Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)As a major fan I knew I would buy this book as soon as it came out, if only to help show that there is a market for books about Purple. Now having read it, I can say that although it was a good read, it wasn't quite a definitive account. Purple have such a long and variegated history that it would be hard for any one volume to thoroughly cover everything, unless it was at least 600 pages long. While the book covers from 1968 to 2003, there are some parts of their history somewhat glossed over: the move to California in late 1974 and adventures there, a more thorough look at the Bolin era (including Patsy Collins' death in Jakarta and a more detailed look at the drugs), plus more on the final tour with Blackmore in late 1993, during which they played some of their most fiery shows. The author seems to dislike Bolin to some degree (not really going into enough detail about his pre-Purple years), and Captain Beyond is all but dismissed, while Warhorse gets too much detail. In addition, while early Whitesnake gets its props, he doesn't talk too much about their rebirth as a multiplatinum glam band in the mid to late 80s. (Like it or lump it, the 1987 album vastly outsold what DP was doing at the time, and Coverdale finally cracked America for the first time since he had been in Purple). A bit more on the members' personal lives (families, hobbies, etc) would have been cool, and perhaps a track by track musical analysis would have been cool (but would have made the book twice as long).
In addition, the photo section was a bit lacking, although this could have been a rights issue. Some color photos would have been nice, or a color discography. Now it sounds like I've trashed the book no end, but it's actually decent for the casual to medium fan, and of course very welcome in America where the band has all but been ignored in the last fifteen years.
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