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Never comfortable or established
Another Classic Rock magazine rehash: circa 2011 interview with Don Airey reprinted by Louder Sound:
You’ve appeared on more than 250 albums between 1976 and 2011. Which are the ones of which you are most proud?
Funnily enough, Roger Glover and I were talking about what an incredible time it was making Down To Earth [by Rainbow, 1979] in a French château in winter.There was no material except Since You’ve Been Gone, which Ritchie Blackmore and Cozy Powell didn’t want to do. At other points we didn’t even have a singer or a bass player –but it’s a fantastic piece of work.
Read more in Louder Sound.
Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing
A great album with great songs…..lost in hollywood, danger zone( a strange rhythm ,feels like you are falling down), love’s no friend of mine…..
June 7th, 2026 at 06:21Colosseum II, have to love that ‘fusion’ and I was very surprised way back then to hear Gary Moore playing in that band. The late 70’s too, by that time that sort of music was on the nose wasn’t it. But then again the progressive British bands were still big in concert, Tull, Yes and we had UK also getting some decent recognition. Of course it was never going to last much longer and the end of that extended composition style was inevitable for most concerned. Thanks for the article, it prompted me to go and listen to some of the Electric Savage album which I previously did own on vinyl. Cheers.
June 7th, 2026 at 09:31Colleseum II were also in Andrew Lloyd Weber’s VARIATIONS. Based on Paganini’s 24th caprice…. Jon hiseman, Gary moore and Don airey… Great time and great musicians
June 7th, 2026 at 16:03I think what made Down To Earth stand out at the time was how strident it was. There is energy there, some real Sturm & Drang. I don’t hink the songwriting was any better than on LLRnR, nor was the production, I actually found Martin Birch’s last production for Rainbow more sophisticated than what Roger did. For all its attempted commercial gloss, DTE sounds a little raw, it has almost Glam Rock production type immediacy (as did Roger’s productions of Nazareth in the mid 70s btw, and if we’re honest to ourselves: both Sweet, Mud and Hello – hey, even BCR – could have done proper versions of SYBG too!).
Of course, Bonnet’s roar and Don’s ABBAesque keyboard flourishes (his piano run/solo on Eyes Of The World is pure ABBA) added greatly too. After Rising and LLRnR, DTE was also the first Rainbow album to include noticeable percussion again, like the tambourine on Makin’ Love
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1LvViMLKNo
When I first heard that I smiled to myself and thought, ok, Roger is back. For some reason I always attributed a lot of the percussion nuances of Mk II to him.
Tha observation of Danger Zone “tumbling down” is very apt, Hassannikfarjam, I know what you mean.
June 7th, 2026 at 17:08If the first album gave the most Rainbow classic songs, and the “Rising” album is an influential album and according to most fans, the best Rainbow album. Personally, my favorite Rainbow album is” Down to the Earth”. While DP was dormant (1975-1983 ,CTTB, I don’t count), I listened to it the most from the DP family, along with Gillan “Mr Universe” and Rainbow” Down to the Earth “. DP break lacked the rock/hard/heavy sound of the keyboards … the spirit of Jon Lord. (Jon only got 33% of the crumbs in Whitesnake in those years, divided between him, Micky and Bernie) and on the “Down and Mr” albums there is a lot of keyboards….a lot intros, background support, solos, there are hammonds, sit, pianos, ..completely equal to the guitar…Don’s great contribution
June 7th, 2026 at 17:22“Eyes of the World” (ideal concert opening song – with one of the best kye intros in rock, central instrumental precision between Blackmore and Airey, melodic guitar solo combined with piano and synthesizer) “No Time to Lose” (hard rocker, closer to the atmosphere and sound of DP than Rainbow incredible vocalist Bonnet, his vocals really hit the notes… “Danger Zone” a song of two big guitar riffs the first the opening and especially the second central… Ritchie’s favorite Middle Eastern phrases from which he continues the melodic solo, part of the song that not only me but also my surrounding neighborhood listened to for years, Roger makes a production mistake and shortens that final guitar solo to a minimum when Blackmore is at 120% ..) “Lost in Hollywood” (an adequate final song in which all five of them burn ! – pure rock n’ roll.) ….on that album Graham Bonnet (unknown singer to me until then absolutely excels, a phenomenally sung album, Blackmore the genius of hard rock melodies in full performing and authorial glory has adequate support from Roger Glover …. Cozy (his drumming is the best ) ..and Don’s great contribution and perhaps the best kye contribution ,with in his entire long career.
