G H I J K L

Rory Gallagher Have you bought your Rory Gallagher record yet? No? Then you are depriving yourself of one of the greatest bluesmen that ever lived. Rory Gallagher was an excellent bluesman from Ireland whose playing defies description. Words like fluid, powerful, passionate, and excellent only come so close to describing his awesome sounds. He has always put his heart into his music and his love of the blues is equalled only by his excellence in playing them. I recommend the site http://www.rory.de for further information. You MUST find his work and listen to it! As a self-respecting DP fan, you owe it to yourself! If you are lucky enough to live where you can get Rory Gallagher's albums, I would recommend Blueprint, Irish Tour '74, Calling Card (produced by Roger Glover), or Photo-Finish to those wanting a good introduction to this fine bluesman. It should be noted that Mr. Gallagher passed away in 1995, following complications from a liver transplant. He will be remembered as a gentleman and one of the greatest musicians who took up a guitar and played the blues. We will miss you, Rory.

Genesis I didn't really get much into them beyond the album Duke, but quite a few DP fans rave over Genesis, and I can understand why. Their work with Peter Gabriel certainly was complex, provocative, and intricate. Although they took a pop turn following Gabriel's departure, they can still produce quite a few songs as the mood strikes them. Like I said, I'm not much of a fan, but you can get a real fan's opinion and critique at (oops! I'll put the link here when I find it again!)

Ian Gillan Why so many categories for Big Ian? Probably because his solo career went all over the musical map! Ian Gillan Band was jazz-fusion, Gillan (the band after IGB) was heavy metal, other stuff has been rock and roll as normal, and he's also done work approximating soundscapes. Someone should hook up a turbine to his brain: it could power half a continent with his creativity! If you want his fusion stuff, go for Scarabus or IGB Live at the Budokan. His best album from Gillan was Glory Road, so get that. I haven't actually heard Toolbox, Dreamcatcher, or his other later solo works, but word on the street is that they are great. Not all are pure rock, but they're all great. Unless you think DP went to hell in a handbasket after they sacked Rod Evans, you'll do well to grab up Ian Gillan's solo stuff. By the way, Big Ian's website is http://www.gillan.com.

Roger Glover DP's bass man has solo records, too! He did a lot of production work in between Purples he was in, but also found time to make some very interesting albums. The Butterfly Ball, Elements, Mask and Accidentally on Purpose (with Ian Gillan). Much of his solo stuff is indulgent (in a good way) and is not necessarily straight rock. Elements, for example, is more reminiscent of Pink Floyd's Meddle than DP's Machine Head. I like his work, though, as it gets the wheels in my head turning more often than not.

Gov't Mule I haven't heard them personally, but I hear these guys really rock. According to the band info, they are made up of former Allman Bros. members. Whatever their makeup, they are reknowned for their live sound and ability to turn in a powerful performance. They got turf on the web at http://hmt.com/music/GM/default.html.

Grand Funk Railroad Not all of Mark, Don, and Mel's stuff was heavy metal, but enough of it was for them to qualify for that label. Their early stuff has a definite garage sound, but grows more sophisticated in future releases. My favorites from their collection include Shinin' On, Born to Die, and Good Singin' Good Playin'. They're best known for their earlier stuff, particularly the smash hit "We're an American Band." These guys really rocked in their day, and they're still rocking today: see http://www.grandfunkrailroad.com for further information.

Grateful Dead The Grateful Dead are one of the best-loved bands in the world and it's not hard to see why once you get into their music. Most of it is full of traditional American musical influences, but they also touch on the blues and the psychedelic. When they toured, they TOURED. Their live performances were marathons and some say that there were no two alike, like snowflakes or fingerprints. Much of their stuff is relatively quiet, but if you can get past that, you've found a gold mine of quality music. My favorites of theirs are Workingman's Dead, American Beauty, and In the Dark. See more of them at http://www.gratefuldead.com.

Herbie Hancock Herbie Hancock is a giant among keyboardists and any fan of Jon Lord will appreciate what Hancock has to offer. From his work with Miles Davis, to his practical invention of Jazz-Rock Fusion, through the 80's and up to hip-hop collaborations today, Herbie Hancock has remained a versatile, growing, expanding performer. He has mastered many styles and can amaze me every time I see him perform. Acoustic or electric, he can swing and jam like no other. Some of his late-70's stuff is too soft for me and I wasn't totally thrilled with his early 80's electronica, but his Inventions and Dimensions (from his Blue Note days), Headhunters, and Quartet are relished artifacts in my record collection. If you hear nothing else from his collection, get Headhunters, OK? It is funky, has great grooves, and is outstanding! His Blue Note years can be researched at http://www.bluenote.com and his later stuff can be found by a cursory web search and reading up on him at Mercury records.

Roy Harper Roy Harper is tough to classify, so I won't. An artist's artist, he's always seemed to remain outside general stardom, but has always attracted the best players to back him up on his solo works. You've probably never heard him on the radio, but that's probably because his lyrics tend to make you think really hard, which would cause you to zone out and ignore the commercials. That's bad for business and unfortunate for Roy Harper, who deserves better exposure to a wider audience. I particularly enjoy his albums, When an Old Cricketer Leaves the Crease and Whatever Happened to Jugula. Find out more on him at http://www.royharper.com.

