Search - Ian Gillan :: Japanese Album

A Must For GILLAN collectors

rfifer@mainsite.com | USA | 09/04/1998

(4 out of 5 stars)

"We finally have the lost Japanese album on CD - remastered w/bonus tracks!!! Only for diehards, not because of the music -it's classic Gillan- but because most of these tracks are versions of songs from "Mr. Universe". Also has a nice booklet explaining Gillan's strange recording history."

Not exactly as the 'original' GILLAN LP

eveoflove | North York, Ontario Canada | 03/01/2001

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Made in USA in 1998, Serial# CLP-0314, Playing Time 58:43Also released in UK in 1993, Serial# RPM-113, and re-released again in 1999 (Remastered) in UK in 1999, Serial# PUR-306.As an IanG collector, I have the "original" Japan-only 1978 release on vinyl, simply entitled "Gillan".2 IanG albums (his 4th,"Gillan" and his 5th,"Mr. Universe) are completely confusing to the collector, the latter also released in the UK with some re-recorded tracks.The CD versions of "Gillan" (all with the same content), labeled as "The Japanese Album", are a bit different from the original vinyl release: Track 1 is actually from the japanese release of Mr. Universe, which leaves the vinyl version of "Second Sight" yet unavailable on CD; tracks 2 to 10 are from "Gillan"; tracks 11 to 14 are listed as "bonus" tracks: track 11 is a different version than on the japanese "Mr. Universe", track 12 is taken from the japanese "Mr. U"", track 13 is different than on the japanese "Mr. U" or "Glory Road" (yes the song was recorded 3 times!), while track 14 is different than on the japanese "Mr. U"; this also means that the song "Sleeping On The Job" from the "Mr. U" japanese vinyl is yet unreleased on CD. Confused yet?In case you don't care for any of the above, let's talk about the music: the songs on this disc are much rockier than on his previous 3. This is due to a significant change in line-up, and the material is in the same vein as his better known 6th offering, "Glory Road". There's a lot of versatility on "Gillan", but still moves away from the jazzy explorations of albums like "Clear Air Turbulence" or "Scarabus": "Gillan" presents mostly straight-ahead rock, which I guess was a lot closer to what was expected by the DEEP PURPLE fans.It's a good album, with plenty of energy."