Gillan - Clear Air Turbulence
(Island - 1977)
Category : underrated

When Ian Gillan left Deep Purple, he must've felt like doing something different. Purple has always had something slightly Progressive (at least until David Coverdale entered to replace Gillan and lead them to funkier territory), but what Gillan does on 'Clear Air Turbulence', is full-fledged shameless Progressive Rock and Jazz Rock. When you listen to this mixture of Rock, Prog, Jazz and Funk, it's difficult to recognise where Ian Gillan came from.

The tone is set immediately with the title track with its uptempo Jazz Rock parts and soft parts. The result is certainly not something that I would recommend to all Deep Purple / Gillan fans. But it wouldn't be out of place in the record collection of a Weather Report fan instead.

This album is something of an oddity in the Gillan catalogue. He would never sound this Jazzy, Funky nor Progressive again.

Website: http://www.gillan.com