Come Taste the Band

After Ritchie Blackmore left to form Rainbow, Coverdale suggested Jeff Beck, Rory Gallagher and Tommy Bolin as guitarists. Auditions were held at Robert Simon's Pirate Studio in Hollywood, where Clem Clempson of Humble Pie also tried out. Bolin, whose playing on Billy Cobham's Spectrum had impressed the band, borrowed a guitar, turned the amplifiers up and got the job. The announcement of Blackmore's departure and Bolin's arrival came in June 1975.

The album was recorded at Musicland Studios in Munich from 3 August to 1 September 1975. Martin Birch produced with the band, and Paice mixed with Birch. Coverdale and Bolin wrote most of the material, and the sound leaned further toward funk than before. Hughes, whose drug problems sent him to London for rehab mid-sessions, sings lead on Gettin' Tighter and This Time Around, and Bolin plays bass on Comin' Home. The title plays on a line from the musical Cabaret, and the cover has an engraved wine glass by Ken Cooper.

It reached number 19 in Britain and 43 in the United States. The NME said it was their best since In Rock, and Rolling Stone's Kris Nicholson was favourable. Gillan said he does not regard it as a real Deep Purple album, while Lord later called it a surprisingly good one. You Keep On Moving was the UK single and Gettin' Tighter the US single.

The tour began in Hawaii, then New Zealand and Australia, and in December 1975 the band played two nights in Indonesia, where a bodyguard died after falling down an elevator shaft. The Budokan show of 15 December 1975 became Last Concert in Japan, released on 16 March 1977. The last show was at the Liverpool Empire on 15 March 1976, and Bolin died on 4 December 1976. A 35th Anniversary Edition with a Kevin Shirley remix was released on 25 October 2010.