10. Gillan Gillan 1978 (East World)
Hard Rock
A samurai in the land of the rising sun.
Overview
Since departing from Deep Purple back in 1973, it had taken Ian Gillan a number of years to get back into the swing of things and that was on the slightly unexpected Ian Gillan Band project, which despite being loud when they wanted to be, was more of a jazz-fusion project with an experimental slant to them. The first album of the Ian Gillan Band had been the
Child in Time album (see review) and this was the best album of the three he did in this set-up, as the other two released in 1977
Clear Air Turbulence and the superbly named
Scarabus did very little for me. The Ian Gillan Band with its highly noted session players, always felt like a temporary project anyway and it was no surprise that Ian Gillan now under the moniker of just Gillan, would eventually drift back onto more familiar ground and that would be a more standard hard rock sound. His second post-Deep Purple project would be his most popular stint as a solo artist and it would be all change with his array of backing musicians as well. The Gillan band would go through a number of personnel changes over the ensuing years, but keyboardist Colin Towns would be the crucial element on these Gillan albums, along with bassist John McCoy. The majority of the songs are joint Ian Gillan and Colin Towns compositions, which show just how influential Colin Towns would be for Ian Gillan here. This debut album though, is blighted by a couple of setbacks for Ian Gillan. Firstly despite the reputation of Ian Gillan, this album was patched in for a Japanese only release, which certainly hampered sales in the two most important markets the US and the UK. Secondly apart from the aforementioned Colin Towns and bassist John McCoy, the other band members would also be replaced by the following year. With all this occurring, it was therefore quite appropriate that the album cover had a crazed Syd Barrett type image dominating it! There is also a much longer 1993 version of this album, which also combines tracks from 1979’s
Mr. Universe album (Ian Gillan’s best and most popular solo release) and to confuse matters even more, a number of the tracks on the Gillan debut would reappear and be recorded with a different line-up for the following year’s
Mr. Universe album, which of course had been slated for an international release.
Ian Gillan- Vocals
Steve Byrd- Guitar
John McCoy- Bass
Colin Towns- Keyboards
Liam Genocky- Drums
Pete Barnacle- Drums
Production- Paul ‘Chas’ Watkins
Album
Second Sight- With its almost
Tubular Bells atmospheric start, the song then takes on a familiar Rainbow type stance along with some good work by Colin Towns on keyboards, who also has sole writing credits here and the track then leads into…..
Secret of the Dance- We’re now into familiar territory here and that means Deep Purple territory. The song has some a real up-tempo gusto about it and sets the tone for much of the album to come.
I’m Your Man- A plodding and melodic effort, which again falls into some more typical Ian Gillan style singing material and it’s one of the more thorough efforts on the album as well.
Dead of Night- Similar to the previous track as Ian Gillan tells a tale in his familiar and plodding style.
Fighting Man- The second song solely accredited to Colin Towns, so it’s no surprise that the piano features highly on the song and at more than 7 minutes it was obvious that this was pencilled in to be the most accomplished song on the whole album and the song is a true treasure!
Message in a Bottle- An energetic album track that kicks off the second side of the album and a song that would feature on the following year’s
Mr. Universe.
Not Weird Enough- Typical 1970s rock fare here, that is both fun and easy on the ear and probably the most laid back track on the whole album.
Bringing Joanna Back- With some crunchy guitar the song is another melodic effort.
Abbey of Thelema- With a subdued piano intro and some nice touches by Colin Towns, this song is probably the strongest track on the second side of the album.
Back in the Game- As expected the album closer is a pacey effort that does the job and enables the album to finish on a high.
Verdict
There is no shadow of a doubt that Ian Gillan on this debut album, was attempting to realign himself with the Deep Purple sound that had initially made him a superstar back in the early 1970s. So this shift in direction is clearly evident on the pacey and frenzied second track “Secret of the Dance” which ends with some great screaming by Ian Gillan and this same frenzied approach can also be heard on tracks like “Message in a Bottle” and even more so on the album closer “Back in the Game”. This is all then contrasted with the plodding, melodic and heavy songs like “I’m Your Man” and the similar sounding “Dead of Night”. The Colin Towns composed “Fighting Man” is a seven minute slow-burner which focuses on Ian Gillan’s singing and has him singing in some of his cleanest vocals ever and in fact both Colin Towns and Ian Gillan are all over this song, with of course features Ian Gillan’s trademark screaming at its end! The song also happens to be the most accomplished and best effort on the whole album as well. As for the second side of the album, the most interesting song here is probably the “Abbey of Thelema” and that is largely thanks to Colin Town’s great keyboard work.
Gillan might not be an essential hard rock listen, but it’s an album that the casual hard rock listener will enjoy, as the songs are both melodic and heavy, but still easy on the ear. As for Ian Gillan and Deep Purple fans, then It’s certainly an essential listen along with its follow-up the far better known
Mr. Universe (which of course has numerous songs that were featured on Gillan) In fact no rock fan should miss out on hearing “Fighting Man” which in hindsight sounds like one of those powerful pumping slower tracks that were the highlights of the decade and it’s a song that a band like UFO would have been proud to have called their own as well. Overall
Gillan is a steady album in Ian Gillan’s somewhat disjointed solo career and in hindsight Ian Gillan out of the three vocalists that fronted the three biggest hard rock/heavy metal British bands of the 1970s, would see Ian Gillan’s as being the least appreciated out of a trio that consisted of Robert Plant and Ozzy Osbourne, and for that reason alone Ian Gillan’s solo work is probably the most rewarding of the three as well.