Ivica, describing Roger’s bass playing as “adequate support” is being damning with faint praise! 🤣
Rising gave the most classic songs? At all times during the Dio era, the majority of their live set came from the 1975 debut: MOTSM, CTR, 16thCG and SIS were the live staples + the Mk III chestnut Mistreated.
Actually, what stood out with the Down To Earth tour in 1979/80 was that it saw the most radical live set revamp (after three-and-a-half years of playing more or less the same songs) since the change from Mk II to Mk III. Ritchie did with DTE what he had done with Burn, he broke free from the previous sets.
June 7th, 2026 at 22:05#5: What gives you the right to judge what constitutes a Deep Purple album? Nobody says you have to like CTTB, but for you to say you “don’t count” it, and that DP was “dormant” while they were making it, that shows that you have a lot to learn about DP. DP did not end when RB left, and Bolin was a great guitarist (when he was sober). Like it or not, CTTB IS a DP album, and a pretty good one at that.
June 7th, 2026 at 23:32Good comments regarding the Down To Earth album. I played the hell out of that back when it was a new album, for a few years after that too. It just hasn’t stood the ‘test of time’ as some albums and songs don’t. And then we can have albums and songs that we don’t take to initially that do grow on us over time. It is funny how things change like that. I also liked the sound of DTE, that power it had and the rawness. I suppose it is the commercial singles and a few other attempts at the shorter ‘catchier’ songs that leave a sour taste for me. Even on LLR&R the title song and LA Connection were not favourites of mine for that ‘hit’ song reason and The Shed was boring too as was Sensitive to Light, although musically it at least has a bit of panache to it, the vocal not so. On DTE “Eyes Of The World” is a classic. I still really like that lengthier epic. Don Airey was great on the album and Uwe’s favourite drummer Cozy was still there and Roger Glover was back in ‘favour’ with Ritchie, that was always nice to see. The album has its moments. Oh I almost forgot one of my favourite ‘vocalists’ Graham Bonnet, he he he. He did all right all things considered and he has always been very ‘down to earth’ in regard to his appreciation of being given that experience in Rainbow. Excepting the ‘haircut’ issue and being hassled about NOT being a ‘hippy’, at least in looks. I have been guilty there too, calling Graham an accountant or even a lawyer (God forbid) with his looks. I probably should have just mentioned James Dean instead. Cheers.
June 8th, 2026 at 00:30Down to Earth, Purpendicular, Burn, Come Taste the Band, Yes “90125”, Van Halen “5150”, Whitesnake 1987, Scorpions “Lovedrive”
These are perfect examples of a new band’s lineup who had guts to kick a**, challenge the world to ‘forget’ the previous incarnation and say loudly, “Look at us!”
Start from the riff and first few bars of “All Night Long”, you know it’s not the same band with Dio anymore
I was willing to add Guns n Roses ”Chinese Democracy”, but that’s a strange album because it has so many players except the vocalist
June 8th, 2026 at 03:17Down to Earth is my favorite Rainbow Album. I liked it more than LLRNR, which I really don’t like at all.
June 8th, 2026 at 07:036 #Uwe
Another thing that excites me on the Down to the Earth album …. are the backing vocals (Graham’s of course) it says in the description
During the songwriting, Bonnet composed vocal melodies, although his contributions were not listed in the credits, he was not signed as one of the authors.
Roger Glover ???? ….:) He is “The Grey Eminence” Rainbow and DP , French would…. Sayéminence Grise …doesn’t want much media attention or public praise
but has a lot of influence.
