“Live In Long Beach 1976”, is part of earMUSIC’s DEEP PURPLE / DPO reissue series that, over the last couple years, has seen the release of rare live material from the band, including Copenhagen 1972, Stockholm 1970, Paris 1975, Graz 1975 and Long Beach 1971. “Live In Long Beach 1976” features one of the very rare shows where the MK IV line up (Bolin – Coverdale – Hughes – Lord – Paice) performance was recorded live. The show was originally recorded at Long Beach Arena, California on February 27th for radio broadcast on “The King Biscuit Flower Hour”, an American syndicated radio show that featured concert performances by various rock artists, such as The Rolling Stones and Bruce Springsteen among many others. Three additional live tracks from another concert of the same tour have been added to the tracklist (Springfield, January 1976). In this formation, DEEP PURPLE recorded only one album “Come Taste The Band” featuring Tommy Bolin’s great songwriting talent on most songs and it was this album that was promoted through the tour. Although this twelfth DEEP PURPLE album never gained the same commercial success as their earlier releases like “Machine Head” or “Made in Japan”, “Come Taste The Band” features a musically matured DEEP PURPLE and some of the best material DEEP PURPLE ever wrote and recorded and it is to this day considered a “must have” album. After internal difficulties (mainly due to Bolin’s drug addiction) DEEP PURPLE decided to split up in July of the same year, seeing the members spread out to do several solo projects. Tragically, Tommy Bolin died only a couple months later through a heroin overdose.