''Come Taste the Band'' is the tenth studio album by the English rock band

Deep Purple Deep Purple are an English rock band formed in London in 1968. They are considered to be among the pioneers of heavy metal music, heavy metal and modern hard rock music, but their musical style has changed over the course of its existence. Ori ...

, originally released in November 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 David Coverdale (born 22 September 1951) is an English singer who is best known as the lead vocalist of Whitesnake, a hard rock band he founded in 1978. Before Whitesnake, Coverdale was the lead singer of Deep Purple from 1973 to 1976, after wh ...

on lead vocals and

Glenn Hughes Glenn Hughes or Glen Hughes may refer to: *Glenn Hughes (musician), born 1951 *Glenn Hughes (American singer) (1950–2001) *Glenn Hughes (cricketer), born 1959 *Glen Hughes Glen Hughes is an Australian former professional rugby league footbal ...

on bass guitar/vocals: Bolin died shortly after the album's release, while neither Coverdale nor Hughes would be involved with the reactivated Deep Purple in 1984. ''Come Taste the Band'' is Deep Purple's only studio album that does not feature Ritchie Blackmore or vocalist Ian Gillan.

Release and reception

The album sold reasonably well upon release (#19 in the UK charts, and #43 in the US). The album was certified Silver on 7 November 1975 by the BPI, selling 60,000 copies in the UK. In recent years the album has received some critical reassessment "on its own merits", in part due to Bolin's contributions to the album. 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. 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." 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. 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 Peter Kenneth Frampton (born 22 April 1950) is an English musician and songwriter who was a member of the rock bands Humble Pie and the Herd. As a solo artist, he has released several albums, including his major breakthrough album, the live ...

and

Jeff Beck Geoffrey Arnold Beck (born 24 June 1944) is an English rock guitarist. He rose to prominence with the Yardbirds and after fronted the Jeff Beck Group and Beck, Bogert & Appice. In 1975, he switched to a mainly instrumental style, with a focus ...

, 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.Nick Talevski (2006)
Knocking on Heaven's Door: Rock Obituaries
p.42-43. Omnibus Press, 2006

Track listings

All lead vocals by

unless noted.

35th Anniversary Edition

Personnel

;Deep Purple *

–

lead vocals The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of t ...

* Tommy Bolin – lead &

acoustic guitar An acoustic guitar is a musical instrument in the string family. When a string is plucked its vibration is transmitted from the bridge, resonating throughout the top of the guitar. It is also transmitted to the side and back of the instrument, ...

s, backing vocals; bass guitar (track 1), co-lead vocals (track 4) * Jon Lord – keyboards, piano,

synthesizer A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...

, backing vocals *

– bass guitar, co-vocals (all but track 1), lead vocals (tracks 3 & 8) * Ian Paice –

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

;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 Robert C. Ludwig (born c. 1945) is an American mastering engineer. He has mastered recordings on all the major recording formats for all the major record labels, and on projects by more than 1,300 artists including Led Zeppelin, Lou Reed, Qu ...

Charts

Certifications

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Come Taste The Band Deep Purple albums 1975 albums Albums produced by Martin Birch Hard rock albums Funk rock albums Heavy metal albums Warner Records albums Purple Records albums