Clear Air Turbulence

When Ian Gillan was recording his solo albums in the late 1970s and early '80s, Deep Purple's influence never went away. But Gillan did make an effort to try different things, and he was at his most experimental on Clear Air Turbulence. Enjoyable, if uneven, this album illustrates Gillan's willingness to take some chances. While the singer favors an aggressive hard rock groove on "Money Lender," the jazz-fusion-influenced touches of "Over the Hill," "Goodhand Liza" and the title song could lead one to believe that he had been listening to Weather Report and Return to Forever. Had Chick Corea formed an alliance with Deep Purple, perhaps it might sound something like "Over the Hill." Heavy metal and hard rock are in short supply on this album, which employs no less than five horn players and shows that Gillan didn't want to be a headbanger 100 percent of the time. — Alex Henderson