Customer Reviews

Mr Universe

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
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After his journey thru jazz rock, Ian Gillan comes back to his roots, or at least to what made him famous...HARD ROCK.
And hard rock it is!Mr Universe contains some of his best solo songs like ROLLER, Mr UNIVERSE, Fightin Man or Secret of the Dance.
Back in the hard rock business, Gillan is screaming his lungs out, sometimes a lil too much as his voice is starting to fade and losing its clearness.
Bernie Torme and Colin Towns are very good solists but the rythm section is a lil weak-or if not weak, at least not very sophisticated.
About the bonus tracks there is nothing I can say as I'm refering to the original LP.
His best (without purple) album along with Glory Road and the jazz rock IAN GILLAN BAND's Child In Time.

My title says it all . You get Ian Gillan and Bernie Torme on their first album together , and it was the beginning of a great hard rock band (but sadly , a short lived band) . Great singing , great guitar playing , the great John McCoy on bass . This is a fantastic album . Remastered by Edsel , a very good package with the bonus tracks and great booklet. Be sure to crank up Vengeance and Mr Universe .

Update (12/08): The original Virgin CD's of GILLAN sound nicer overall, with better highs and clarity than the Edsel remasters. So try tracking down the originals first.

This is the 2007 remaster of Ian Gillan's "Mr. Universe" album. Released in October 1979, it was a top twenty hit in the UK, and featured the line-up of Ian Gillan (vocals), John McCoy (bass), Colin Towns (keyboards), Bernie Tormé (guitar), and Mick Underwood (drums). There are many great hard rockin' tracks to be found here, such as Second Sight, Secret of the Dance, Roller, Mr. Universe, Dead of Night, Message in a Bottle and Fighting Man. I still think Glory Road (their follow up) was a better album, but this one is pretty powerful as well. If you like the Deep Purple (mk2) approach, then you'll probably enjoy this album as well. The booklet and packaging is top notch. Lots of pictures, stories and even the lyrics are included. Big thumbs up to Edsel records for re-releasing these hard rock gems from the Gillan band.

This was the first successful album by Ian Gillan after he left Deep Purple for the first time. He had already released 3 Jazzy/Funky albums which had not fared well in the Punk dominated era of mid and late '70's (though 'child in time' and 'Clear air Turbulence' have withstood the effect of time and still sound great).

Gillan revamped the band at this time keeping only Colin Towns from the IGB line-up.

Bernie Torme on the Guitar has his first appearance for Gillan on this album, though he has not contributed much to the song writing. Bernie was the guitarist that filled in for OZZY after the death of Randy Rhodes. He will be the force behind the next two Gillan masterpieces.

Coming back to `Mr. Universe'. This album is hard and fast though at times some songs sound similar. 'Roller', 'secret of the Dance', 'Dead of Night' and the title song are great numbers.

But the masterpiece here is 'Fighting Man' giving Ian the opportunity to show his singing ability. The solos both Guitar and Keyboard are great.

This band is hardly known in the US, mainly because the songs are raw and harsh or maybe Gillan were not promoted too well. Its a shame what the Americans have missed out on as Gillan albums fared very well in UK and the band is considered an integral part of the NWOBHM.

If you like this album then try the Gillan albums with Bernie Torme like 'Glory Road'(which is my favourite hard rock album after 'Deep purple in Rock' and `Machine Head') and 'Future Shock'.

This was the first sucessful album by Ian Gillan after he left Deep Purple for the first time. He had already released 3 Jazzy/Funky albums which had not fared well in the Punk dominated era of mid and late '70's (though 'child in time' and 'Clear air Turbulance' have withstood the effect of time and still sound great).

Gillan revamped the band at this time keeping only Colin Towns from the IGB lineup.

Bernie Torme on the Guitar has his first apperance for Gillan on this album, though he has not contributed much to the song writing.Bernie was the guitarist that filled in for OZZY after the death of Randy Rhodes.He will be the force behind the next two Gillan master peices.

Coming back to Mr. Universe. This album is hard and fast though at times some songs sound similar. 'Roller', 'secret of the Dance', 'Dead of Night' and the title song are great numbers.

But the masterpiece here is 'Fighting Man' giving Ian the opportunity to show his singing ability. The solos both Gutiar and Keyboard are great.

This band is hardly known in the US, mainly because the songs are raw and harsh or maybe Gillan were not promoted too well. Its a shame what the Americans have missed out on as Gillan albums fared very well in UK and the band is considered an integral part of the NWOBHM.

If you like this album then try the Gillan albums with Bernie Torme like 'Glory Road'(which is my favorite best hard rock album after 'Deep purple in Rock') and 'Future Shock'.

This was my favorite line-up of the Gillan era. This is due in part to Bernie Torme (guitar), John McCoy (Bass), Colin Towns (Keys) and Mick Underwood (Drums). Gillan voice is strong on this release. This is a hard rocking side of Gillan. I highly recommend this CD as well as "Glory Road".

After stretchin' out on the first trilogy of adventurous tasty solo albums Mr. Gillan gears up for an onslaught of english flavored metal that does'nt let up till the "Magic" album. On "Mr.Universe" is where the new rhythm section of McCoy/Underwood take over the sound and maybe the cause for the new direction. A powerful locomotive injection to the music.None of the jazz-fusion flavorin' we got on the previous, what we get here are full on Highway Star/Burn type high energy rock with guitar athelectics from Bernie Torme' and We still get some fine musical moments from Colin Townes. This is hard and heavy and it continues after this with "Glory Road", "Future Shock" and "Double Trouble"......

Are you god? are you man? no - he is Ian Gillan