The Ian Gillan DVD's keep coming, this one being a 34 minute concert clip from a 1977 appearance at the Rainbow, featuring the Ian Gillan Band. These days many people tend to forget this early band of Gillan's, most remember the harder rocking Gillan that toured extensively and released a handful of powerful albums in the late 70's and early 80's. The IGB were more of a mix of jazz fusion and rock, as opposed to the heavy rock sounds of Gillan, clearly heard on this five song set featuring guitarist Ray Fenwick, keyboard player Colin Towns, bassist John Gustafson, and drummer Mark Nauseef. It's a shame that not more of the band's original material is presented here, as they had a unique sound which paired stunning jazzy arrangements with Gillan's vocal shrieks, which can be heard in full force on "Clear Air Turbulence" and "Money Lender". However, this fusion based sound does not work well at all on Deep Purple classics like "Child In Time", "Smoke on the Water" , and "Woman From Tokyo", especially with Fenwick, who is a fine guitar player in his own right but not very adept at playing songs with heavy riffs. It would have been nice to see and hear him on some other IGB original material rather than the Purple songs, but perhaps this was the only footage that survived from this show. Regardless, it's still some rare and impressive stuff from a line-up that hardly gets talked about. As far as bonus features, you get a short interview with Fenwick as he looks back on the Ian Gillan Band days, an audio interview with Ian from a Japan tour, and some rarities played to IGB songs. Overall there's not much content here, but if you are a Ian Gillan fanatic, the 1977 footage is going to be a must have.
Track Listing
Rainbow Concert May 1977
1) Twin Exhausted (intro)
2) Clear Air Turbulence
3) Money Lender
4) Child in Time
5) Smoke on the Water
6) Woman From Tokyo
7) Twin Exhausted (outro)
Ray Fenwick Interview-bonus
Japan Tour Interview with Ian Gillan (audio)-bonus
Rarities photo gallery set to music-bonus
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