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Glimpses of the best

By Chris Henrici

I just got the Japan show. Back in 8th grade I had "Come Taste The Band" and also dug Mahavishnu Orchestra so I had Billy Cobham's "Spectrum". I liked
Blackmore and Bolin, but Bolin had more versatility in my book. More recently and 25 years later it was a nice treat to find a German pressing of "Burn" LP and a clean copy of "Come Taste The Band", as well as "The King Biscuit Flower Hour" show (from California 1976), all within the last four weeks. I find "Come Taste The Band" has aged better than "Burn" - I dug it in 8th grade and still do.

The Tokyo show is an uneven performance but sports the finest live sound of Lord's Hammond you are likely to hear. "Stormbringer" is the strongest of the
pre-Bolin songs, "Gettin' Tighter" is strong, as are most of the "CTTB" songs.

The "King Biscuit" show is definitely stronger and contains performances of "Lazy", "Stormbringer", "Gettin' Tighter" and "This Time Around"/"Owed To 'G'", which taken along with the better moments of the Tokyo set (check out Bolin's "Wild Dogs"), reveal a band that cooked. There are moments here that are simply incredible.

This group took risks and played recklessly, and sometimes it did'nt work. I believe that if they had worked it out and straightend up a bit they would have exceeded anything Purple had done, and most other bands for that matter. That is what I hear in these discs. We'll never know, but there is more than a glimpse of it here. This band had it all when it clicked - metal, funk, fusion, ballads and virtuoso instrumentalists with two great singers to boot.

Buy both "King Biscuit" and "This Time Around" and get down with it. Crank up the "Wild Dogs" lead break and prepare to be moved.