Come Taste the Band

Come Taste the Band is the tenth studio album by English rock band Deep Purple, released on 7 November 1975. It was co-produced and engineered by the band and longtime associate Martin Birch. Musically, the record consists of stronger influences of funk than the previous band's albums.

It was the final Deep Purple studio record prior to the band's initial disbandment in 1976, therefore making it the only studio album by the Mark IV line-up of Deep Purple, featuring Tommy Bolin on guitar, and the final of three albums to feature David Coverdale on lead vocals and Glenn Hughes on bass guitar/vocals. Due to Bolin's drug addiction, the band was solely dependent on his condition largely throughout the album's tour, alongside Hughes' cocaine problems. Bolin died of multiple-drug intoxication overdose shortly after the breakup in that same year. Deep Purple eventually re-formed in 1984 with the Mark II line-up which neither Coverdale nor Hughes were part of.

Come Taste the Band was commercially less successful than the previous Deep Purple albums, whilst the record was among the lowest in the American market compared to the band's 1970s albums. In the UK, the album peaked at number #19, while it only peaked at #43 in the US.

When Come Taste the Band was released, it received favorable reviews, and the band's stylistic renewal was praised. However, the album's reputation has been mixed. The members of Mark IV have generally regarded the album as a functional entity, but on the other hand, have questioned the extent to which the line-up can be called Deep Purple.