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 The Purple Collection : ISBN 4-401-61437-2 : 1993
260 by 180mm. Softback. Japan.
Published by The Burrn! Corporation
This looked a terrifying labour of love when it first surfaced as an
import, seemingly a complete discography of the group from year zero
to 1993, with a colour sleeve of every record shown, over 190 pages
or so. And indeed it is an important book for hard core fans. For
each album there are the variations shown, track listings, etc. There
are generous sections of the singles and compilations, and you can
immerse yourself in it for many hours.
However when you do the problems begin to show themselves. The main
one is that the author (sadly his name isn't given in English) is a
massive collector, but if he doesn't have a particular record in his
collection, then it is not included. So unlike (for example) the old
DPAS Discog or Dirk's Singles book, which attempted to be thorough,
this one is in effect a glorified check list. Reaching out to other
collectors would have been a big plus.
The other problem is that a lot of the sleeve variations which are
illustrated are so minor, and the images relatively small, that their
usefulness is sometimes limited. Some CDs are included but not all.
I would still recommend serious collectors who do not have this book
try and track a second hand copy down though, and the DPAS Archives
copy is never far from reach. If you do go hunting, the book should
have the (rather dull) dust-jacket as shown. The actual cover
underneath is the same design in black and white. SR
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