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Stormbringer book to be published
A new book about Stormbringer is being prepared for publication in March 2021. The author of is Laura Shenton, whose Purple family credentials include a Cozy Powell biography and a Tommy Bolin one.
The publisher’s blurb reads:
In 1974, Stormbringer was a pivotal album for Deep Purple. The second one made by the Mk3 lineup of Ritchie Blackmore, Jon Lord, Ian Paice, Glenn Hughes and David Coverdale, it was ultimately the album that would see Blackmore call it a day with Deep Purple until the Mk2 lineup reformed in 1984.
Blending a range of styles across heavy rock, funk and soul, Stormbringer is a very unique Deep Purple album and there is a lot to be said about the story behind it. In this book, music author Laura Shenton MA LLCM DipRSL [that’s a lot of letters! — ed.] offers an in-depth perspective on Deep Purple’s ninth album from a range of angles including how it came to be, how it was presented and received at the time (live as well as on record), and what it means in terms of Deep Purple’s legacy today.
As the author explains: “Basically, the book covers how the album was made, what was going on with the music in terms of the artist’s intentions, how it did musically and commercially and what happened next.”
The narrative is essentially driven by contemporary interviews with the artists with small bits of music theory where relevant… in some cases they delve into the structure / key signatures / time signatures, based on the original sheet music without straying away from being an engaging read for non musicians.
What: Deep Purple Stormbringer – In-depth by Laura Shenton
When: March 12. 2021
Where: Wymer Publishing
ISBN: 978-1-912782-60-4
Price: £14.99
Format: Paperback, 216 x 138 mm, 184 pages, including an 8 page colour plate section
The book can be preordered from the publisher.
Thanks to Yvonne for the info.
Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing
I’ve read her Bolin book. It’s all a bit academic and learned (with emotional input outbursts from her where she feels Tommy was perceived unfairly), but it’s a smooth read. Nothing really revelatory, but she makes her case.
Stormbringer – had it come out as the intended double album – could have been DP’s Physical Graffiti or White Album in diversity. Slightly decadent and saturated, but a testimony to the band’s breadth and talent. Just imagine what kind of an album it could have been, had some of the song ideas that later blossomed on Rainbow’s debut, Hughes’ Play Me Out, Coverdale’s early solo albums and the PAL album found their way on a second Stormbringer disc!
December 21st, 2020 at 22:08I read her Cozy book, learnt a couple of things I didn’t know, but overall it was very poor. So very little info on so much from his life and really just quotes slapped together. I wont be buying her new book
December 22nd, 2020 at 10:09In summer 1975, I bought a “Stormbringer” LP, everything was normal..to B5 song, constantly returning that song on my turntable, 10,100..I destroyed record, I had to buy a new one.
For emotional magic Led Zeppelin needed (7:55) for “Stairway to Heaven”. Deep Purple half less (3:13) 🙂
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all
December 22nd, 2020 at 11:20Bob Worm is correct in his review of her Cozy book – I gave it a 1 star (out of 5) review on the book website. It was a mash of magazine quotes (which most of us have read previously) with no direct interviews with anybody associated with Cozy Powell or from that era.
December 23rd, 2020 at 00:03I can’t see that the Stormbringer book will be any different but I’d like to be proved wrong because the M3 version of DP deserves better coverage than it seems to get.
Stormbringer was a disappointment . All those ballads. You can see Hughes taking control of the group , forcing Ritchie out to bring his drug addict friend Bolin in which ultimately destroyed the group . ok Soldier of Fortune saves the lp from the bin
December 23rd, 2020 at 13:56I have also read the Cozy and Tommy books and basically agree with Uwe, Bob and Mark and their assessment of the books. They are a light read with not much for the longtime fan that has already consumed this info. Lot’s of repetition, but there was the occasional nugget or 2. I was also disappointed with some of the Photo Quality in the Tommy book (Talk about the Teaser Cover and then have what looks like an 8 or 16 Bit photo that you can’t really see well as an example). And I did not like that she did not want to discuss Tommy’s drug problems any further but then goes into them where necessary for the story with little context. I was happy to buy them new to support the topics and let them know that there is a market for it, albeit a small one most likely.
