Live: Triple Trouble

This live set is a great collection of his early 80`s solo band "Gillan". The description says all about the events.I am a big Bernie Torme` fan. I love the era of Gillan when he and John McCoy were together. The Bernie Torme` era has been done a few other places with maybe a couple different tracks.These are excellent in my opinion. I have not heard the Janick Gers tracks elsewhere at all.I thought these were very good with the version of Smoke On The Water fantastic.It has been a long time since I`ve heard this done in such an exciting way. Janick is truly a great guitarist.I really liked all of this set. My main complaint was that there are too many songs played over again. This is why I feel it is for true die hard Gillan fans.I give it 4 stars because of repeat songs not because of it being a bad cd set.

This long awaited triple live set delivers on every level. It's impact is muted a bit because much of the material has either been released before or is already well documented on other releases. However, that isn't a critical flaw by any means. The reason I like the set is the fact that it's a "warts and all" release. Ian Gillan's vocal problems are almost as legendary as his incredible vocal range. The first disc here, the Rainbow 1981 show is a great example. Ian sounds very good through much of the show, but he clearly struggles in other places. He barely makes it through Future Shock intact, stretching his voice to its limits. Bernie Torme' and the rest of the band are spot on though, which was normal. They were a GREAT bunch of musicians.Disc two is from Gillan's triumphant headlining gig at the 1981 Reading Festival. Torme' is gone, replaced by future Iron Maiden guitarist Janick Gers. Much of this show has been released before, but never the entire gig. The live LP included in 1981's Double Trouble release contains five songs from this show, with two more tracks appearing as single b-sides. It's a great gig and Gers does a stand out job, having replaced Torme' just a few months before this was recorded. The third disc features a BBC Friday Night Rock Show from 1982 and five songs from the much bootleged 1981 FM broadcast from Nottingham's Rock City. I wish the entire Rock City show had been included, but the setlist would have been virtually identical to the show on disc one. All in all, this is a fine release for the Gillan fan. If you like it, you should check out the two BBC concerts from 1979 and 1980, as well as the 1980 Reading CD. Other notable Gillan live sets include On The Rocks, a 1981 show recorded days before Torme' left the band and Mutually Assured Destruction, a 1982 show from the final Gillan tour.

This is authentic Gillan and presents the live material faithfully, which is not necessarily a good thing. At times Gillan's voice is way down in the mix, as it was live, and he acts his usual shambolic, slightly confused front-man persona that somehow robs the show of its momentum and therefore excitement. By the early 80s his voice was deteriorating and it shows here as he has to force his (formerly) trademark screaming. I had hoped they would fix the mix a bit and bring up the guitars and voice as needed, but that hasn't been done. Disappointing. It is indeed For Gillan Fans Only and probably only the most committed of those.

For the first time,in a long time,i feel misled by previous reviews,this most definitely is NOT a 5 star release,either i've got a defective copy or the previous reviewers have given 5 star ratings based on nostalgia.When heavy rock live albums are released you expect a decent sound quality ,like say,Maiden's Live After Death,Kiss Alive,Scorpions World Wide Live etc ,the rock world is littered with quality live recordings,this frankly aint one of them,what you get here is a release which sound mostly like a tarted up bootleg and is sneakily packaged to look as if its part of the GILLAN remasters series,they had decent booklets,informative,this doesnt.Disc 1, live at the Rainbow '81, excellent selection of tracks mostly hampered by a poor sound, threatening to overshadow everything.Disc 2, Live at Reading '81,again was not a great recording when it first surfaced on the Double Trouble album,extra tracks here but again hampered with poor sound,worse than disc 1.Disc 3, tracks 1-5 live on Friday Rock Show,the best sound quality on the disc,(as you would expect) fantastic renditions of 'No Laughing In Heaven' and 'Born To Kill', Tracks 6-10,live from Nottingham 81,again really shoddy sound.All in all this is as disappointing release as i've purchased for some time,i'm surprised that Ian Gillan has sanctioned its release(although unlike the remasters there are no comments from the great man himself),its a tragedy that there are no quality live recording of Gillan as back in the day,although always a distinct 3rd behind Rainbow and Whitesnake,there was a hint of the peoples band about them.For me it looks like the best live source is still the live bonus tracks from Reading,found originally with the 'Trouble' single.I cant stress how gutted i am,saw Gillan several times at the Glasgow Apollo,they were fabulous,their memory deserves better than this.

DISC 2. The complete Reading festival set from 1981 at last.After listening to the tracks on the Double Trouble album for all these years it comes as a surprise to hear the concert as it should have been.No Easy Way and New Orleans are much longer than on the DT album.Great stuff and takes me back to day I saw Gillan live.

Advertised as new, but the booklet was missing and it looked like it had been re-shrink wrapped, rather than coming in a factory sealed condition.

Great album It took me back too the 1981 Reading Festival which I was at I will be playing this a lot in my car Good Sound quality

Great