Ian Gillan - Dreamcatcher
Hard On You
You Sold My Love For A Song
Sugar Plum
A Day Late And A Dolar Short
Chandra's Coriander
All In My Mind
Prima Donna
Sleepy Warm
Country Mile
That's Why God Is Singing The Blues
Gunga Din
Anyway You Want Me
Label: Forbidden Records
Year: 1998
Producer: Ian Gillan & Steve Morris
Total Playing Time: 49:32
Mr Gillan needs no introduction from me (Episode Six, Deep Purple, Gillan, Black Sabbath). Deep Purple's Made In Japan album topped my list of favourite albums for quite a while. Although I don’t own any of the albums, I also remember hearing quite a bit of Gillan on the Friday Rock Show on BBC Radio 1, many, many moons ago. Despite the fact that I like Deep Purple, Ian Gillan has never made into my list of top vocalists. I think he falls into the "I made the most of what I've got" category and he certainly has created some great music over the decades.
For this album, he teams up again with his old buddy from Gillan - Steve Morris. Steve might be more familiar to most of you as being one half of UK AOR band Heartland. They've created what I'd describe as a highly personal collection of songs. I use this description because it isn't the most blatantly commercial album I've ever heard - Deep Purple or for that matter Gillan it ain't.
Hard On You is one of the heavier and more conventional songs here. It sounds vaguely like Gillan. Likewise Sugar Plum (despite the pan-pipes start) and A Day Late And A Dollar Short.
Finger-clicking bluesy jazz is on offer on You Sold My Soul For A Song and That's Why God Is Singing The Blues.
Quite a few of the songs are best described as laid back and mellow - All In My Mind, Prima Donna, Sleepy Warm (this one works particularly well), Country Mile and Anyway You Want Me.
Two of the quirker tunes are Chandra's Coriander (sounds more Amazon Rainforest than Ganges Delta to me) and Gunga Din (propelled along by a Celtic/Scottish jig, which strangely works within the context of this album).
Different. But in this case, different doesn't necessarily mean bad. One for the more musically open minded out there.
Rating: 7/8
