[hand] [face]
The Original Deep Purple Web Pages
The Highway Star

Trapped in undesirable circumstance

Louder Sound reprints online a feature on Gillan’s Magic, arguing it is a conceptual album of sorts in nature.

Of the three major offshoots that emerged after the break-up of Deep Purple in 1976, Gillan (the band, not the man) was certainly the most musically daring. And Gillan’s most daring album just might be their last: 1982’s Magic.

Yes, the keyboard-heavy record carries a glossy, polished sheen; yes, it contains a pair of obvious stabs into ‘hit single’ territory; and yes, the off-the-rails kinetic chemistry of the Bernie Torme years is largely absent. But it’s not the music that makes makes Magic Gillan’s most fascinating record; it’s the words.

Truth be told, Magic could and should be looked at in hindsight as a concept album, as the lyrics throughout revolve around a common theme: Gillan (the man, not the band) was laying out his future plans right before our very eyes, misdirecting our attention with another album’s worth of musical hocus pocus while planning the greatest magic trick of all: making himself disappear.

Continue reading in Louder Sound.

Thanks to Uwe for the heads-up.



38 Comments to “Trapped in undesirable circumstance”:

  1. 1
    MacGregor says:

    Sheesh, all this Gillan & Ian Gillan everywhere and anywhere lately. Surely a coincidence and not some sort of ‘hacking’ of the site from Karin. Elvis, who is Elvis. Ever since that played out it has been all (Ian) Gillan. Hmmmmmmm, , interesting indeed. Cheers.

  2. 2
    MacGregor says:

    It has been a very long time since I have listened to any of the Magic album songs, thanks for the article. Demon Driver, what a dramatic song that is and dare I say a little progressive in it’s arrangement. That very commercial Long Gone song is a bit too twee, I had forgotten about that one.
    Colin Towns gave the song How Does the Cold Wind Cry to Roger Daltrey and what a nice song that is. Good ole Daltrey eh, one of rocks great lead vocalists who recorded many good cover songs himself, not being a songwriter as such. Colin Town’s was always the key to so many of the Gillan band songs and arrangements, a gifted musician indeed. Ian Gillan knew very well to keep hold of him back in 1978. A good article overall & Karin should really enjoy that, in more ways than one me thinks. What did the writer call Ian Gillan at the end of it, ‘Gillan the Magnificent’. Well, I don’t know about that. I bet some of his band mates didn’t call him that after all the dramas. Not to worry. Cheers.

  3. 3
    Karin Verndal says:

    @1

    “all this Gillan & Ian Gillan everywhere and anywhere lately.”
    Well not my doings dear MacGregor! 😊

    “Surely a coincidence and not some sort of ‘hacking’ of the site from Karin.” <- 😄 I’m not at all neither an intellectual nor a hacking-wiz!
    The only thing I actually can do is using my coffeemaker and the toaster. With everything else I’m completely in the dark… 😑

    But I for sure do not complain about admin’s choices in topics!
    Ian Gillan is a very interesting person, and I think we all in here can learn a great deal of the charming troubadour ☺️😉

    @2
    “A good article overall & Karin should really enjoy that”. <- I guess I’m not the only one MacGregor! I am pretty sure Uwe has let all his other chores wait until he has read it over and over again ☺️

    “in more ways than one me thinks.” <- please elaborate here 🧐😉

    “Gillan the Magnificent’. Well, I don’t know about that.” 😄 well I do!

  4. 4
    Steve says:

    Yes, it does seem a little weird , all this Gillan stuff being around …but, I must say , all the Gillan albums were overall really great and it brings back some great memories.
    Personally, I’d rather have most of them then the latest Purple album .

    I do feel though , that obviously Purple is coming to an end now and all this Gillan stuff is nice ….as that was what preceeded the reunion …way back when

  5. 5
    Uwe Hornung says:

    Hey, though I am not quite as narrowly focused on Ian Gillan as, uhum, some other people here, it was me who dug that article up! I told you I was catholic in my DP interests and not favoring one member over the other.

    When I first began reading Bob Mayo’s piece I was wary of it being speculative click bait, but as I progressed … he was actually on to something. I find his lyrical analysis pretty compelling.

