One Eye to Morocco
Ian Gillan's first solo album in ten years, One Eye To Morocco, is released on March 23. Here Ian recounts the inspiration behind the release.
"It all started in Cracow, Poland, late December 2005.
In a cafe in where Oscar Schindler had been active during dark times in the mid-20th century, I sat across the table from my friend Tommy Djiubinski who was telling me all about it. He was deep into this amazing story when a woman caught my eye as she walked behind Tommy. Quite naturally I followed her graceful movement; I was drawn by her magnetism.
'Sorry, what were you saying?'
'Ah, Ian, you have one eye to Morocco.'
This meant I was not concentrating on the matter in hand; I apologised and we carried on.
Later I was curious about the expression so Tommy gave me the full version...You have one eye to Morocco and the other to The Caucasus.
We could only guess the origins but agreed the epigram meant being distracted from the party line by the lure of something exotic. So I filed it away in Incomplete Proverbs, Vague Maxims or more likely Interesting Phrases.
Three years later, due to a family illness, there was an unexpected break in the Deep Purple tour schedule. I made some calls and we discussed making a new album. When we finished counting there were 38 songs in various stages of completion. Roughly half of these were discounted because they need too much work in the allotted time span, and the rest were put on the 'Short List'.
There was one particular song, untitled and without lyrics, that I felt should be the nucleus of the project. The song was the criterion by which all the rest would be judged and so the process was made easier by having a yardstick or even an interesting phrase - Aha! 'One Eye to Morocco' became the title of that song, and the song became the title track of the album."
The album will be available in the following formats: standard CD, limited-edition CD, 2CD (standard CD + CD single) and 2LP set.
Track listing:
01. One Eye To Morocco
02. No Lotion For That
03. Don't Stop
04. Change My Ways
05. Girl Goes To Show
06. Better Days
07. Deal With It
08. Ultimate Groove
09. The Sky Is Falling Down
10. Texas State Of Mind
11. It Would Be Nice
12. Always The Traveler
The musicians:
Michael Lee Jackson - Guitar
Rodney Appleby - Bass
Howard Wilson - Drums
Joe Menonna - Saxophone
Lance Anderson - Hammond Organ
Jesse O'Brien - Keyboards
