DAYS MAY COME AND DAYS MAY GO: THE 1975 CALIFORNIA REHEARSALS

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Mark IV lasted for a very short period of time (a year or so). They recorded some studio tracks / jamming numbers in addition to "Come Taste The Band" under the form of this album in May 1975.

The album opens with "Owed To G" which is an intrumental written by Bolin. It is quite repetitive. The theme is used in the in the mini-suite track "This Time Around" / "Owed To G". This version sounds pretty much similar to the studio version from "Come".

There are two versions of "The Drifter" featured on "Come" as well. The first one is really a demo : a spoken intro, interrupted a few times : it is really not worth anything. The second is much closer to the finall version. It sounds rawer of course but is already good as such. "The Orange Juice Song" is a quiet rock ballad, with nice and soft vocals. Keyboard playing is very melodious and subtle. Very emotional. IMO, it is the best track of this work.

There are four long jam-session tracks : "If You Love Me Woman" : just over ten minutes of funky guitar riffs, with good background keys and a solid drumming set from Ian. Vocals sound sometimes like Plant. "I Got Nothing For You" (12'52") : the intro vocal part is OK, but after 3'30" it converts into a boring bluesy session. From time to time this jam returns to interesting parts (the vocal ones) but in general it is rather poor. "Dance To The Rock & Roll" (just over eleven minutes) : rythm is definitely funky oriented like in "If You Love Me...". Jon Lord's impro are quite good all the way through. Paice sets the ... pace and sounds really great (as always, I must say). Bolin shows his sklills and one can really figure out how great a guitar player he was. "The Last Of The Long Jams" (over nine minutes) : it is a pure intrumental one. During very short sections, this jam is even melodious. It is very guitar-oriented and at times Ritchie seems to be around the corner (again it shows how accomplished Tommy is although he was only twenty-four at the time of this recording.

There is a cover from a blues song "Statesboro' Blues" written by Blind Willie Mc Tell in ... 1928. Keys and bass playing is on par with the Hughes vocals (sounding always really good on bluesy songs). A good blues track. The closing track is a cover of the Sonny & Cher Song "I Got You Babe" : quite shortened though (just over a minute). I guess that Coverdale is signing (but I am not sure). He sounds as if he is completely drunk (but he is probably acting like this). I would have preferred the Purple to extend it and be a bit more serious about this one instead of producing this "joke". This could have reminded their Mark I era during which they produced quite good cover songs : "Help" from the Beatles, "Hey Joe" popularized by Hendrix but written by an unknown artist (although it is sometimes - wrongly - credited to Billy Roberts who will only be the first one to sing it in 1962) or "River Deep, Mountain High" performed by Ike & Tina Turner - but co-written by Phil Spector). Too bad they didn't.

One has to remember that the essence of Mark II in their live performances were very jam-oriented long breaks. Two tracks will symbolized this from end of 1969 through 1971. "Mandrake Root" and "Wring That Neck". So, I guess that the exercise of recording these type of numbers is not too bad an idea.

As you may have understood, this album which cannot be considered as a compilation is highly dispensable. Even die-hard fans like I am can't really be over enthusisastic about this. Only an historic document to get a few more tracks featuring Tommy Bolin (RIP). Since they were studio sessions, the sound is very good. Two stars.