COME TASTE THE BAND

The last studio album released by Deep Purple in the 1970s is 'Come Taste the Band', an LP that is still an odd occurrence within the catalogue of the band, featuring a rather disjointed and unique lineup of Ian Paice, Jon Lord, Glenn Hughes, David Coverdale and the mysterious, exotic guitar player Tommy Bolin, a guy previously known for recording guitars for Billy Cobham's 'Spectrum' album. Perhaps the two most notorious musical aspects regarding this album are the absence of Blackmore and his signature playing as well as the much stronger leaning towards funk rock (as we eventually get its proto-version here), a stylistic lineage that had been propelled by Bolin and Hughes, the two most troublesome personalities of the band by 1975. The entire record is this intertwining between the funk-infused style of rock that the band had been exploring recently, and an attempted resonance with their previous works.

'Comin' Home' and 'Lady Luck', positioned at the beginning of the album, are upbeat and fast-paced rockers that have a more ostensible classic rock sound, with Bolin's fiery riffs making their way through the tight rhythm section, while Coverdale's vocals definitely impress. 'Getting' Tighter' is a generally enjoyable funk-ride, yet an odd entry on a Deep Purple album, while the much more improvisational track 'Dealer' features some of the more exciting and unpredictable playing of both Bolin and Lord on 'Come Taste the Band'. This is one of the tracks indicative of the possible direction this iteration of the band could have taken had it continued its existence - the song, however, is followed by the slightly tedious and once again very funky 'I Need Love' and the forgettable song 'Drifter', both of which offer nothing overly exciting. 'Love Child' is a classic from this album, while the mini-suite 'This Time Around/Owed to 'G'' is the most unusual entry on the album but also a very welcome experiment on a generally stale and one-dimensional studio album. Closing track 'You Keep On Moving' is another one of the better-known Purple songs from that period, which is closed off by an album that is somewhat confusing, but also never really as bad as people say it is. It just a pretty good rock album but not necessarily an incredible DP album.

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