I will be buying the Stormbringer book to support the topic, and hopefully it is more than just a book of interview quotes that I have already consumed repeatedly. I am not all that familiar with it being considered as a Double Album so hopefully she goes into a little more detail about that.
Happy X-Mas and a Merry New Year to you all.
December 23rd, 2020 at 17:28@5. You are simply wrong here. Stormbringer is an excellent album with many great songs on it. In my book all the mkIII & mkIV albums (including Made in Europe) are very good.
December 23rd, 2020 at 17:44I remember buying Stormbringer when it first came out. The cashier told me “Don’t buy it, it’s crap”! I got a little mad and told him I would make up my own mind. I took it home, put it on and, sure enough, it was crap. To this day it’s my least favorite DP album.
December 23rd, 2020 at 18:32Stormbringer is a great album, the musical diversity has grown on me and Ritchie plays brilliantly as he always does. I was pleased someone had written a book on Cozy but I think the definitive biography is still there to be done. I’m not sure a similar book on Stormbringer will be on my wish list.
December 23rd, 2020 at 21:11I like Stormbringer, I remember listening to it loud with a strobe light going!! WOW lol! @5 Certainly Hughes had more influence but I doubt he forced Ritchie out, but MK IV, I agree was a large factor in the decline of Purple, but Rainbow was there (thank goodness) to pick up the slack until Perfect Strangers and now the Morse era!!
December 25th, 2020 at 12:36Stormbringer is a great album without the Deep Purple signature. AFAIK Blackmore was writing the songs to Rainbow and not to DP mainly. All I think is the same as Mark Sherratt just said about Hughs. But I need to say the guitar solos still amazing.
December 25th, 2020 at 20:34Agree with the comments from those who read the Cozy book. It was a cut and paste job from old interviews with very little connective tissue added. This author seems to be able to use a library to find old published stuff so the book is useful if you have never read the interviews or don’t want or know how to find the stuff yourself. That’s not nothing but as a ‘book’ on Cozy I thought it was a real disappointment. Suspect Stormbringer will be more of the same as author finds a market and churns out variants of same.
December 26th, 2020 at 15:04Stormbringer is an underrated album. For me it is a classic Purple album. Innovation at that time: The crossover from hardrock to funk blues an soul. Hold on is my favourite : )
January 5th, 2021 at 00:46Will definitely skip this one. That Cozy book of hers is one of the worst I’ve ever purchased. Very poorly done. It’s so bad and all over the place I’ve stopped reading it. We need a proper writer on Cozy , like Jerry Bloom or Greg Prato. Even a Bolin/Rainbow style Prato book would be great .
January 10th, 2021 at 09:01Cannot drum up any enthusiasm for another cut & paste effort. Apart from the title track and Lady Double Dealer (great song live) I thought back then, as now, that it was a poor album and not at all enjoyable – not played it since about a month after it was released! Diversity is great, and we’ve had heaps of that over the years from all DP line-ups, but I find all the other songs on this album very dull indeed and play no part in what I think of as Deep Purple.
January 11th, 2021 at 09:53My favourite Purple album.
Paice mixing in a tambourine on every snaredrum beat is a bit daft.
The production is Purple’s best.
I wish Simon Robinson would do a book on every Purple album, 1968-1975.
January 24th, 2021 at 09:41I wasn’t particularly ecstatic about the album when I first bought it in 1986, having really loved the title track on Deepest Purple. Apart from the title track its not exactly ‘hard rock’ is it! But it slowly grew on me, and is now one of my favourite albums. I wouldn’t be without it.
March 4th, 2021 at 17:40Not sure how the author can wring a whole book out of the story behind it, though. It has all been written about so many times.