#gillan

Black Sabbath c. 1983

Gillan: Glory Road (1980)

It's been 45 years since ex-Deep Purple frontman Ian Gillan and his eponymous group -- guitarist Bernie Tormé, keyboardist Colin Towns, bassist John McCoy, and drummer Mick Underwood -- took a ride upon the Glory Road (whatever that is) with their third long-player.

However, prior to its release and for much of the late '70s, Ian's public profile had diminished to the point that Gillan -- the band -- could initially do no better than signing with a small, independent label called Acrobat for 1978's self-titled debut and '79's Mr. Universe.

But Acrobat helpfully went bankrupt while trying to finance Mr. Universe's unexpected success (No. 11 in the U.K.), and that conveniently freed Gillan to seek a new label with leverage on their side, quickly landing a multi-album deal with Virgin ahead of Glory Road.

Even more timely and serendipitous to the band's cause was the concurrent rise of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, which galvanized fans of this sort of music like never before in what proved to be the greatest year in heavy music history!

Check out this murderer's row of all-time-classics and tell me I'm wrong: AC/DC's Back in Black, Black Sabbath's Heaven and Hell, Diamond Head's 'Lightning to the Nations,' Iron Maiden's Iron Maiden, Judas Priest's British Steel, Motörhead's Ace of Spades, Ozzy Osbourne's Blizzard of Ozz, Saxon's Wheels of Steel, etc.

Personally, I wouldn't rank Glory Road quite on their level, but I can't fault anyone who does, because highlights like the hard-charging "Unchain Your Brain," "Are You Sure?," and the double-entendre-filled "Sleeping on the Job" brilliantly combined the vintage hallmarks of '70s Purple with the latest '80s N.W.O.B.H.M. ingredients they had greatly inspired.

Ian himself never sounded better and his inimitable pipes flexed all of their versatile might on everything from the slow-grinding blues of "If You Believe Me," to the laid-back lounge rocker "Time and Again," to the speed metal burner "Running, White Face, City Boy."

And, though they obviously took their name from their illustrious leader, Gillan's musicians were all major contributors to the cause, as evidenced by Tormé's eye-popping guitar heroics on "No Easy Way" and Towns' synthesizer symphony in "On the Rocks."

The only dud on hand -- and it's a total bust -- is the album's impossibly dull, dragging closing number, "Nervous," but this wasn't the end for lucky British fans, whose vinyl copies of Glory Road came with a limited edition bonus LP called For Gillan Fans Only.

An absolute treat, this set delivered ten additional B-sides and outtakes (often prefaced by Monty Python-esque dialogue) from the clearly prolific sessions, including underrated gems ("Higher and Higher," the instrumental "Redwatch"), proggy adventures ("Abbey of Thelema," "Dragon's Tongue"), and comical piss-takes like "Egg Timer," which parodies Samson's "Vice Versa" and its hilariously awful lyrics by then-vocalist Bruce (Bruce) Dickinson.

Even as a single LP, Glory Road was an unqualified success, reaching No. 3 in the U.K. charts and firmly re-establishing Ian Gillan as a commercial force to be reckoned with -- well deserved given his legendary status as one of heavy metal's signature voices.

The following year's Future Shock did even better at No. 2, which, for reference, was one spot higher than Rainbow's exceptional 1981 LP, Difficult to Cure, to the chagrin of Gillan's erstwhile Deep Purple bandmate and sometime nemesis Ritchie Blackmore.

But that story, along with other developments that slowly led to the soap opera-like reunion of Deep Purple's Mk. II line-up for 1984's Perfect Strangers are for another time ... today let's just ride together along the Glory Road.

Flexipop #13 (1981)

Gillan 1978-1982 2025 Demon Music Group ——————————————————————— Tracks CD One: Gillan 01. Street Theatre [instrumental] 02. Secret of the Dance 03. I’m Your Man 04. Dead of Night 05. Fighting Man 06. Message in a Bottle 07. Not Weird Enough 08. Bringing Joanna Back 09. Abbey of Thelema 10. Back in the Game 11. Vengeance 12. Move with the Times 13. Sleeping on the Job 14. Roller

Tracks CD Two: 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 11. Smoke on the Water [live at Kingsway Studio]

Tracks CD Three: 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 10. Handles on Her Hips 11. I Might as Well Go Home (Mystic) 12. Higher and Higher 13. Your Mother Was Right 

Tracks CD Four: 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 11. Trouble 12. Your Sister’s on My List 13. Mutually Assured Destruction 14. The Maelstrom 15. Take a Hold of Yourself 16. One for the Road 17. Lucille 18. Bad News

Tracks CD Five: Double Trouble 01. I’ll Rip Your Spine Out 02. Restless 03. Men of War 04. Sunbeam 05. Trouble 06. Nightmare 07. Mutually Assured Destruction 08. Hadely Bop Bop 09. Life Goes On 10. Born to Kill 11. Spanish Guitar

Tracks CD Six: Double Trouble Reading 29.8.81 01. No Laughing In Heaven 02. No Easy Way 03. Trouble 04. Mutually Assured Destruction 05. If You Believe Me 06. New Orleans 07. Bite the Bullet 08. On the Rocks 09. Universe 10. Vengeance 11. Smoke on the Water

Tracks CD Seven: 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) 11. Breaking Chains 12. Fiji 13. Purple Sky 14. Helter Skelter 15. Smokestack Lightning 16. South Africa 17. John 18. South Africa [extended version]———————————————————————