Customer Reviews

Toolbox

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

After the a little bit "experimental" NAKED THUNDER, GIllan came came to straight forwar hard rock with 1991's TOOLBOX. THe album has a inf your face sound, it's highly energetic, it has punch,a tight band, with guitarrist Steve Morris, bassist Leonard Haze.

Very good hard rocking album.

I truly think this classic hard rock/heavy metal album which was first released in 1991, could have been a huge hit on Mtv and beyond. The songs on this album are very catchy, from the bluesy "hang me out to dry", to the heavy iron maiden/saxon sounding "pictures of hell", and the catchy "candy horizon" etc., believe me this album is worth every penny. This was sadly the last Gillan group effort, which featured guitarist Steve Morris, bassist Brett Bloomfeild, and Y&T drummer Leonard Haze, and guest a guitar performance from Leslie West from Mountain,all in all, this album is amazing, and will be in your cd player for days.

He rocked us with smoke on the water, woman from tokyo, highway star, fireball, pictures of home, child in tima, black night,...ect but those songs are DEEP PURPLE. This his final solo album was a huge succesfull for many Purple Fans in europe and Asian, in the US is not a huge sale, because it is well known that the US music media has no huge interesst in the PURPLE sound. The whole songs are excellent like candy horizons, pictures of hell, dancing nylon shirt what ever......Long Live Deep purple.

Ian Gillan's career can be summed up with one word: diversity. A singer who started off with Episode Six, was later recruited into the legendary Deep Purple, had the lead role in Jesus Christ Superstar, went solo, rocked with the Black Sabbath gang, reunited with Deep Purple while continuing his solo career...

Due to his unbelievable singing abilities and one of the loudest voices in rock music, he was capable of embracing very different styles: from pure and aggressive hard rock all the way to funky jazz fusion and gospels... While some of his later albums in 90's represent Gillan's softer side ("Accidentally on purpose", "Dreamcatcher"), this album is nothing but a return to the roots. To put in simpler terms, "Toolbox" is hard rock. Pure, rough and loud just like we remember it from the years with Deep Purple... Here Gillan does what he does best: lots of screaming, heavy music, aggressive and raw lyrics. Some of the songs are one of the best. Candy Horizon and Dirty Dog are great heavy tunes, Nylon Shirt is more funky and jazzy, Pictures of Hell and Don't hold me back are very expressive and sophisticated.

The album features Gillan's old-time buddy from the "Naked Thunder" days Steve Morris. But unlike their early commercial works, this one is a true step forward. Highly recommended not only for the hardcore fans, but for all those who like heavy music.

Ian`s voice is in TOP NOTCH form.The songs are very heavy,and very good.Steve Morris is an excellent guitarist.This is a relatively unknown GEM.

GIllan gives ashow in this one. Released in 1991, it has Steve Morris on guitar (his composing partner), B. Bloomfield and LEonard Haze on drums. Oh, boy, this album rocks!!!! Under pressure from the recording company to make a pure rock release, GIllan wrote great songs, sang like never (even better than in actual Deep Purple. The songs are what I would call "Intelligent" hard-rocking. Don't miss it!!

The over-the-top-voice is back. Remember the stlye from Deep Purple's In Rock & Machine Head - well it's BACK in full throttle!!!! I couldn't believe he got his voice back (maybe a little tech help?) !!! The guitarast is an A1 hard rocker! Hi tech and great musicmanship. Guitarist is not as crazy as Torme but more talented and diversive than Blackmore.... and of course more Hard Rock (a little Bluezy) than Heavy Metal (The latter being my specialty).

If you love early Purple (with the Gillan voice) and a mature Randy Rhodes sounding guiatar sound - this is for you.

One of the most underrated cd's I have ever came across!!!! No Freakin' Lie!! Gillan and crew are so "getting-off" on this, I assume they had a cigarette afterwards. The PR (public relations) dept DID NOT PUBLICIZE THIS SURE-FIRE HIT CD AT ALL. General public in Europe and USA would love this.

???Why didn't Gillan stick with this fantastic and talented outpouring of musical delight on his latter cd's!!!!?????

During the years in between his three runs as Deep Purple's frontman, Ian Gillan is known for releasing numerous albums under his own name, featuring very different styles of music. The majority consist of the works of 3 acts - the Ian Gillan Band, Gillan, and Ian Gillan. The Ian Gillan Band was a musically ambitious but commercially underachieving funk/rock/jazz fusion project, Gillan a more straightforward (but still unusual) hard rock band. Albums released as Ian Gillan solo works generally are a mixed bag and have little continuity with one another, in terms of personnel and musical style. "Naked Thunder" has a pop-rock sound, while "Dreamcatcher" eschews rock altogether for acoustic guitars, and "One Eye to Morocco" is a mix of softer classic rock and roots sounds. 1991's "Toolbox" is the only Ian Gillan solo album that can really be called a hard rock record (with heavy metal moments, although Gillan dislikes being labeled a heavy metal artist). Songs like "Don't Hold Me Back", and "Bed of Nails" recall the catchy hard rock of the Gillan years, and tracks like "Dancing Nylon Shirt" and "Toolbox" sound more like Van Halen, while "Pictures of Hell" and "Gassed Up" evoke Iron Maiden and Judas Priest. The album features heavy riffs, catchy and well written songs, and great interplay between Ian's screaming and guitarist Steve Morris' leads. I would not hesitate to call it one of the last great albums in the unadulterated 80s hard rock style. For me, this album has a vitality and focus that is lacking from most latter-day Deep Purple works. Gillan is singing better on this album than he did on any of those! Maybe cause he didn't have Blackmore around driving him to drink...

I compared this to the previous CD release (Eagle Rock) and this remaster sounds too bright (or harsh sounding) for my taste.

1 star for mastering - 5 stars for the music.

The over-the-top-voice is back. Remember the stlye from Deep Purple's In Rock & Machine Head - well it's BACK in full throttle!!!! I couldn't believe he got his voice back (maybe a little tech help?) !!! The guitarast is an A1 hard rocker! Hi tech and great musicmanship. Guitarist is not as crazy as Torme but more talented and diversive than Blackmore.... and of course more Hard Rock (a little Bluezy) than Heavy Metal (The latter being my specialty).
If you love early Purple (with the Gillan voice) and a mature Randy Rhodes sounding guiatar sound - this is for you.

One of the most underrated cd's I have ever came across!!!! No Freakin' Lie!! Gillan and crew are so "getting-off" on this, I assume they had a cigarette afterwards. The PR (public relations) dept DID NOT PUBLICIZE THIS SURE-FIRE HIT CD AT ALL. General public in Europe and USA would love this.

???Why didn't Gillan stick with this fantastic and talented outpouring of musical delight on his latter cd's!!!!?????