    When it came out, I was disappointed of Magic. It didn’t have the immediacy of the studio album of Double Trouble (my favorite GILLAN album), I couldn’t put my finger on it, but I felt there was something wrong with the band. Magic sounds tortured and labored – as if it took utmost will power to get it done. The apparent lightness of a song like Long Gone seemed superficial to me, it didn’t really feel joyous try as it might. Demon Driver sounded plain neurotic (though interesting), Ian seems to be raging all through the album, but in a destructive/unhappy way. Living For The City was an ill choice of a cover for me, but we’ve discussed that already.

    When I heard that the band was disbanding that same year, I wasn’t all that surprised. I don’t even think they did a German tour anymore to promote it, at least I don’t remember one taking place.

    To me GILLAN’s output had ups and downs, regularly the very good albums like Glory Road and Double Trouble Studio were followed by not so good ones like Future Shock and Magic, my personal rating is as follows:

    1. Double Trouble Studio (best production and all songwriter teams in full flight)

    2. Glory Road (good songs and the band has gelled)

    3. Mr Universe/Japanese Album (interesting, a good start)

    4. Magic (didn’t feel right)

    5. Future Shock (weak songs and terrible production)

    The Double Trouble Live album was to me a wasted opportunity, it is too short and song choices are a little disappointing, they should have gone for a double album giving a comprehensive depiction of a GILLAN gig. And For GILLAN Fans Only is what it says on the tin, a curio/novelty odds & sods collection, an EP with the best tracks would have been sufficient for me. Some of the other stuff is worth listening to it once, but that is pretty much it.

  6. 6
    Karin Verndal says:

    @5

    “it was me who dug that article up” – so sorry I didn’t see that at once, but thank you so much 🤗😃

    A tiny bit off topic (ok not tiny) but I would have loved to hear Ian Gillan and David Bowie sing together!
    But they never did, did they? Man that would have been NICE 😍

  7. 7
    Wiktor says:

    To me Glory road was and is the best Gillan album but still in the shadow of Rainbow rising

  8. 8
    AndreA says:

    Great Album.
    Wonderful Cover Art.
    There isn’t a song I don’t appreciate. My wife also likes Magic. Otherwise it wouldn’t have been called that. Don’t you think so?

  9. 9
    MacGregor says:

    @ 5 – It is an older 2019 article and a good one. I remembered some of it, however it was nice to read and listen again as I had forgotten about a lot of it in most parts. I didn’t get into Magic either, we could hear the ship was running out of steam and the songwriting was weak in most parts. At least with Demon Driver they were trying something different. It was nice to hear that song again. The Double Trouble album was a strange setup, the live side as you said Uwe was an add-on in some ways although it gave me a live material snapshot for keeps sake as I had just witnessed Gillan live in Sydney, November 1981. Once Born Again was released I dropped off on the Gillan music, I had listened to it a lot, however it sort of became tired for me and I found myself not listening to it anymore. The Deep Purple reunion in ’84 was also a possible reason for that. Karin @ 3 – “in more ways than one me thinks.” <- please elaborate here 🧐😉". Meaning more than one Gillan article to peruse over & enjoy. From all that argy bargy with Elvis knocking at the door a little while ago to all this Ian Gillan related material. I would think that would be most enjoyable for you. Cheers.

  10. 10
    Uwe Hornung says:

    Objects in the rear view mirror can appear larger than they are:

    According to Wikipedia, not a single GILLAN album went gold – anywhere (that includes, I hate to say, Denmark, where they were nonetheless very famous according to trustworthy sources). In the UK they had two silver albums (Glory Road and Future Shock) for 60.000 units sold each. Worldwide sales are given as 10 million for the four to five years of their existence which strikes me as high as they had few chart placings except for Glory Road and Future Shock.

    Except for 13 (!) gigs in late 1980, GILLAN never toured the US or Canada between 1978 and 1982.

    “Two shows were done on different nights at the El Mocambo, Toronto, Canada. One of them was really empty. That was really demoralizing for all of us immediately after playing 30 or so sold out larger gigs in the UK. We were worried bunnies for most of that tour. North America didn’t seem to be in sync with what we were doing, really, stuff which had gone down so well in Europe and Japan. UK and Europe seemed to be post-punk, when it hadn’t really happened hardly at all in the US.” (Bernie Torme)

    That does make GILLAN appear as more of a glorified hobby of Ian’s in hindsight, no wonder they ran out of cash eventually.

