Unknown Soldier

It's showing on mine but have put a different pic up now. Sometimes I find pics don't show but when you go out and then back on the page they show!

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Metal Wars

Power Metal

Pounding Decibels- A Hard and Heavy History

Unknown Soldier

The mid 1970s were always something of a lean time as far as I’m concerned in the history of rockdom. Firstly the vibrant carry over from the late 1960s had long disappeared. Secondly progressive rock was on the slide and it would never recover itself as a main force again and glam rock had burst its bubble. Thirdly, the heavy genres of hard rock and heavy metal were both firmly established and finally middle of the road rock acts were dominating the charts both sides of the Atlantic. The quality of music though was certainly still there, but the creativity certainly wasn’t, it would be a few more years yet until creative boundaries were challenged again as they had at the start of the decade. But what the mid-1970s did give us depending on your point of view, were great production values with the aim of giving the listener a crisper overall listening experience, hence the birth of the highly polished AOR which would be especially dominant stateside. Like always though, the heavy genre threw up a whole host of quality albums that again had me deciding on what to leave out. Big boys such as Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath and Deep Purple are again in the list, but this time for a last hurrah as these bands had truly reached their initial creative lifelines! The year also didn’t throw up much in the way of new acts making impressive albums either and it was more of a case, of other established bands putting out some of their best albums both quality wise and commercially. So the albums in the main top 10 list are very much the cream of what came out in 1975 and it’s one of those years were my own list probably marries itself completely, with other listings that I’ve seen on the internet for 1975.

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Metal Wars

Power Metal

Pounding Decibels- A Hard and Heavy History

The Batlord

Wow. That is one terrible cover.

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Big Ears

There were some great albums in 1975, but they were mainly British: Sad Wings of Destiny by Judus Priest, Fish Rising by Steve Hillage, Recycled by Nektar, Drive On by Mott, Nightingales and Bombers by Manfred Mann's Earth Band, Kick Off Your Muddy Boots by the Graeme Edge Band and Budgie's Bandolier.

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My Journal: Rabbiting On

Unknown Soldier

Go eat your cake.

I've got the Judas Priest album down as 1976, stuff like Steve Hillage and Nektar are too prog for this journal. I never thought of Mott's Drive On as a good album, maybe I'll listen to it again and Bandolier is definitely in my top 10.

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Metal Wars

Power Metal

Pounding Decibels- A Hard and Heavy History

Big Ears

I stand corrected, Sad Wings was March 1976, and, apologies, I keep forgetting the distinction between heavy and progressive rock.

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My Journal: Rabbiting On

Unknown Soldier

Sad Wings was March 1976 (which I guess you meant to say)
Sad Wings of Destiny - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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Metal Wars

Power Metal

Pounding Decibels- A Hard and Heavy History

Big Ears

Corrected. I really should concentrate more!

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My Journal: Rabbiting On

Unknown Soldier

Overview
Come Taste the Band is very much a cherished album in the Deep Purple discography, but that cherishment mostly comes from Purple fans themselves rather than from critics (who actually slated the album) or general music fans (who dismissed it as a weak effort) Come Taste the Band though, is the final album in a trio of albums that marked the Deep Purple MK.III line-up, that for all its fame and commercial appeal only managed to last a couple of years, and normally sits behind the MK.II line-up in preference of choice when it comes to Deep Purple line-ups. Anybody not familiar with Deep Purple and reading this, should note that Deep Purple never had any real stability in band personnel to the level of either Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath their main two rivals in world dominance! So for this reason alone, Deep Purple were the most diverse band of the three and presented the music world with three very different faces of rock. The original MK.I line-up had been a rather self-indulgent progressive rock band gradually shifting to heavy territory. The MK.II line-up was heaviness personified and the MK.III line-up interestingly sacrificed heaviness for a greater use of soul and funk! Of the three albums from this third line-up, Burn had seen the start of this musical transformation and kept the Purple fanbase happy with Ritchie’s stunning riffs, but it was Stormbringer that had been the risky album…….but the band got away with it! Come Taste the Band though, sounds very much like the third album of the three and in many ways it’s the hardest to classify, thus making it the most unique of the three! The uniqueness largely comes from the fact that Ritchie Blackmore had departed from the band, which easily could’ve meant the end of the road for the band as a whole, but thanks to the motivation of both David Coverdale and Jon Lord the band went on. They auditioned to replace the already legendary Ritchie Blackmore and finally hired American guitar maestro Tommy Bolin ex-Zephyr and the James Gang in a well-documented affair and he would actually become the most influential musician on the album in both performance and song writing! Come Taste the Band is the final offering from one of the most pivotal bands in the history of hard rock and metal and they wouldn’t record as a band again until the 1980s.

