April 17th, 2021 - Better Days May Come And Better Days May Go

 

Hello and happy Saturday rockers and craft beer lovers!  The Meista here today pairing "Days May Come and Days May Go: The 1975 California Rehearsals" by the mighty Deep Purple and a very crisp, hoppy, delicious, and classically brewed Better Days IPA from my main man, Master Chad over at the Deseret Edge Brewery!  Hells yeah! 

Album Info: 

• Artist: Deep Purple
• Title: "Days May Come and Days May Go: The 1975 California Rehearsals"
• Recorded: June 1975 at Pirate Sound Studios in California
• Release date: March 14th, 2000 (compilation album of "Come Taste The Band" rehearsals and jams by Deep Purple)
• Record company: Purple Records
• Production: Martin Birch and Deep Purple
• Album cover art: DPAS (photography), Fin Costello (photography), and Redferns (photography)
• Personnel: Tommy Bolin (guitar and vocals), David Coverdale (vocals), Glenn Hughes (bass and vocals), Jon Lord (keyboards, organ, mini Moog, and backing vocals), and Ian Paice (drums and percussion)
• Musical style: Hard rock, blues rock, funk rock
• Sound: Combining funk and soul with their hard rock approach, with the "Come Taste The Band" rehearsals and jams, Deep Purple approached music with a more radio friendly vibe, yet still rocked the hell out!  It is definitely too bad this incarnation of the band only released one studio album... but this sometimes rough rehearsal/jam album adds some depth to that lineup!  Although rehearsals and improvisional pieces, the songs are richly textured, soulful rock and roll monsters full of depth, complexity, and brilliant musicianship!  This album also provides a powerfully heavy rock attitude and a hint of what's to come for Coverdale, Lord, and Paice with Whitesnake.  In a word, brilliant! 
• Major themes: Love, the blues, rock and roll, isolation, loss, etc.
• Tracks:   

1. "Owed To 'G'"
2. "If You Love Me Woman"
3. "The Orange Juice Song"
4. "I Got Nothing For You"
5. "Statesboro Blues"
6. "Dance To The Rock & Roll"
7. "Drifter" (rehearsal sequence)
8. "Drifter" (version 1)
9. "The Last Of The Long Jams"
10. "Untitled Song" (impromptu Sonny Bono cover of "I Got You Babe")

Brew Info:

• Brewery: Deseret Edge Brewery at the Pub (Salt Lake City, Utah)
• Website: http://desertedgebrewery.com/ 
• Brew: Better Days IPA
• Style: American India Pale Ale (IPA)
• Serving: 16 ounce can
• ABV: 6.6%
• IBUs: 66 
• Ingredients: Pale, Munich, and Crystal 45 malts and Chinook, Idaho 7, Mosaic, and Amarillo hops  
• Pour: The Better Days IPA pours a fairly clear, bronze amber with a billowy and creamy 1+ finger, eggshell white head with great retention and lots of intricate sudsy lacing.
• Nose: The nose is a wonderful blend of citrusy, earthy, dank, floral, and malty aromas.  There are notes of grapefruit rind, orange peel, tangerine, wild flowers, barley, crackery biscuit, herbal tea, and soft caramel.
• Taste: Like the nose, the taste of the Better Days IPA is citrusy, herbal, and malty.  There are notes of zesty grapefruit, herbal tea, light crackery biscuit, and soft caramel/toffee.
• Mouthfeel: Medium-bodied and moderately carbonated, the mouthfeel of the Better Days IPA is very crisp and , yet smooth with a dry, slightly bitter finish.

Overall pairing: The very crushable, yet wonderfully complex and flavorful, Desert Edge's Better Days IPA makes a great companion to the funky hard rockin' punch of Deep Purple's "Days May Come and Days May Go: The 1975 California Rehearsals" album!  Those brighter citrus and floral notes go great with the vocal performances of Coverdale and Hughes and the soaring guitars of Bolin, while the rich malt backbone is perfect for the driving rhythms of Paice and Lord's wall-of-sound keys!  'Nuff said!

Cheers!!  Rock on!!