You're browsing through some albums or cds and all of a sudden one crops up which causes a moment of recognition and a feeling of 'haven't I seen this cover before somewhere?' The answer is that you might well have done. This book contains a selection of over 650 album sleeves. The original covers are shown alongside them.

Despite their enormous success across four decades, Deep Purple are a band who have seen only a few books devoted to their history. And none as comprehensive as this. Centred on the band's break-through album Deep Purple In Rock the book concentrates on a crucial two year period for them starting in mid-1969 as they sacked founding members and began a search for replacements. Indifference to their earlier work had left them almost unknown in Europe, and their American label (which had given them a top five hit there) was on the verge of collapse, leaving royalties unpaid. It was only with a...