4 Stars
Deep Purple recorded “Days May Come Days May Go” in 1975 at a very interesting time in their career. But they didn’t release it until 2000. Predictably, Ritchie Blackmore had thrown his toys out of the pram, taking his guitars with him and leaving the remaining members of the rock behemoths wondering what to do next.
Dave (Clem) Clempson was contacted and brought over for rehearsals, and it was intimated he had the job after satisfactory rehearsals. Clem would have been a fine fit⸺he was an excellent guitarist already having proved his worth in Colosseum and Humble Pie. But at the last minute, a young American guitarist named Tommy Bolin brought his multi-colored hair and flamboyant looks to new rehearsals and wowed Deep Purple into taking him on.
Five excellent musicians, who sadly fell apart later, pulling in different directions. But at first, as can be heard on these rehearsal tapes recorded in California in 1975, there was true wonder in the air. ‘Very Heavy Hard Rock’ was the name of the game, and they played it with gusto—immediately almost having telepathic connections. What you get here is the guys jamming on ideas and parts of songs already half-written. There are even some Ritchie Blackmore writing credits.
All the playing here certainly has that edge, flying off at creative jousts at the drop of a G-string.
took him.
Producer Martin Birch has salvaged the finer parts of the tapes. The longer jams are the true gems here, with all the musicians gleefully showing their wares. There is real magic in the air making this an essential purchase for Deep Purple aficionados.
Sadly, it was not to last. By the time the band entered the studio just a few months later to record Purple’s album “Come Taste The Band,” they had split into two groups. Three musicians remained true to the hard rock formula of years gone by. David Coverdale (vocals), Jon Lord (keyboards), and Ian Paice (drums), whilst two, Glenn Hughes (bass guitar) and Tommy Bolin (lead guitar), went off on their funk leanings and surprisingly became the dominant factor. “Come Taste The Band” was a good album, but a Deep Purple album in name only.
Was it the right decision to take Tommy Bolin on board? At the time, it must have felt like a stroke of genius. His playing here suited a new younger Deep Purple flying off in a new direction. But what was to come was horrendous. At first, Tommy Bolin kept his dependency on illegal substances away from the rest of the band, but this soon became impossible to hide once the band went on the road.
Secondly, upon teaming up with Glenn Hughes, the pair took Purple into a very non-hard rock direction. Tommy Bolin was also not keen on playing any of the old Deep Purple classics and put very little effort into playing them on stage, as can be heard on the many live albums from this lineup’s one and only poorly received world tour.
and superb, playing on every recording for the band and
remarkably every Concert.
Of course, it all ended up in a fatal disaster.
But “Days May Come, Days May Go” is certainly worth bending an ear to. Just to see what could have been.
Written by Mott The Dog from Pattaya’s Darkside.
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