Ian Gillan - Highway Star: a Life in Rock [Special Package] [DVD]

I just had a look at the new DVD, Ian Gillan: Highway Star - A Journey in Rock celebrating Ian's 40 years in the music business. I must say that the DVD is brilliant! This is an excellent and very personal look at the man, his music, his successes, and his failures. The story is told though very open and sometimes uncomfortably-honest interviews with Ian himself, of course, but also Ian's mum, Roger Glover, Jon Lord, Ian Paice, Don Airey, Steve Morse, Joe Satriani, Steve Morris, Tony Iommi, Ronnie Dio, Luciano Pavarotti, Colin Towns, Joe Elliot, "Funky" Claude Nobs, the beautiful and elegant Bron Gillan, and the late George Best.

The DVD is a thorough look at Ian's career from his first bands, which he fronted as Jess Thunder and Garth Rockett, on through Episode Six, Deep Purple, and his solo efforts. There is some amazing footage from all phases, including some great photos and rare footage that I have never seen before. There is even some footage from Ian's own private collection, never before seen, that is offered here. Some of the footage here includes television performances with Episode Six, great footage from Deep Purple's Bananas and Rapture tours, footage of the original Ian Gillan Band, and parts of a local news documentary showing rehearsals for the Gillan album Magic, showing the band tearing through a version of Lucille. Fans will be exceptionally pleased.

The interviews with former and current band members are particularly enlightening. Ian himself comes across as a very grounded, very down-to-earth, and open type of person. Of course, this will not really come as a surprise to those of us who know him. But the interviews with Roger, Paicey, and Jon offer a lot of insight into the infamous feud between Ritchie Blackmore and Ian. For those who might think that this perspective is skewed to make Ian look innocent and blameless, you would be wrong. They are very honest and open about how things went down. There is also some very enlightening hindsight offered about the Joe Lynn Turner version of the band. Joe Satch offers some great insight into the dynamics of the band as Purple were dealing with the loss of Ritchie and striving to prove that the band could exist without him. Then Steve Morse and Don Airey offer their own insight about coming into a band with such a history as Purple has and how the band's dynamic has assimilated their own styles and personalities.

There is also the discussion of the dissolution of the Gillan band. Again, this offers not only Ian's perspective on this important and uncomfortable part of his career, but also offers Gillan keyboardist Colin Towns' perspective on the matter. Of course, Colin's opinion is quite different, which has been aired and shared in the press by himself and John McCoy with no small amount of bitterness.

Of course, no documentary on Ian's career would be complete without some examination of his time in Black Sabbath. Many anecdotes about the rehearsals and recording of Born Again as well as the tour that followed are related by Gillan, his lovely wife Bron, and the inimitable Tony Iommi. I laughed so hard during this section of the documentary that I had tears in my eyes! The antics that Sabbath got up to out-Tapped Spinal Tap! And watching Tony relate the most mind-bendingly absurdities in his own quiet, soft-spoken manner made it even funnier.

The second disc is called End of Tour Blues - On the Road with Deep Purple. This disc offers lots of backstage footage showing the band arriving, setting up, and preparing for concerts in various locales. It provides a nice contrast to how Ian, as the singer, prepares for the gig as opposed to the other lads. It's also nice to have Ian himself guiding through his day as he prepares for the show, finding out how to get to the stage, taking in the ambiance and spirit of the arena, and quietly meditating to mentally and spiritually prepare for the performance. This disc includes lots of pro-shot onstage performances, offering several for each of five or six different venues including Moscow, St. Petersburg, and Cardiff among others.

In all, I can say that this is one of the best rock documentaries I have seen and I whole-heartedly recommend it to all fans of Deep Purple and of Ian Gillan. I understand the same production company is giving Jethro Tull's Ian Anderson the same treatment, and with this DVD as an indication, it should be great as well. The lighting, editing, and creative shot blocking is some of the best I've seen, the clarity of the picture is superb, and the interviewers certainly know which questions to ask. The DVD itself is a great bargain for the money, clocking in at a monstrous six-plus hours of material. And throughout it all, Ian's love of rock and roll and for Deep Purple shines through like a bright, enthusiastic, and unfailing beacon of light! This is a must-have!!!

Feb, 2007

Brent Soileau

Deep Purple Hub

www.deeppurplehub.proboards31.com

Visit to read or listen to my interview with Ian from Feb 28, 2007

Long awaited release, this double DVD is surely to be treasured -for the obvious reasons- by Gillan/Deep Purple fans - BUT there are some things that will put off the ones who expect a 'real' journey from past to present. The first dvd offers three hours of exausting 'de profundis' Gillan interview and storytelling of 'why' and 'how' with DP and about the rest of the bands he was involved in, while we get comments from the members of DP ( Richie Blackmore's NOT included, of course); We also get a lot of jokes, behind the stage stories and friends' talking about Ian - so far so good. What we DON'T get is archive footage from all these years.

There's only glimpses and shortcuts which prove that there is a lot of material, but for some reason we don't get one single COMPLETE performance from The Javellins, or from Ian Gillan Band or from Gillan days - actually the best chance to include such valuable stuff was this double dvd...

And then the second dvd comes with another three hours of the most recent Deep Purple world tour performances - I have nothing against the DP of the 2005, but this release supposed to be the journey of Ian Gillan from 1966 up to now - so, I was disappointed, because what I really wanted to enjoy is stuff that is rarely seen or broadcasted from the past years. Of course, the whole release is a must for Gillan/DP admirers - but it could be so much better, regarding these six hours...

Being a bit of a lapsed Purple fan, starting from an almost unhealthy worship of everything they did to a more recent general respect, I was very curious to see what exactly this DVD was about.
Having just been through the whole thing I must say that for anyone with a keen interest in the whys and whens and hows of this fantastic band there's only one choice - buy this.
As will be no surprise, Ian Gillan comes accross as that strange mixture of a complex but at the same time no nonsense personality, clearly immersed in what he does, and with a high degree of respect for the fans. It's true that the whole thing misses any personal input whatsoever from Richie Blackmore, but then what should we expect? Nevertheless contributions from everyone else concerned gives a fairly full picture of the frictions that have become legendary, without laying the blame at any one person's door. The final verdict on Ian Gillan's part in the feud is certainly not that of the innocent victim, but more of a clash of two very strong but disparate personalities, and with a general feeling of regret that such creative personalities were not able to do even greater things over a longer term relationship.
One refreshing surprise was to see the latest lineup playing together. This has more than tempted me to get out and see them at the next available opportunity.
In short, if you like Deep Purple, in any of its incarnations this is definitely something to consider very seriously indeed, and if you are looking to buy something for someone who likes Deep Purple then just get this.