I read at that time..about Roger, Ritchie said something like “If Roger (besides being a reliable bassist and producer) is good at connecting parts of songs into a whole … that’s how it worked in DP .. my main idea, then Roger, he added, put the song together
June 8th, 2026 at 08:50To last so many years with the Man in Black in the studio, on tours (Roger’s departure in 1973 from DP . was collateral damage , and the invitation to cooperate with the main culprit in 1979 is the correction of historical injustices and mental pain, Roger is the musician who was most with Ritchie in his rock era, I think that only Candice
has been with Ritchie for a long time… that many years is a sign of your worth as a musician.
#7
June 8th, 2026 at 08:59I know how little I know.
@ 2, Gary can play any kind of music.
June 8th, 2026 at 12:02Getting back to the interview, the first question got me thinking. If Don has been on more than 250 albums, I wonder how many records he’s sold. There’s always been quite a bit of that phallometry in rock’n’roll, like who’s bigger and who scored more (records, I mean), so it would be interesting to calculate the number of units sold by one musician across different acts. And it may as well turn out that Don is right up there with Elvis and definitely bigger than LZ.
June 8th, 2026 at 12:06I (at the time longhaired myself) was bemused by the fact that Graham’s hairstyle became such an issue band-internally and -externally at the same time as Rob Halford, Freddie Mercury and Paul Di’Anno were all sporting short hair and all the metal dudes thought it cool because it set them apart as frontmen.
At the first Monsters of Rock Donington gig in 1980 where Rainbow headlined (and where legend has it that Graham made a verboten dash to the hairdresser before the gig), Judas Priest were the last band before them
https://de.concerts-metal.com/images/flyers/202410/1728763713–Monsters-of-Rock-1980.webp
and by all accounts went down a storm. Well, look at Halford’s hair on that gig:
https://i.pinimg.com/474x/6d/fa/3b/6dfa3b89868e4b4896d783b714522fe1.jpg
https://www.facebook.com/alfonso.cornejobasantes/photos/rob-halford-at-monsters-of-rock-festival-castle-donington-uk-16-august-1980-/10231882357305230/
It was shorter than Graham’s, duh!
In terms of fashion, Ritchie was way behind the times and oblivious to what was going on around him. That’s what happens if you are a recluse in a Tudor house somewhere in Connecticut. 🤗
June 8th, 2026 at 13:13Andre S, I saw the Scorpions with Uli Roth on the Virgin Killer tour and with Michael Schenker on the Lovedrive one , NO WAY was the later incarnation more impressive, it was instead almost painful to watch how out of place Michael felt in his brother‘s band where Uli had once been the good-natured virtuoso elevating the performances of the whole group. Michael acted like he was being held at gunpoint.
For conquering American stadiums, Matthias Jabs was the right choice. For different reasons, both Uli and Michael were not cut from the cloth to ensure that.
June 8th, 2026 at 14:24@ 9- indeed, Andre. I mentioned these sort of one off or ‘new start’ albums a while ago. There are a few there I didn’t mention that you have. Distinctive albums from a few ‘established’ acts that are a defining statement in that regard. I would throw Black Sabbath with Heaven and Hell into the cauldron, also King Crimson with Discipline and even Kansas with the Power album with Steve Morse joining the band. Emerson, Lake and Powell could be another. Jethro Tull with the ‘A’ album and then Broadsword could also be included. New lineups, new technology and everything else that went with it at the time. Cheers.
June 8th, 2026 at 19:00@15 Uwe, the Priest were ahead of their time, indeed, on that night. I didn’t know Jennifer Batten was their special guest. Who woulda thunk?
