Ian Gillan & Tony Iommi: WhoCares

 

Got wind of this when Jon Lord passed away three months ago and wondered aloud on my Facebook page if we would get anything more than the charity CD single.  These three guys plus Iron Maiden and ex-Pat Travers drummer Nicko McBrain and former Metallica bassist Jason Newsted equals a pretty serious supergroup.  They had originally put the two songs out to continue humanitarian aid for those affected by the Armenian earthquake of 1988.  Some of you may remember the Live Aid-styled reworking of "Smoke On The Water" with Gillan, Iommi and Lord, along with a host of metal stars.  A charity album and video were also part of the project, as well as a cover of Zeppelin's "Rock And Roll", of which McBrain was involved.   All these guys had developed a bond with the country's people and their plight and some twenty years later were trying to raise funds to help build a music studio.  Who said metalheads don't have a heart?

I honestly did not know that the single was a year old.  I had hoped for a full album of new material.  The two tracks were outstanding.  Sadly, it will never be.  What we have now with this double CD collection is a couple of lifts from previous albums and several rarities, mostly featuring Gillan.  One of my favorite Black Sabbath albums was "Born Again," which had Gillan in the band.  Meaner and heavier than anything Ozzy did.  A direct lift from the record is "Zero The Hero."  Another song was called "Trashed," but this version was  rerecorded a few years ago by essentially Deep Purple with Iommi on guitar.  I liked the original better and may now have to digitally upgrade my worn out cassette copy of "Born Again." 

You know what?  There are a couple of 4 1/2 minute videos that sample the tunes from each CD.  One minute in, you'll see the liner listing the tracks and assorted info.  I'll let you do that before I wrap up...

   




I really like the fourth track from CD 1, which is a twenty-year-old song with a Greek star of some magnitude.  You'll see the name of British metal legend Glenn Hughes on two songs from 2005.  Need I say more about that?  The last three songs from disc 2 are highlights for this Ian Gillan fan.  The Garth Rockett thing happened after DP's "House Of Blue Light" and is impossible to find.  What a great live rock and roll song, and it sounds like Brian May on guitar, though I know it isn't.  "...Blind Man..." was originally recorded in the Machine Head days but only released as a B-side.  DP never played it as long as Blackmore was in the band, but Gillan has used it many times over the last twenty years.  This version is from a radio performance with only Steve Morse accompanying on guitar.  The final track was a warm up jam done here in Orlando in 1995 while DP was recording their first album with Morse as the permanent guitarist.  Once you get past the drunken silliness at the beginning, you get a toe-tapping blues workout that absolutely smokes.  Great way to close the collection. 

This is a "preaching to the choir" kind of release, a stroll down Mad Rocker Memory Lane, heavier on Gillan than Iommi, but it's outstanding.  A 9 on a 10 scale.