Customer Reviews

A Light In The Sky

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Don Airey has been behind the keyboards in some pretty big bands over the decades. He's played with Cozy Powell, Gary Moore, Ritchie Blackmore, Ozzy Osbourne, David Coverdale, Joe Lynn Turner, Glen Tipton to name just a few. Currently he's playing for Deep Purple and is possibly the only one who could have stepped behind the hammond organ after Jon Lord decided to retire from the band. Airey's previous solo album K2 was about 20 years ago. Musically it was diverse and showcased Airey's talent as a musician and composer but it was steeped in the 80s sound, which is something you love, hate or tolerate. Light in the Sky is, in my opinion, a surprisingly very good album. Airey makes excellent use of his skills behind the piano, hammond organ and synthesizer (his big thing in the 70s was a Moog synthesizer) and also showcases his talent as a composer.

The album starts of with a short instrumental that might make you think you are at the movies and watching the add for Digital Sound or THX. Then there's an instrumental that will let you imagine yourself at the planetarium watching a documentary of the galaxy with a rock band performing. The album moves on with different flavours and textures, sometimes going heavy with guitar and hard rock vocals, sometimes going all SF, and sometimes even waxing classical. Towards the end of the album we can hear some fabulous piano work on Into Orbit, accompanied by violin, and on Sombrero. There's a heavy hammond organ instrumental called Pale Blue Dot and the impressive closing instrumental Til the End with more fast finger work on the piano keys. The album offers a few songs with vocals as well in case you are not up for a completely instrumental album.

Overall I was very impressed with this album. It would be nice to hear another album from Airey before the next 20 years pass.

I'm a lifelong fan of Deep Purple in all its incarnations, and of most of the various solo works by past or present DP members, including Jon Lord's recent classical works. I bought this album as an inexpensive download not quite knowing what to expect. At first, only its two or three out-and-out rock tracks grabbed me, and the rest just seemed a bit strange. But the more I listened the more I liked the whole thing, and it's now one of my favorite albums. The musicians are all excellent; Airey himself is thrilling. The music is indeed a strange mixture ("eclectic" is the polite word), but it's rich and very interesting.