[8] Guitarist Richie Blackmore was heavily against the idea of incorporating the latter two musical elements, resulting in him departing the group and forming his own band, Rainbow, in 1975, with speculations that Deep Purple would break up indefinitely.

But Coverdale and Glenn Hughes (bass) persuaded them to continue and hold auditions for a new guitarist, feeling that the band was not ready to give up after only a few years' success.

[14] Bolin admired the band's playing skill, but his decision to join was probably also influenced by the desire to gain visibility and money to promote his solo career.

The band agreed to reduce their tight working pace, in order to give Bolin some time to focus on his solo career during breaks.

Keyboardist Jon Lord is in the background for much of the album, except for his solos on "Love Child" and the keyboard-driven "This Time Around"[24] on which he plays all the instruments.

His and Coverdale's joint singing, which colored previous albums, can only be heard on Come Taste the Band's last song "You Keep On Moving".

[29] Come Taste the Band differs from Deep Purple's previous output due to its strong funk and blues influence.

[38] "Love Child" is reminiscent of Led Zeppelin songs, and the guitar riff in the chorus is borrowed from Bolin's previous band, The James Gang.

[35] The letter G was a tribute to composer George Gershwin, whose compositions inspired Deep Purple's songs "Black Night" and "Burn".

[45] In its commercial outlook, sales numbers for Come Taste the Band were moderately successful, but did not do well compared to the previous albums alone.

Despite this, the record earned a silver certification in their native country, selling over 60,000 copies by BPI at the beginning of November before its official UK release.

[53] In addition, the band performed the songs "Wild Dogs", "Marching Powder" and "Homeward Strut" from Bolin's Teaser album.

[58] The managers decided to start the tour from the Far East so that the new line-up could gain experience and not hear about possible failures in Europe and America.

The live album would only become a success in Japan, but Hughes called it an "awful record," blaming Bolin's heroin addiction for his mediocre playing.

In addition, the members disagreed about the band's musical line: Coverdale, Lord, and Paice wanted to stick to rock, while Bolin and Hughes were more interested in funk.

[66] The tour's final concert was on 15 March 1976 in Liverpool Empire Theatre, where Hughes apologized to the audience for the band's poor performance in a fake American accent.

After a while, Coverdale arrived in tears and announced that he was leaving, to which Lord and Paice replied that it was not possible because Deep Purple no longer existed.

Along with the drug problem, the group's breakup was influenced by the harsh work schedule and the managers' reluctance to organize vacations for the members.

"[72] After the disbandment, Bolin formed his own band that toured in support of Peter Frampton and Jeff Beck, including the recording of his second solo album Private Eyes.

Members from the Deep Purple 'Mark I-IV' lineup, Lord and Paice joined Coverdale's group not long during the period of early Whitesnake's albums: Trouble and Lovehunter was released, with longtime producer Martin Birch worked on their records.

Overall, Deep Purple's split would last for eight years until the reformation of the 'Mark II' lineup that would eventually produce the band's 1984 comeback album, Perfect Strangers.

[77][78] Released on 25 October 2010, the 2-CD Deluxe 35th Anniversary edition includes the original album in remastered form plus a rare US single edit of "You Keep On Moving" on the first disc, a full album remix produced by Kevin Shirley, and two unissued tracks on the second disc: "Same in LA" a three-minute out-take from the final release in 1975, and "Bolin/Paice Jam" a five-minute instrumental jam with Bolin and Ian Paice.

Fanfare's review called Come Taste the Band their best since Machine Head and NME's their best since Deep Purple in Rock.

[93] Kris Nicholson from Rolling Stone was favorable of the record, praising Bolin as a more versatile guitarist than his predecessor, and the album's new stylistic directions as perfect territory conquests for Deep Purple.

According to Nicholson, with the help of Bolin, Deep Purple had gotten rid of the predictability of their previous albums and now relied on melody and dynamics instead of volume.

[86] UK magazine, Sounds, later published as Classic Rock gave an enthusiastic response, according to Geoff Barton, that Bolin brought new energy to the band, as a result of which you can feel the joy of playing in the music for a long time.

[94] Neil Perry of Select called it "a freak event in Deep Purple's recording career, an album light years ahead of anything else they ever did and David Coverdale's finest perforamnce, period.

"[95] Deeming the album to be "the first sign of what we now call funk rock", in particular praising Hughes's bass to be "pure funk", Perry hailed it for being as raunchy as Aerosmith's 1973 self-titled album and singled out Bolin's "fierce brilliance" as a guitarist, concluding: "Come Taste the Band is a lesson to all today's young pretenders on how to rock with real feel.

"[95] In the 35th Anniversary Edition review in 2010, BBC Music's Greg Moffitt gave a mixed reaction, replying that the album was "far from a disaster, particularly on its own terms," despite that the lineup was entirely "completed [...] into an entirely different beast."

In a more negative approach, Steve Peacock, writing for British magazine, Street Life, criticized the formulaic songs and their "banal" lyrics.