June 9th, 2026 at 07:25@16
Uwe, I made a point about the Lovedrive album which is one of the most important Scorpions albums. 3 songs from it (Loving you Sunday Morning, Holiday, and the instrumental Coast to Coast) have been Scorpions concert staples from the 80’s up until today, with the popular ballad “Always Somewhere” also got played
As for the tour, it’s lucky to see real documentation about Michael’s “2nd stint” in the band, curious to see how he ‘act’ with his dear (or estranged?) brother on stage
June 9th, 2026 at 09:28Lovedrive was ze Scorps’ decision to streamline themselves for stadium rock, it was commercially the right move for them, but in places the amount of dumbing down their music was painful (Another Piece Of Meat anybody? 🙄). I thought Uli’s last studio stand on Taken By Force much more interesting than Lovedrive (the album).
https://youtu.be/Kls5ooURFqE
No footage of Michael from the Lovedrive Tour seems to exist, but you can hear him here:
https://youtu.be/so43lyMWbbk?is=Q4q9GWpsnuZ66iBH
He was so unreliable they never toured overseas with him. He walked out on them several times, a terrible habit of his back from the UFO days.
Visually, I remember him looking at the Offenbach gig I saw very much like this:
https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRrbC-AlBQa9nVvMlGFdqZpVGO6TsuUIuLGxlRycHzsQap1zKJpflmyxjU&s=10
https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQYEd1TfX7OAEAUD_ZzISItSUMkn0F6Xul01RrM_28Epw2gfG75Ack-FZU&s=10
Back then, Michael was always a somewhat introverted player live (he’s not anymore) with little eye contact to the audience or the band, but the night I saw him he was especially visibly ill at ease playing the Uli Roth era material (and not for lack of technical ability). Roth’s stage presence had been entirely different, while he didn’t interact much with Rudolf or Klaus either, he was goodnatured and utterly at ease being on stage with them, smiling a lot and enjoying playing his guitar etc.
June 9th, 2026 at 13:54Georgivs, much like Freddie Mercury (who he adored), Halford was wildly experimenting with different looks and fashions, he basically looked radically different from tour to tour, likely also a closet-gay man’s way to express himself. (The leather look, often credited to him because of the gay leather scene connotations, was actually an idea of KK Downing aka ‘Jennifer Batten’ 😂 and he had to talk the rest of the band into it.)
The simple truth is: Robert wasn’t endowed with great hair, it was thin and wispy, certainly never a full-bodied mane like Tipton, Downing and Hill flaunted. (Bonnet’s reason for avoiding long hair was the same, he felt his hair didn’t have the right natural texture for it.)
https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTgbiahafODOcvp7qSwNCXdokpg9OA2wqOVIAMd0W35n3uVa-t41pjoTXmk&s=10
Halford’s attempted perm to give it some volume looked horrendous! 😝 So instead of competing where he couldn’t win, he opted to look different. And cut his hair much shorter already as early as 1976.
https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSexvNeleqUXYUouLHprGQk4jhObv4-cYQnntzVR4VuJqxPE2LEIjOH6W0&s=10
Though the longer hair (together with the dreaded perm!) did make a slight reappearance on the glammy Fuel For Life Tour in 1986 promoting Turbo Lover:
https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTmWd73ICOtmADGun_RtljE4wfpb3t9t2nGpbBYxEj4eVsJ-ezlwv3d58E&s=10
But he would thankfully gel it back live:
https://youtu.be/RVoE3d3OYsM?is=PLkiQoeA-k-Jf_Na
And though it was divisive among JP fans at the time, I really liked Priest’s excursion into Billy Idol type “dance rock” and the New Romantic leather look that went with it! Also, could anybody imagine IG, DC, RJD, DLR, Ozzy or Bruce Dickinson performing a song like this mostly sitting and lying down before an arena of rampant fans and yet retain command of the situation at any given moment? Halford is the ultimate Heavy Metal frontman and has a highly individual presentation style.
June 9th, 2026 at 16:04@21 On the second pic Rob looks like someone from the New Wave of the British, well, New Wave.
His look I admire the most and identify with, as much a straight guy would want to identify with a less straight guy, is the one from Live Aid.
June 9th, 2026 at 18:22Ivica, praising Bonnet’s vocals to me is carrying coal to Newcastle!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V0j4XTiBjKY (Keyboard player looks faintly familiar, but it ain’t Don Airey …)
He was a riot both in the studio and live. There is something really gutsy in his delivery on DTE.
