As requested, here’s ”GILLAN – The Album Collection”, including some of the best yet underrated UK hard rock albums from the late ’70s / early ’80s from Ian Gillan’s second post-Purple project GILLAN.
”GILLAN – The Album Collection” a 63-track remastered 6-CD box set, houses all five UK studio albums by the legendary rock powerhouse, each in their own mini-LP picture sleeve replications as well as bonus disc ‘For Gillan Fans Only’.
GILLAN album reissues on CD always suffered from the analog-to-digital transfer resulting in poor sounding discs. And while ”GILLAN – The Album Collection” doesn’t include bonus tracks, it’s the best you can get in terms of sound quality thanks to the remastering.
Perhaps it’s because they didn’t last long, but Gillan have always been unfairly ranked behind Rainbow and Whitesnake among the bands formed by Purple alumni. What ”GILLAN – The Album Collection” proves is that those albums Gillan released during that brief period are all of a high quality.
Led by the man who had sung Strange Kind Of Woman during Deep Purple’s glory days, Gillan was a strange kind of band. Fronted by one of the most famous rock stars in the world, their rough-and-ready albums sounded as if they’d been knocked out quick before the local boozer shut its doors. And they were a funny looking bunch: portly bassist John McCoy could have passed for a wrestler; guitarist Bernie Tormé wore a pirate’s eye-patch.
Formed in 1978, the band’s identity was informed by its leader’s blokeish persona. In marked contrast to his former Purple bandmate and nemesis Ritchie Blackmore, who ruled Rainbow with a rod of iron and a high-minded artistic sensibility, Ian Gillan created a rock band as unpretentious as Status Quo, with a drinking-club camaraderie that soaked into the music.
Gillan as a band released their first album “Gillian” only in Japan, Australia and New Zealand in 1978, but the album sold well in the UK as an import, aided by positive press reviews. We already featured the LP here at plotn08.org in remastered form.
1979’s Mr. Universe is Gillan’s second album, and the first issued in the UK. This album cemented the classic line up of former Deep Purple vocalist Ian Gillan, guitarist Bernie Torme, bassist John McCoy, pianist Colin Towns and drummer Mick Underwood.
The combination of Torme’s guitar and Towns’ gliding keyboards were a tireless complement to Ian’s inimitable vocals. Songs like the hustling Secret Of The Dance, the snapping Fighting Man and the elegant title track had a lively, rich appeal.
High energy classic hard rock from beginning to end.
Issued in 1980, at the height of the NWoBHM, Glory Road took Gillan to new levels of energy and success, cementing them as Top Of The Pops regulars.
Glory Road held its own in a year that delivered so many classic albums. It saw the band really moving up a gear, with the frenetic Unchain Your Brain, the grinding No Easy Way and the sleazy Sleeping On The Job; a masterclass. Classic British hard rock at its best.
Glory Road also appeared in a limited edition with the bonus LP album ‘For Gillan Fans Only’, featuring B-sides, studio outtakes and specially recorded material, interspersed with quips and irrelevance, all showcasing the band’s creativity and humour. This also features the side project The Split Knee Loons.
There’s as well as a fine cover of Elvis’s Trying To Get To You.
Future Shock, in ’81, maintained the creative pace. The scathing No Laughing In Heaven showcased the vocalist’s views on religion, while New Orleans was a blazing version of the Gary U.S. Bonds hit and the title track is a bustling anthem.
The futuristic artwork is regarded as one of the worst covers in rock history, but the music inside rocks.
Gillan’s third album in 15 months saw this 1981 double album Double Trouble feature new guitarist Janick Gers (later of Iron Maiden), and a slightly more melodic approach.
As the title suggests, was a double LP. The first record featured new studio material, continuing the momentum of the previous albums with the snapping passion of I’ll Rip Your Spine Out and the humorous edge of Hadely Be Bop.
The second record was live, mostly taken from the band’s Reading Festival performance in August of that year. It also introduced Gers, who had taken over from Tormé and had settled in quickly.
Gers came into his own on 1982’s Magic, which proved to be the Gillan band’s final album. They most melodic and underrated album, it featured the blistering Demon Driver and a cover of Stevie Wonder’s Living For The City.
Also there was a more progressive aspect to the music here, which suited the way the band were developing, and Demon Driver and Bluesy Blue Sea were among the finest songs Gillan had ever done. The catalogue ended on a high.
After this album Ian joined Black Sabbath and then a reformed Deep Purple.
”GILLAN – The Album Collection” is a really good release. Five albums here across 6 CD’s, a career captured in a box. And the music shows why Gillan were – indeed are – so beloved.
HIGHLY Recommended
1979 – Gillan – Mr. Universe
01 – Second Sight
02 – Secret Of The Dance
03 – She Tears Me Down
04 – Roller
05 – Mr. Universe
06 – Vengeance
07 – Puget Sound
08 – Dead Of Night
09 – Message In A Bottle
10 – Fighting Man
1980 – Gillan – Glory Road
01 – Unchain Your Brain
02 – Are You Sure
03 – Time And Again
04 – No Easy Way
05 – Sleeping On The Job
06 – On The Rocks
07 – If You Believe Me
08 – Running, White Face, City Boy
09 – Nervous
1980 – Gillan – For Gillan Fans Only
01 – Higher And Higher
02 – Your Mother Was Right
03 – Redwatch
04 – Abbey Of Thalema
05 – Trying To Get To You
06 – Come Tomorrow
07 – Dragon’s Tongue
08 – Post Fade Brain Damage
09 – Egg Timer
10 – Harry Lime Theme
1981 – Gillan – Future Shock
01 – Future Shock
02 – Nightride Out Of Phoenix
03 – (The Ballad Of) The Lucitania Express
04 – No Laughing In Heaven
05 – Sacre Bleu
06 – New Orleans
07 – Bite The Bullet
08 – If I Sing Softly
09 – Don’t Want The Truth
10 – For Your Dreams
1981 – Gillan – Double Trouble
CD 1:
01 – I’ll Rip Your Spine Out
02 – Restless
03 – Men Of War
04 – Sunbeam
05 – Nightmare
06 – Hadely Bop Pop
07 – Life Goes On
08 – Born To Kill
CD 2:
01 – No Laughing In Heaven
02 – No Easy Way
03 – Trouble
04 – Mutually Assured Destruction
05 – If You Believe Me
06 – New Orleans
1982 – Gillan – Magic
01 – What’s The Matter
02 – Bluesy Blue Sea
03 – Caught In A Trap
04 – Long Gone
05 – Driving Me Wild
06 – Demon Driver
07 – Living A Lie
08 – You’re So Right
09 – Living For The City
10 – Demon Driver – Reprise