Deep Purple "Come Taste the Band"

Deep Purple - Come Taste the Band
1975


This often maligned album is maybe my favorite Purple album. Yeah, I love In Rock and Machine Head, too.They are both monolithic and monumental installments in the history of Rock, but I find myself listening to this album more frequently. This is the Deep Purple Mk IV lineup, consisting of David Coverdale, Glenn Hughes, Ian Paice, Jon Lord and the brilliant Tommy Bolin replacing Ritchie Blackmore on guitar. Many hardcore Purple fans hate this record, because of the absence of Blackmore I think, more than anything else. True enough, it does not sound like the earlier Purple, but why should it? This particular line up had amazing potential. They continued the heavy bluesy riff tradition of before and explored the funk that had been simmering under the surface since In Rock, Fireball and Machine Head. This funkiness was magnified by the addition of Glenn Hughes, whose previous band, Trapeze, played a mean proto funk rock that sounded like the Pat Travers Band, except in 1971 instead of '78 or '79. What Purple Mk IV thankfully did not continue was the classical noodling that, as far as I'm concerned, killed the vibe of many a Purple song. Highway Star is a classic example. Great hard rockin' beast of a song until the ridiculous classical inspired guitar/organ theatrics. C'mon man, keep it rocking. Seriously. Tommy Bolin does just that, and without Blackmore's medeival vibe to egg him on, Jon Lord keeps it rocking too, gettin' funky when necessary. The ultimate tragedy of Purple Mk IV really was the lack balls and/or vision on the part of Coverdale/Hughes/Paice/Lord when it came to playing the older Purple songs that everyone knew on tour. Fearing that they'd lose their fans, they wanted Bolin to play Blackmore's solos verbatim and be simply a Blackmore clone. I think this just beat Bolin down and destroyed the remarkable chemistry and vibe that is on display on Come Taste the Band.

When you first drop the needle on Comin' Home, the opening song on this record, Tommy's presence is announced loud and clear with his trademark echoplex feedback which then busts into a classic Hammond organ driven Deep Purple gallop, sending the message from the get-go: "this is Purple meets Bolin." And a winnning combination it is. The songs have a big bluesy riff, arena rock feel to them, with Coverdale just killing throughout. Most of the songs were penned by Bolin, Coverdale and Hughes. Lady Luck, the 2nd tune, is actually a song from the repetoire of Tommy's earlier band from Colorado, Energy. Gettin' Tighter is a hard groovin' mid tempo monster with a funk breakdown in the middle. The Dealer takes us on a ride to the wrong part of town, with a wicked groove and some mean slide guitar, funky clavinet from Jon Lord, and pure vintage Bolin soloing. I Need Love starts out 70's FM radio rock and then turns into southern fried soul funk. Yeah, seems odd, but works. Drifter is back to the hold-your-lighter-in-the-air arena, big riff rock. More briliant Bolin soloing. Love Child hits hard with an evil Sabbatherian riff and a Herbie Hancock-ish moog solo. Yeah, I know. Again, sounds strange, but is actually really cool. This Time Around, the only ballad of the album, is a vehicle for Glenn Hughes' great vocals., that goes straight into Owed to G(the G is for George Gershwin), a fusion-tinged instrumental workout with more vintage Bolin. The album closes with You Keep on Moving, a dark, moody, Pink Floydesque song with a brilliant Hammond B3 solo from Jon Lord and ending cool dual leads from Tommy.


This album is not super heavy in the metal sense, but it rocks hard throughout. This is "put the eight track in the '69 Charger and hang with your friends on summer vacation" music. It stays true to the riff. The entire bands sounds amazing. Paice's drumming is slammming, Hughes grooves hard, Coverdale, like I said earlier, slays, Jon Lord is tasteful, funky and rockin', and I've already mentioned the larger than life greatness of Tommy Bolin. Stay tuned for some in depth reviews of Tommy Bolin and Energy , either here or on the Wo Fat website.



One thing I absolutely hate, though, is the album cover. Really bad design going on here. Kind of dumb, and, honestly, somewhat disturbing.

And the rating is...

Riff Density - 7

Riff Caliber - 8

Post Blues Factor - 9

Groove Factor - 10

Dig It Factor -10

Stray Dog 1973

Stray Dog S/T
1973

This album is one crazy wheels-off ride. I had heard about Stray Dog a few years back and happened across their second album, While You're Down There. I brought it home and gave it a spin on the old turntable only to be hugely disappointed. The guitars were almost heavy, but the songs were sickeningly-sweet-rot-your-teeth pop. Pure tripe. So I crossed Stray Dog off my list of records to find. Fast forward a couple years... I read somewhere somebody comparing a Firebird album to Stray Dog. Hmm... Yeah, right. Whatever. Then, at the used record store what do I stumble across but the first self titled Stray Dog record. I picked it up, looked at it, considered it, then put it back, thinking of the sick stomach I got from the other Stray Dog album I already wasted my money on and left the store. As the next week goes by, the Firebird comparison keeps creeping into my mind, so I finally decide to go back and see if it's still there. Sure enough, it was there and wow, it is night and day compared with the second album.

Stray Dog was a Texas power trio, led by singer/guitar player Snuffy Walden, who were tapped by Greg Lake, of ELP, to come to England to record their debut. They subsequently toured with ELP, but the album never really took off.

The album opens with a grandiose pipe organ intro, after which Snuffy sneers at you "Fasten your seatbelts!" and then the ride begins. The first 2 songs assail you with barbaric chaotic power trio bluesrock, full of wicked riffs, Snuffy's swaggering and swaying sidewinder guitar soloing, and a ferocious rhythm section pounding. After a ballad, which I always skip, there's a killer version of ZZ Top's Chevrolet. Next Speak of the Devil, complete with Stax-like background singers, and Slave rock soulful yet savage. The last song reins the wild dog pack in a bit for some more straight ahead 70's pop rock. Not a bad song, but not up snuff, or is it snuffy, in the riff department compared to the rest.
There's only 7 songs on the album, but the 5 serious rockers make it well worth the trip. It's not heavy in a behemoth power chord kind of way, but more like a berserk rabid dog ripping apart your ZZ Top records. This album definitely lands high up on my list of 70's obscurities. And non-obscurities as well really. The Firebird comparison is not a bad one after all. It's very much Texas power trio heavily blues-infused rock.
Don't know what the story is with the 2nd album, While You're Down There. A second guitar player and a new singer were added for it. I would guess it was pressure from the record company to come up with something more palatable for the mainstream based on the lack of success of their first album. Shame.
If you see the first album, buy it.

Anyway, here's my rating:

Riff Density - 7
Riff Caliber - 9
Post Blues Factor - 9
Groove Factor - 8
Dig It Factor -10