Gillan's Inn

I simply love the concept behind this album. It's so much more original than producing just another studio album. Get all your mates with whom you've worked in the past and re-record those classic tracks. The dual disc CD/DVD format is great because you have the CD music for the home/car and the DVD to see how it was all done. I'm not especially a Gillan fan but having seen him live with Purple, have nothing but the greatest admiration for what someone once described as the best white blues voice in the business. Seems a really nice bloke too, I mean who else would advertise on a local radio station for people to come in and record the backing vocals and harmonies to `Smoke on the Water'?

I heard about Ian's `forthcoming' album on Radio 2 (of all stations) and made a mental note to look out for it. So glad I did. I could run through all the tracks ad infinitum, suffice to say that Jeff Healy's guitar solo on "When A Blind Man Cries" is one of the most moving I've ever heard and worth the purchase price alone. And if `Smoke on the Water' is your thing, then you can choose which legendary guitarist from Healey through Morse through Satriani does the honours. Did I mention that Messrs Paice, Glover and Lord feature too? What more do you want?! Simply inspired...

Ian Gillan the elder statesman of Rock, the voice of Jesus, on the original Jesus Christ Superstar album and of course, sings for the legendary Deep Purple. Between Gillan's solo career and his work with Deep Purple, he has sold over one hundred twenty million albums. He has inspired generations of singers. Luciano Pavoritta called Ian Gillan a genius and David Gilmour recently said, "as long as Gillan is singing, rock and roll is not dead".

So, after 40 years in the biz, how do you celebrate it? Well, you have a big party, invite some friends along and start remaking some of your finest songs. The most obvious thing that strikes you when checking out "Gillan's Inn" dual disc is the all-star cast of fellow musicians, everyone from Joe Satriani to Jeff Healey to Ronnie James Dio to Tony Iommi to Jon Lord and the list goes on and on. This could have easily been released as a greatest hits album with various productions over the course of 40 years, and Gillan's certainly had the solo career to merit one. But of course, he did not!

"Gillan's Inn" is an IN YOUR FACE rock album with an hour of great songs! One can really appreciate how crisp Ian's vocals are on the screamers, and on all the terrific songs from his solo career. Gillan and company more than do justice, adding twists on the original versions with a better production than some of these tracks originally had. One reason this project is so vital as a retrospective is that Ian Gillan's solo career was unnoticed in the States, due to the lack of promotion, even though he had great success elsewhere else.

The album starts off with a one-two punch, "Unchain Your Brain" & "Bluesy Blue Sea," and the first thing that I noticed was the sheer power of the production. Pay no attention to the Amazon samples for production value. The instruments sound great, Gillan's voice is right on the money and the keyboards are stunning. The next pair of songs, "Day Late And A Dollar Short" & "Hang Me Out To Dry" are a couple of re-workings from the 1990's. The keyboards supply a lush background, and aid the songs well. Then comes "Men Of War," one of the great songs from the Double Trouble sessions, and once again this is a definite highlight. The vocals are simply amazing!

Then it's time for a stunning live version of the beautiful Deep Purple b-side, "When A Blind Man Cries." This features Jeff Healey and former Deep Purple keyboardist Jon Lord. A very moving performance. That's followed by "Sugar Plum," another song from the album "Dreamcatcher," and this is a huge improvement, grooving along with Purple bassist Roger Glover and drummer Ian Paice giving it a significant lift. Next up, is a the great opener from Black Sabbath's 1983 "Born Again" album, when Gillan was their singer. Tony Iommi guests on guitar with Glover and Paice again in the rhythm section department, a stunning performance overall. What's this one, "No Worries," the only new song in the collection, kind of laid back, with a nice groove and mantra.

We'll who needs another version of "Smoke On The Water," but it is a good version, and on the DVD side you can swap guitarists if you`d like! Now, back to the early `80's with "No Laughing In Heaven," this is close to the original, but with more volume. Then, it's onto 1970's "In Rock" opener "Speed King," with Joe Satriani on guitar. Wow, that's what a call Rock 'n' Roll.

Then it's a welcome appearance from the "Naked Thunder" album of 1990, it's that beautiful balled "Loving On Borrowed Time," a very pleasant reworking that goes through a plethora of emotions. Lastly, as the bar tender says, "last call" Gillan stumbles across Joe Elliot and they do an Everly Brothers take on Bob Dylan's "I'll Be Your Baby Tonight." It's a song Ian did some 40 years ago with his first band The Javelins. Luckily every one of the recordings bring something fresh to the table; a new perspective.

The DVD side of this dual disc is a treasure trove of gems for even the most jaded Gillan/Purple fan. The features, interviews and commentary provide plenty of insight into the career of Ian Gillan. One nice extra is the "choose your guitarist" Smoke On The Water. A great idea, so each time you select a guitarist the song starts at the top, so you're going to be sick of the song if you try to compare all the solo spots in one sitting. My advice would be to play one version a day. Anyway, the menus are presented using imagery and sounds fitting for a pub type theme. I should stop, and just let you discover this stuff for yourself. "Gillan's Inn" has something for every rock fan to treasure.

To sum up, this album most certainly does not disappoint with all the audio and behind the scenes videos of all these rock icons working together. It takes the viewer into the studios to see how such an album was made bit by bit, it is pioneering.

A magnificent moment captured for all time. Thanks Ian.

Ian Gillan is still one of the world's greatest and talented singers. This is well demonstrated here. However, many of his more popular songs are excluded, for what I believe are legal complications with record labels. The Deep Purple songs are suprisingly the most average performances here, apart from Demon's Eye, which is a very good rendition of a forgotten song. When A Blind Man Cries is a very good vocal performance, but the production of this album (too bassy and quiet), doesen't suit the song. Smoke On The Water is an average remake, but breaths a bit of freshness into a VERY overplayed song. Men of War features him screaming with total abandon, something which he still does better than anyone else.