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Gillan box set
7 Gillan the band albums will be reissued as a box set on February 14, 2025, by Demon Records.
The albums featured in this set are as follows:
Gillan (The Japanese Album) – Originally released in September 1978, this was the debut of the band formed by Ian Gillan after leaving the Ian Gillan Band. It marked a shift away from jazz fusion to a heavier rock sound.
Mr. Universe – Released in 1979, this was a key album that solidified their success, featuring a mix of hard rock and NWOBHM influences.
Glory Road – A 1980 release, this album is considered the height of the band’s success, both commercially and musically.
Future Shock – Released in 1981, this album continued the band’s momentum, but guitarist Bernie Tormé left shortly afterward.
Double Trouble – A double album from 1981 that combined studio tracks and live performances and marked Janick Gers’ debut as guitarist.
Magic – Released in 1982, this was the band’s final studio album before they disbanded after their last performance at Wembley Arena in December 1982.
Live From Reading ’80 – A live album capturing the band’s powerful live performances at the Reading Festival in 1980.
The collection includes a new interview with Ian Gillan conducted by Rich Davenport, providing deeper insights into the band’s history and the albums. The audio has been remastered from the original tapes where possible, ensuring high-quality sound. The packaging is designed in a 7” x 7” format, with 32-page booklet, offering a unique visual presentation for collectors.
Townsend Music is taking pre-orders for £35.70, plus shipping, for the signed box set (presumably, by Big Ian himself). Amazon UK offers unsigned ones for roughly the same price. Both sites have detailed track listings for all the CDs.
Thanks to Benny Holmström for the info.
Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing
Interesting & good to see all the Ian Gillan related albums available in a box set for any Gillan aficionados out there. A bit suss on the ‘audio has been remastered from the original tapes where possible’? Which albums or songs? Anyway, better than not having them at all. Cheers.
October 16th, 2024 at 22:26But what about the live box “Back In The Game” Cherry Red had intended to release? This was already scheduled and announced for last year, but then at the last minute it became “temporarily unavailable” and has been in limbo ever since.
I’d rank the studio albums as follows:
Double Trouble Studio (best production and varied mix of songs, great songs by John McCoy)
Glory Road (McCoy makes his entry as a songwriter)
Japanese Album/Mr Universe (a tie, the Steve Byrd line-up was more refined, Bernie Tormé had punk abandon, can never decide which I like better)
Magic (not a bad album, but you could hear they were beginning to lose their spark)
Future Shock (never liked the even for Gillan standards very abrasive production of that album – it sounds tinny and rushed – nor most of the songwriting, Colin Towns took a backseat in the writing and it showed)
October 16th, 2024 at 23:41They don’t appear to ship to the US! 🙁
October 17th, 2024 at 00:15I have all these albums on vinyl (except Reading of course), but if they appear in my country (which I highly doubt), I will definitely buy them.
October 17th, 2024 at 00:54If someone from Demon Records reads this: While the planned Future Shock re-release features all the B sides from the No Laughing In Heaven single/EP, it doesn’t feature the single release of the song itself which is a missed opportunity as the single version was not some edit of the album version, but a different, rawer and more organic take altogether:
https://youtu.be/W3zU0uFxK-Y
Inter alia, it also features someone else singing with Ian on the chorus, I’ve always assumed this to be Bernie Tormé.
“Lotsa wimmin … no, not swimming …WIMMIN, WI-HIMMIN!”
Quite. Sheer bloody poetry, dragon-less and all.
October 17th, 2024 at 02:19Nice set although I would suggest ‘Gillan video box’ for consideration. This must include the following :
October 17th, 2024 at 07:17– video promo clips
– Top of the Pops appearances
– Live in Oxford
– live in Edinburgh
– Live in Gillingham
All remastered of course.
What do you guys think of it?
Great set of all the Gillan albums at a great price. If you don’t own the previous 2007 releases by edsel which are the same track listing it’s fantastic. Also if you don’t own the now very expensive and rare Japanese album it’s worth the price alone. On other sites they have a picture of the back of the box and no mention of the Reading 1980 disc.
October 17th, 2024 at 08:11Great news. I was positively surprised with the price tag, too. It could be £357.00 these days, and some people would still pay it, especially for IG’s signature. Nice to see Ian still sets a friendly price for his records, just like he did back in those days.
October 17th, 2024 at 08:30Gillan… don’t have a representative official concert album like Rainbow “On Stage” or Whitesnake “Live…in the Heart of the City”, in the era of Bernie Tormé. On the set list some wonderful songs “Vengeance”, “Dead of Night” ,”Unchain Your Brain” ,”No Easy Way”,”Sleeping on the Job”,”If You Believe Me” “No Laughing in Heaven” ,”New Orleans”, “their” SOTW..Reading is not, nor a production ..maybe not enough Martin Birch “?
October 17th, 2024 at 08:35What is the difference with the previous Demon reissues?
Seems the only place to get the Japanese Album at the moment!