David Coverdale- Vocals
Glenn Hughes- Bass/Vocals
Tommy Bolin- Guitar
Jon Lord- Keyboards
Ian Paice- Drums

Production- Martin Birch

Album
Comin’ Home- With an energetic intro the opening track sounds exactly like an album opener and has the band pulling together and some good playing by Jon Lord on show and unsurprisingly Tommy Bolin’s lets it all hang out midway through the song. Lady Luck- A sweaty melodic cut best suited to the voice of David Coverdale and a typical sounding album track. Gettin’ Tighter- One of the best tracks on the album and highlighted by Glenn Hughes on vocals, as the song is a great example of easy listening rock, before moving into a totally unexpected funky soul section to throw the listener…. and then back into familiar rock territory. Dealer- Has an energetic feel like the opening track on the album, but just set at an overall slower pace in general. Following on from the sweaty melodic feel of “Lady Luck” this song is in similar vein, but I’m still not sure about the Tommy Bolin sung section on this song though! I Need Love-An archetypal track that David Coverdale would blueprint in the future with Whitesnake. Drifter- One of the genuinely heavy songs on the album and starts off the b-side of the album, and the track is interspersed with some pick-me-up sections and the promise of extended instrumental sections. Love Child- One of the best songs on the album and one of the times where the unexpected musical variation within the song works well. This Time Around/Owed to ‘G- A slow Glenn Hughes number and a strong piece of work and actually sounds like a future soft rock cut that Toto could’ve put out, before moving into some crunchier territory. You Keep On Moving- A strong album closer, based around songcraft and mood, to that of crunchy hard rock.

Verdict
Come Taste the Band is a good album but a patchy album overall and was probably too diverse for the band’s own good, largely due to its random musical variations within some of the songs, which at times do work and other times they don’t. The real saviour of the album though, must surely be the guitar work of Tommy Bolin, who not only came into the band to replace the legendary Ritchie Blackmore, but also proved to be equally as good as Ritchie Blackmore with his guitar work! But that’s where the comparisons really end, as Tommy Bolin who had worked with the James Gang previously and did an outstanding feature spot on the Moxy debut (on my 1976 list) now gave the funky soul influenced sound of Deep Purple a very different injection and feel to that of Ritchie Blackmore! In fact by all accounts and purposes, anybody unfamiliar with Deep Purple and listening to this album, would swear it was the work of an American band and that’s largely down to Tommy Bolin’s influence on the album! David Coverdale as expected does the lion’s share of the singing, as both Glenn Hughes and Jon Lord for large chunks of the album, seemingly take a back seat in proceedings…… it’s almost like both know the band’s tenure is almost up! But Come Taste the Band does have a lot of very good material such as the unexpected “Gettin’ Tighter” which has some great guitar flourishes by Tommy Bolin and the heavy plodding of “Love Child” is another very good song, in fact it’s the b-side where this album is really at and the final two songs “This Time Around/Owed to ‘G” and “You Keep on Moving” further this point. So how does Come Taste the Band rank in this trio of albums? It probably ranks as the best of the three albums in scope, despite lacking the hard rock crunch and spark of Burn, whose more basic rocking sound based around riffs, will probably appeal to most listeners, but it certainly has a far better execution that the somewhat subdued Stormbringer album. In many ways Come Taste the Band is a most unexpected final album from the band in the 1970s and came about largely due to the shining light of Tommy Bolin! The shining light of the band sparked out just after this album, as did that of the highly gifted Tommy Bolin who overdosed on heroin the following year.


