Don Airey’s new solo album is set to be released in February. Full press release follows:

‘Keyed Up’, the new studio album from renowned keyboard maestro Don Airey will be released through Music Theories Recordings, a division of Mascot Label Group on 17 February 2014 [Cat. No. MTR 7408 2]. This is Don’s fourth studio set, and his third to be released through the label. The album features many of Don’s friends and peers and, sadly, represents one of the very last times that Gary Moore recorded a guitar part. He – a long time associate of Don – features on ‘Adagio’ and also on ‘Mini Suite’, which is dedicated to his memory.

Don said, “I loved having the responsibility of pulling together the sessions at Chapel Studios. The album was basically laid down live, no overdubs, no redoing – we don’t do filesharing. There are wonderful musicians on this record, I call them ‘the band that never was’, as it’s a true pleasure to work together but opportunities are so limited. Being in a band like Deep Purple, especially with the success we’ve had this year, should be enough; but I need another outlet. Some of the music is straight ahead rock, a tribute to where I’ve come from, but there’s variety – ‘Blue Rondo A La Turk’ was the piece I played on my first radio performance aged 14. There are plenty of weird sounds too, most from the Hammond; a lot of it wasn’t planned, I just got carried away with the moment!” The band on this record was Don Airey on Keyboards, Darrin Mooney [Primal Scream] on drums, Laurence Cottle on Bass, Rob Harris [Jamiroquai] on guitar and Carl Sentance [Vocals]. Guest performers include the aforementioned Gary Moore, Graham Bonnet, Simon MacBride, Alex Meadows and Tim Goodyer. The engineer was the amazing Ewan Davies.

The tracklisting of the album draws from throughout Don’s career and also takes in some of his influences, with twists upon familiar themes. Don has performed with a host of the most important bands in the rock canon, from Cozy Powell to Colosseum II to to Sabbath to Rainbow to Ozzy Osbourne and of course, ultimately to Deep Purple, via sessions for innumerable peers and this experience and panache illuminates ‘Keyed Up’. This is an album that wears its virtuosity easily and never loses sight of its sense of fun, ‘Claire D’Loon’ anyone? ‘Difficult To Cure 2013’ is a version of The Rainbow favourite re-arranged to include Beethoven’s double fugue, whilst the ‘Godbox’ referenced in the seventh track was Fats Wallers’ nickname for the Hammond organ.

What: Don Airey — Keyed Up
When: February 17, 2014
Where: Music Theories Recordings
Track listing:

1. 3 In The Morning
2. Beat The Retreat
3. Blue Rondo A La Turk
4. Solomon’s Song
5. Claire D’Loon
6. Flight Of Inspiration
7. Inside
8. The Godbox
9. Difficult To Cure 2013
10. Mini Suite
    a) Lament/Jig
    b) Restless Spirit
    c) What Went Wrong
11. Adagio
12. Grace

Musicians:

• Don Airey — keyboards
• Darrin Mooney — drums
• Laurence Cottle — bass
• Rob Harris — guitar
• Carl Sentance — vocals

Thanks to Chris Hewlett for the info.

It’s official — Deep Purple have been passed over for induction to the Rock’n’Roll Hall of Fame again.

Back in October Roger Glover gave this interview to Vigier Guitars. It was probably recorded around Deep Purple’s date in Paris on October 20. He talks about Bob Ezrin, the guitars that just stay in tune, Love is All, and Ronnie James Dio:

Thanks to Something Else! Reviews and Andrey Gusenkov for the info.

Mike Portnoy tweeted yesterday that they have finished writing sessions for the second Flying Colors album:

Wrapped the writing on FC2! Another magical experience indeed…hopefully we can get it out by the end of 2014!

Thanks to Blabbermouth for the info.

Classic Rock is running a poll for best songs of 2013, and Vincent Price is in the running.

Vote for it.

Joe Lynn Turner revealed to The Rainbow Fanclan Legacy that he is starting a new project with Carmine Appice, Tony Franklin and Jeff Watson:

I can leak it now. I got the e-mail last night, we finally found it. We’re now Carmine Appice, Tony Franklin and Jeff Watson from Mother’s Army & Night Ranger. Originally was going to be Bruce Kulick – you might have heard something about it – but Bruce has other commitments with Grand Funk Railroad. We wish him well, we love him but is not working out. So that’s the line up. And the band is called Legacy X. Because we all said this is about legacies. All of us have a legacy, we’re leaving our marks. And X is the unknown… And that’s it.