October 17th, 2024 at 09:53Neither of the track listings on the respective web sites can be correct. On Amazon double trouble only lists the studio album (plus Spanish Guitar which was absent from the original CD upgrades and I have the flexi disc – offers?) Reading 1980 was released as a stand alone album but appears listed on Amazon as the double trouble tracks (not 1980 as they feature Gers plus the single b-sides which I can’t recall the provenance and I’m on holiday so can’t check
October 17th, 2024 at 09:54The Townsend site only lists 4 of the CD’s tracks
October 17th, 2024 at 09:55bonjour à tous pour ma part j’en posséde quelques uns mais à part un titre ou deux de correct le reste est inaudible pour moi cordialement
October 17th, 2024 at 10:19Who owns the rights to all the IGB and Gillan material? It seems to have appeared on all sorts of labels over the past 40 years.
October 17th, 2024 at 12:17@3
October 17th, 2024 at 12:56Nate, they do ship to the US. I am from the US and I get stuff from them every now and then. As a matter of fact, I just ordered it. But sometimes when you try to order, the screen will say not available in your territory. I have no idea why but if you keep trying at some point it lets you do it. I know what I just said makes no sense but that’s the way it is. Shipping is $20.50 standard. Maybe try to go to their website instead of using the link above. Good luck!
I think Herr Gillan does (or did?) via his Caramba! label with the exception of perhaps CAT and Scarabus. All the other stuff is regularly licensed every couple of years to various rerelease labels such as Repertoire, Edsel and Demon.
The Gillan stuff is being curated only soso, but not as well as the Whitesnake legacy. Worst of all is the disinterest and lovelessness shown in the curation of Rainbow’s material which really shows that Ritchie gives less than a rat’s ass about his back catalog prior to the BN era.
Georgivs, I’ve been collecting Purple stuff since 1975 and have a few thousand Purple family CDs (I never count), but I certainly wouldn’t be paying £357.00 for evidence that Ian can write his name! 🤣 Autographs have never meant anything to me (nor basses pre-owned by celebrities). But if it were a box of previously unreleased material, it would be a different matter. I seek a complete picture of musical material, not memorabilia.
October 17th, 2024 at 13:18Didn’t the Live album from Double Trouble feature one number with still Bernie Tormé on it? I seem to recall.
McCoy’s bass playing was really something else. He always played those overtly monotonous, stoic and ostinato bass lines, but a lot of thought went into their seeming simplicity. He was actually cerebral – he came from a jazz rock/fusion background – in (de)constructing his bass lines in a way that they would follow the music around them AS LITTLE AS POSSIBLE (he wouldn’t change notes on the bass when the guitar and keyboards changed chords, simply ploughing on with the previous fundamental note, or he would play the same rhythmic figure relentlessly again and again like clockwork), it was almost an iconoclastic approach to what bass playing had become in the late 70s/early 80s. No other bass player played like that, Ian Hill of JP adapted his style in a similar way come the 80s, but there was more humor and dominance in John McCoy’s bass playing, it was also thankfully much higher in the overall mix.
Among the greater Purple Family he was in his special way as good as John Gustafson and Paul Martinez ( both funky and intricate), Neil Murray (impeccable micro groove, melodic and organic) and Bob Daisley (forceful and tight as well as great technique).
https://youtu.be/wAhL52ns7Y8
https://youtu.be/jfwjoYorb5A
https://youtu.be/R35AqN-9XfY
https://youtu.be/DBuxc5Imm5A
https://youtu.be/iRFp4YRLq0c
His thoughtfully minimalist bass playing gave Gillan’s music this uncanny aura, the man is hugely underrated and even among bassists deplorably unknown. It breaks my heart that following the sad demise of GILLAN, he never again found another name band with longevity to play with (though Mammoth had its Andy Warhol 15 minutes of potential fame), he could have added so much with his style to various genres of rock, not just metal or heavy rock.
Everyone always lauds Colin Towns as the musical force of Gillan, and all the accolades for him are well-deserved, the guy is a (weird, but brilliant) genius. But next to him, John McCoy’s style and songwriting (from Glory Road onwards) was just as pivotal for the band’s idiosyncratic music.
October 17th, 2024 at 15:13Very nice box-set!
October 17th, 2024 at 15:29Can’t wait to get my sweaty paws on it ☺️
#14 John
It was originally Virgin, then the albums were re-released by label after label over the decades
In the 90s I bought the entire Gillan catalogue reprinted by Angel Air record and RPM record (which with the Connoisseur Collection had also reprinted many other albums by the Purple family)
here’s a nice chat with Big Ian who a few years ago unwrapped the box set of the reissue of his solo albums and gave us some nice anecdotes:
October 17th, 2024 at 17:12https://youtu.be/iasvLfAptAk?si=xhjgNsgs3tRFMQkc
@George Martin, thank you so much! I powered through and ordered! I had an account with them so apparently I had ordered from them in the past as well!
October 17th, 2024 at 18:23Why does the Japanese album have ‘Street Theatre’ as the first track when it was actually ”Second Sight’ on the original import vinyl release?
October 17th, 2024 at 20:25@ 9
October 17th, 2024 at 20:25Maybe not with Bernie Torme but The Budokan is a monster representation IMHO of his eclectic talent and at a time when his voice was the best of the best.
I think the chosen albums for this box are really the best ones, althought I’d have left out the Japanese Album in favour of Scarabus, which I love. (Or Clear Air Turbulence, which I like a lot, too)
Cheers.
I would love to see “Parliament Square”, which surfaced on YouTube sometime ago, added to the Japanese album. Unlikely, though.
October 17th, 2024 at 20:48