Return of Crystal Karma

Infobox Album | Name = Return Of Crystal Karma
Type = Album
Artist = Glenn Hughes


Released = 19 June, 2000
Genre = Hard rock Funk
Length = 50:55 55:49 (Japanese vsn)
Label = SPV(Europe) Nippon Crown (Japan)
Producer = Glenn Hughes Michael Scott
Reviews = *"Allmusic" Rating|2|5 [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:gjfyxqqkldse link] | Last album = "The Way It Is" (1999)
This album = "Return of Crystal Karma" (2000)
Next album = "Building The Machine" (2001)

"Return Of Crystal Karma"(often abbreviated to R.O.C.K.) is a studio album by former Deep Purple, Black Sabbath and Trapeze vocalist/ bassist Glenn Hughes. The album was released in 2000 on SPV and Nippon records.

History

"Return Of Crystal Karma" is Hughes’ seventh solo studio album, his sixth since 1992. The album has a similar bass driven funk sound to 1999’s "The Way It Is", although R.O.C.K. has a slightly more serious tone.

R.O.C.K. was performed by a set band throughout the album, unlike many of Hughes’ previous albums which had featured multiple musicians and guests. Regular guitarist JJ Marsh makes his third appearance on a Glenn Hughes album and co-wrote many of the tracks. The rest of the band is made up of keyboardist Hans Zermüehlen, Hughes’ regular drummer of the period Gary Ferguson and Lol Tolhurst (former member of The Cure) who contributed some electronica parts.

One of the tracks featured on the album is a song called Gone which was written by Hughes and Tony Iommi of Black Sabbath for their abandoned 1996 album project. At the point of R.O.C.K.’s release Hughes’ considered it unlikely that those sessions would be released due to their prolific bootlegging. However Iommi decided to release them in 2004 as "The 1996 DEP Sessions", Gone also features there.

The instrumental track Owed To J is named in reference to the instrumental Owed To G, which featured on the Deep Purple album "Come Taste the Band".

Hughes decided to give himself the moniker ‘Funk Man’ in the writing credits for the songs. This is the only occasion where he has referred to himself as such.

The Japanese version of the album contained a bonus track entitled The World Is Broken. There is also a more common double CD version which includes ‘Live in South America’, which was recorded in Sao Paulo on November 25th 1999. The live disc includes two songs from "The Way It Is", two from the "Hughes/Thrall" album, a Trapeze track and No Stranger to Love, which was taken from the 1986 Black Sabbath album "Seventh Star".

A video was shot for the song Days Of Avalon and was released on VHS on Hughes’ Pink Cloud Records label, it is no longer available, but can be viewed at http://gallery.ghpg.net/showgallery.php/cat/531 .

Track listing

#"The State I'm In" – 4:58 "(Hughes, Marsh)"
#"Midnight Meditated" – 4:27 "(Hughes, Marsh)"
#"It's Alright" – 4:31 "(Hughes, Marsh)"
#"Switch The Mojo" – 4:33 "(Hughes, Marsh)"
#"Gone" – 5:51 "(Hughes, Iommi)"
#"The Other Side Of Me" – 3:50 "(Hughes, Zermüehlen)"
#"Angela" – 5:57 "(Hughes, Zermüehlen)"
#"Owed To J" – 5:58 "(Ferguson, Hughes, Marsh, Zermuehlen)"
#"This Life" – 4:52 "(Hughes, Zermüehlen)"
#"Days Of Avalon" – 5:58 "(Hughes, Marsh)"

Japan Bonus Track

#

"The World Is Broken" – 4:54 "(Hughes, Zermüehlen)"

Live In South America (Bonus CD)

#"You Kill Me" – 4:38 "(Hughes, Sales)"
#"Neverafter" – 6:46 "(Hughes, Marsh)"
#"First Step Of Love" – 6:12 "(Hughes, Thrall)"
#"No Stranger To Love" – 8:06 "(Hughes, Iommi)"
#"Coast To Coast" – 10:23 "(Hughes)"
#"Your Love Is Alright" – 9:40 "(Galley, Holland, Hughes)"

Credits

Performers

tudio Tracks

*Glenn Hughes – Vocals/ Bass
*JJ Marsh – Guitars
*Gary Ferguson – Drums on R.O.C.K.
*Hans Zermüehlen – Keyboards
*Lol Tolhurst – Electronica on R.O.C.K.
*Bob Harsen – Drums on Live In South America

References

[http://www.glennhughes.com/rock_index.html Return Of Crystal Karma entry at glennhughes.com]