Where does Ian Gillan’s heart really lie these days: as a member
\nof Deep Purple or as a solo artist carving his own voice into the
\nrock market?<\/p>\n
Oh, it’s not like he hasn’t dabbled in a solo career before.
\nAfter leaving Deep Purple around 1974, Gillan fronted a solo career
\nthat, unlike his days in Deep Purple, didn’t make him a superstar.
\nBut if the material on his latest solo album
\nDreamcatcher<\/i> is any evidence, Gillan’s solo career is very
\nmuch alive.<\/p>\n
Unlike the mix of the recent Deep Purple release
\nAbandon<\/i>, Gillan’s vocals are almost crystal clear on this
\ndisc. (There are one or two instances where it’s more difficult to
\nhear them, but not nearly as hidden as on
\nAbandon<\/i>.) His shrieking days apparently long behind him,
\nGillan instead chose to focus on richer, more meaningful vocals.
\nAdded to music that runs the gamut from harder-edged rock to ’50s
\nrock to danceable sea captain tales – even to some Celtic and
\nMiddle Eastern works,
\nDreamcatcher<\/i> succeeds on all levels.<\/p>\n
With musical accompaniment taken care of by Steve Morris, Gillan
\nis free to express himself in a manner that I don’t think he is
\nable to with Deep Purple. Listening to the almost Indian textures
\nof “Chandra’s Coriander,” it almost is like new life has been
\nbreathed into this rock icon – even if the final product isn’t
\nstrictly rock. Two words: who cares? If it’s this good, it could be<\/p>\n
disco<\/i>, for Crissakes.<\/p>\n
If you long for the rockin’ edge to Gillan, you need look no
\nfarther than cuts like “Hard On You,” a song which occasionally
\nmuffs Gillan’s voice. But Gillan refuses to be pigeonholed into the
\nrock category – maybe he was concerned that people would consider
\nthis a Deep Purple clone. (Albert, my friend at Forbidden Records,
\nwarned me before I listened to this disc, “It’s not a
\nPurple-sounding disc.” After listening to
\nAbandon<\/i>, thank God.)<\/p>\n
Gillan’s rich vocals add just the right edge to songs like
\n“Country Mile,” “You Sold My Love For A Song” and “That’s Why God
\nIs Singing The Blues”. The track “Gunga Din,” a tribute to his late
\nfather, casually hides sentimentality behind what could have easily
\nbeen a sailor’s drinking song. (Once you read the liner notes,
\neverything becomes clear.)<\/p>\n
Will
\nDreamcatcher<\/i> solidify Gillan as a solo artist? To the fans,
\nyes; the material on this album demonstrates all of Gillan’s
\nstrengths, just in case you needed a reminder. To the industry, no
\n– simply because I don’t think they’re going to know what to do
\nwith this album. My advice: play it, and let it speak for
\nitself.<\/p>\n
\nDreamcatcher<\/i> might seem to be out at an odd time, coming out
\nat the same rough time as a new Deep Purple release. However, it
\nnot only firmly establishes Gillan as one of rock’s greatest
\nvoices, it also blows some works by his other band out of the
\nwater.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":27813,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[7493],"rating":[5613],"class_list":["post-39196","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-ian-gillan","rating-rating-a-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/39196","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39196"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/39196\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27813"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39196"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=39196"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=39196"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}