IAN GILLAN & TONY IOMMI: 'WhoCares' First-Week Sales Revealed

September 5, 2012

"WhoCares", the two-disc set of rarities and recordings culled from the careers of DEEP PURPLE's Ian Gillan and BLACK SABBATH's Tony Iommi, sold 700 copies in the United States in its first week of release. The set landed at position No. 52 on the Top New Artist Albums (Heatseekers) chart, which lists the best-selling albums by new and developing artists, defined as those who have never appeared in the Top 100 of The Billboard 200.

Reuniting for the first time since their collaboration on BLACK SABBATH's 1983 "Born Again" album, Gillan and Iommi took everybody by surprise in 2011 when they released the charity singles "Out Of My Mind" and "Holy Water". For the recording of these songs, the two rock legends called a few friends, asking for some "help." Jason Newsted (METALLICA, VOIVOD),Jon Lord (DEEP PURPLE, 1941-2012),Nicko McBrain (IRON MAIDEN),and Linde Lindström (HIM) completed the supergroup WHOCARES.

Now, "Out Of My Mind" and "Holy Water" are featured in a special two-disc set of rarities and recordings culled from the careers of Iommi and Gillan. The "WhoCares" double-CD will be released in North America on August 28.

Among the tracks are the two original WHOCARES songs, DEEP PURPLE's unreleased studio jam "Dick Pimple", and a song from REPO DEPO (a band Ian Gillan formed before the DEEP PURPLE reunion) which never released an official song before this CD. Also included is "Zero The Hero", from the aforementioned BLACK SABBATH"Born Again" release (which is the only album to feature Gillan on lead vocals),as well as two unreleased songs from Tony Iommi featuring Glenn Hughes.

The "Out Of My Mind" and "Holy Water" singles were a joyful and inspired moment from two musicians with nothing to prove, willing to support music where music is considered a luxury. The spark to bring Iommi and Gillan in a studio together again was to finance the rebuilding of a music school in Armenia they had visited together on various occasions in past years.

"As I said once in the song 'Razzle Dazzle', it's a real fine line between an orgy of destruction and a wonderful time,'" states Gillan. "The destruction of conformity in this case: some of these pieces never really fitted into their contemporary program and got sidelined or forgotten, and some of the album tracks never had much exposure. As the track listing for this album came together, I noticed many of the titles had character similarities: a combination of freshness as they finally felt the sun on their backs and rebellion in a 'yeah told you so' kind of way. And that adds up to a wonderful time and more money for the music school we are building in Armenia.

"The ad-hoc benefit WHOCARES band," continues Gillan, "was a band put together by Tony Iommi and myself on a flight home from Yerevan, where we'd been deeply humbled by the honor and expectation bestowed upon us. Well, that's it really, in a nutshell, so to speak, what more can I say? It's all there in the music."

CD1

01. WHOCARES "Out Of My Mind" (fi rst time on an album)
Featuring Jon Lord, Linde Lindström (HIM),Jason Newsted (METALLICA),Nicko McBrain (IRON MAIDEN)
02. BLACK SABBATH "Zero The Hero"
03. Ian Gillan feat. Iommi, Ian Paice and Roger Glover "Trashed"
04. M. Rakintzis feat. Ian Gillan "Get Away" (fi rst release on a Gillan album, only released in Greece before)
05. Tony Iommi feat. Glenn Hughes "Slip Away" (fi rst time on CD)
06. Gillan "Don’t Hold Me Back"
07. Ian Gillan "She Thinks It’s A Crime" (vinyl single B-side, fi rst time on CD)
08. Repo Depo feat. Ian Gillan "Easy Come, Easy Go" (previously unreleased)
09. DEEP PURPLE feat. Ronnie James Dio "Smoke On The Water" (live with the Royal Philaarmonic Orchestra)

CD2

01. WHOCARES "Holy Water" (fi rst time on an album)
Featuring Jon Lord, Linde Lindström (HIM),Jason Newsted (METALLICA),Nicko McBrain (IRON MAIDEN)
02. BLACK SABBATH "Anno Mundi"
03. Tony Iommi feat. Glenn Hughes "Let it Down Easy" (fi rst time on CD)
04. Ian Gillan "Hole in My Vest" (7" vinyl single B-side, fi rst time on CD)
05. Gillan & Glover feat. Dr. John "Can’t Believe You Wanna Leave me"
06. Ian Gillan & The Javelins "Can I Get A Witness"
07. Garth Rockett & The Moonshiners aka IG "No Laughing in Heaven" (rare track)
08. Ian Gillan "When A Blind Man Cries" (Live at Absolute Radio, previously unreleased)
09. DEEP PURPLE "Dick Pimple"

Audio samples of the tracks that appear on both discs can be streamed below.

CD1 Medley:

CD2 Medley:

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