan. In order for the Cook around the same time, but Tommy couldn't remem- band to be allowed out of the country, with the “charges”, ber the lyrics when the band hit the studio and the group Deep Purple’s management had to forfeit their entire fee couldn't get hold of Cook. So Coverdale rewrote much of as well as pay thousands more out of their pocket to the the lyrics, and the song was included with Cook’s bless- Army and Airport Security to fly out of the airport in ing. Jakarta. The remainder of the album was mostly written in LA, Their next stop was Japan, immediately afterwards. then recorded in Munich, with the exception of “Comin' Tommy Bolin had taken the drugs given to him and fell Home” which was written in the studio. Hughes went asleep for an excess of 8 hours on his arm, causing him back to England before the completion of the record so to be unable to play the guitar properly. According to he could deal with his then-rampant cocaine addiction, Hughes, many of Tommy’s guitar parts were covered by and he cites this as the reason for Bolin playing the bass Lord on his organ and other keyboards. Lord (and in and singing the lower-register backing vocals on “Comin' other interviews, Ian Paice) stated that to carry on with 1 2 7 REFERENCES the concert, Tommy had several guitars tuned to open 4 Track listing keys, minor and major, depending upon the song being played. He would make “a bar position” with his fingers, 4.1 Original vinyl release and play a basic rhythm while Lord played the melodies. Unfortunately, the show was filmed and released as “Last Concert in Japan” on CD and video. In the opening song, 4.2 35th Anniversary Edition “Burn”, it’s Lord’s organ playing the opening riff that was originally played on guitar by Ritchie Blackmore. 5 Personnel After tours for this album concluded in March 1976, Deep Purple broke up for eight years. Tommy Bolin died Deep Purple of a heroin overdose in December 1976. (According to Billy Cobham,who Tommy Bolin did studio guitar work • Jon Lord – keyboards, piano, synthesizer for on his Spectrum album, he died from an overdose as a result of a 100 dollar bet that he couldn't do a gram of co- • Ian Paice – drums, percussion caine, down a bottle of aspirin and drink a bottle of liquor • David Coverdale – lead vocals (1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9) in a relatively small amount of time.) In recent years the album has received some critical reassessment, primar- • Glenn Hughes – bass (all but 1), backing and lead ily due to Bolin’s contributions to the album. Ian Gillan (3, 8, 9) vocals (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 • Tommy Bolin – guitars, backing (1) and lead (4) vo- Deep Purple album.[6] Jon Lord praised the quality of the cals, bass (1) album years later in interviews, stating that “listening to it now, it’s a surprisingly good album,” while acknowledg- Additional personnel ing, “the worst thing you can say about it is that, in most [7] people’s opinion, it’s not a Deep Purple album.” • Produced by Martin “The Wasp” Birch and Deep Purple 3.1 Reissues • Final mix by Martin Birch and Ian Paice • Engineered by Martin Birch In 1990, the album was remastered and re-released in the US by Metal Blade Records and distributed by Warner • Cover photography by Peter Williams Bros. It was re-released again on the Friday Music la- bel on 31 July 2007 (along with Made in Europe and • Remastered by Dave Schultz and Bill Inglot at Stormbringer). Digiprep, Los Angeles While the label’s website claims that the album has been • 2010 remix by Kevin Shirley. Remixed at The Cave digitally remastered, it is unclear which tapes were used as (Malibu, Ca) a source for this remastering, but it is unlikely the original • master tapes were used, as EMI had repeatedly claimed Mastered by Bob Ludwig over the years that the master tapes of this album were missing. In December 2009, the Deep Purple Appreciation Soci- 6 Charts ety (DPAS) reported the original multi-track masters had recently surfaced and that an official remastered version 7 References with bonus tracks (including remixes by Glenn Hughes and Kevin Shirley) would see a release in 2010. [1] Interview, Jon Lord at TheHighwayStar.com. [2] Allmusic review 35th Anniversary edition [3] Rolling Stone review Released on 25 October 2010, the 2-CD Deluxe 35th An- [4] http://www.sputnikmusic.com/review/36792/ niversary edition includes the original album in remas- Deep-Purple-Come-Taste-the-Band/ tered form plus a rare US single edit of “You Keep on Moving” on the first disc, and a full album remix and [5] “BPI certified awards-Silver”. Retrieved 21 February two unissued tracks on the second disc: “Same in LA” a 2009. three-minute out-take from the final release in 1975, and [6] “Gillan Has 'No Interest' In Deep Purple Mk III, Says “Bolin/Paice Jam” a five-minute instrumental jam with Glenn Hughes Is 'Copying Stevie Wonder'". Retrieved 24 Ian Paice and Tommy Bolin.[8] [9] October 2010. 3 [7] “Deep Purple “Come Taste the Band” Documentary”. youtube.com. Retrieved 20 October 2014. [8] Deep Purple Appreciation Society. “Deep Purple, Come Taste The Band”. Deep-purple.net. Retrieved 10 Febru- ary 2012. [9] bravewords.com. "> News > DEEP PURPLE – Come Taste The Band 35th Anniversary Due in October; De- tails Available”. Bravewords.com. Retrieved 10 February 2012. [10] “Come taste the Band on European Charts 1975”. Re- trieved 24 October 2012. [11] “The Official Charts Company – Come Taste the Band”. The Official Charts Company. 5 May 2013. [12] “Come taste the Band on Billboard". Rovi Corporation / Billboard. Retrieved 24 October 2012. [13] “Argentinian album certifications – Deep Purple – Storm- bringer”. Argentine Chamber of Phonograms and Videograms Producers. [14] “British album certifications – Deep Purple – Storm- bringer”.