I am a huge Deep Purple fan. I own all of their CDs, including the ones with bonus tracks. However, somehow Ian Gillan's solo material is relatively new to me. I only own a handful of his more recent solo CDs and, of course, the Black Sabbath "Born Again" album. Which of his solo albums are worth picking up? What should I stay away from? Advice, please.
Library Jon
Mr. Universe is the one to get!
Agreed! Mr. Universe is awesome.
Ya know, they're all a bit different, in a couple cases, VERY different.
I like the first 2, Child in Time and Scarabus. Also Magic. I really like most of his material, but the live recordings can be very disappointing.
The last one he did, One Eye To Morocco was great. More bluesy and less intense, but I think that's perfect for him these days.
Have Loved me some Gillan for a really long time.
JG
"MARKLAR!"
I've not heard many, but "Glory Road" is great! I like it better than Scarabus."
"The White Zone is for loading and unloading only. If you got to load or unload go to the White Zone!"
There was The Ian Gillan Band and there was Gillan. Very different animals.
The Ian Gillan Band was funky, jazzy-rock-they put out three studio albums (Child In Time, Scarabus, Clear Air Turbulence) that are quite good but somewhat of an acquired taste, IMO. Ian Gillan was unhappy with the musical direction and just wanted to play rock music again which is why he formed the band Gillan.
I think all the Gillan releases are terrific and you can't go wrong with any of them. My personal favorite is "Glory Road", but if you like one, you should grab all the albums they did from 1979-1982. I would avoid the album called "Toolbox" from 1991, which is under the Gillan moniker but is more of a solo album of generic hard rock, IMO. Nothing like the creativity of the classic Gillan albums. Likewise I would avoid "Naked Thunder". Both of these solo projects were issued after he had been fired from Deep Purple in the early 90s.
If you don't mind pop, the album IG did with Roger Glover called "Accidentally On Purpose" from 1988 is wonderful. And I like his more recent solo album "One Eye To Morocco" as well.
I agree with Steve, the Gillan albums are must haves. Mr Universe, Glory Road, Future Shock, Double Trouble, and Magic are some of the most underrated heavy rock albums of the late '70s/early 80s. Though I have to say, I kind of like the Toolbox & Naked Thunder solo albums-songwriting is not as good as on the Gillan band albums, but the albums rock and Ian's vocals are still quite good. I'd say it was after those albums that he basically stopped (or was unable) to continue screaming on subsequent Deep Purple albums.
The Ian Gillan Band albums have a certain charm to them. Musically, they are very good (he had a great band), though it's strange at times to hear him singing over jazz-fusion/rock/funk arrangements.
Born Again for me will always hold a special place near my heart. Purple and Sabbath have always been my 2 favorite bands, so when Dio left Sabbath, I was crushed, only to find out months later that Gillan would be joining. To say I was pretty psyched would be an understatement. Saw them on tour that year and had a blast. I still think Ian completely blew his voice out on that Born Again tour and was never the same again, though he did sound very good on the Perfect Strangers tour not long after.
"Born Again for me will always hold a special place near my heart. Purple and Sabbath have always been my 2 favorite bands"
Same here, Pete! Which is why it's always a little painful to see Purple Vs Sabbath type threads. Talk about a Sophie's Choice!
I love Born Again as well. That reminds me, I still haven't heard the Ian Gillan/Tony Iommi comp from a year or two ago-I think it was a double CD set. Is it any good?
You've got the Ian Gillan Band which deals a sometimes interesting JR/F
and you've got Gillan who did a mildly interesting hard rock
my music collection increased tenfolds when I switched from drug-addicts to complete nutcases.
Avoid the Ian Gillan Band CD's at all costs. There jazzy version of Child in Time is horrendous!
I remember being way psyched about this, too! I saw the tour and bought the album. Both were horrible, to me. The sound of the album was just a wall of noise and Ian Gillan's voice was shot. I was really surprised about how good his vocals were on Perfect Strangers, though, and all the subsequent Purple albums given that Gillan sounded like a guy gargling on razor blades on Born Again.Originally Posted by sotdude
Yeah Steve, it's well worth getting. The 2 new tracks are very good, and there's some cool unreleased stuff on there, including a couple of Iommi/Hughes tunes that never saw the light of day.
And I think Gillan sounds fantastic on Born Again, but then again, if you don't like his 'screaming' side, I can see why you think that way. Production wise, yes, the album doesn't sound great but the songs are killer, in my view. Apparently the original mix was FAR superior, but got shelved in favor of what was released.
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