One Eye to Morocco is Ian Gillan’s first new album of original solo material in a decade and, once again, The Voice has outdone himself. Following the release of the retrospective recordings of Gillan’s Inn in 06, I was left wanting to hear new material from Gillan and the musicians who made up the core band and sound of that album. This disc is exactly the kind of earworm I was hoping to hear.

The guitar/bass combo of Michael Lee Jackson and Rodney Appleby are back and build upon what they started with the updated recordings on Gillan’s Inn. The new material here is very well balanced and shifts from fun to bluesy to introspective moods. I’ve always been a fan of IG’s signature lyrical style and his stories about them featured in the “Wordography” section of his website. Indeed, already he has three entries there from …Morocco, which I highly recommend to the reader to check out for yourself. The title track especially has a fun story to it, which I shall not attempt to paraphrase here.

Something about the overall sound of One Eye to Morocco makes me think of this as the perfect follow up to his previous solo release. If Gillan’s Inn was the “raging party at the pub” record, this album definitely continues the party, in a more shoes off, toes in the sand kind of refined way, with shifts to quieter moments, in darkened rooms, several beverages later, late at night, as the band mellows the mood. Or I could be completely wrong and it’s just a damn fine listen without a single weak song to speak of. It’s all subjective and really you need to hear it for yourself to appreciate what Mr. Gillan does away from his day job.

This review is available in book format (hardcover and paperback) in Music Street Journal: 2009  Volume 3 at lulu.com/strangesound.