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15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
As long as Gillan is singing, rock and roll is not dead, 18 April 2006
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.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Gooder than a good thing..!, 4 Aug 2006
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...
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11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Gillan - Gillan's Inn, 17 April 2006
Ian Gillan is about to release his brand new studio record 'Gillans Inn'. The album revisits a number of songs that have featured Gillan's vocals over the course of his near 40 year career in rock and roll. The brand new recordings on show feature a host of high profile guest musicians and the record is real proof of the camaraderie that is evident in rock circles and also proof of the immense respect shown for one of the greatest rock vocalists of all time.
Unchain Your Brain opens the album and is the first of a trio of songs to feature Joe Satriani. Originally featured on Gillan's 1980 solo record 'Glory Road', this is a fast, upbeat track to really kick the record into motion and the 2006 version is a classic for sure.
Next up is 'Bluesy Blue Sea', another Gillian solo tune this time from 1983's 'Magic'. Featuring IRON MAIDEN's Janick Gers (as did the original), this is one of the highlight tracks of Gillan's solo career and it's re-creation here is just as bluesy and groovy as the original.
The 3rd track is, I suppose, what you would call a new track. 'Day Late and a Dollar Short' was featured on one of Gillan's more laid back records, his 1998 project 'Dreamcatcher'. The song, as with the whole of the Dreamcatcher record has a mesmerising, dreamy feel to it. Special guest (ex SCORPIONS) Uli Jon Roth delivers a killer solo on this one.
Mr.Satriani pops up again for 'Hang Me Out To Dry'. This one originally appeared on 1991's 'Toolbox', at the time, Gillan's last solo album before his second comeback with DEEP PURPLE. Another song with a great vibe, and of course and great solo (you would expect nothing less from Satriani) with a touch of double-tapping to boot.
'Men of War' is next and features another guitar wizard in Steve Morse. Originally from 1981's solo record 'Double Trouble', this is certainly a fun track when it comes to the wild chorus, but also has its laid back moments with lovely clean guitars breaking up the song nicely.
Next up is the album's most sombre moment, the brilliant 'When a Blind Man Cries', featuring the oozing blues magic of Jeff Healey. Originally a hit for DEEP PURPLE in 1973, this is one of their many ageless classics and again the rendition here does full justice to the original.
'Sugar Plum' is the second track to be featured from the Dreamcatcher project. Helped out by his DEEP PURPLE buddies Roger Glover and Ian Paice (as he is on a few tracks on the second half of Gillans Inn), the song again has a nice feel, if slightly progressive.
One of the heaviest tracks on the record is unsurprisingly the BLACK SABBATH classic 'Trashed', from the 1983 'Born Again' album, the only SABBATH record to feature Gillan. Tony Iommi guests on this one, and it's great to hear this song come alive with decent 2006 production from Nick Blagona (the 1983 original production was terrible), thus making it one of my personal highlights of the record.
'No Worries' is the only brand new track on the album, and is another blues rock song to enter the Gillan vault. Making the album a worthwhile purchase for hard-core Gillan fans (they can't miss a new track now can they?), the track features the talents of Michael Jackson (calm down, sorry, its Michael Lee Jackson!!).
Next up is one of the most popular rock songs of all time and certainly one that features the most popular guitar riff. Yes you guessed it, 'Smoke on the Water'. I wouldn't like to guess how many versions of this song are knocking about, but this one seems like a fun version with a definite feeling of the band (Glover and Paice guesting again) having fun in the studio recording it. (and by the way, its a good song, but if you don't know that then I have no idea what you are doing reading this review?!?!?)
'No Laughing in Heaven' appears next and is the album's most light-hearted song, and is a return to Gillan's solo era (from the 1981's 'Double Trouble'). Once again there is a lovely feeling of fun and there may be no laughing in heaven but you can guarantee there was a bit of laughing in the studio when this track was being laid down (with Glover and Paice again present)...hilarious stuff and even funnier at times than an IRON MAIDEN B-side!
Joe Satriani returns for his swansong on 'Speed King'. Another well known DEEP PURPLE monster track. This version of the song almost has a feel of the band jamming and again having a great deal of fun. The sound of Satriani's axe continues to ooze with class as the ever maturing voice of Gillan rips through every note, sounding equally as fresh as he did 36 years ago on the original.
The album's sole ballad is 'Loving on Borrowed Time', and it's also the sole inclusion from Gillan's 1997 solo album 'Naked Thunder'. A brilliant song, full of emotion and beautifully recorded with additions of orchestral strings, an Indian sitar and featuring a lovely electric and accoustic solos from Steve Morse and Uli Jon Roth.
The final track is a must for DEF LEPPARD fans as frontman Joe Elliot lends a hand to harmonise the lead vocals. The albums only true cover, this is of course an original country classic from the legendary Bob Dylan and it closes the album with the intention of leaving that upbeat, fun feeling and it certainly succeeds in doing exactly that.
Now for a real bonus, the 'Gillans Inn' release comes on a dual sided disc. On the B-side (how long is it since I've said that!?), is a DVD featuring a 5.1 mix of the album and plenty more bonus clips of the album recording sessions.
Overall, this is an absolutely essential purchase for any fans of rock and roll. It is a well produced reflection of great material from a great career of a great rock and roll superstar. The mood of the album is one of fun, and you'll certainly have fun listening to this one. Turn up the volume, let your hair down and raise a pint of beer, for this album will truly take you to Gillan's Inn and you'll be leaving their in the best of rock and roll spirit!
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