Jeff Healey Someone must have told him to shut up and play the guitar and he decided to sing out of spite... A good vocalist and an OUT OF THIS WORLD guitarist! He does blues work, but that shouldn't make a difference. You have got to hear this blind guy play the 6-string! He does this thing, see, he's sitting and, well, he plays a note like *THAT* and, uh, well, JUST GO AND HEAR HIM! I can't explain everything, so go see/hear for yourself... He's got more info at http://www.dlc.fi/~timsal/project_jhbo_test1/quotes.html, which isn't his official website, but is the closest thing to one I could find for him.

Bugs Henderson Like Jeff Healey and Rory Gallagher also on this page, Bugs is a bluesman extraordinaire. He'll play a bunch of other stuff, but it's the blues he comes back to time and again. He never made it big, but I'll sing his praises, anyway, because he's a good ol' Texas boy (like me) and his live performances are awesome! He has a website at http://www.bugshenderson.com and another informative site at The Electric Blues website.

Jimi Hendrix Guitar god. Just ask Ritchie Blackmore. If you haven't experienced Jimi Hendrix, what are you doing here? Go and get experienced! If you have heard his stuff, you know what I'm talking about. Get mo' betta' Jimi at http://www.jimi-hendrix.com. You won't be necessarily stoned, but beautiful...

Iron Maiden Up the Irons! Excellent British HM band, whose fontography inspired the face used to make the graphic I sue to denote the heavy metal groups here. That's how heavy their metal is. To me, Bruce Dickinson is their voice and the rest of the band rocks out as it is pretty darn well. My favorites of their collection are Piece of Mind and Powerslave. Their website is http://www.ironmaiden.com.

James Gang This is the band where both Joe Walsh and Tommy Bolin got started as guitarists. I've heard their stuff with Joe Walsh, and it's pretty good, especially the Thirds album. Bolin was supposed to have revitalized the band, and I intend to investigate that one day.

Jethro Tull Come skate away on the thin ice of a new day with Jethro Tull! Jethro Tull is a band, not a person (at least since the late 60's). The band are more acoustic-oriented than Deep Purple, but are still quite capable of top quality Hard Rock and long, bluesy or jazzy passages that take you away. Albums like Aqualung and Thick as a Brick are classics in their own right and ought to appeal to most Deep Purple fans who like well-played instrumental passages. A good link for starting your foray into Tull-dom would be http://remus.rutgers.edu/JethroTull/default.html. I've always enjoyed their work and am glad that they're still playing today. Ian Anderson's lyrics are literary, deep, and quite witty. They can get rather madrigal-y at times, which could be good or bad depending how you feel about madrigals. I like them though, so check them out.Their *official* homepage is http://www.j-tull.com.

Janis Joplin When a woman has the blues, she should sound as good as Ol' Pearl, Janis Joplin. Another great Texas musical treasure, Janis is one of the best vocalists, living or dead, ever. Any of her works ought to be good enough to work with, but I'm most partial to her swan song, Pearl.

Judas Priest Are you hell bent for leather? If so, take a ride with the Priest! Like Iron Maiden, these guys don't mess around, but get right to the metal. Original singer Rob Halford may have left, but they got a real fan in as their lead singer that sounds just great! Personally, I love their Hell Bent For Leather and British Steel albums. You can see them on the web at (are you ready for this?) http://www.judaspriest.com.

King's X These guys are good, but not all that heavy. They kinda dropped off the radar scope, as far as radio airplay goes, but I hear they're still around and recommendable. Tom Swoboda shot me a web site for the band: http://metalblade.iuma.com/bands/King%27s_X/. Thanks, Tom!

Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin is a very well-known band that gets tons of airplay and still has huge residual sales. Some may say they need no further introduction or advertising. That is true. BUT, just in case the Purple fan reading this is curious, they really rock and should be checked out on CD if they haven't been already. All their albums except their live set, The Song Remains the Same, and Presence I consider to be approachable to new listeners. I particularly enjoy their fourth (untitled) album and Physical Grafitti. You can get more information on them at http://www.led-zeppelin.com.
There is some debate that this band isn't really a heavy metal band. I contend that they are, albeit with druidic tendencies. "Dazed and Confused", "Whole Lotta Love", "Kashmir", and "Achilles' Last Stand" sound to me as metallic as anything from the pioneers of the sound. Although they didn't really build on the metallic sound, they did inspire many others, including Deep Purple, to adopt a harder edge and explore the type of music that made folks' heads hurt and eardrums bleed.

Little Richard This guy invented rock and roll. Do not pass go, do not do anything with that $200 unless you use it to pay tribute to the REAL King of Rock and Roll Himself, Richard Penniman, aka Little Richard. If you need a website to learn more of Little Richard, this place is as good as any. Unfortunately, he doesn't seem to have a home page up anymore, which is a loss, as he deserves much better.

Jon Lord Jon Lord has a lot of solo albums. They tend to be quieter than the regular DP releases, and are not necessarily up everyone's alley. *I* happen to like them, especially Gemini Suite. They're worth looking into, and I recommend you do to broaden your musical experiences and learn more of the depth of this fine DP performer.

Lynyrd Skynyrd These guys put the "Southern" in "Southern Rock". A great jamming band, they are most famous for their period with Ronnie Van Zandt, who tragically passed away in a plane crash in 1977. His brother has since taken up the Confederate battle-flag and carries on as the vocalist for this Southern boogie band. Of their original material, get Second Helping and Nuthin' Fancy for some of their best. The official LS website is at http://www.superstars.com/skynyrd/default.html.