Glenn Hughes, from Trapeze to "FUNK"

Glenn Hughes is often nicknamed "the Voice of Rock", and rightly so : no singer ever has created a style that combines so perfectly rock/hard rock, soul, funk & pop.
Stevie Wonder himself once claimed he was
« his favourite white singer » !

Hughes, born in Cannock (UK) in 1951, absorbed sevearl influences, the main ones being British Hard Rock first bands,
the Beatles and above all US soul/r&b,
especially Motown.

His first band to grant him world recognition was Trapeze, whose first album's psychadelic rock quickly gave way to 2 high class blues/hard rock gems, « Médusa » alone being a must-have for his 8 songs all brilliant, full of mood and feeling. This album let Hughes' voice set the musical landscape in which he'd become a master for the years to follow : high pitched and still clear when rocking the edge,
joyful & groovy with a funky touch, and simply warm and touching when singing slow songs.

Yet the full nuviersal big tim was to happen in 1973, when he joined Deep Purple, taking the place of both Ian Gillan (vocals) and Roger Glover (bass) who had just quit. With David Coverdale soon getting in the picture as the main vocalist, a perfect musical harmony would be reached.
« Burn » shall remain a must have in DP's long list of productions, as it is strongly influenced by all the guys in the band, Blackmore first. But, the more funk/soul feeling initiated by Coverdale & Hughes during the working sessions to "Stormbringer" will upset Ritchie to the point where he'll end up quitting DP to create Rainbow in 1975, but that is another story to be told (why not in a chronicle to come ?).
So our two friends, now totaly free artisticaly, will hire Tommy Bolin let it all out on « Come Taste the Band », releasing what may appear as a UFO as a DP record but remains a very good piece of music in its own right.
In 1976, Tommy Bolin OD'ed leading to DP splitting for good... until 1984 (Again another full length story maybe to be told in a chronicle to come).

Glenn Hughes launches in solo career in 1977 with the release of « Play Me Out », a very soul/disco oriented piece (victim of times?). Every hard rock purist should burn this one in public places, but it's really worth listening to for anyone interested in GH's voice and music, as it showcases a great part of his influences.

Then hard times will follow, alcool and drugs taking their toll on the artist until he finally sets himself free in the early 1990's, during which only the high class AORish « Hughes/Thrall » with guitarist Pat Thrall will shine out.
Some guest appearances here and there doing lead or backing vocals on a number of other artists' works, but nothing really worth mentioning.

Come 1992, what I always think of as his comeback master stroke :
2 albums including one as main vocalist and co-writer with John Norum (ex- Europe, « Face The Truth », 2nd solo relase for the guitar player, a real melodic hard rock blast!) and his own 2nd solo release , « L.A. Blues Authority II », which was disguised as a Mike Varney's Hard Rock/Blues project (GH on lead & bg voc.; GH or Tony Franklin on bass guitar, depending on the song ; and on guitars, a whole bunch of guitar heroes incl. John Norum, Warren DeMartini, Mick Mars, Ritchie Kotzen, Darren Housholder…).

From this moment on, GH will be a workaholic, putting out at least a record every year, only to speak of studio material!
A significant fact in this rebirth, since the recording of « Soul Mover » and the very clear choice to streghten the Funk/Soul touch in his music, the drummer and even sometimes co-writer and co-producer for his solo releases is Mr Chad Smith from the Red Hot Chili Peppers !

My favourite albums are as follow :
Among his solo releases, « Feel », full of feeling, maybe the quintessence of the HardRock/Soul/Funk alchemy according to Master Hughes, including a brilliant cover of Stevie Wonder's « Maybe Your Baby » ; « Building The Machine », all groove (o my god! « Can’t Stop the Flood » as an opener!, and « Celebrate », mama mia !!!) ; « First Underground Nuclear Kitchen » (FUNK if you read well :)) undoubtedly the other touchstone with « Feel » that defines Hughes' style ;
Among the other projects, Trapeze's « Medusa » ; Deep Purple's « Burn » and « Stormbringer » (with a preference for the remasters) ; Hughes/Thrall ; and Hughes/Turner's « HTP » and « HTP2 ».

