Smoke on the Water: The Deep Purple Story

Rating:
Summary: this book sucks bigtime
Review: I'm 28, a musician, and a big fan of Deep Purple (especially the mark 2 era). I was very excited to read this book before it came in the mail. I read some of the reviews on it here....some of them were negative, but I wanted to see for myself. Well, the truth is...it sucks. Why? Because it is written like a scientific report in a college journal. No one in thier right mind would ever want to read garbage like this. This is a book that you can only read a chapter of before you throw it down in disgust. I'm being extreme, but this is an extreme matter. I was on a tour bus and this is the only book I had! I was forced to try to read some of it. There is some great info in it, but you have to sort through so much other stuff that's its not even worth reading. Maybe one day someone will write a real book on these classic unsung heroes if 70s rock.
Rob Parker
Memphis, TN
10/25/04

Rating:
Summary: Decent but not definitive account of Deep Purple
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: Aca me cambio la vida
Review: Cuando uno estudia la historia del rock se sorprendera de var cuan grande ha sido la influencia que en muchos grupos a tendo la legendaria banda inglesa, clasicos, por decir lo menos sus discos Machine Head, Made in Japan, Fireball, en cada disco la mezcla de ingredientes era la justa, el resultado....MAGIA, aunque si bien la formacion Mk II fue la mas conocida no hay que restar tanto a Coverdale como al fallecido Bolin quienes aportaron en dificiles momentos a mantener una layenda....hoy por hoy quizas abusando un poco de su mito Deep Purple se mantiene en la batalla pero ya no como soldados sino como generales que solo añoran poder contar sus viejas hazañas, sus viejas canciones que sin duda han sido para muchos de nosotros los recuerdos de bronce.
Esta biografia da un rapido repaso acerca de los origenes, transicion y caida de esta banda, realmente buena, interesante y completa, de seguro junto a una buena cerveza y escuchando sus discos te hara olvidar el problematico mundo que vives, no dudes, pidelo y siente la magia que esta ahi...tan solo con abrir el libro y en tu stereo apretar "play".......

Rating:
Summary: I LOVE THIS BOOK... AND THIS BAND
Review: Deep Purple was the first group I ever got into, when my elder brother played me Made In Japan while I was still into Styx and Speedwagon. Major Life Change!!! Since then, I've bought every CD I can find, by Purple and the spin-offs, so it was great to find a book that promised to talk about the whole family tree, and does it well. The writing is fast and furious; there may even be too much information crammed in (the book could have been twice as long and I wouldn't have got bored), and the writer really does love Purple in all its shapes and sizes - where else are you going to read about Marlon, Blackmore's Night, the original Ian Gillan Band and Jon Lord's solo carer all in one place? PLEASE don't let the other reviews out you off. This is a red hot read, and it dosn't treat the reader like an idiot (as so many books about Metal bands do.)

Rating:
Summary: Only if you REALLY love Deep Purple!
Review: From one who generally loves all things Purple...

The book had some new information for me (particularly the British side of DP's roots) and I have enjoyed learning more about how my favorite band got to where they are today. However, just my opinion, it's a terrible "read". The writer should have used a talented proof-reader (preferably not from his immediate family). :-) I have never seen so many run-on sentences (some an entire paragraph long). One sentence seemed to use every type of punctuation known to mankind! I can't believe this guy's an "award winning writer" ...you wouldn't know it from this book!

He also appears to have used a Thesaurus to try to utilize words that make him sound more intelligent, when it only makes the reading more painful (i.e., WRITE LIKE YOU TALK - if that's how Mr. Thompson talks, I doubt I could enjoy a conversation with him). As for the pictures; While it's just a guess on my part, I would imagine this was not published in strong partnership with the DP camp - as the pictures are atrocious! Not great images quality-wise, but even worse, the pictures are very un-flattering (Steve Morse looks like Frankenstein)!

All in all, there was good information in there, some of which was new to me, but man, ...what a tough read! If I didn't want to know the story so bad, I would have dropped it in the trash after the first three pages. Just my "not so humble" opinion.

The Doctor


Rating:
Summary: so- so account of classic group
Review: this new biography of legendary hard/ progressive rock band deep purple is, ultimately, relatively disappointing. while it is hard to encapsulate the band , which has put out numerous albums since 1968, in a 300 or so page book, one would have liked more details, anecdotes, trivial but interesting information about concert appearances,encounters with other famous and not so famous musicians ,and one would have especially hoped for a more in depth look at the actual music of the band- many songs are not even mentioned in passing, and the appraisal of some albums is simply breezed through by the author. i found myself disagreeing with some of his opinions, but i didn't find any ridiculous statements. the book does have some merits- some of the interviews with band members and peripheral figures like ronnie james dio are engaging and sometimes informative. there is a useful discography that covers not only all of deep purple's recordings, but also session appearances by all members and the side projects and other bands that they were in. one wishes there was more information on the band, especially the underrated and fascinating 'mark one' lineup. overall, not a bad book, a good choice for someone who is a casual deep purple fan- but clearly inferior to the definitive deep purple tome put out by chris charlesworth about 20 years ago.