Gillan – The Glory
Years
(Eagle DVD/Concert)
Picture:
D Sound: C Extras:
B Concert: C
After
leaving Deep Purple to pursue a business career, then returning to the world of
rock n’ roll, Ian Gillan put together the band Gillan, which then produced this
concert recording, titled Gillan – The Glory Years. As far as I
can tell, these were the only years, and this DVD is proof of why. What
is presented is a rather dated performance of a hard rock band trying to
reproduce their so-called glory days, which didn’t ever really occur as they
play to about two-hundred people at most.
The
concert, which was recorded in 1981, shows its age, as the audience is clad in
denim, the band is clad in metal studded leather, and the concert looks like it
was recorded onto a home camcorder from the time. The music is enjoyable
enough for a hard rocker (and I don’t use that phrase lightly), but ultimately
falls short because Gillan, as a band, were never the legends that they’re
striving seem to be (Judas Priest). For every successful moment in this
performance, there are at least five other things weighing down on it and
ruining the experience for me.
The
transfer is presented in an incredibly grainy 4x3 full-frame format. Seriously
– home video quality from the stone age. The sound is presented in DTS 5.1
digital surround sound and Dolby 5.1 and stereo, but a release like this one
requires only the two speakers on the front of the TV. I suspect that if this is attempted to be
played on an HD TV, the band members would just stand there and laugh at
you. On the plus side, there are numerous bonus tracks and TV promos, but
they don’t make up for the rest of the release.
To quote
the back of the DVD, “for lovers of the band, and that would be just about
anyone who caught one of their energetic shows at this time, this is GILLAN at
the peak of their considerable powers.” It’s twenty-seven years later and
Gillan has been long forgotten. Time to
go back to listening to music that stands the test of time.
- Jordan Paley