Regarding the two DVDs, let's just say that Frontiers, Gh's record label since « Songs In The Key of Rock » has a somewhat ambiguous approach to this kind of products : the artwork is always perfect but the image tends to be nothing more than just good and is worse in our times, the sound mix always is stereo PCM, rather good alright, but why no 5.1?
The two GH's DVD's nevertheless remain must-haves for any fan who wants a visual testimony of the Voice of Rock's shows ambiance!

Bye bye and c-ya :)

CDs & DVDs LIST:
[marks are on a top rank of *****
I only marked the ones I know ! ;)]

CDs :

SOLO :
Studio & Live :
Play Me Out (1977) *** ; L.A. Blues Authority Volume II: Glenn Hughes - Blues (1992) **** ;
From Now On... (1994) **** ; Burning Japan Live (1994) **** ; Feel (1995) ***** ;
Addiction (1996) **** ; The Way It Is (1999) *** ; Return Of Crystal Karma (2000) **** ;
From The Archives Volume I - Incense & Peaches (2000) (Demos & inédits) **** ;
A Soulful Christmas (2000) (chants de noël sauce soul) ** ; Building the Machine (2001) ***** ;
Songs In The Key Of Rock (2003) **** ; Soulfully Live in the City of Angels (2004) **** ;
Soul Mover (2005) **** ; Freak Flag Flyin' (2005) (Live in the UK in 2003) ;
Music for the Divine (2006) **** ; This Time Around: An Anthology 1969-2007 (2007) ;
Live in Australia (2007) **** ; First Underground Nuclear Kitchen (2008) **** ;
Live in Wolverhampton: Full Band Show (2009) (Official Bootleg)
(recorded live at The Robin - Saturday, June 6th, 2009) ;
Live in Wolverhampton: 'You Are The Music' an Evening of Trapeze (2009)
(Official Bootleg) (recorded live at The Robin - Sunday, June 7th, 2009)
Compilations :
Greatest Hits: The Voice Of Rock (1996) ; The God Of Voice: Best Of Glenn Hughes (1998) ;
Different Stages - The Best of Glenn Hughes (2002) ; This Time Around (Anthology) (2007)
COLLABORATIONS :
Finders Keepers - Sadie, The Cleaning Lady (single) (1968)
Trapeze - Trapeze (1969) ** ; Medusa (1971) **** ;
You Are The Music... We're Just The Band (1972) *** ; The Final Swing (1974) [compilation] ;
Trapeze (1975) ; Way Back To The Bone (1986) [compilation] ;
High Flyers: The Best Of Trapeze (1995) [compilation]
Live: Way Back To The Bone (1998)
Welcome To The Real World - Live 1992 (1998)
Deep Purple - Burn (1974)***** ; Live In London (1974) ; Stormbringer (1974)**** ;
Made In Europe (1975)**** ; Come Taste The Band (1975) ** ; Last Concert In Japan (1976) ;
Singles A's & B's (1993) **** ; On The Wings Of A Russian Foxbat: Live In California 1976 (1995) ;
California Jamming: Live 1974 (1996) ; Mk. III: The Final Concerts (1996) ;
Days May Come And Days May Go, The California Rehearsals, June 1975 (2000) *** ;
1420 Beachwood Drive, The California Rehearsals, pt 2 (2000) ;
This Time Around. Live In Japan 1975 (2001) ; California Jam (2003) ; Perks & Tit (2003) ;
Just Might Take Your Life (2003) ; Live in Paris 1975 (2004) ;
Burn Remastered 30th Anniversary Edition (2004)***** ;
Stormbringer Remastered 35th Anniversary Edition (2009)****
Hughes/Thrall – Hughes/Thrall (1982)**** ; Hughes/Thrall (2007) [remasterisé, 2 bonus]
Black Sabbath - Seventh Star (1986) ***
Hughes Turner Project – HTP (2002)**** ; Live In Tokyo (2002)*** ; HTP II (2003)****
Iommi – The 1996 DEP Sessions (2004)*** ; Fused (2005)****
Voodoo Hill – Voodoo Hill (2000) **** ; Wild Seed Of Mother Earth (2004) ***

DVD :
Soulfully Live in the City of Angels (2004) **** ; Live in Australia (2007) ****