For Gillan Fans Only [Picture Disc]

A bonus LP included with the first 15,000 copies of Gillan's Glory Road album, For Gillan Fans Only was a more or less accurately titled collection of offcuts and outtakes, opening with the B-side "Higher and Higher," and peaking with the marvelously meandering "Your Mother Was Right." Elsewhere, "Trying to Get to You" looks back to the sessions for frontman Ian Gillan's aborted 1974 solo album, and proves that it really could have been a great record. Other highlights include the live favorite "Abbey of Thelema," a wicked Colin Towns number, "Dragon's Tongue" and, to play us out, "The Harry Lime Theme." The ten songs here are not all classics -- they wouldn't have been discarded if they were! But for those Gillan fans who truly took their calling seriously, For Gillan Fans Only is a welcome glimpse into a great new album's back bedroom. ~ Dave Thompson