Ian Gillan has emerged as a worldwide success both as the voice of Deep Purple and also as a solo performer. Grab a front row seat as Gillan powers through a selection of the greatest hits of Gillan and Deep Purple.

This CD documents an exciting yet turbulent era of Gillan's existence. Within a few days of this show, guitarist Bernie Torme had walked out of the band.
Whatever friction there may have been in the band at this time was not manifest on stage although 'On The Rocks' may be prophetically titled given the events that followed a few days after this recording on June 17 1981. With the band scheduled to fly back to the UK to record a slot in the top Of the Tops programme, Bernie Torme left. As it happened, John McCoy performed on the TOTP show with a double-neck guitar.
After Torme's departure, Gillan soldiered on for another year with replacement guitarist Janick Gers but to many fans the Mk II Gillan line-up of Ian Gillan, Colin Towns, John McCoy and Mick Underwood was the definitive version and is presented here "On The Rocks".
An informative 12-page CD booklet includes notes by More Black Than Purple fanzine editor Jerry Bloom and features rare unseen photos from the band member's personal collections.

Ian Gillan has emerged as a worldwide success both as the voice of Deep Purple and also as a solo performer. Grab a front row seat as Gillan powers through a selection of the greatest hits of Gillan and Deep Purple.

After his departure from Deep Purple in the summer of 1973 Ian Gillan spent some time in a musical wilderness before forming Ian Gillan Band in late 1975. This part of his career has been well documented on other Angel Air releases, in particular "Live At The Rainbow" (SJPCD017).
Ian Gillan Band released three studio albums but Ian sensed that their brand of complicated jazz-rock was in danger of alienating his core audience. Accordingly, he decided to form a new band which became Gillan. This featured John McCoy, Steve Byrd, Colin Towns and Pete Barnacle. One of their first engagements was in October 1978, a four-date mini-tour of Japan plus TV appearances. The concluding show, at Tokyo's Shinjuku Koseinenkin Hall is featured on this CD.
If fans had despaired that Ian Gillan was deserting his rock roots they needn't have worried when listening to this concert. This recording proved to be the foundation for a very successful four-year period that followed.

This is Ian Gillan Band's second album, released in 1977, but in a radically different form. This CD contains the original "Rockfield" mixes before Ian Gillan remixed them for the first issue(on Island)and the second issue(on Virgin).
The album, "Clear Air Turbulence", stands up remarkably well with age being a hybrid synthesis of jazz rock and funk, quite different from Gillan's rock histrionics in Deep Purple.
In this version of Gillan's Band we have Ray Fenwick, John Gustafson(ex-Big Three), Mark Nauseef and Colin Towns(now a highly successful TV and film score composer).

In April 1977, Ian Gillan Band had released the album "Clear Air Turbulence" which marked an altogether different direction for Ian Gillan melding as it did jazz, rock and funk influences. That album is well-documented on a companion Angel Air release, "The Rockfield Mixes". Ironically, this change of tack has given the late-70s albums enhanced durability, contrasting with the expected heavy rock slant which can sometimes sound dated two decades later.
It was on 14 May 1977 in front of a packed house at the Rainbow Theatre in London that Ian Gillan Band performed one of their most memorable live gigs. Until now, that performance has remained in the vaults. Featured musicians: Ian Gillan, Colin Towns, keyboards, Ray Fenwick, guitar John Gustafson, bass and Mark Nauseef, drums.

This album is compiled and annotated by John McCoy, the bald and bearded bassist with Gillan and producer of all the band's hit albums, from many hours of recording sessions.
The album features three previously unreleased tracks while the remaining tracks have never been released before in this form.
Featured with Ian Gillan are John McCoy, Bernie Tormé, Colin Towns and Mick Underwood.
Contains previously unreleased tracks!