Ian Gillan One Eye To Morocco CD

Audio Mixer: Nick Blagona.
Audio Remasterer: Nick Blagona.
There are few genuine hard rock singers who have not been impacted or influenced by Deep Purple's Ian Gillan. Stepping out from his ongoing band duties, Gillan explores both familiar and new territory on ONE EYE TO MOROCCO, his first set of solo material in ten years. Collaborating once again with guitarist Steve Morris, Gillan takes a more song-oriented approach on MOROCCO, steering clear of the kind of instrumental gymnastics that define the classic Deep Purple canon.
As one of the most instantly recognizable voices in all of rock -- in a career that has spanned four decades -- there isn't much for Deep Purple's Ian Gillan to prove. But to his credit, he's still at it, as the frontman (to this day) for Purple, as well as returning to his solo career when the mood hits, as evidenced by the release of his 2009 offering, One Eye to Morocco. And while there are indeed some rockin' moments heard throughout Morocco, it won't be confused anytime soon with the heavy metal thunder of such early-'70s Purple releases as Fireball or Machine Head. That said, Gillan is still in fine voice (in fact, it's eerie how much his voice sounds comparable to his vintage Purple days), but musically, it's more mature and varied, as evidenced by the Beatles-like album opening title track, the Dire Straits-esque "Don't Stop," or the bluesy "Girl Goes to Show." Some hard rock vets have a hard time not coming off as trying too hard as they progress in years. As evidenced by One Eye to Morocco, Ian Gillan is very comfortable where he's at. ~ Greg PratoRecord Collector (magazine) (p.83) - 3 stars out of 5 -- "Gillan trawls through his own musical heritage to inject skiffle into 'Don't Stop,' a dose of calypso over the guitar zephyrs of 'Girl Goes To Show,' and harmonica and bongos on 'Change My Ways'..."