Dio- Vocals
Ritchie Blackmore- Guitar
Mickey Lee Soule- Keyboards
Craig Gruber- Bass-
Gary Driscoll- Drums

Production- Rainbow

Album
Man on the Silver Mountain- Slow, ponderous and deliberate, and in many ways the perfect template to the envisioned sound that Ritchie Blackmore wanted to achieve with his new project. Self Portrait- Another slow track that really sounds like a throwback to Deep Purple, but it’s a song that gives over to repeated listens with a lot to offer and a strong track overall. Black Sheep of the Family- A cover of the Quatermass song and basically smacks of filler! Catch the Rainbow- One of the visionary songs of the album and at six minutes has the trappings of an epic and maintains its constant pace throughout. Snake Charmer- An average rocker that is kind of saved by a nice bridge section that appears a couple of times throughout the song. The Temple of the King- A well-paced track that’s highlighted by the vocals of Dio and superbly accompanied by the rest of the band, might be the best track on the album! You Don’t Like Rock ‘n’ Roll- Another one of those radio-friendly rockers that really doesn’t offer that much. Sixteenth Century Greensleeves- A harder rocking track that really does justice to the album overall. Still I’m Sad-An instrumental that’s a cover of the Yardbirds song (their version had vocals though)
and the album could've done with a stronger closer.

Verdict
Most double headers here are by the same band, but I’ve qualified the Rainbow debut thanks to the Ritchie Blackmore link. The Rainbow debut is far from a great album, but it does have and offers the groundwork for the following year’s classic Rising album! Rainbow came about after Ritchie Blackmore had walked out on Deep Purple and teamed up with a certain Ronnie James Dio, already a diminutive journeyman vocalist with an awesome set of lungs, who despite having shown his worth with the bluesy Elf, desperately needed more quality material to demonstrate his stunning vocal talent. He decamped with the rest of the Elf outfit after the recording of their third album Trying to Burn the Sun to team up with Ritchie Blackmore. Rainbow would effectively be the band that ushered in the long forgotten term ‘Dragon Rock’ which as the name suggests, was music steeped in fantasy sword & sorcery settings and medieval themes, and Rainbow themselves would go onto perfect this sound on their following album. But great examples of this sound and the style and imagery that it evoked, can be heard on the albums stalwart songs such as “Man on the Silver Mountain” “Catch the Rainbow” and “The Temple of the King” songs that have a deliberate overblown feel, but keep well within the confines of the genre. Quite often both Ritchie Blackmore and Dio gain a lot of credit for creating this kind of sound, but I’d say the whole concept kind of just fell into place, as Ritchie Blackmore had already laid some of the groundwork for the Rainbow sound on the Stormbringer album the previous year with Deep Purple (albeit stripping out all the funky and soul elements from that album though) But just listening to the title track “Stormbringer” and “The Gypsy” from that album both superbly sung by David Coverdale, could’ve equally have been sung by Dio and featured on the Rainbow debut. What actually lets the Rainbow debut down though, is its over reliance on filler and songs that don’t really connect with the future sound of the band and this can be heard on a number of tracks like the cover of “Black Sheep of the Family” the out of place “Snake Charmer” the poor “You Don’t Like Rock ‘n’ Roll” and the instrumental “Still I’m Sad” not bad but not really necessary. In general the Rainbow debut actually sounds like Ritchie Blackmore attempting to roll the clock back a couple of years, to just before Burn was recorded…….. it was almost like him trying to dismiss the MK.III version of Deep Purple and here he has composed with Dio a reflective sounding type of heavy rock, which would fully give way to the more grandiose designs of ‘Dragon Rock’ on the next album.

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Metal Wars

Power Metal

Pounding Decibels- A Hard and Heavy History

The Batlord

Why no "Overview" of Rainbow? And I only just bought and listened to the album less than a month ago, but you seem to give all the fun, straight up rock songs short shrift. If "If You Don't Like Rock'n'Roll" doesn't get your blood pumping then you might in fact be dead.

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