    Blood-related: Big Ian’s baby sis (born 1948) Pauline with her band in 1986:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CxZn6P1EVdk&t=86s

    I wanted to end this post on a consoling note for Karin.

  11. 11
    MacGregor says:

    Album sales figures are always dodgy I do think. Ten million sales of Gillan, I also doubt those figures. I notice on the Classic Rock article regarding the Magic album and the message regarding the sound clips. ” Note: most of the audio embeds in the feature are not available in North America. Sorry about that.” So nothing much has changed regarding the USA and the Gillan band then. Cheers.

  12. 12
    Ivica says:

    Magic is the weakest album by Gillan band for me. But it’s not a bad album. Gillan band has always been divided into two teams (except for Mr Universe) Colin Towns- Gillan on one side and Gillan-Torme- Mc Coy on the other, and in equal shares. With the departure of Bernie..John Mc Coy on Double Trouble (8 songs, 5 co-authors) on Magic only co-authored two songs. Interesting moments for me
    Long Gone…was the album’s single..reminds me of song” Jump “VH which would be recorded 2 years later. Did Eddie listen to Colin?
    “Demon Driver” is a piece of progression..it evokes the Black Sabbath atmosphere, what would follow next year..it’s a shame that Tony doesn’t play the guitar here, but Jannick
    “You’re So Right” continued, where “On the Rocks” left off.

  13. 13
    Uwe Hornung says:

    I’m not aware of Ian Gillan and David Bowie ever having met, Karin, much less sung together.

    I do remember, however, that a fledgling David Bowie and DP Mk I were once at a late 60s festival in either the UK or Europe together and that both had not gone down so well there which led both of them to rethink their act (and later on advance to being 70s heroes), Bowie was back then still a hippie folk singer, not the strange, but beautiful Ziggy creature from outer space. They even hung around together backstage at the festival, probably licking their wounds.

    Other than that the only DP member with contacts to DP seems to have been Glenn Hughes. I can’t imagine that Bowie ever really followed DP (though he wasn’t hard rock-averse as his own Ziggy career and taking Mott the Hoople under his wings showed), but apparently he saw Mk III at the California Jam on US TV while touring there and took a shine to Glenn Hughes, Bowie thinking it hilarious that someone with as black a voice as Glenn should be in the services of a band as white wonder bread as DP. So he had – typically Bowie if someone caught his fancy – his people seek out Glenn and then contacted him which led to the two moving together, no doubt aided by their joint love of recreational use of Colombian and Peruvian agricultural produce, sniff!

    https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/david-bowie-saved-deep-purple/

    But those two didn’t sing together either even though DB invited GH to guest on his Young Americans album – which to Glenn’s chagrin the DP management and Ritchie disallowed “as it might confuse fans” (I could slap both management and Ritchie for that to this day, imagine Glenn’s voice and perhaps bass playing on the Young Americans album!).

    There is, however, a session of Ian Gillan with Mike Oldfield in the vaults. Big Ian sang on an Oldfield song, but it wasn’t quite the right key for him, so Oldfield tried to alter the key, but then the song didn’t sound right, so they reverted to the old key, but in the end both were unhappy with the outcome and it remains unreleased to this day – like apparently a lot of stuff Mike Oldfield, the perfectionist, has done.

  14. 14
    Karin Verndal says:

    @10

    “According to Wikipedia, not a single GILLAN album went gold – anywhere (that includes, I hate to say, Denmark, where they were nonetheless very famous according to trustworthy sources).”
    Well I really don’t care regarding Wikipedia! Or as it is named in Denmark: Wiki-very-wrongdia!
    Gillan was EXTREMELY popular in Denmark! All the happening young people loved them and listened to them with their hearts open and with gratitude 😍😍😍😍
    And yes Uwe, I am indeed trustworthy 😉

    And when I’m attending the concert in Kolding with Ian Paice and Perpendicular, I will ask him if he knows how important Gillan (as a band) on a scale from 1 to 10 was in our country! And I’m pretty sure he will answer: Gillan was complete out of scale!

