Now Available: Deep Purple, Stormbringer / Come Taste the Band 2-CD Expanded Editions
During the course of Deep Purple’s long and storied career, the band has explored a variety of different sounds, all of which revealed the diverse musical tastes of the various members. Not all of these sonic explorations captured the interest of the record-buying public, however, which has resulted in some very worthy items in the Deep Purple discography flying under the radar in the years since their initial release.
Earlier this week, we delivered unto fans 180-gram vinyl reissues of the first two Deep Purple albums of the Ian Gillan era: In Rock and Fireball. Now it’s time to show a little CD love to a couple of albums from slightly later in the band’s timeline.
Stormbringer: It was the second album for David Coverdale as the band’s lead singer, but it was destined to be the last Deep Purple album featuring Ritchie Blackmore in the lineup for quite a few years. This effort found the band getting funkier than ever with their tunes, and it did just fine on the charts, hitting #20 in the US and #6 in the UK, but it led to no significant hit singles for the band. In 2006, however, it was named one of the 100 Greatest British Rock Albums Ever, so it’s clear that Deep Purple definitely brought both the storm and the rock.
"Soldier of Fortune”: Listen here
Come Taste the Band: In the absence of Ian Gillan, David Coverdale apparently had a hand in bringing Tommy Bolin into the fold as his replacement. The end result was arguably a more commercial-sounding album than its predecessors, which is ironic when one considers that it performed somewhat disappointingly on the charts, and after the band finished touring behind its release, they disbanded for the better part of a decade. Still, when Jon Lord revisited it some years later, he described it as “a surprisingly good album,” only conceding that “the worst thing you can say about it is that, in most people’s opinion, it’s not a Deep Purple album.” Except it is, and it’s very much worth hearing.
“Gettin’ Tighter”: Listen here
