A comprehensive story of Deep Purple's golden years 1968-76, which saw the band come from nowhere to have a top 4 US hit with its debut single. Within two years the band was in the throes of potentially dissolving when the record company went into liquidation. Fortunately, focussing on their homeland in Britain they re-launched their career with the groundbreaking In Rock LP in 1970 - the platform that ensured by 1973 Deep Purple was the biggest selling album artists in America. Band break-ups and in-fighting continually rocked the boat before finally calling it a day in 1976 after a brief UK tour. The Road Of Golden Dust documents the ups and downs, drawing on the author's interviews with various band and road crew members including founding members Ritchie Blackmore, Jon Lord and Nick Simper, as well as interviews with Roger Glover, Glenn Hughes, roadie Ian Hansford, tour manager Colin Hart plus co-operation from the management company Deep Purple (Overseas) Ltd, that all help to unveil some new stories that help to explain the whys and wherefores that shaped one of Britain's greatest and most influential rock bands of all time.
Jerry Bloom first heard Deep Purple in 1971 but wasn't truly bitten by the bug until 1976 when he heard Made in Europe. The extra punch that the live recording gave to the music, particularly to the guitar and organ sold him on their unique brand of rock, and from that point on there was no looking back. He has seen Purple in concert over 30 times and has attended more than 100 shows of the various individual band members.His passion eventually led to co-founding the Ritchie Blackmore magazine More Black than Purple in 1996, which he continued to edit up to 2014. Since 1997 he has also done freelance writing for various record companies; in 1998 at the request of Blackmore's management he acted in an advisory capacity on the US 4 CD box set release, Shades 1968-1998; in 2003 he produced the official Ghost of a Rose tour programme for Blackmore's Night and in 2006 his first book, Black Knight - the unauthorised Ritchie Blackmore Biography, was published. That same year he instigated the release, and wrote the sleeve notes for SonyBMG's Deep Purple Live In Europe 1993 box set. He also compiled the tracklisting for the same company's 3CD Greatest Hits compilation. In 2008 he promoted a Deep Purple convention to celebrate the band's fortieth anniversary that included live performances from Nick Simper, (with his band the Good Old Boys), and Glenn Hughes. It brought together the two former Purple bassists for the first time ever. The Good Old Boys performance was released as Live At The Deep Purple Convention on his own company's record label the following year. It was followed up with another release by Simper - The Deep Purple MKI Songbook - new interpretations of early Purple songs, accompanied by the Austrian band Nasty Habits. A single - 'Roadhouse Blues' - was also released - Simper's first single release in over two decades.In 2010 he started working for Glenn Hughes on his European solo tour, and on the first two Black Country Communion gigs. He was tour manager for both Hughes's 2011 UK electric and acoustic tours and his 2012 double bill dates with Fish.He was also fortunate to be one of a handful of people to witness the last ever live performance by Jon Lord at St Andrew's Church in Nuthurst, Sussex, on 10 July 2011.In 2015 his first major book on Deep Purple - A Matter Of Fact - a collection of bizarre and curious short stories was published.
Title: The Road of Golden Dust: The Deep Purple Story 1968-76
Author: Bloom, Jerry
ISBN: 9781908724236
Binding:
Publisher: Wymer Publishing
Publication Date: 2015-10-26
Number of Pages: 224
Weight: 0.2677 kg
