Artist: DEEP PURPLE
Album: COME TASTE THE BAND (CD)

Release date: 1975
Media type: CD

Come Taste the Band is an album by the hard rock band, Deep Purple, recorded between August 3rd and September 1st, 1975 at Musicland Studios in Munich, Germany. The album was co-produced and engineered by the band and longtime band associate Martin Birch. The album was released in October 1975. It was the only studio album with Tommy Bolin, who replaced Ritchie Blackmore on lead guitar. When guitarist Ritchie Blackmore left Deep Purple, many observers and critics 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 far more commercial than previous Deep Purple releases, tending toward a conventional hard rock focus with overtones of soul and funk. The album shows the strong influence of Glenn Hughes on the band at this point, who had formed a bond with the equally commercially-minded Bolin. In general the album 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).

After tours for this album, Deep Purple broke up for eight years. In 1976 Tommy Bolin died from a heroin overdose.

In recent years the album has received some critical reassessment, primarily due to Bolin's contributions to the album. The album is one of the few recordings of Bolin that was released in his short lifetime.

TRACKLIST:

1 "Comin' Home" (Bolin, Coverdale, Paice) – 3:55
2 "Lady Luck" (Cook, Coverdale) – 2:48
3 "Gettin' Tighter" (Bolin, Hughes) – 3:37
4 "Dealer" (Bolin, Coverdale) – 3:50
5 "I Need Love" (Bolin, Coverdale) – 4:23
6 "Drifter" (Bolin, Coverdale) – 4:02
7 "Love Child" (Bolin, Coverdale) – 3:08
8 a) "This Time Around" – 3:08
b) "Owed to 'G' " (instrumental) (Hughes, Lord, Bolin) – 6:10
9 "You Keep on Moving" (Coverdale, Hughes) – 5:19

LINE-UP:

Tommy Bolin: Lead guitar and vocals.
David Coverdale: Vocals
Glenn Hughes: Bass guitar and vocals
Jon Lord: Keyboards
Ian Paice: Drums

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