COME TASTE THE BAND

A good, but quite inferior album done by one of the great bands of the 70's. When I heard Come Taste The Band for the first time I could almost tell they were in their last legs. The songs are short, there are few good solos and few real good moments. Tommy Bolin was a great guitarrist alright, but it's hardly the best choice for Deep Purple, since his style is so different from Ritchie Blackmore. Bolin's fans may expected something jazz rock, and DP fans (like me) wanted them to go back to the glorious old days. In the end you got neither. This CD showed the band not really knowing where to go.

However, there are some brilliance here and there. The opener is a good rocking number, Drifter has a good riff and a great middle part, but the only true gems are the rare times Jon Lord had the chance to come out and show his skills: This Time Around (great Glenn Hughes song and his voice here is absolute gorgeous), the instrumental Owe To 'G' and the last track You Keep On Moving (a rare Coverdale/Hughes colaboration, with a shinning Hammond solo by Lord). The rest is ok, hard rock/funk numbers with excellent musicanship but way below everything the band has done since DP MK II started.

Given time they may have gotten the act together and release something better, but internal feuds, some member's heroin addiction and bad timing would prevent that. And sadly it would be one of Bolin's last records, since he would soon die of drug overdose by the end of 1976. What a waste!

Good, but not essential. Get all their earlier CDs before tackling this one. I rate this album between 2,5 to 3 stars.