From My Collection #115: Gillan – Glory Road

Welcome to another edition of From My Collection. Happy 80th birthday, Ian Gillan! If you can’t believe you’re reading those words, believe me when I say I can’t believe I’m typing them. Granted, today’s essay serves as a belated celebration, as Mr. Jesus Christ Superstar himself hit the big 8-0 yesterday, but in this household, everyday is a good day to celebrate this legend. It wouldn’t be the first time Gillan has graced this here series (having already tackled Black Sabbath’s Born Again, Gillan’s Toolbox, and Deep Purple’s Perfect Strangers), and it sure won’t be the last. Much like last week’s Top 10, today we go back in time to 1980 to the release of Gillan’s third and arguably finest album, Glory Road. Let’s unchain our brains, shall we? Note: For this essay, we’re analyzing the U.S. edition of Glory Road, which features a different track listing from the UK edition.

Upon his 1973 departure from Deep Purple, Ian Gillan spent the next couple years laying rather low. Granted, Purple was such a juggernaut, both in the studio and onstage, that a hiatus was likely much needed, especially with Ritchie Blackmore helming the ship. By 1975, Gillan would emerge with his own namesake vehicle, Ian Gillan Band. A stark departure from the early metal attack of Purple, IGB was a largely jazz rock outfit who failed to land critically or commercially outside of, you guessed it, Japan. As a result, come 1978, IGB folded and Gillan returned to his Purple tinted roots with a new eponymous outfit, Gillan.

If Rainbow was Blackmore’s attempt at picking up where Mk. II Purple left off, then Gillan was, well, Gillan’s. Gone where the noodling and doodling of the IGB years. It was back to short sharp shocks of songs, rife with brash riffs, virtuosic soloing, headbanging tempos, and Gillan’s iconic shrieks at the forefront. The band’s self titled debut was released in 1978, exclusively in, again, Japan, who seemed to be the only market to never abandon Purple or their adjacent projects. The success of Gillan led to the anything but a sophomore slump that is Mr. Universe in 1979. By now, Gillan was making headlines in his native UK. The voice that had belted out such hymns as “Highway Star” and “Speed King” was back!

Coincidentally, happening right alongside the rise of Gillan was a growing groundswell of young English metal acts who’d cut their teeth as lads to the likes of Sabbath, Zeppelin, UFO, Thin Lizzy, Status Quo, and of course, Purple. This group of bands would subsequently be branded by the press as the New Wave of British Heavy Metal. Their fans, denim and leather clad teenaged headbangers, many too young to recall Deep Purple in Rock upon its original 1970 release, subsequently embraced Gillan with open arms as an elder statesmen of the scene. Gillan, in turn, responded with an album that fit comfortably amongst the NWOBHM revolution, Glory Road.

Glory Road explodes out of our stereos with an opening wallop in “Running, White Faced, City Boy”. This composition was brought to the table by keyboardist Colin Towns, and it shows, as he bashes away on the keys like a crazed Jerry Lee Lewis, high on the purest of gas station crank and possessed by the power of early metal. The rest of the band responds with an equally fevered delivery. Mick Underwood slams the drums with the intensity of Ian Paice on “Fireball”, bassist John McCoy holds down the fort alongside him, hotshot guitarist Bernie Tormé fuses the musicality of Blackmore with the rage of the NWOBHM, and Gillan shows off his brash, booming midtempo delivery, merely warming up for what’s bound to follow.

“Are You Sure?” is another uptempo heavy rocker, yet boasting a different framework than its predecessor. Whereas “Running” is a masterclass in early speed metal, “Are You Sure?” boasts a boogie shuffle and jazz flavored finesse recalling an ’80s metalized version of the jammier moments on Machine Head. With a cut like this, Gillan was making a statement: Not only could his band keep up with the heaviest of the heavies tearing up the scene, but like Purple in their heyday, this group of musos were dynamic, able to shift colors like a chameleon whenever needed.

“Time and Again” is quite the outlier, and likely had many youngsters scratching their heads after two barn burners like “Running” and “Are You Sure?”. In contrast, “Time and Again” is a soft rock song that wouldn’t sound out of place on AM radio alongside the likes of Ambrosia or Toto. Mind you, this song is far from a wimp-out, as even for a pop tune, it boasts quite an unorthodox arrangement and progressive flavor. Furthermore, take a dive into Gillan’s post-Purple output, and it becomes apparent he always had a penchant for these oddities.

