One Eye to Morocco is a solo studio album by English

Deep Purple Deep Purple are an English rock band formed in London in 1968. They are considered to be among the pioneers of heavy metal music, heavy metal and modern hard rock music, but their musical style has changed over the course of its existence. Ori ...

vocalist

Ian Gillan Ian Gillan (born 19 August 1945) is a British singer who is best known as the lead singer and lyricist for the rock band Deep Purple. He is known for his powerful and wide-ranging singing voice. Initially influenced by Elvis Presley, Gillan ...

. The album material was written during the gap of Deep Purple's 2008 world tour, in the US. It was released on 6 March 2009 on

Edel Records Edel SE & Co. KGaA is a German independent media company based in Hamburg. As a label and publishing group, it also operates marketing and sales for artists and smaller music labels. The repertoire of the Edel labels includes dance, rock and po ...

as CD,

Limited Edition The terms special edition, limited edition, and variants such as deluxe edition, or collector's edition, are used as a marketing incentive for various kinds of products, originally published products related to the arts, such as books, prints, r ...

CD and

Vinyl Vinyl may refer to: Chemistry * Polyvinyl chloride (PVC), a particular vinyl polymer * Vinyl cation, a type of carbocation * Vinyl group, a broad class of organic molecules in chemistry * Vinyl polymer, a group of polymers derived from vinyl m ...

Background

As Gillan himself tells, he was in the Jewish-quarter of

Kraków Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland until 1596 ...

listening to the related stories of

Oskar Schindler Oskar Schindler (; 28 April 1908 – 9 October 1974) was a German industrialist, humanitarian and a member of the Nazi Party who is credited with saving the lives of 1,200 Jews during the Holocaust by employing them in his enamelware and amm ...

when the voice faded – and then returned and somebody told him: 'Ah, Ian you have one eye to

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to ...

.' – It was Tomasz Dziubiński. Ian didn't understand the meaning of this Polish idiom, until he was told the whole idiom: "To have one eye to Morocco and another to

Caucasus The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, mainly comprising Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and parts of Southern Russia. The Caucasus Mountains, including the Greater Caucasus range, have historically ...

". The

idiom An idiom is a phrase or expression that typically presents a figurative, non-literal meaning attached to the phrase; but some phrases become figurative idioms while retaining the literal meaning of the phrase. Categorized as formulaic language, ...

describes a cross-eyed, or wandering eye person. This idiom inspired Gillan to make another

solo album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records coll ...

, and the title for the album was set to "One Eye to Morocco."

Recording

In spring 2008 there was a gap between Purple's World Tour, as bassist

Roger Glover Roger David Glover (born 30 November 1945) is a Welsh bassist, songwriter, and record producer. He is best known as the member of the hard rock bands Deep Purple and Rainbow. As a member of Deep Purple, Glover was inducted into the Rock and Ro ...

's mother had died, so Gillan returned to Buffalo to do something new. In a short period of time, with his former bandmate Steve Morris, Ian wrote more than thirty songs. The recording of the album took place in

Metalworks Studios Metalworks Studios is a music recording studio in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada. It was established in 1978 by Gil Moore of the Canadian rock group, Triumph. Over a span of 40 years, Metalworks has been the recipient of Canadian Music Week's ' ...

Mississauga, Ontario Mississauga ( ), historically known as Toronto Township, is a city in the Canadian province of Ontario. It is situated on the shores of Lake Ontario in the Regional Municipality of Peel, adjoining the western border of Toronto. With a popul ...

. Twelve songs were chosen for the album and all of them were recorded in just three days. Recording was mixed and engineered by Nick Blagona, who has previously worked with

and mixed Purple's reunion album '' Perfect Strangers'', as well as ''

The House of Blue Light ''The House of Blue Light'' is the 12th studio album by British rock band Deep Purple, released in 1987. It was the second recording by the reformed Mark II line-up, and the sixth studio album overall by this formation of the band. Recording ...

'' and '' Slaves & Masters''. Also guitarist

Michael Lee Jackson Michael Lee Jackson is an American guitarist, photographer and attorney. He was part of Ian Gillan's backing band on the Deep Purple frontman's US solo tour in August and September 2006. He also performed on guitar and acted as musical director fo ...

contributed to the album.

Music style

Ian Gillan said himself:

"It was a conscious decision to avoid the use of a rock rhythm section and you will notice the complete absence of guitar and keyboard solos – we get the very best of all that from Deep Purple. So the instrumentation is perhaps more seductive than thrusting."

Track listing

# "One Eye to Morocco" (Gillan, Morris) – 4:05 # "No Lotion for That" (Gillan, Morris) – 3:11 # "Don't Stop" (Gillan, Appleby) – 2:35 # "Change My Ways" (Gillan) – 3:26 # "Girl Goes to Show" (Gillan, Morris) – 3:59 # "Better Days" (Jackson) – 4:07 # "Deal with It" (Gillan, Morris) – 3:44 # "Ultimate Groove" (Jackson) – 3:48 # "The Sky Is Falling Down" (Gillan, Morris) – 4:09 # "Texas State of Mind" (Jackson) – 3:49 # "It Would Be Nice" (Gillan, Morris) – 3:10 # "Always the Traveller" (Gillan, Morris) – 3:17 # "Lonely Days" (bonus track) # "She Thinks It's a Crime" (bonus track)

Singles

* "One Eye to Morocco / Better Days" (For promotional use only)

Formats

One Eye To Morocco was released as CD,

Vinyl LP The LP (from "long playing" or "long play") is an analog sound storage medium, a phonograph record format characterized by: a speed of rpm; a 12- or 10-inch (30- or 25-cm) diameter; use of the "microgroove" groove specification; and a ...

and

CD+

(Doppel CD).

Band

– lead and backing vocals, harmonica *Michael Lee Jackson – guitars *Rodney Appleby – bass *Howard Wilson – drums *Steve Morris – guitars *Joe Mennonna – saxophones *Lance Anderson – Hammond organ *Jesse O'Brien – keyboards *Brownman Ali – flugelhorn *Jaro Jarosil – cello *The Gillanaires – backing vocals

Production

*Produced, engineered, mixed and mastered by Nick Blagona – *Executive producers: Michael Lee Jackson, Drew Thompson *Basic tracks recorded at

, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada *Additional recordings at Psychotropic Studios, Dundas, Ontario, Canada *Rehearsal at the Town Ballroom, Buffalo, New York *Calligraphy: Katarina Dorch *Photo: Bob Mussell *Artwork: Patrizio Squeglia

Chart performance

References

{{Authority control 2009 albums Ian Gillan albums Edel AG albums Albums produced by Nick Blagona