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Vibrato of a Hammond is what powers this man
MetalTalk has a positively glowing review of Don Airey’s new album Pushed To The Edge:
For a bloke who is one of the most revered and reliable musicians in the business, Don Airey appears to take it all in his stride. Playing with global heavyweights like Ozzy Osbourne, Rainbow and Whitesnake and breathing life into timeless classics like Here I Go Again, Since You Been Gone, I Surrender, and Mr Crowley is just meat and potatoes and another day at the office for the Sunderland A.F.C. fanatic.
And for such a reluctant rock star, he knows how to fire up an album with copious amounts of shock and awe. This thing goes off like an alarm on a Scotsman’s wallet with the straight-to-the-vein rocker Tell Me.
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Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing
I don’t really remember any side project of a Purplite during his time with the band getting as many rave reviews.
But it’s deserved because Pushed To The Edge has real swagger, something that is not exactly common with releases of that type.
Jon’s solo projects were always met with muted critical benevolence (fueled more than anything by respect for his gentleman keyboarder elder statesman role in DP), yet no one really ever got excited about them. Same thing with Roger’s solo exploits which were generally perceived as whimsical detours and met by slight bemusement (as did Accidentally On Purpose). And Steve’s solo and side releases regularly registered with Morse nerds only though the Flying Colors albums at least – and rightly so – elated some people in PROG circles (though that might have been more due to the Neal Morse and Mike Portnoy involvement).
Anyway, good (and deserved) for Don, a man with such an unassuming and kind demeanor who has become a central creative force within modern day Purple.
April 12th, 2025 at 11:15About me, Here I Go Again belong to J.Lord..
April 12th, 2025 at 13:30Don played on the 1987 version. But I prefer Jon’s organ intro too.
April 12th, 2025 at 17:43Talking ‘keyboard’ players in or out of Deep Purple and yes Jon Lord’s ‘solo’ music wasn’t really ‘rock’ music, so inevitably most fans are not going to take to that. Is his album Before I Forget the closest Jon came to a ‘solo’ rock record? Indeed it seems to be. Quite ironic for me as that is my favourite Lord album. That doesn’t mean ‘classical’ music isn’t as good etc, it is just less accessible for many and especially if he is trying to build a bridge between the two genres. Plus the fact that Don has danced and weaved his way throughout the most popular rock musicians during the 1980’s, when mainstream rock music was at its peak. As you said Uwe, Mr Lord was much more stately and I do remember reading about his displeasure at being labelled as ‘keyboards’ rather than ‘piano and organ’ back in the day. He was also much more serious about his solo music. Out of all of those keyboard ‘giants’ of the 1970’s, Don Airey is really the only one who hasn’t ventured that much into classical music, in that sense. He is also, as we are well aware the last from that era still rocking. Even ole grumpy Rick doesn’t go out there very much these days. Talking of Rick and I still favour his early to mid 70’s releases (three albums) as the best combination of the two genres, although Jon Lord’s ‘Sarabande” is also very good. Don Airey is the last bastion of the keyboard ‘warriors’, if that is the way to put it and the last throw of the dice. Cheers.
April 13th, 2025 at 00:29Can’t wait to get the Airey CD. As for Jon’s work outside DP, I love it all. My favorites being Sarabande, First of the Big Bands, Before I Forget, and To Notice Such Things. Malace in Wonderland wasn’t really a solo project but, recently, has become one of my most listened to CD’s. As for Roger, Mask is excellent!!
April 13th, 2025 at 12:01Don arrived a little late on the scene, given his youth. Had he been around in the late 60s, early 70s, he would have turned the reigning popular keyboard trio of Emerson/Lord/Wakeman into a quartet. He’s a bit like Eddie Jobson in that way.
But these days he is in fact one of the few living and still touring elder statesmen of keyboard rock. Much as I miss Jon, I’m really happy about Don joining the Purple fold now more than 20 years ago. It was good for them and good for him as it got him out of that session vicious circle and had him play live via the eternal DP touring machine more often, he became more fluid through it. He’s pivotal for modern day Purple. When I hear him solo (unlike Jon he’s always a little frantic doing so and still has a hint of the mechanical though it is much less than it used to be), it always draws a smile to my face, the mad professor …
April 13th, 2025 at 13:38