Fifty years ago, Deep Purple closed one of the most turbulent chapters in rock history with Come Taste The Band. Released 7 November 1975, the record marked the final breath of the band before their split the following year, and the lone studio outing for the short-lived Mark IV line-up with Tommy Bolin on guitar. Half a century later, the album stands as one of rock’s great “what if” stories, a bold reinvention from a band determined to push forward, even as its foundations were buckling.
Deep Purple entered the mid-70s as one of the most powerful forces in hard rock. Formed in 1968, they had re-shaped the genre with Deep Purple In Rock (1970) and the landmark Machine Head (1972), spawning rock standards like Smoke On The Water and Highway Star. But by 1975, the landscape had shifted. Ritchie Blackmore, architect of Purple’s heaviest moments, exited following rising tensions over the group’s turn toward blues, funk and soul, a shift introduced across Burn (1974) and Stormbringer (1974).
Rather than fold, vocalist David Coverdale and bassist/vocalist Glenn Hughes, both newly established from the Mark III era, convinced keyboard legend Jon Lord and drummer Ian Paice to keep Deep Purple alive. Enter Tommy Bolin, a young American guitar prodigy with dazzling fusion chops most famously heard on Billy Cobham’s Spectrum. Bolin, charismatic, adventurous and utterly unlike Blackmore, was handed the keys to one of the world’s biggest rock outfits.
Recorded in Munich with trusted producer Martin Birch, Come Taste The Band saw Bolin and Coverdale lead a writing partnership that opened the Purple machine to funk, R&B and California-soaked groove, while retaining a muscular rock core. The result was a record that both challenged fans and excited critics, one unafraid to experiment at a time when rock was hardening into rigid expectations.
The album opens with Comin’ Home, a high-octane rocker nodding to the band’s earlier fury, Paice hammering through a breakneck intro as Bolin’s effects-laced guitar reimagines Purple’s classic attack. Lady Luck follows with tight riffing and Coverdale’s blues phrasing, before the band steps boldly into funk territory with Gettin’ Tighter, Hughes leading one of the most rhythmic, nimble songs ever to carry the Deep Purple name.
Elsewhere, Dealer, I Need Love and Drifter fuse groove with grit, while Love Child leans toward the sensual stomp that would soon define Whitesnake. The centrepiece arrives with the atmospheric pairing This Time Around / Owed To ‘G’, a haunting Hughes-led ballad sliding into Bolin’s instrumental tribute to Gershwin. Closing cut You Keep On Moving, written by Coverdale and Hughes before Bolin joined, stands as the record’s emotional anchor, the only track to fully blend their dual vocal power, and the album’s sole UK single.
Behind the scenes, the band was fraying. Heavy drug use plagued Bolin and Hughes, and pressure intensified as the group toured internationally. Though the Mark IV line-up delivered moments of brilliance, inconsistency and backstage turmoil ultimately crippled momentum. By March 1976, Deep Purple imploded. Bolin died that December at just 25.
At the time, Come Taste The Band charted respectably – #19 in the UK, #11 in Australia, #6 in New Zealand – but fell short of earlier commercial heights. Yet its legacy has grown. Long dismissed by purists, the album has undergone major reassessment, praised for its adventurous energy, musicianship and its refusal to repeat past glories. Jon Lord later called it “surprisingly good,” while many modern musicians cite Bolin’s tone and phrasing as revelatory.
Fifty years on, Come Taste The Band remains a vital document of risk-taking from a band who could easily have coasted on past victories. Instead, Deep Purple swung wide, tore up expectations and delivered a passionate final chapter before silence – only to rise again in 1984. For fans and historians alike, the album is a reminder that evolution seldom arrives without turbulence, and sometimes the bravest step is the most misunderstood at first listen.
Tracklisting – Come Taste The Band (1975)
Comin’ Home
Lady Luck
Gettin’ Tighter
Dealer
I Need Love
Drifter
Love Child
This Time Around / Owed To ‘G’
You Keep On Moving
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