    Maybe Denmark is nothing more than a comma in the great history of countries that have made remarkable achievements, but for sure we have a GREAT and LOVELY taste for music!
    ( I would like a smiley that sticks its tongue out, but… oh wait, here it is: 😛) ( take that why don’t you!)
    Denmark is much much more than leggy girls like ms Skriver, a lot of us have integrity and are not ashamed of admitting that Ian Gillan is the best vocalist!

  15. 15
    Karin Verndal says:

    @9

    “Meaning more than one Gillan article to peruse over & enjoy. From all that argy bargy with Elvis knocking at the door a little while ago to all this Ian Gillan related material. I would think that would be most enjoyable for you.”
    It sure is MacGregor 😍

  16. 16
    Karin Verndal says:

    @10

    “Blood-related: Big Ian’s baby sis (born 1948) Pauline with her band in 1986”
    Oh she is adorable! A very nice voice too 😃

  17. 17
    Karin Verndal says:

    @13
    I wonder how it would have been letting David Bowie being the vocalist in Purple!
    Do you think he could be a proper rock singer? (I’m not joking here! Just curious ☺️)

    “There is, however, a session of Ian Gillan with Mike Oldfield in the vaults.” – WOAH! Have you heard it Uwe?
    Where can I find it? Or is it destroyed?
    Mike Oldfield did a lot of brilliant stuff, personally I think it was a strike of genius to let Maggie Reilly sing 😍 oh man her voice was so unbelievable beautiful, so full of emotional and passion 🥰
    I never forget first time I heard ‘Moonlight Shadow’ 😃 she could indeed sing!
    What do you think of her?

    “Bowie was back then still a hippie folk singer, not the strange, but beautiful Ziggy creature from outer space. They even hung around together backstage at the festival, probably licking their wounds.” – well had they known at that time how great they would be in the future (sorry, at least some of them😌) there wouldn’t have been any wounds to mend 😊

  18. 18
    Uwe Hornung says:

    What did I do? 😑

    https://jameswilding.blog/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/good-grief-charlie-brown.png?w=234

    Karin is Lucy!

    https://thepeoplestherapist.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/iu-27.jpeg?w=960

  19. 19
    MacGregor says:

    @ 13- interesting that Mike Oldfield & Ian Gillan worked on a song. I guess it would have been during the 1980’s sometime as that is when Oldfield delved into a shorter & dare I say it commercial song format. From a nostalgic & historical musical perspective I would like to hear that song. I might have a ferret around online as you never know when something can pop up and surprise. Thanks for that information Uwe. Cheers.

  20. 20
    Uwe Hornung says:

    “Oh she is adorable! A very nice voice too 😃”

    OMG, you are a Gillanophile, now extending to all family branches!!!

    But if truth be told – and I can understand that it must be hard for you to carve out a niche for yourself in rock if your big brother happens to be the guy in DP – Pauline was vocally, musically and image-wise a long way from the type of female-fronted US glam-pop-metal-AOR she tried to so earnestly emulate. Don’t try to beat Americans at their own game, it doesn’t work.

    https://youtu.be/YBu5lL9i5n4

    https://youtu.be/mQOmDUnt8Hs

    https://youtu.be/rsP32mXaq-0

    https://youtu.be/sZn9gZ3npsY

    https://youtu.be/hkf3yDiaD3w

  21. 21
    Uwe Hornung says:

    True Ivica, I missed John McCoy’s songwriting input on Magic too. And his lovely Fiji was relegated to a singles B-side.

    https://youtu.be/TC-QisiYFSY

  22. 22
    MacGregor says:

    This is all I could find having a reasonable ‘quick’ look online regarding Ian Gillan’s possible participation on Mike Oldfield’s ‘Earth Moving’ album in 1989. “A huge number of vocalists were apparently recorded for Earth Moving as an experiment, and Oldfield’s squash buddy Fish, for example, came to sing on the album, but his performance did not end up being included. Along with Fish, the booklet for the album gives thanks for Ian Gillan and Roger Chapman so I would guess that they also dropped in for a song or two during the sessions, but I haven’t found any confirmation of this.” Another punter over at progarchives had this to say: ” The names are impressive too, including Adrian Belew, Chris Thompson, Max Bacon and of course Maggie Reilly (who has worked with Mike many times over the years). Rumour has it that Fish (“Holy”) and Ian Gillan (“See the light”) were also lined up to guest on a track each. Both receive name checks in the booklet but neither actually appear on the album.” So the very commercial album Earth Moving it seems may have been the ‘culprit’. I went off Oldfield’s too much 80’s commercial style after the Islands album (1987). At least that has a one full side progressive instrumental with Simon Phillips drumming on it. I did like Anita Hegerland’s vocal on ‘North Point’. Very similar to Maggie Reilly on the Crisis album & also Discovery, both wonderful early 80’s albums from Oldfield. Jon Anderson & Roger Chapman guest on Crisis & Chapman again on Discovery. Excellent vocalists are usually found on a Oldfield album or two from the 80’s. Cheers.

