When
Ian Gillan was recording his solo albums in the late 1970s and early '80s,
Deep Purple's influence never went away. But
Gillan did make an effort to try different things, and he was at his most experimental on
Clear Air Turbulence. Enjoyable, if uneven, this album illustrates
Gillan's willingness to take some chances. While the singer favors an aggressive hard rock groove on "Money Lender," the jazz fusion-influenced touches of "Over the Hill," "Goodhand Liza" and the title song could lead you to believe that you'd been listening to
Weather Report and
Return to Forever. Had
Chick Corea formed an alliance with
Deep Purple, perhaps it might sound something like "Over the Hill." Heavy metal and hard rock are in short supply on this album, which employs no less than five horn players and shows that
Gillan didn't want to be a headbanger 100-percent of the time. ~ Alex Henderson