1977 was a bit of a turning point fan club wise. Issue 9 saw us take the plunge into a bigger A4 page format, achieved simply by doing the artwork on an A3 sheet and reducing it at the copying stage to cram as much in as possible (nothing changes then). So although it was an eight page magazine, this was equal to 16 pages of the previous format. The layout was landscape rather than upright, mostly because I just liked the idea. It lasted like this for another 20 issues but did later cause problems for the printers. This issue also had a glossy print stapled in and a postcard of the second Rainbow line-up, neither of which are available any longer. 1977 was also the year which saw me plunge in and help on the first vinyl anthology of rare Deep Purple material (Powerhouse). This was all sparked by a story in Issue 9 that a four LP box set was being prepared which would include the Cal Jam set, some rarities and two albums of stuff off existing albums. I had the cheek to complain that this was not what fans wanted. Although we supplied the info for the album¹s contents and did the sleeve notes, we had no input into the way the material was used or the cover (nor did we get a fee for the writing - lesson learnt). Still, it was a start! Issue 9 was also chock full of news about all Purple band members so although we were still nominally a Blackmore magazine, all the band were now being covered. I was nearing the end of college so time was a bit tight as I tried to finish projects off for final assessment but even so it was our biggest issue up to then. Inside people were griping about Made In Europe, especially at the price - £3.60p for a single album! Concert wise we trekked down to the Albert Hall again to catch Jon Lord doing a version of Sarabande live supporting David Bedford, but it was something of a disappointment and quite a costly trip for us at over £16 all in... The other bad financial news was that someone shopped me to the authorities for those tapes I'd offered in Issue 6. A hefty fine was dropped on me out of the blue. The irony of this was that I'd been taping some of the Purple bootlegs for the record company with a view to getting some rare stuff issued! In the end they put in a good word for me and the case was dropped. Which was just as well; student grants might have been more generous in those days but they didn't stretch to covering fines (and anyway I'd spent most of it on a Pentax SLR for gigs so I was almost broke!).

"The band arrived in Australia on the18th November, both concerts within my reach had sold out. Luckily they decided to include an extra afternoon concert starting at 5pm on 19th November. As it was an extra, they weren't exactly leaping about or delivering manic solos, as they had 8pm to think about. This didn't detract from the concert though, great stuff! The set was basically the same as the UK Tour, but no encore. During Carey's solo intro to 'Stargazer' a broomstick appeared and started poking him in various places (!)...lurking in the shadows were the culprits, Dio and Blackmore! There couldn't have been more than 200 people there, of whom only half a dozen had any idea of what was going on. Ritchie didn't wreck a single guitar in three gigs in Adelaide." Howie Kehl.

"It would appear that I'm one of the few people who actually enjoyed the last Deep Purple UK Tour. I saw the Saturday Wembley concert (reckoned to be one of the only good ones) and I particularly liked 'Lady Luck' and 'Love Child'. One thing I've disliked in the magazine is the slanging of Tommy Bolin. He was a great guitarist, sadly no more. I hope he can rest in peace now." Kazen Modaberi.

Several people wrote in about Tommy Bolin's death. I'm not going to become a hypocrite and say I never meant anything I wrote. However it was sad news all the same. I just got nothing out of his playing, it wasn't his fault, obviously a lot of people did, and will continue to do so from his records. I play 'Come Taste The Band' a lot now, it seems the most honest Purple LP since 'Made In Japan'. I can listen to it and imagine them having a great time recording it. It was on the live scene that it really fell apart.