“One Eye To Morocco” Ian Gillan (Eagle Records) *** ½
One of rock’s most distinct voices steps out from behind the Purple curtain to make his own noise, with inspired results.

“It all started in Cracow, Poland, late December 2005, in a café where Oscar Schindler had been active during dark times”” Ian says in the liner notes, as he starts to explain this journey. Three years later DP had an unexpected break in their schedule, and with 38 songs in various stages of completion, Ian brought in longtime Purple associate Nick Blagona at Metalworks Studio in Toronto to create an album. The hypnotic title track, at that point untitled and without lyrics, became the standard for the others to measure up to.

“Morocco” has a groove that isn’t required in Gillan’s day job. Songs like “Texas State of Mind” surely rock- it could’ve easily become a Purple rave-up- but the horns and middle-eastern tones on tracks like the gorgeous title song reveal a deeper soul than one expect from an aging party boy.

Stepping outside of the group gives Gillan a wider canvas on which to express himself, but he never strays far enough from home to make you ask “what the hell was that?!?” Deep Purple fans will enjoy this, and those that think DP has little more to say than drive fast, watch a casino burn down and hey let’s get drunk, will be very pleasantly surprised.

KEY TRACKS: “One Eye To Morocco”, “Change My Ways”, “Ultimate Groove”