Mind you, a lot of Graham’s general fearlessness was – how shall I put this? – naïveté. He didn’t really pace himself (in the studio or live: always full throttle)
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/jZnAM8ntYII
because he had no touring experience, he had never fronted a rock band, he didn’t understand that denim-clad rock fans were inherently conservative and expecting a uniform look of a hard rock singer so that his style might bewilder them. But that is what I exactly liked about him, he didn’t give a flying flamingo and just went out there to roar as if he was competing in X Factor/Britain’s Got Talent!
Roger has been supportive of Ritchie pretty much all his life. Ritchie’s consistency in thanking him for that support or even at least appreciating it has been of a less stable nature if I may say so. 😑
June 9th, 2026 at 18:26“On the second pic Rob looks like someone from the New Wave of the British, well, New Wave.”
Yup, a bit Human League/New Romantic if you ask me!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPudE8nDog0
Great number with a great lyric.
June 10th, 2026 at 06:18HAIR
According to my cousin I always had a lot.
Not in my memory.
Desperately wanting long hair my parents/familymostly hated it . Though it varied.
I had to become 20 not being threatened by my dad that he d could it while I slept.
My old grandmother rarely expressed herself, but here she defended my choice.
Her husband thought I d give in for 100 Guilders.
NO FUCKING WAY, I thought.
Sorta getting a lot out of being asked to model in 87 cause I was one the last Mohicans around.
All of a sudden the cringe had gone and Modern Talking, Joey Tempest, Jon Bon Jovi paved the way of acceptance. I did get called Bono as well.
In retroperspect I think she had become “ill” at quite a young age,being very lifeless and dull was the image.
An aunt related my now growing hairs with an Indian.
Never understood why that should be a bad thing.
Somewhere down the line I was nicked Winnetou.
I shrugged my shoulders and thought of Gillan and Coverdale in their heydays.
BUT……I took perms and yes it did look a lot like that in the early stages, later on it looked more natural.
Even nowadays someones sees an Indian in me.
Life, meds, etc hit hard and it isnt what it was when I had my better moments.
But its easier to take care off, just making a knot in the morning, etc.
It was weird really, not into football, smoking, motorbikes,drugs, kinda slow learner ……Socialising was a nightmare.
Then without noticing things started.
Even without getting into sports someone said I had the looks of a martial arts fighter.
What?! Moi,the emo fat junkfood blob that never exercised.
Maybe it was my jojo effect, …
I never did mind Grahams hair.
His Hawaian shirts were even to me, someone that could be sent outside in a garbagebag and not giving a fuck according to my mother, too much.
Mercurys and Halfords transition, looking more and more gay I always felt was terrible.
Well, as we tend to say here : Lekker belangrijk!!!
June 10th, 2026 at 21:04What’s wrong with attractive young gay men dressing up a little?
https://youtu.be/CS9OO0S5w2k
Don’t be such a stiff, RV!
Trivia: “Our” Glenn Hughes and the VP’s Glenn Hughes (the guy in the biker outfit) actually once met at an event and got along like a house on fire according to bass player Glenn! They both knew who the other guy was.
June 10th, 2026 at 22:49Hi Uwe
Yeah, of course I m aware of these 2 Glenns
I recall that within Rainbow way back they loved to visit clubs filled with transvestites.
Never understood why.
I dont ve a real aversion against gay people, my cousin is gay. I just shrug my shoulders.
The recent transgender thing I do ve trouble with.
When I was modelling they gave me make up cause of pics.
Forgot to take it off and biked home to land at at an older friends home.
His girlfriend just laughed but he reacted furious, almost shocking.
June 18th, 2026 at 20:52Yup, some people are really unsettled by LGBTQ visuals – as if it was a contagious disease and/or a cultural threat to them or their own sexual identity.
https://youtu.be/95zxtaKQBBc
https://youtu.be/KmR3p3-LN94
We’re all the same in the dark.
https://youtu.be/JDT5HoRalDE
June 19th, 2026 at 14:19