Regular readers will know I have been on something of a Ian Gillan fix recently, firstly with the excellent double DVD career documentary ‘Highway Star’ and then the re-issued and expanded version of ‘Gillan’s Inn’. Now Demon have re-issued these seven albums which really do represent the last word in documenting the Ian Gillan Band / Gillan period of IG’s career. I still have hazy memories of seeing Gillan live almost 25 years ago, at the tail end of 1982 when (although we didn’t know it at the time) the band was pretty much on its last legs. I can certainly recall McCoy flying above the stage, IG belting out rock and roll standards ‘Trouble’ and ‘New Orleans’ and a fresh faced Janick Gers playing the guitar with head bowed and making little, if indeed any, eye contact with the crowd (and how times have changed for him).

But of course the post-Purple career of one of rocks greatest vocalists started in an altogether different manner, with IG having decided that the world of Hard Rock was no longer to his liking and opting to go down the road of jazz/rock fusion. And It is with 1976’s ‘Child In Time’ that Demon/Edsel have kicked off this seven album package of re-issues, the majority of which include extra tracks and sleeve notes from the man himself. The CD kicks off with the brief funk rock shuffle of ‘Lay Me Down’, a track which proves to be one of the few highlights of an album that now sounds horribly dated. Apart from the occasional trademark scream this is not the record Deep Purple fans would have been anticipating from their former frontman. The laid back re-working of the title track is delivered at a ponderous pace and the less said about the 12 minute jazz work-out ‘Let It Slide’ the better. It’s pretty fair to say that this one can safely be classed as ‘for completists only’.

With the omission of the two subsequent IGB studio albums, ‘Clear Air Turbulence’ and ‘Scarabus’, you are not really missing a great deal. I still have both of these on vinyl and the fact that I have not upgraded them to CD tells you all that you need to know. Of marginally more interest is ‘Live At The Budokan’, recorded in Tokyo in September ‘77 and not released in the UK until six years later. The experimental improvisation of ‘Clear Air Turbulence’ gets things off to a pretty ropey start but if you can get past that then it does pick up with the rockier ‘Scarabus’ and ‘Money Lender’, both of which at least manage to inject some life into the set. ‘…Budokan’ also includes three re-worked Purple covers, ‘Child In Time’, ‘Smoke On The Water’ and ‘Woman From Tokyo’, all of which are pretty unremarkable.

With limited success in Europe and North America, Gillan decided on a different course of action, dispensing with all of his band save for Colin Towns on keyboards and putting together a true ‘rock’ band that came to prominence around the same time as the NWOBHM movement. Mick Underwood was a former band mate from the 60’s pre-Purple band Episode Six, the charismatic John McCoy came in with his thundering bass sound and the Hendrix-influenced, Irish guitarist Bernie Torme was plucked from the London punk scene. It was this line-up that recorded ‘Mr Universe’ in 1979, a record that sent Gillan into the UK album charts at # 11. This was IG back doing what he does best, the title track was a wonderful example of the new band’s ability to rock out and elsewhere ‘Roller’ and ‘Vengeance’ showed that Gillan were most definitely a Hard Rock band. Bonus track ‘Smoke On The Water’ runs to eight minutes, the first two of which feature some blistering playing from Torme before he goes into the riff. If Hendrix had been alive to cover ‘Smoke..’ then surely it would have sounded something like this.

With a host of record companies knocking at the door Gillan signed to Virgin for 1980’s ‘Glory Road’ which was initially issued with a bonus album ‘For Gillan Fans Only’, all of which appears here on CD for the first time in what is now a 2 disc package. I well remember being gutted at the time that my copy didn’t come with the bonus album and my next door neighbour’s did, although in truth it’s an odds and sods collection of outtakes and general studio tomfoolery by both band and crew that offers little in the way of strong material and the sort of thing you might listen to once. The album proper finds the band rocking hard, notably on opener ‘Unchain Your Brain’, ‘No Easy Way’ and ‘Nervous’. Overall, it’s a solid enough album and although lacking any real ‘classic‘ moments reached #3 in the UK where by now Gillan’s profile had increased significantly. A cover of the Leiber & Stoller standard ‘Trouble’ took them into the Top 20 of the singles chart for the first time and the stage was set for 1981 to be another busy year.

‘Mutually Assured Destruction’ was issued as a non-album single and sent the band back into the Top 40. IG’s furious response to the cold war this is a weighty subject matter indeed, which transcends itself into the bands finest three and a half minutes. ‘MAD’ is included as one of a host of extra cuts on ‘81’s UK # 2 album ‘Future Shock’ where the band sound better than ever before. Opening with the fast paced title track it leads into the supernatural tale ‘Night Ride Out Of Phoenix’ which highlights Torme’s blues playing to some effect. Elsewhere ‘No Laughing In Heaven’ was another excellent single and the tender ballad ‘If I Sing Softly’ shows a rarely heard side to the band. A great album and one I would have no hesitation in suggesting as an ideal starting point.

By the time of ‘Double Trouble’, Bernie Torme was gone, having fallen out with Gillan when he refused to fly back from Germany on a band day off to appear on ‘Top Of The Pops’. White Spirit guitarist Janick Gers was drafted in to replace him and made his debut on this half live, half studio album. In what was a hectic year for the band this was also released in ’81 and, unable to break out of the UK / European markets they were by now becoming over-exposed, evidenced by the album failing to make the Top 10. The live tracks were from the Reading Festival, where Gillan had appeared for four consecutive years are decent sounding, including most of the hits and five bonus tracks. Highlights amongst the studio tracks are the knock-about ‘Hadely Bop Bop’ and the sinister ‘I’ll Rip Your Spine Out’ and ‘Nightmare, but overall the quality control was beginning to drop.

Having tasted chart success with cover versions in the past they tried the trick again with Stevie Wonder’s ‘Living For The City’ being chosen as the lead single from what turned out to be swansong album, 1982’s ‘Magic’. This track aside there was little to inspire, the band sounding tired and running out of steam after 5 albums in little more than three years. The lengthy and experimental ‘Demon Driver’ was one of the few exceptions, as was ‘Long Gone’ (a track which, as alluded to in the sleeve notes, has an intro later recycled by Van Halen for ‘Jump’) but overall this album comes across as pretty flat. After another lengthy UK tour Gillan went their separate ways with acrimony on both sides, IG finding his way back to Deep Purple via a pit-stop with Black Sabbath.

Gillan might not have been the greatest band in the world but they will be remembered as a solid, hard-working Heavy Rock band who were always a lot of fun to have around. These releases provide a great way to rediscover them.

Let us know your views on 'Ian Gillan Re-Issues'

Ian Gillan -Re-Issues

Child In Time - 4/10
 

Live At The Budokan - 5/10
 

Mr. Universe - 8/10
 

Glory Road - 7/10
 

Future Shock - 9/10
 

Double Trouble - 7/10
 

Magic - 5/10