The More Black Than Purple Interviews

Book excerpt: For more than ten years the Ritchie Blackmore magazine More Black than Purple has featured many interviews within its pages. First published in 2007, and now back in print, The More Black than Purple Interviews collects 12 of the best and most rivetting of these in to one book, featuring Don Airey, Ritchie Blackmore, Graham Bonnet, Tony Carey, Mark Clarke, Bob Daisley, Glenn Hughes, John McCoy, Steve Morse & Cozy Powell. Edited and compiled by More Black than Purple editor Jerry Bloom, some of the interviews are bolstered with previously unpublished sections and 3 of the interviews are previously unpublished in their entirety. Each interview includes background information & amusing tales surrounding the stories behind them and the book is complimented with a selection of over 30 b/w photos, including many never before published. As Record Collector said when this was first published, -the three Blackmore interviews are the centrepiece, and surprisingly candid they are too. Other highlights include encounters with an otherworldly Glenn Hughes and the mischievous Cozy Powell. The charm of the book is that, in the informal world of the fanzine, the stars are often more forthcoming - and more three dimensional - than they might be in the contrived setting of a press conference. This, along with a witty, informative commentary, makes the collection a very nice piece of work indeed.-