Released October 1977 Producer Ian Gillan Band Release date October 1977 | Length 41:20 Artist Ian Gillan Band Label Island Records | |
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Recorded Kingsway Recorders, London, UK, July 1977 – August 1977 Scarabus
(1977) Live at the Budokan
(1978) Genres Jazz fusion, Progressive rock Similar Ian Gillan Band albums, Progressive rock albums | ||
Scarabus is the third and the last studio album by British jazz-rock fusion band Ian Gillan Band, released in October 1977.
Contents
The album was reissued in 1982 by Virgin Records in the height of popularity of Ian Gillan's group Gillan (a CD edition followed in 1989). The CD reissue included an extra track, "My Baby Loves Me". This track, recorded live at the Budokan Hall, Tokyo, Japan, on 22 September 1977, was originally part of the double LP set Live at the Budokan, and had been omitted from the UK release in error.
Ian Gillan re-used the vocal melody of the title track "Scarabus" on the song "Disturbing the Priest" six years later, on the album Born Again during his short tenure with the British hard rock/heavy metal band Black Sabbath. The guitar riff on "Mercury High" is the same as the one played by Fenwick on "Back USA" from his 1971 solo album "Keep America Beautiful, Get a Haircut".
Cover
The "witch" on the cover comes from an adaptation of the movie poster for the 1976 horror film The Witch Who Came from the Sea, which itself was based on an older Frank Frazetta painting.
Track listing
Side 1
- "Scarabus" – 4:53
- "Twin Exhausted" – 4:08
- "Poor Boy Hero" – 3:08
- "Mercury High" – 3:31
- "Pre-release" – 4:22
Side 2
- "Slags to Bitches" – 5:09
- "Apathy" – 4:19
- "Mad Elaine" – 4:15
- "Country Lights" – 3:16
- "Fool's Mate" – 4:19
Personnel
Songs
1Scarabus4:55
2Twin Exhausted4:09
3Poor Boy Hero3:10