Thanks to Blabbermouth for the info.

Jon Lord’s estate has release a track As Tears Go Passing By performed by the Jon Lord Blues Project:

Jon Lord – Hammond organ
Miller Anderson – vocals, guitar
Maggie Bell – vocals
Zoot Money – keyboard, vocals
Colin Hodgkinson – bass, vocals
Pete York – drums
Albie Donnelly – sax

Thanks to JonLord.org for the info.

Universal/Polydor is set to release a Rainbow Singles Box Set 1975-1986 that will include 19 CD singles spanning these years.

CD 1

1. Man On The Silver Mountain (7″ Edit) 03:57
2. Snake Charmer 04:28

CD 2

1. Still I’m Sad 03:53
2. Temple Of The King 04:43

CD 3

1. Man On The Silver Mountain (7″ Edit) 03:57
2. Snake Charmer 04:28
3. If You Don’t Like Rock N Roll 02:35
4. Sixteenth Century Greensleeves 03:35

CD 4

1. Starstruck (New York Mix) 04:06
2. Run With The Wolf 03:48

CD 5

1. Kill The King (Live / Edit) 04:41
2. Man On The Silver Mountain (Live) 05:08
3. Mistreated (Live / 7″ Edit) 07:15

CD 6

1. Long Live Rock ‘N’ Roll 04:25
2. Sensitive To Light 03:08

CD 7

1. L.A. Connection (7″ Edit) 03:41
2. Lady Of The Lake 03:38

CD 8

1. Since You Been Gone 03:16
2. Bad Girl 04:48

CD 9

1. Since You Been Gone 03:16
2. No Time To Lose 03:41

CD 10

1. All Night Long 03:49
2. Weiss Heim 05:10

CD 11

1. I Surrender 03:22
2. Vielleicht Das NachsterMal (Maybe Next Time) 03:20

CD 12

1. Difficult To Cure 05:55
2. Can’t Happen Here (7″ Edit) 04:05
3. Jealous Lover 03:09

CD 13

1. Magic 04:05
2. Freedom Fighter 04:20

CD 14

1. Can’t Happen Here (7″ Edit) 04:05
2. Jealous Lover 03:09

CD 15

1. Stone Cold (Album Version) 05:17
2. Rock Fever 03:46

CD 16

1. Death Alley Driver 04:36
2. Tite Squeeze 03:15

CD 17

1. Street Of Dreams 04:24
2. Anybody There 02:37
3. Power (Live At The Convention Center, San Antonio) 04:27

CD 18

1. Can’t Let You Go (7″ Edit) 03:27
2. All Night Long (Live at David’s Hall, Cardiff, 1983) 05:24
3. Stranded (Live at St. David’s Hall,Cardiff, 1983) 04:16

CD 19

1. Bad Girl 04:48
2. Spotlight Kid (Live) 06:07
3. Man On The Silver Mountain 08:18

Release date, which has originally been pencilled in on November 25, has now been postponed until late January / early February.

Thanks to Universal Music Italia for the info.

David Coverdale writes on his webstite:

It was 40 years ago this very day, December 9, 1973, when I had the indescribable honour of walking onstage with the extraordinary talents of Ritchie Blackmore, Jon Lord, Ian Paice & Glenn Hughes at the KB Halle in Copenhagen, Denmark for the very first time.The ‘Burn’ album had yet to be released, but, it showed the balls of the guys in the band to go out & play brand new, unheard songs to a rapturous Danish audience. An unforgettable experience for me. Thank you ALL for an amazing journey that continues today…

David Coverdale
Lake Tahoe
Dec 9, 2013

Thanks to Classic Rock for the info.

Japanese promoter Udo Artists has announced three Deep Purple dates in the country: April 9 in Nagoya, 10th in Osaka and 12th at the historical Nippon Budokan in Tokyo. Tickets for the latter two are already available with Nagoya going on sale on December 13.

The 2014 touring schedule for the band is shaping up as follows:

• February: Scandinavia, Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary, Serbia, Romania, and Israel.
• March: open so far.
• April: Luxembourg, Belgium, Sunflower Jam in London, plus one date high up in Swiss Alps, then off to Japan.
• They also have been announced to play Hellfest in France on June 21

See our calendar for more details.

Please note that only February dates, Luxembourg and Belgium have been confirmed by the band’s management at the time of this writing.

Thanks to Yvonne Osthausen for the Japanese tip.