Top of feature

Reviews
Hans Werksman

Tell Don what you thought of it

Back to Specials index

A Light In The Sky

When you have been exposed to heavy duty keyboard players at an impressionable age, changes are that you will never get over it. Don Airey has been pounding the keys since 1972, playing with Ozzie, Colloseum II and now Deep Purple. He is busy guy and had to squeeze recording of his new album A Light in the Sky between live DP shows and tons of other commitments.

Like so many prog-inclined symfo metal rockers Don Airey likes space. Outerspace. The big time out there. It's the theme of his first solo album in 20 odd years. Hence you get a Floydesque instrumental like Andromeda M31 where guitarist Rob Harris emulates David Gilmour and Steve Morse in one giant sweep. Most of the tracks are instrumentals, the actual "songs" fall into the heavy metal category with capable singers such as Carl Sentance, Danny Bowes and Harry James. Drummer Harry James? Yep, he is the vocalist on the space oddity Rocket to the Moon, a 1950s novelty hit. Lidia Baich laid down some great folk-inspired violin ensuring that a track like Into Orbit really takes off.

A Light in the Sky is a cohesive-sounding album. Airey insisted on people actually being in the Chapel Studios in Lincolnshire where the album was recorded: "About everything is a first or second take, all of the Hammond playing and most of the synth and guitar solos were recorded live. I knew I didn't want to make one of those Fileshare albums in which everyone sends their parts by email."

The music is huge, too bad the lyrics are not up too for with the grandiosity Airey tried to reach for -- "I'm sighing / You're crying / We're dying" (Love You Too Much) is just plain childish.

Thanks to Hans Werkman for his kind permission to quote his review here. You can read it in its entirety on his blog at http://blogger.xs4all.nl/werksman/archive/2008/02/15/353124.aspx

Last update: March 25, 2000