  23. 23
    Uwe Hornung says:

    Yeah, 1989 sounds about right. I first read about it in the early 90s in one of Simon Robinson’s books compiling outside-of-DP-work of various family members.

    Oldfield sometimes does that, on his last solo album he had the lead vocalist of the terribly underrated The Struts

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ARhk9K_mviE

    Luke Spiller (I know, a Freddie Mercury influence is undeniable …)

    sing all the songs – an unusual but surprisingly fruitful collaboration.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2nGqoY9Ngy0

    Spiller is a terrific singer and versatile front man.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39XWiU9t-m8

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mid0hyK4rCM

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EIXq1Qofb4A

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6VPAJ99Q6U

  24. 24
    MacGregor says:

    This is the song ‘See the Light’ that possibly was the one that Ian Gillan didn’t end up singing, or at least his version didn’t end up on the album. Very hard to listen to that 80’s production & the power ballad big chorus thing that was over done to the max back then. Why oh why would you use a drum machine after having Simon Phillips at your disposal? Are we drummers that easily replaced, don’t answer that Uwe………….Those keyboards too, how I survived all that during the 1980’s is beyond me. Also what was wrong with Gillan not being able to sing that? Pathetic, I could sing that in the shower whilst blindfolded. However, he had just been booted from Purple so maybe he was too down in the dumps or something. Well Oldfield then booted him from the studio so Mr Gillan would have had even more reason to be wallowing in his beer. Get a decent singer for crying out loud! Chris Thompson on this version that appeared on the album. Ian Gillan, who is he, never heard of him. Adrian Belew sings the song “Holy’ on the album, a much better choice than Fish, that wild eyed Scotsman. Cheers.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YvXNANZOtsM&list=OLAK5uy_muAeVQ6qItTXl_BIp_FNL7agz9Oluv1qY&index=6

  25. 25
    Karin Verndal says:

    @20

    “OMG, you are a Gillanophile, now extending to all family branches!!!”
    Yeah exactly 😂
    Do you by chance know if his mother has been doing something I can admire 😁😄

    “Don’t try to beat Americans at their own game, it doesn’t work.”
    Ok, I have this feeling with these ladies like I do when the Danish Handball-ladies are playing handball! They are indeed great, no doubt about it BUT, it’s a bit straining for me to see because they so much want to be playing (handball and music ) like the men are doing, and well they just can’t!
    I would enjoy it so much more if those ladies (still both athletes and singers) found their own path!
    I get so tired in my head when women try to be like men….
    (Being a woman myself, I guess it is ok to have this opinion 😆) (and I am not blind for their more risqué outfits, that’s not what I’m thinking about) maybe most women’s voices aren’t cut out to be that raw!

    @18
    Sorry I do not understand anything here!
    I am Lucy, why? 😃 (feel much more like this one:
    https://youtu.be/cCM2ArKVdOo?si=5-RKwHNLA12gcxml
    But sadly not singing so well as her ☺️)

  26. 26
    MacGregor says:

    Yes you are not wrong Uwe, the song Fiji should have been on the original Magic album vinyl release, a much better and more melodic song than many others on that album. Cheers.

  27. 27
    Uwe Hornung says:

    Lucy is always thwarting Charlie Brown’s efforts to let reason rule and be fair to everyone.

    And she has an unreciprocated crush on Schroeder!

    https://static1.srcdn.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/peanuts-10-best-lucy-and-schroeder-moments.jpg

    But of course Peanuts is is a work of fiction. Any names or characters, businesses or places, events or incidents, are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events or incidents is purely coincidental.

