Ye Olde Metal: Gillan’s Glory Road

This app tells the story of the making of Gillan’s 1980 album Glory Road.

One could call Gillan’s blustery, heart-racing rock on a clock style a somewhat weird spot of chicanery plaguing and baiting the wider (and younger) NWOBHM exploding around them.

The app’s author, Martin Popoff, explains:

“In a cheeky mood, Ive been known to call Gillan my favourite band of all time, given the insane charm of all six of their albums, the guys burning it out before they could screw up (just like another one of my fave raves, Max Webster).

“This dollar "print single" app can be considered a canned history of a band seldom talked about in detail, so Im particularly proud to unleash it upon all you like-minded ancient metal lovers.

“Gillan... man, they were a cross between Deep Purple and Tygers Of Pan Tang, werent they? With a crazy circus organist chucked on top, one who helped write a lot of the songs. Unfortunately, Colin Towns wouldnt talk to me, but the irrepressible Ian Gillan did, as did Bernie Tormé and John McCoy. Surprised to see I didnt include any of my chat with drummer Mick Underwood in here, but youll see him in the future, when I get around to giving you the story of Future Shock, follow-up to our current concern Glory Road, which is the third album for these punk metal nutters gone newobbim...”

The Gillan’s Glory Road app stems from an as-yet-unpublished Ye Olde Metal “essay” or “chapter,” Ye Olde Metal being a series of five books thus far, examining albums from 1968 through 1978, in detailed, one-per-chapter format.

Martin Popoff has penned 38 books on hard rock, heavy metal, classic rock and record collecting. Martin currently resides in Toronto and can be reached through [email protected] or http://www.martinpopoff.com

The Gillan’s Glory Road app is a universal app that is compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. The app has layouts that have been specifically optimised for iPhone and for iPad.

Look out for other apps and eBooks in the Ye Olde Metal single-album series including Y&T’s Black Tiger, Motörhead’s Overkill, Bad Company’s Desolation Angels, Whitesnake’s Ready An’ Willing and Fastway’s Fastway.