After that lite palette cleanse, “No Easy Way” has us rocking like Purple circa ’72 again. If “Running” was Towns’ showcase, then “No Easy Way” is Tormé’s time to shine. The first couple minutes of the song see Tormé alone, melting our faces with fuzzed out riffage and ripping leads. It’s a wild prelude to a cut that puts the pedal to the metal in more ways than one. It’s far from the most aggressive song on Glory Road, but packs quite the punch with its forceful rhythm section and devil may career delivery. Plus, Gillan sounds like he’s having the time of his life belting out those lines.

Now here’s where we get to the asterisk of the album, so to speak. For whatever reason or another, RSO didn’t feel the brilliant boogie metal basher “Sleeping on the Job” was the right choice to close out side A here in the States. As a result, we’re treated to the hard-jamming “Your Mother Was Right”, which in England was released as part of the free For Gillan Fans Only album accompanying the initial run of Glory Road. While there’s nothing wrong with this song, and it sure expands upon the Machine Head vibe of “Are You Sure?” and “No Easy Way”, I feel “Sleeping on the Job” would’ve been a more effective album side closer.

As much as I dig side A of Glory Road, and there’s no denying it’s chock full of classics, it’s side B of this masterpiece on which the band really gets down to business, unleashing what is, as far as I’m concerned, some of the finest cuts in their canon, starting with arguably the best. “On the Rocks” is a chilling progressive speed metal suite, one that goes toe to toe with thee finest moments in the Purple and Rainbow back catalog. Towns sets the stage with a couple minutes of haunting atmosphere, before the rest of the band crashes in and takes us for the ride of a lifetime. It’s epic and over the top without even trying, filled with equal measures attitude and emotion. If you’re unfamiliar with this song, do yourself a favor: Take 7 minutes and crank the volume dial as far right as possible.

“On the Rocks” is followed by an equally lengthy, yet radically different song in “If You Believe Me”. Whereas “On the Rocks” is filled with proggy adventurism and full fledged metal power, “If You Believe Me’ is a stripped down, laid back, blues rock jam. Imagine, if you will, you’re in a cocktail lounge circa 1980. At roughly 2 in the morning, still riding the high of their sold out gig at the local enorma-dome, Gillan come drunkenly strolling in, eager to jam to an audience of a misanthropic bartender, a call girl, a half-asleep lawyer, and the janitor. “If You Believe Me” is what they’d play…and the crowd goes wild! And by “wild”, I mean an odd clap or two amidst the nicotine scented haze, courtesy of the janitor.

The calm of “If You Believe Me” is quickly dashed by the blistering NWOBHM-esque speed of “Unchain Your Brain” (What a hell of a title!). If you’re one of our English friends reading this, don’t second guess yourself! On your edition of Glory Road, “Unchain” is the opener. For us Yanks, RSO felt the need to push it to track 8. Thankfully, “Running” boasts the same type of chaotic energy that a Gillan album opener needs, but again, this seems like another unnecessary switch overall, as “Unchain” is easily the most frantic, unhinged, and full metal cut on the affair, making for the perfect opener.

Closing it all out, one of the most unique songs Gillan ever sang on period, “Nervous”. Whereas most of the metal songs on Glory Road emphasized blinding fast tempos and the usual showoff solos characteristic of Purple, the heaviness of “Nervous” is owed to its slow plodding tempo, slamming riffs, and absolutely vitriolic vocal performance, one that sees Gillan teetering on proto-extreme metal territory. He gives his signature screams extra distortion, resulting in a prototypical growl during the verses. Couple all these elements with a foreboding atmosphere, and one could call this Purple tinted doom metal, foreshadowing Gillan’s eventual stint with the godfathers of doom, Black Sabbath.

Although Glory Road did little in the way of commercial success here in the States, it was a smash hit in the UK, making it all the way up to #3 on the albums chart. Not bad for the then 35 year old Gillan, which in metal years, was rather mature for 1980. Gillan would ride the NWOBHM wave for three more albums before splintering in 1982. As we all know, he’d then drunkenly join Sabbath in ’73, before regrouping with Purple in ’84. Fast forward over 40 years later, and Gillan is still fronting the mighty Purple, who rumor has it has a new album in the wings, set for release later this year. We can only cross our fingers and toes in anticipation. Cheers Ian! Here’s to 80 more years of shrieks n’ screams!