Customer Reviews

Scarabus

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The road between Ian Gillan's first two stints fronting Deep Purple is not only a musically rewarding one but also a textbook example of the dark side of fame. After trying to establish a new sound miles away from Purple's proto-stomp with the tricky jazz-rock fusion of his first two solo albums, Gillan was under increasing pressure to conform to his old hard-rock persona both financially and critically (i.e., the albums didn't sell and the press ignored them besides). SCARABUS represents Ian's attempt to both give the public what they wanted (screaming and long solos) while remaining true to his original vision of IGB. What resulted was one of the best records of its era, packed with well-written songs and deft fusion arrangements peppered with heavy seasoning. Alas, this one went unheard by most and Gillan was to throw in the towel, hire the big fat bald guy and the skinny-tie guitar wanker and revert to the old cannon-fire approach his 15 minutes of fame had shackled him to. (Not that he didn't shoehorn as much subversion as possible into those early-80s Gillan albums!) But for a few minutes there in the late 70s, when he still thought he was in charge of his career, Ian Gillan took the ball and ran with it, and SCARABUS is the proof.

This album is great! It successfully mixes the jazzy stuff from the Clear Air Turbulence period with the intensity of the later/Gillan period, for a perfect balance. Drummer Mark Nauseef is cut loose of previous inhibitions and really jams on this one. The band sounded like they were in a good mood, and psyched for cool music.

None of the boring lameness of Clear Air Turbelence. Every second is great. Buy this album.

This is not straight forward rock, but a very complex and enjoyable mixtures between rock, jazz and funk !!! It has great musicians by Gillan's side. It's a record to remember forever for those who love independece of compositions.

Gillan musicians tried to be too much versatile in this album. They succeeded, but in doing so they did something very different from rock, sometimes really boring. So they did, that after that Gillan changed his mind and went back to straigh forward rock.

Even listening to it with an open mind, this cd sounded boring and confusing, as if the musicians were trying to prove how great they are and capable of alternating rhythms and tempo. The rsult is not a rock'n roll album, but some weird combination of genres, which is a good idea. But it didn't work at al..