Spitfire
1999
Cherkazoo & Other Stories...
About This Album
As perhaps the crowning glory in Spitfire/Eagle's extensive Ian Gillan reissue series, Cherkazoo & Other Stories is at once both the most eagerly anticipated volume by hardcore fans and the lone disc in the series to appeal to a larger audience than Gillan fanatics. Nothing on the collection has been previously been release, yet it is all legendary among Deep Purple and Gillan followers. The first eight tracks (six songs, two dialogues) of the compilation are all taken from the previously unreleased soundtrack to Cherkazoo, a children's story Gillan labored on in the early '70s, as Deep Purple were riding the crest of their popularity. The remainder of the record is devoted to sessions Gillan cut between his departure from Purple in 1973 and the beginning of his solo career in 1976. Both items are equally sought-after among collectors, but outside listeners will undoubtedly be taken with Cherkazoo, a delightful collection of psychedelic pop and whimsical British music hall numbers. These are utterly charming songs, sounding like Sgt. Pepper-era Beatles or early pre-Space Oddity Bowie, and having all the appeal of the best obscure British psychedelia -- high praise indeed. The early solo sessions find Gillan in more familiar territory, namely hard rock.
Track List (try tracks 2,3,4,6 and 8)

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