    I’m sure you will want to give Audrey, Ian’s mother, some credit for giving birth and raising such an extraordinary young (formerly at least) man!

    https://www.thehighwaystar.com/specials/IG_DVD/grabs/mum.jpg

    IIRC she was a lifelong conservative while Ian’s dad was a left-leaning union man, so little Ian got a good mix of opposing political views.

  28. 28
    Mike Nagoda says:

    Everyone should leave Karin alone – all this ganging up on her, why, it’s simply barbaric!

    As for why there’s all this Gillan news suddenly?

    Need I remind you unruly lot of unchivalrous Philistines that there’s a certain autographed boxed set coming in a few days, and that this is all likely, ahem, shameless promo for said forthcoming release?

    Of all the Purple members’ solo careers, Gillan has always been my favourite side adventure. To be honest, I always found Rainbow just missed the mark for me slightly, although they had some good tunes on their first three albums, I’ve found they never made a great and consistent record to my liking.

    Gillan records however have the ferocity and creativity that Rainbow albums seem to lack, and honestly, at that point, Bernie Torme was better at being Ritchie Blackmore than Ritchie was!

    In my estimation, the fire and drive had gone out of Ritchie’s playing, and Rainbow always seemed half assed and a bit humdrum to me as far as Ritchie’s output was concerned – he sounds bored on Rainbow records half the time, with a few exceptions (Stargazer, Long Live Rock N Roll, Difficult to Cure, Spotlight Kid).

    At any rate, I am awaiting my Gillan boxed set with rapt attention – may all you Gillan naysayers be driven from harassing poor Karin any longer by Bernie’s ghost wailing through his spiritly Marshall, and haunted by John McCoy’s ghost in the slightly near future, because that’s the sort of thing I can see him doing for kicks :p

  29. 29
    Karin Verndal says:

    @28

    Aww thanks Mike for standing up for me 😊

    Well to be honest, I had it coming, I can be quite a handful now and then 😄

    And as the Good Book says: ‘The one you love, you discipline.’ – and I promise you, sometimes I feel very much loved I here 🥴😄

  30. 30
    Karin Verndal says:

    @27
    Uwe, now I remember why you vixed me! (And by that, this: 😛)
    You were all over ms Skriver and claimed all the women, or most of the women, in Denmark look like her!
    And I felt so sorry for all the young men who, because of your drooling over ms Skriver, would leave everything behind and rush of to Denmark in search of a beautiful woman!
    They would be so very much disappointed 😞

    That’s why! Besides that you’re a real cutie 😃

  31. 31
    Uwe Hornung says:

    Mike, I actually mostly agree with you on GILLAN – among the three major post-split bands, they were the most creative and daring ones. That had to do with Big Ian, but not only with him, he chose likeminded musicians who helped him and is more open to experiments (as the extended one of IGB showed until it got too much even for him).

    In comparison, both WS and Rainbow were very conservative bands, careful to toe the line of what was expected of them. Rainbow made one major swerve in its career and that was veering from fantasy dark heavy rock to poppy AOR but still with sufficient guitar dominance and crunch – that was hardly a change that rocked the boat much. And WS likewise Americanized its sound, jettisoning Brit Blues elements on the way and becoming more pop metal. Again nothing radical.

    In a very early Rainbow interview (DP Mk IV still existed, but Rising had just been released) where Blackmore was confronted with the criticism that Rainbow was not altogether that different from DP he admitted: “I never said I wanted to play different music, I wanted more artistic control and continue with what I do best. It‘s Deep Purple who are doing the new music now … go to them if you are looking for something different.“

    GILLAN otoh remained eclectic for all of their short career, there was no need to change much. In hindsight, I would have wished them a better production, i.e. a higher budget to get a decent one in decent studios. I know that their rawness was part of their charm for some people, but there is a fine line between sounding raw and demo’ish – GILLAN crossed that line a bit too often for my taste and I think their commercial appeal suffered for it. I know that there are few IGB fans here, but there is not a single GILLAN album that matches IGB’s Clear Air Turbulence in terms of quality production, CAT is an album with which you can show off your stereo system. The only GILLAN albums with an ok sound (still not head-turningly great) are Double Trouble Studio and the dejected-sounded Magic.

