Ian Gillan – Gillan's Inn
Posted by AlMachine on Friday, April 21, 2006


For those who don't know, Ian Gillan was the vocalist with hard rock/heavy metal band Deep Purple. His distinctive vocals coupled to Ritchie Blackmore's guitar, and Ian Paice's swirling organ created their distinctive sound with a string of metal classics on the way including Smoke on the Water, Highway Child, Speed King, Child In Time, Hush, the list is almost endless.

What we have here then is a interesting package which complements the ongoing Deep Purple legacy. It is a CD and DVD set featuring a number of hits performed by a wide selection of musicians including Joe Satriani, Uli Jon Roth, Ronnie James Dio, Steve Morse, Tony Iommi amongst others. The opener, Unchain Your Brain features Satriani and is unmistakable for it. Day Late and a Dollar Short makes the most of its 3 lead guitarists and is a soloing smörgåsbord. Satriani returns on Hang Me Out to Dry. Men of War brings current Deep Purple guitarist Steve Morse to the party and is classic metal. When a Blind Man Comes slows things down with a bluesy turn by Jeff Healey (also shows up on the classic Demon's Eye) and some classic Jon Lord moments. Trashed is a stormer with Tony Iommi. Smoke on The Water is played by the book until the chorus where a gang of people join in – I'm not totally sure about this, but it adds to the party feel. Satriani shreds up Speed King, Loving On Borrowed Time is the epic ballad, and the album closes with I'll Be Your Baby Tonight which turns out as a country knees up with Joe Elliot.

Flipping the disc over gets us the DVD, it has the album in 5.1 stereo. Amongst other things you get to choose the mix for Smoke on The Water with one of 5 soloists, just listen to the differences between Satriani and Jeff Healey, as well as seeing some bootleg footage of Deep Purple with Satriani (he crops up a lot!).

After taking all this in you cannot help but think that this project is the sound of musicians having fun and not taking themselves too seriously. It gives a different slant to some well known songs and is well worth buying for any fans of Deep Purple or Gillan himself. It deserves a maximum score on the wealth of features alone.

Kris

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