At the time, jazz rock seemed a strange style for Ian Gillan to adopt for the first stage of his solo work - I expected an album of full-on shouting. So, despite the quality musicians involved, it was disappointing. The later Mr Universe album was credited to Gillan (the band) and, although it had a horrible production, was far more in keeping with what everyone expected. In addition, the performance at Reading 1981, showed that Gillan could come up with great music without Deep Purple (even if it did include Smoke on the Water). His live shows were very atmospheric and Glory Road continued the style.
With hindsight, the Child in Time album does not seem so bad, but the remastered Mr Universe is the solo album to which I keep returning. When Deep Purple reformed in 1984, for Knebworth and Perfect Strangers, they were better than ever. Sadly, it didn't last. Listening to Ian Gillan's new EP, Vincent Price, the Bob Ezrin production seems to be turning him into Alice Cooper!
Fireball is a great album and I also like Who Do We Think We Are? Both have a sort of funk-blues feel, especially with Fools and Place In the Line. Both tracks are massively underrated in favour of Black Night, Smoke On the Water, Child in Time, etc.
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