    PS: Mentioning Ms Skriver was in jest, Karin – I simply googled “Victoria’s Secret Danish model” confident something would show up and it did! I had never heard of her before. Though it breaks my heart as she is only from that lesser neighbor of yours (Sweden), I prefer Ms Sundström aka Rebecca Ferguson!

    https://64.media.tumblr.com/d8012eb26c92f6c1f705afef977a17f5/74a4c30b459859ee-c1/s500x750/5aa627f2942f579656cd19ab8a9684e525c260b0.gifv

    I love her work in Dune and Silo plus she was such a lovely child-eating villain in Doctor Sleep!

    https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/Z3YbRfCt7DAqcSNtSbvCMM.jpg

  32. 32
    Karin Verndal says:

    YouTube just send me an update!
    Apparently “Restless” with Gillan has been improved!

    Nice!!

    And I have to admit something: 😝 when I re-read my posts in here, I see many spelling mistakes 🫣 sorry for that. Actually I do know how to write in English but my iPad has an overly sensitive autocorrect, and sometimes I’m in a bit of a hurry, so when I’m impossible to understand, please forgive me 😇

  33. 33
    Uwe Hornung says:

    OMG, Karin is now electronically stalking IG! Where will it end? 😂

    Herr MacGregor @24: Great thanks for digging out See The Light, that certainly sounds like something Oldfield would have thought about having IG sing. Very late 80s, wouldn’t have been amiss on the glossy and bass guitar-less Naked Thunder. I can somehow hear that it wasn’t the right key for Ian though, it’s not even optimal for Chris Thompson.

    Your comment about Chris (“Who’s he?”) was in jest, right? I always liked his voice with MMEB and also his solo project Night …

    https://youtu.be/my52k5X2HCY

    That’s Stevie Lange (Mutt Lange’s first wife) on co-lead vocals. She does a couple of songs with Jon Lord on the Dear Mr Fanatasy tribute for Jim Capaldi.

    And speaking of Jim Capaldi, how could you even consider in the realm of possibility, lieber Herr MacGregor, that I feel anything else but disdain for drum machines?!

  34. 34
    Karin Verndal says:

    @33

    Sorry I am what?!?

  35. 35
    MacGregor says:

    @ 33- no Uwe, I had no qualms about Chris Thompson the lead vocalist from Manfred Mann’s Earth Band. I did own the Watch album back in the day & we all know their hit with Springsteen’s “Blinded By The Light”. The jesting was to say that after they got in Thompson, to get rid of the other guy, as in Ian Gillan, who is he anyway? I am surprised Karin didn’t notice that, maybe she just rolled her eyes and let that one go. What I did NOT know was that Thompson was raised in New Zealand and was also a co-writer of the song ‘Your The Voice’ that became a smash hit for John Farnham, there you go eh. A song that I never want to hear again as it was played to death out here in no man’s land. The drum machine jest was just that, I could imagine you saying jokingly ‘well at least they keep correct time’ or something like that. That Mike Oldfield song “See The Light” and I could hear that Ian Gillan could have possibly done that. Maybe he provided the original melody for it and that is why he was allegedly thanked on the album credits, as someone had suggested. I didn’t buy that album, I had had enough of Oldfield’s music becoming too commercial after purchasing & enjoying in some aspects (the side one instrumental) music of the previous album Islands. Bonnie Tyler’s vocal on the title song never did fit well to my ears, there are one or two other songs I like. I enjoy his early 80’s albums much more as well as his classic 70’s music. Cheers.

  36. 36
    Karin Verndal says:

    @35

    “Karin didn’t notice that, maybe she just rolled her eyes and let that one go.”
    😃 I did actually!

  37. 37
    Uwe Hornung says:

    Ah, don’t listen to Karin, MacGregor, any half-arsed AI novice can trick her into believing she is listening to her Ian!

    https://media.tenor.com/G69dZFYhHJYAAAAM/jr-ewing-dallas.gif

  38. 38
    Karin Verndal says:

    @37

    That is true! I am neither an intellectual nor have I any street cred what so ever 😄

    And please! He isn’t ‘my’ Ian! He is everybody’s Ian!

    At least I a not ashamed to admit that I’m an ordinary person who just happens to love Purple and their current vocalist’s work!

Add a comment:

Preview no longer available -- once you press Post, that's it. All comments are subject to moderation policy.

||||Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing
© 1993-2025 The Highway Star and contributors
Posts, Calendar and Comments RSS feeds for The Highway Star