In 2024, Deep Purple celebrated the fortieth anniversary of their reunion by releasing their 23rd album, =1. Some band members thought the 1984 reunion would fizzle out after one album, but it flourished despite internecine strife, illness and the loss of two founders in Richie Blackmore and Jon Lord. As other members approached eighty years of age, they still succeeded in producing albums that were to be among their most successful.

This book tells this sometimes bizarre post-reunion story through their music and, to an extent, their touring. Neither was always completely successful, as the band seemed to be either searching for synergy in their sound or for a commercial product that did not sacrifice artistic integrity. The lyrics are especially valuable because they reveal the hardship of the road and insights into their own growing frustrations with society. In doing this, the band has not just resurfaced but written a new story for a new audience.

All these things make this phase of Deep Purple an interesting study, not just of a band loved by so many but also of musicians who just wanted to play their music and sometimes found that it was not quite as simple as that.

Phil Kafcaloudes is an author and journalist who was an arts editor at the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, reviewing music, theatre and film. He presented the ABC’s international breakfast program for nine years, interviewing James Bonds and rock stars as well as presidents and prime ministers. In 2011, his novel Someone Else’s War was published in Australasia and translated into Greek for Europe. His adaptation of the novel was shortlisted for the Cooper Prize for Playwriting and had its first public performance in 2024. He plays drums and bass, although not nearly as well as the people he writes about.